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A young earth creationist takes the early chapters of Genesis at face value; that is, God created the heavens and the earth in six literal 24-hour days, approxi

A young earth creationist takes the early chapters of Genesis at face value; that is, God created the heavens and the earth in six literal 24-hour days, approximately 10,000 years ago. Back in the fourth century there was a controversy between Augustine and Pelagius. Pelagius took what I think is fair to call the common sense view: people can decide to become a Christian after evaluating the evidence the same way they can decide to buy a Nikon camera rather than a Canon. It seems to me that he wanted to be able to chide those who failed to become Christians and could only consistently do that if it was ultimately in their power to do it. Augustine took the opposing viewpoint, saying that one can only believe if the Holy Spirit gives grace to believe. And Jesus, I think, is on Augustine's side: "No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up on the last day" (John 6.44). I am a big fan of the English Puritan John Owen. He basically says that the Holy Spirit reveals to each believer that the Scriptures are the word of God -- and once you know that the Bible is the word of God, you know that its assertions are true. But I certainly think that God uses evidences and natural revelation (i.e., the character of God based on what He has made). But most Jews at the time of Christ failed to believe in him even though they witnessed a multitude of miracles. So miracles alone won't do it -- even though many unbelievers today say that is exactly what it would take for them to believe.

wombatmobile 6y ago
Leaving aside evidence based cases in which a decision is made to convert to Christianity, what do you suppose is happening, neurologically, when "the Holy Spirit reveals to each believer that the Scriptures are the word of God" i.e. the case of spontaneous, enlightened conversion? Consider the case when a human sponteneously converts to a non-Christian belief system. If the neurological correlates of that case could be shown to align with the Christian case, what might that tell us about religiosity?
- pmdulaney 6y ago
  I don't believe conversion occurs in an epistemological vacuum. You need to have some exposure to the assertions and content of the gospel message. But I do believe that there is divine communication to the mind of the believer which is unrelated to sense data. Your suggestion, I suppose, is that if the "neurological correlates" of converting to a non-Christian religion are indistinguishable from those associated with conversion to Christianity, then there is no reason based on scientific data to give Christianity a privileged position relative to other religious (or non-religious) belief systems. Christianity and what I might call "scientism" are both in my view internally consistent systems. From the secular viewpoint the Christian view of reality is akin to explaining that airplanes fly because angels hold up their wings. If God really exists and if He is determined that people enter into a personal relationship with him not by sense data evidence but rather through faith and, as I claim, divine personal revelation, then no amount of sense data or lack of it, or scientific data or lack of it, can be a cogent argument against His existence or of believers' relationship with Him. It is, then, neither provable or falsifiable. And yet, according to Romans 1, unbelieving man has some knowledge of God -- knowledge which he suppresses and knowledge that makes him culpable if he ultimately does reject God.

wombatmobile 6y ago

Leaving aside evidence based cases in which a decision is made to convert to Christianity, what do you suppose is happening, neurologically, when "the Holy Spirit reveals to each believer that the Scriptures are the word of God" i.e. the case of spontaneous, enlightened conversion? Consider the case when a human sponteneously converts to a non-Christian belief system. If the neurological correlates of that case could be shown to align with the Christian case, what might that tell us about religiosity?

pmdulaney 6y ago
I don't believe conversion occurs in an epistemological vacuum. You need to have some exposure to the assertions and content of the gospel message. But I do believe that there is divine communication to the mind of the believer which is unrelated to sense data. Your suggestion, I suppose, is that if the "neurological correlates" of converting to a non-Christian religion are indistinguishable from those associated with conversion to Christianity, then there is no reason based on scientific data to give Christianity a privileged position relative to other religious (or non-religious) belief systems. Christianity and what I might call "scientism" are both in my view internally consistent systems. From the secular viewpoint the Christian view of reality is akin to explaining that airplanes fly because angels hold up their wings. If God really exists and if He is determined that people enter into a personal relationship with him not by sense data evidence but rather through faith and, as I claim, divine personal revelation, then no amount of sense data or lack of it, or scientific data or lack of it, can be a cogent argument against His existence or of believers' relationship with Him. It is, then, neither provable or falsifiable. And yet, according to Romans 1, unbelieving man has some knowledge of God -- knowledge which he suppresses and knowledge that makes him culpable if he ultimately does reject God.