Final thoughts on Antony Flew's book. You could call this Commentary Part 2, but I sorta finished it....:)

Antony Flew is an honest man - and one that I wouldn't mind having a conversation with, as long as he spoke slowly once we began to speak philosophically. I've recently finished his book, "There is a God: How the World's Most Notorious Atheist Changed His Mind," and it is a great read for an agnostic looking for further reason to believe God exists, and conversely a disaster for anyone holding to a strictly atheistic worldview. The reason? When one decides to innocuously follow the Socrates' exhortation to "follow the argument wherever it leads," you will inevitably end up at a Divine Mind.

From the outset Flew throughout his career operated on the above Socratic principle. This is a wonderful principle on which to evaluate the world, and also a great tool to weed out people who refuse to follow it. As I mentioned in the previous post on this book, the New Atheist camp continually fails to address the bigger issues of the existence of God. Given the popularity of their collective books, however, it is not difficult to see why. To illustrate the point we could liken Richard Dawkins to say, the shock rocker Marilyn Manson. Manson has so dug himself into the image of the Antichrist that for him to ever have a true awakening as to the truth of gospel and go public would in essence cause him to admit to legions of fans, and the public, that he was wrong. Now, as a guy, I have a hard enough time admitting I am wrong to my girlfriend. Additionally, when I am very blatantly shown to be wrong my immediate reaction isn't humility, but defense. And might I add a defense that wants to brush the issues presented aside and move on.

So it is in my opinion with the New Atheists. Like Manson, they are now slaves to their image. Someone like Dawkins can no longer afford to be wrong because his entire identity is now wrapped up in his insistence on atheism - from his Out Campaign to his books and DVDs. Indeed, his entire career demands his atheism, and just like the defensive measures I employ when I am shown to be wrong, he brushes aside any perceived threat to the security of his worldview. The New Atheists cannot afford to engage in debate with the current philosophers of science, because they know they will be danced around intellectually and will be forced to face their own dead ends.

This is what I find the most inspiring about Flew's book. It isn't just his mental prowess as a philosopher that led him to a belief in God, but his willingness to be open and honest after being one of the leading atheist philosophers for more than fifty years. He did not allow himself to become a slave to his own image, but rather followed the evidence and held tightly to the fact that he was searching for truth - not agenda. Indeed, you could say he was doing exactly what our Lord states is right and true: "Search and you will find."

Flew's search, over time, had to come to terms with the following questions:

Who wrote the natural laws?
Where do the laws of physics come from?
Why is it that we have these laws instead of some other set?
How is that we have a set of laws that drives featureless gases to life, consciousness and intelligence?
Did the universe know we were coming?
How did life go live?
Did something come from nothing?

Within the context of these questions Flew addresses other issues with God, such as omnipotence and the like, and also addresses the current atheistic science answers to the questions as well, which I must say, are unsatisfactory at best (if they are even addressed at all). Following the evidence, and taking us with him, Flew comes to believe - through reason - that we are a product of a Divine Mind.

Along these lines one thing I should clarify is that Flew is not, to my knowledge, a full fledged Christian believer. Flew clarifies his current position on the topic of whatever religious viewpoint has come about since his "conversion:"

"My current position, however, is more open to at least certain of these (divine revelation) claims. In point of fact, I think that the Christian religion is the one religion that most clearly deserves to be honored and respected whether or not its claim to be a divine revelation is true. There is nothing like the combination of a charismatic figure like Jesus and a first-class intellectual like St. Paul. Virtually all the argument about the content of the religion was produced by St. Paul, who had a brilliant philosophical mind and could both speak and write in all the relevant languages. If you're wanting Omnipotence to set up a religion, this is the one to beat" (Flew, 186).

So as we sit, Flew is in limbo with his newfound belief in the Divine, which is certainly both understandable and expected. It is interesting that his book ends with an appendix interviewing Bishop N.T. Wright, the famous Oxford New Testament scholar. Flew has Wright spell out a case for the resurrection of Jesus Christ, which he does so rather convincingly (as most NT scholars can) and which Flew concludes by commenting that he is "very much impressed with Bishop Wright's approach, which is absolutely fresh" (Flew, 213).

So what's the point? Why am I writing a pseudo-book review about an atheist philosopher on a blog that no one reads? Well, I suppose the answer is two-fold. First off, I like to hear myself talk, and when no one is around the best way to do that is to write your thoughts down and then read them back to yourself. Second, however, is that when you are faced with the fact of God's existence based on reason and not merely on faith, all of a sudden life takes on a certain beauty that you take for granted everyday. You realize that the best minds on Earth aren't destroying faith based on their discoveries, but supplementing it. And in that lies the hope that despite the measured chaos of the natural world, it was never intended to be the status quo of eternity, but a temporal existence in which we get to find, know, and experience God.

And also, in the unlikely event that someone stumbles onto this blog who is searching, maybe they will be inspired to grab a copy of the book. After all, it says a lot about the search when a man who searched and reasoned his entire life finally came to discover divinity. Such an event should keep the search alive for those searching, and for those not even looking, should be motivation to start.