Faith Journal #6
by Paul Marsek
Faith and Apologetics
Summary of the key idea summarizing the major idea of the section.
The key idea of this section is faith and apologetics.Apologetics are arguments in defense of the faith. There were five teleological arguments presented to us in this section. They are the "Watch and the watchmaker"(listed below), the Golden Ratio, The Anthropic Principle, Kalam's Argument, and Plato's and St. Thomas' argument from the degrees of perfection. The Golden Ratio is a number found all throughout nature and its existence in so many natural bodies cannot be a coincidence. The Anthropic Principle states that if the sun were any closer or further away, or if its rays penetrated Earth at any other angle, life would not be possible. Someone created this Earth and knew what they were doing. Kalam's Argument states that the universe has either always existed, or it had a beginning. If it had a beginning it was created by someone and has a cause outside of itself. Plato's and St. Thomas' argument follows the hierarchy in thwe natural world and believes that it must end with a being that is pure being and pure spirit. Three arguments come from the Human person. There is an argument for the existance of a conscience, from religious experience, and from natural law.
The three most important ideas I want to remember from this section.
1. The first idea I would like to remember is William Paley's the watch and the watchmaker. It is one of the teleological arguments listed in the readings book. He said that if you had never seen a watch before and suddenly stumbled upon one you would think that to make such a device would require a very intelligent designer. Humans are much more complex than watches and therefor must have an intelligent designer.
2. I would also like to remember the argument from conscience. Your conscience is a gut feeling that gives you the inclination as to whether something is right or wrong. If there is no God, and therefor no afterlife then whether your actions are right or wrong has no effect on your fate. If that is true then you are free to do whatever you please. But you have a conscience and it helps you determinr the morality of your actions. This argument for me, was the most convincing of the arguments presented in the readings book.
3. The third thing I would like to remember is Eric Cornell's article "What Was God Thinking". He said that science and intelligent design are in the stage of reflective unity and should complement eachother. He said that intelligent design is a good thing when taught in the theology class as a complement to science. He believes that each subject must be taught seperately in a class where they will naturally occur. They complement eachother, but not when taught in the same class where they can be destructive and take away interest from one another.
key images:
Question to ponder:
Q:Who do yo stay I am?
I elieve Jesus was God and he was also fully human. I am certain that he was a radical moral teacher who changed the world around him. He questioned and broke many social taboos. He helped people where others would not. He was a social radical. He had strong faith in himself, practiced what he preached and was willling to die for his cause.