Ethics, Critical Thinking, and Youth Ministry

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I remember first reading Mere Christianity by CS Lewis when I was in my late teens. His opening ‘but that’s my orange segment!’ gambit inspired me to think more clearly about morality and ethics in relationship to my faith.

Fast forward a couple of years and I’m sat in my first ethics lecture a bible college hearing Dr. David Field’s three golden rules for ethical thinking. They were:

  1. Life is complicated
  2. The Bible is sufficient
  3. The alternatives are bankrupt

The next three months in these lectures were the most awe-inspiring time in my academic career. Ever since then I’ve been trying to explore one big question in my youth projects: Does Jesus work in real life?

 

Getting the juices going

Today, I find that there is nothing more invigorating for conversation in a youth club than a good ethical dilemma. Facilitated conversations about morality and God’s plan for humanities’ maturity is guaranteed to get even the most apathetic young person engaging with passion they didn’t even know they had.

What new rules would you give to the Internet? Who should be in charge of what you do with your body? Is there any situation where mind control should be allowed?

These kind questions fuel new layers of thinking and – properly handled – can draw a young person deeper into relationship with God and draw a community deeper into relationship with each other.

 

The balance between abstract openness and objective authority

Properly handling these types of issues requires a balance between firm leadership and an openness to grace.

Sometimes people in these conversations will give voice to thought that might well stray over the line of heresy. Great – this is something we can work with! In my opinion confusion and shaky foundations are much better out than in where the light of day, the clarity of the Bible, and the love of genuinely tolerant brothers and sisters can sharpen, inform and grow the thinker.

This sharpening, however, needs be done with maturity and great care. Rather than simply carpet bombing your project themes with hot topics like abortion and sexuality, instead create a regular time where many questions are thought about from multiple perspectives.

This isn’t to say you should leave every topic as messy heap of existential and epistemological indecision (it is responsible to draw things together, challenge, rebuke, correct, and speak clearly from the Bible), but you should make a safe space for the process to happen as a process. This means critical thinking, deep discussion, open questions, and sometimes raw confusion.

 

A hardcore example

There is a thin line between ethical discussion and critical thinking. Thinking about anything ethically means asking questions of it. Mathematician Jacob Bronowski famously said, “That is the essence of science: ask an impertinent question, and you are on the way to a pertinent answer.” (This may have been more famous for its quote in the original X Files!).

There are lots of easy places to go for an example, but let’s take a more interesting one. Consider this, then, for a line of questioning:

  • Is there a distinction between the person and character of God (who he is), and the revelation and actions of God (what he says and does)?
  • What level of distinction is there?
  • Is it possible to worship what God does or what God says, and not actually be worshipping God?
  • If that is true, is it possible to make idol of what God does and says, and in effect be committing heresy by worshipping it.
  • Is it dangerous or sinful to worship the Bible? Is it at all? Is there a worse alternative?
  • How would you know if you were worshipping Bible instead of God? Could it be possible to worship the Bible as healthy worship of God?
  • Is it possible the two people to go through these same questions and arrive at equally valid answers; distinct yet equally correct because of their level of faith and maturity?
  • Should all people think the same about these issues regardless of where they are at in their faith?

This is an epistemological and yet still ethical line of systematic-theological scrutiny. We’re talking about the character of God, yet we’re also talking about revelation, and we’re talking about both corporate and individual worship. Added to this, we’re asking some interesting questions of our Christian habits and what is actually happening under the surface, and what is driven by our hidden assumptions. Cool eh?

None of the above questions have a simple ‘yes / no’ answer – they are all answered in degrees along a spectrum. Further, each question needs to be re-evaluated in light of the next.

This brings us into a fantastic line of ethical discussion. It relies on community conversation, it needs us to be nuanced and measured, it needs us to engage with both hearts and minds, it needs us to turn to prayer, and it needs us to read our Bibles carefully with a greater dependence on the Holy Spirit. Doesn’t that just sound like maturity?

 

Ok, so what about in a youth club? … Plain English please, Tim.

Of course, I wouldn’t suggest simply copying and pasting that above example set of questions into your youth group, but it should give you an idea of what you’re looking for.

Questions shouldn’t always be closed down, simple, black-and-white, or enslaved to rules of thumb. Life isn’t this simple after-all!

For easier start, simply answer questions with questions for a little while. Don’t dissolve into diverting every question another question but do take a couple of extra minutes to open discussion up bit more, before you close it down and move on.

Remember your golden follow-up and open-up questions:

  • Who?
  • What?
  • When?
  • Where?
  • Why?
  • How?

Let’s let the Bible, and our Christianity speak with the same complexity that real life affords. Let’s dig, get deep, and get applicable. Let’s not muddy the waters where they are clear and let’s not transform our projects into intellectual exercises, but let’s take more care to give exploration the room it deserves.

 

Some caveats

  • It’s important for you to be comfortable and confident in your knowledge of God and His Word.
  • It’s important to make people feel safe by keeping conversations from dissolving into personally targeted debates.
  • It’s important to ask responsible.. not just ‘cool’ ones.
  • It’s important to be aware of triggers in the room (additional needs, mental health etc.).
  • It’s important to make sure your questioning is serving your young people, and not just your intellectual curiosities or (heaven forbid) your god-complex.
  • Remember that God is big enough to handle paradox, disagreement, differences, and even subjectivity. His glory is not dependent on your ability to rationalise it out.
  • That said, objective discussion should always stand firm on the Bible and be led by a keen awareness of the Holy Spirit. Pray for discernment – trust in grace!

 

Some sample questions to get you started

  • Can a person really be anything they want? What are some things they can’t be (logically), and what are some things they should not be (morally)? Who says? Why?
  • Whose happiness is the most important in the world to pursue? What should be allowed to get in the way of someone being happy? Is happiness always the most important thing to be? What else is there? When happiness isn’t available, are you less than human?
  • Can you love someone even if they don’t feel loved by you? Is it important that the person you love actually feels loved?
  • What do you do if someone’s ‘rights’ trample over someone else’s ‘rights’? What ‘rights’ do people really have or should they have?

 

… I might add some more later 😛

Have fun!

 

Photo by Daniele Levis Pelusi on Unsplash

Out of the Question – A new Youth apologetics resource

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It has perhaps never been harder for Christian teens and young adults to stand up for Jesus in their schools, colleges and communities. If they do stick their head above the parapet, they can receive a barrage of questions from several different directions at once! How should they respond? How can youth leaders, churches, and parents give them the tools to deal with these situations?

There are several great resources already out there which can be used to help but a new initiative is being launched which does something unique.

Out of the Question is a series of animations which, rather than giving answers to remember, give tools to use to equip teens and young adults to defend their faith. It’s unique because it combines humorous animated media with a narrative form. This is done through a question-based approach.

Animation is a great way to communicate, teens and young adults love the format and you can do things in animation which simply aren’t possible with other media. The narrative form means that the apologetic tools and arguments are weaved into a story that makes them both immediately more accessible (especially for those who are less bookish) and applicable; young people can see how a conversation might go.

These are conversations, because of the question-based approach taken. Questions help us understand what lies behind what’s being asked of us. They give us understanding of the person as well as the argument, they show that we care what they think, and they invite discussion while also buying a bit of time for our heart rate to slow! Even more important than all those, out of a question comes something very significant for Christian young people: the opportunity to move from the back foot to the front foot, to help people see that no-one is neutral. This is one of the most powerful aspects of this animated series; it helps train young people to see that everyone has a faith position and needs to be able to justify that position, even atheists.

The Out of the Question series is due for release in May this year and will be free to download from our website. Because of that we need all our funding up front and we still need a final slice of money. So why not watch the trailer and if you like it, spread the word so we can finish off this great project for release in May!

Save The Pumpkins – a wee tract

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So this is the text of a tract I wrote for my younger London youth group (age 11-14) about 6 years ago. It’s not the best, it’s not incredibly well written, but it’s something. Feel free to use, change, adapt, laugh at… whatever!

Tim

 

*

Do you like pumpkins? Have you ever tried Pumpkin pie? Yum! I sometimes think it’s a shame to see what Halloween does to those poor pumpkins. Really, think about it!

We start with a lovely big fruit, full of life, yumminess, and seeds which could grow into more pumpkins. We then cut its top off, spoon out all of its tasty life-full goodness and seeds, cut a miserable looking face into it and hide a candle inside it.

It all looks a little bit dark and gloomy to me. But I guess that’s the point of Halloween isn’t it?  Halloween is all about being dark, and scared, and gloomy. You don’t think so? Then why do we dress up as ghouls and ghosts and all things evil and scary?

The ancient Celts believed that at the end of summer evil spirits could pass through into our world and we needed to dress up like them to ward them off, which is kinda why we do it today.

You may think I’m trying to be a killjoy by putting Halloween down – but I’m not at all, I promise! Evil, scary, nasty things (like the things Halloween likes) tend to kill our joy. I want to tell you about something else that could bring you real joy!

You see, I believe that God created the world. I even believe He created those delicious pumpkins! But Halloween (which prefers dead and dark things) takes God’s good creation and spoons all the good out of it – just like we do to a pumpkin!

I also believe God send His own son Jesus Christ to show us where real, deep, and lasting joy can be found.

Jesus calls himself ‘The Light of the World,’ which is a little bit like the candle you put into your pumpkin. Now I don’t know if you’ve ever seen a candle in a really dark room? All the darkness leaves the candle – it runs away! You see, you can’t have dark and light together, light always wins!

I believe that Jesus is the good news, the best news – Because he chases away darkness, just like a candle in that dark room does.

I believe that Jesus saw a dark, scary world destroying itself, he also saw all the darkness in our own lives that comes out in all the bad things we say, and think, and do – and He came to die, so that darkness wouldn’t win, but light would.

Jesus loved us so much and wanted you and me to be so full of life and free of darkness that He died for us on a cross. When Jesus died, He paid the price for all that darkness; He chased it away!

But Jesus didn’t stay dead; He rose from the dead showing that He’s bigger than death itself! He’s the light that chases away all darkness!

What an AMAZING free gift! Jesus wants to chase away your darkness, even death itself! And He wants to give you life and light itself, even eternal life after you die here! How incredible is that?!?

But to accept this we need to ask Jesus for it. We need to tell him that we believe in Him, and that we want him to forgive all the darkness inside us, and come to be our best friend, and give us light and life!

Now this isn’t something I’d expect anyone, young or old, to do without thinking a lot about it and asking lots and lots of questions about it too! Christianity isn’t a cult, its about people really searching and finding Jesus to be true.

 

Save The Pumpkins!

Will Jesus Always Be Called ‘Jesus?’ (Questions Teenagers Ask 3.)

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Part three of my series on Questions Teenagers Ask. All posts in this series are responses to questions I’ve had from young people written in the style I answered them.

Question: Will Jesus Always Be Called Jesus? What About At The Second Coming?

Answer: Yea, I think so.

Names in the Bible are hyper-important. They usually tell us something worth remembering about the person. Naomi changed her name to ‘Mara’ (meaning ‘bitter’) after she lost her husband and sons. Saul was called ‘Paul’ (meaning ‘small’ or ‘humble’) when he came into the freakishly big presence of the risen Jesus. Jesus’ name also means something pretty significant.

The name ‘Jesus’ is actually a wee bit weird as it’s a compound of two Hebrew words stuck together. It’s the word for Lord and the verb for save or deliver. So it means something like ‘the Lord delivers’ or ‘the Lord saves.’ Makes sense really when you think about it.

When Jesus returns He’s still going to be the Lord, the Saviour, and the Deliverer. In fact he’ll be doing those things by returning and putting an end to all the evil in the world. So it makes sense that He would keep His name as it is.

Also, in Revelation 1, the second coming dude is actually called Jesus. So that kinda clinches it I guess.

A wee bit more food-for-thought:

In the same Revelation 1 passage (verse 7) it says ‘Look, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him.’ What’s really important about this is it basically says no one will miss the second coming! Jesus isn’t coming back as a baby for some to see and even less to believe in. He’s coming back with noise, and trumpets, and angels, and rock n’ roll. He’ll be ripping holes in the sky and bringing a whopping great city with Him.

So yup. I think Jesus will still be called Jesus (although He will have other names too like Lord, King, God, Holy One, Legend… etc.), but even if He didn’t we wouldn’t miss Him coming!

 

Are There People In Heaven & Hell Right Now? (Questions Teenagers Ask 4.)

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Part four of my series on ‘Questions Teenagers Ask.’ All posts in this series are responses to questions I’ve had from young people written in the style I answered them.

Question: Are There People In Heaven & Hell Right Now – Before Second Coming?

Answer:

Great question! And the answer is yes but no!

I grew up in Blackpool where it had a nightclub called ‘heaven & hell‘ – but it was rubbish and so there’s no-one there right now! (I think it shut down actually.)

Anyway, you’re probably not asking about the nightclub; so is there anyone in the real heaven or hell right now?

If heaven is ‘in the presence of Jesus’ and if it’s ‘paradise’ then deffo! Yup! People are there right now. Jesus turned to the thief on the cross next to Him and said “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise,” (Luke 23:43) – not later, but today.

However, that’s not the whole story; Heaven & Hell ain’t done yet! They’re still brewing.

Heaven is amazing! More amazing than we could ever think of, but it comes in two parts, before the second coming of Jesus and after the second coming.

Before Jesus comes back Heaven’s epic, and it’s paradise, and we’re there with Jesus in some form or another; however it’s just spiritual. After Jesus comes back though, He’ll be stitching a new heaven and new earth together to be the perfect mix of physical and spiritual (have a wander through Revelation 21 & 22 to see this). We even get new amazing new physical bodies (1 Corinthians 15). Heaven will be all the best bits of the physical world and spiritual world clearly mixed together – and more!

Hell too – In a parable in Luke 16, Jesus tells us about people in Hell right now (also see Revelation 21:8 for more evidence of this). However at the second coming it’s sealed once Satan & the demons are chucked into it (Revelation 20:10-15). There’s also an argument to be made for people living in Hell-on-Earth right now needing the salvation that only Jesus can bring.

So yup, people in heaven and hell right now. But nope there is more to come including physical, hot, new bodies when Jesus returns!

Is Self Harm A Sin? (Questions Teenagers Ask 1.)

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Part one of my series on Questions Teenagers Ask. All posts in this series are responses to questions I’ve had from young people written in the style I answered them.

Question: Is Self Harm A Sin?
We’ll start with self harm because, well, it hurts! And we must look at it!

Answer:

This is a difficult one isn’t it? I want to look at this in a clear and reasonably frank way. There sometimes just isn’t time to dance around the edges of such pertinent problems. Hopefully that doesn’t make this read too dispassionately though!

So, is self harm a sin?

If you’re just talking about hurting yourself for the sake of damaging your body then 1 Corinthians 6: 19-20 says “Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies.”  So at simply at the level of ‘damaging your body’ it might be – but then using this logic so is playing rugby… so what’s the issue really?

I’ve known a few people – personal friends and youth group members – who have gone through self harm in one way or another. Self harm includes everything from fixating on negative thoughts, to dieting on coke and curly-wurleys, to passive or active self-inflicted injury, to suicide. It’s not pretty, its not simple and its not fun.

Lets just do some myth-busting to start with:

  • Self harm or injury is rarely attention seeking – a lot of the time no-one hears about it, sometimes the person themselves aren’t even aware that’s what it it
  • Self harm is not a sign of ‘demon possession’ (although it can be)
  • Self harm is not limited to the mentally ill

Some facts:

  • Self harm is really common among 15-19 year olds, and most obviously girls (although lads experience it in different and possibly more ‘acceptable’ ways)
  • Self harm tends to be a way of coping with a deeper problem/issue
  • Self harm can be habitual and deeply addictive. It can even train your body into releasing endorphins – thus continues after the underlying problem is solved

In my experience self harm tends to be motivated by one of two main things:

  1. It distracts away from emotional / mental / situational pain and confusion
  2. It appeases the idea of ‘I deserve to be punished’

Self harm can be accompanied by intense emotional feelings like anger, despair, guilt – or – can be accompanied by a total emotional detachment; feeling like you’re outside your body looking down on yourself. It often follows a serious personal trauma, but can also simply be a progressive response to a whole range of more ‘mundane’ things.

Therefore – It just ain’t one simple thing!

From a Christian perspective I’d say that the things that cause self harm, the depression that accompanies self harm, and the choices we make that lead to self harm will not be in heaven. This means they come – in some way – from sinful nature.

Now sinful nature is not the same as actively ‘sinning.’ The sinful nature is the disease within us we inherited from the fall that disconnects us from God. Sinning is acting on that nature. So because there is a level of choice involved in self harm, it can contain sin, and it does come from a sinful place. I wouldn’t however simply say that ‘self harm is a sin.’ It’s just not that simple! I’d rather say it’s a tragedy that needs God’s grace!

Self harm is obviously not God’s goal for the development of your life. Depression and despair, although definitely part of life, should not consume your life indefinitely. It’s not where God wants you to ultimately dwell. If this is something you or a friend struggles with then you should know that God has a plan for you; ‘for good and not for evil, to prosper and not to harm you’ (Jeremiah 29:11). God passionately loves you and He wants to see you set free from the ties that bind that lead you to harm yourself.

Therefore, what I would say is if you or a friend is struggling with self harm in any form or at any level there are three things you can do.

1st – Spend time with these following truths;
– God loves you unconditionally! You are fearfully and wonderfully made (Psalm 139).
– When you trust in Jesus you are totally and completely not guilty – you are innocent, white, pure, & clean!
– God thinks you are beautiful.
– God has a plan to make you even more beautiful.
– It’s ok to feel despair and depression – and it’s ok to tell God all about it!

2nd – Read through the Psalms. Hear how many of them lament, and mourn, and rant, and pour out pain to God. Use them as your prayers to God. Don’t be afraid or feel guilty to tell God exactly how you feel. Let Him heal you through them.

3rd – Get some help. Like I said, this is more common than you think! There is no shame in admitting to an adult, teacher or counselor that self harm is part of your life. I strongly urge you to do this. Particularly if it has become habitual or addictive and you have no other outlet to deal with your underlying feelings. Please see someone!

Extras – go for long walks, write lots of stuff down, walk-rant-pray, take sharp objects out of your alone spaces, find a good book, watch a good movie, run places, eat lots of veg & drink lots of teas, go to coffee shops to read, spend more time with teddy bears, take up a random sport or language for a week, cut down on sugar, plan for the times you are most at risk of self harming and put something else in it’s place – like freerunning, or coffeeshopping… etc.

Hope this makes some sense.

*If you want to, contact me and I will put you in touch with a local counselor in your area. However please understand that I can’t ‘keep secrets’ and will recommend strongly that you see someone, and may get them to contact you.

Can Demons Cause Sin? (Questions Teenagers Ask 2.)

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Part two of my series on Questions Teenagers Ask. All posts in this series are responses to questions I’ve had from young people written in the style I answered them.

Question: Can Demons Cause Sin?  // Is It Demons Fault When I Sin?

Answer:

Hmmm… great question. I think my answer is:

No, not directly – but they flippin don’t help!

Sin comes from us, pure and simple. We were made in the image of God under His authority and rule. We then decided that we knew better, disobeyed His commands, rebelled against Him and then rejected Him. Sin is the behaviour altering cancer that results.

It goes beyond just rebellion and disobedience. Sin is like a genetic disease, it gets passed down from that original mess-up to every human on the planet. Romans 3:10 says ‘there is no one righteous, not even one.” And we know it don’t we? How many times have we rejected God today? Have we today fallen short of showing Him the proper love & respect? Even the Apostle Paul himself struggled daily with sin: “I try to do good but sin is right there with me” (read Romans 7).

This is why it’s so important to get the virgin Birth right isn’t it? Jesus didn’t have a human father and so He didn’t inherit Sin the same way we do. He then did what those first humans (and us!) just couldn’t do – He lived obeying God. He also went that extra, massive and substitutionary step by dying in our place taking the punishment that we deserve for rejecting God.

But anyway I’m off topic… demons… hmmm. They are not sin themselves and they are not what makes us sin – but like I said they do not help at all! What do they do then? I think they whisper lies to us. They poke and taunt. They tell us all sorts of tempting falsities like, ‘God’s not listening,’ ‘This will be more fun,’ ‘You’re too sinful,’ ‘You’ve got to work harder to get God to like you,’ ‘Its better to be popular,’ ‘You smell bad,’ ‘Live a little’… etc.

Demons are also good at mimicking and playing pretend – they like to pretend to be God, or pretend to be the voice of reason, or our conscience, or the voice of an Angel. They are non of these things. We must continually pray that God’s voice will be clear to us and demon’s voices will be numb to us. We must train ourselves in relationship with God to hear His voice more acutely.

Demons are really not very helpful, but they don’t directly cause us to sin. They do however, use the sin in our own lives against us. We have the loaded gun in our hands; demons try to taunt us into using it.

Sin is always self-destructive and demons love destruction – particularly of those who love God. The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis offers some great, tragic, and hillarious fictional insight into this.

This is probably the best way I can put it: Sin is the heavy weight pushing down on us – and demons are the ones jumping up & down on it, tickling us under the armpits. Little blighters.

Best defense: Keep praying, keep reading God’s Word so you know how to recognize His voice, worship Go every day, and enjoy the delights of being His!

Hasn’t Science Disproved God?

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This is a question that will stick to the heels of your apologetic discussions with students like a hungry dog convinced that you’re hiding a dead pig in your pocket.

Our culture’s scientific zeitgeist is incredibly dogmatic because of a very specific philosophy of science that’s constantly alluded to in our education system.

In the West, science is seen as the ‘ultimate discipline’, the only true way to find verifiable facts. Bertrand Russell famously said, “Science is what we know, Philosophy is what we don’t know.” Putting this in it’s context, he continued with:

“We may say that, on its theoretical side, philosophy consists, at least in part, in the framing of large general hypotheses which science is not yet in a position to test; but when it becomes possible to test the hypotheses they become, if verified, a part of science, and cease to count as “philosophy.”” [Philosphy For The Layman]

Questions of science, he believed, would eventually replace much of philosophy. For instance ‘philosophy of mind’ would become purely psychology, and astrology would become astronomy.

This is the very particular and oddly peculiar context that our young people brew in every day.

The Definition and Limitations Of Science

Science is not religion’s enemy – far from it! Christians should love scientific research and seek it out. We should fund it, support it, read it and worship God in it. Its quest for discovery should lead us deeper into our understanding of God. This is worth nailing to the door from the off!

Science however, does need clearly defining and putting into it’s proper place if we are to step away from the cultish undertones of science in our culture.

If we go back to Russell for a moment we will find that he is passionate about challenging overly dogmatic philosophers who assert too much absolute certainty. He says:

“In order to judge of such attempts, it is necessary to take a survey of human knowledge, and to form an opinion as to its methods and its limitations. On such a subject it would be unwise to pronounce dogmatically.”

I think he is right – but that this also holds true for Science. We need to consider its limitations and methods too.

  1. When we talk about Science, we are actually referring to The Scientific Method (observable, measurable and repeatable experiments with results expressed as ‘the best current hypothesis from the data collected to date’). The best hypothesis from this data once told us that the world was flat, that the sun revolves around the earth, and that humans couldn’t fly (enter Wright Brothers).
  2. Many things we experience daily cannot be explored using The Scientific Method – such as the existence of abstract principles like mathematics or aesthetics; the assertion that you have a separate and independent mind to mine which is located on your person, and not somewhere behind Mars; or the idea that our memories exist, and that the universe isn’t just five minutes old created with the illusion of time.
  3. The Scientific Method is limited to what we can experience with the five senses. If every one of us throughout humanity’s existence was born without the ability to see, what would that do to the idea of colour? It couldn’t categorically deny the existence of varying shades in reality, but we couldn’t prove or even test that hypothesis using The Scientific Method. If our senses form a box around us (or a Cave, courtesy of Plato), then all of our Science is limited to that box too.

Where Has This Come From?

Since the Scientific Revolution, there has been an underlying idea that smart people are science driven, and religious people are somewhat unintelligent or misinformed. This polarisation of worldviews and intelligence is sadly naive.

Considering the limitations of the scientific method, the highly naturalistic (and oftentimes atheistic) worldviews that flow out of it are incredibly faith based. So much everyday experience and phenomena cannot be sustained objectively using science – including the very basis for The Scientific Method itself.

The more recent renaissance in the atheistic agenda within the science worldview can be traced to the New Atheist movement, and most specifically to Richard Dawkins.

Responding To Richard Dawkins et al.

I always feel nervous in Dawkins conversations. On one hand, he is a scientist who hasn’t been involved in published research since the beginning or his career – and he seems to have a very loose grip (at best) on Philosophy, which (in fairness) is not his discipline.

If we are going to say ‘in fairness’ though, we should also point out that he is constantly talking about philosophy and making hugely sweeping and broadly fallacious philosophical statements to back up his – largely indefensible – claims.

On the other hand, though, he is a fantastic communicator and gifted writer who is incredibly good at distilling truths into easily digestible units for the public. As a science populariser, he has been incredibly effective at channeling funds and interest back into the struggling research arenas.

His arrogance and fallacy-ridden approach to questions of theology make me very grumpy(!) – however we need him to keep doing what he’s doing, which makes me feel very conflicted. Research is dependent on funding and public intrigue (far more than it used to be / than I think it should be). Science popularisers, like Dawkins are great PR people for the research effort.

I think Christians tend to use Dawkins as a strawman as his arguments are far too easy to dismantle. This makes us feel very comfortable responding to scientific arguments without knowing the whole lot about science itself.

I’d rather we were able to talk more intelligently about the limitations of The Scientific Method rather than waste our time and credibility taking down a strawman who just doesn’t have the legs for it. We need to make sure we can respond to the best possible versions of the arguments.

All this said, it is Dawkins rhetoric that we often hear in our conversations with young people.

Where Does This Leave Us?

In conversations about science, we should celebrate research and not make ourselves enemies of a fantastic method of finding truth. We don’t want to fall into the stereotype of ‘smart people are scientists, but dumb people are Christians’. Here are five specific takeaways:

  1. We should be armed with knowledge of the limitations of The Scientific Method including a clear definition of what The Scientific Method is.
  2. We should have a strategy of asking epistemological questions that help us to move away from the rhetoric to actual problems with God’s existence.I have a post on this here.
  3. We should gracefully and generously remember that New Atheists like Dawkins are not the best versions of the argument, while holding in tension the rhetoric they have given to culture.
  4. If it’s within our ability and delight to reason, then we should enjoy reading and researching science ourselves and marvel at the wonders of God contained within its grasp.
  5. We should remember that God is not a scientist. A scientist has questions, not answers. A scientist looks for truth but has – at best – hypotheses and theories. God is the creator; He knows all truth, holds all truth and has all truth. God does not hypothesise; He knows and He reveals. We are the scientists. We study, search and inquire, but to be the best scientists, we must pray and listen to the leading of The Holy Spirit and the Word of God.