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God vs Science

This is an edited extract from Can Science Explain Everything? by John C Lennox (January 2019). The book is the first of a series in a joint venture with the Oxford Centre for Christian Apologetics, Zacharias Institute, and The Good Book Company. “Surely you can’t be...

Objection Overruled

By William A. Dembski & Sean McDowell This article first appeared in the Christian Research Journal, volume 31, number 5 (2008). For further information or to subscribe to the Christian Research Journal go to: http://www.equip.org. Synopsis The controversy...

A “Sign” of the Times

So sorry rabbi… Recently a friend of mine gave me a short clip out of a local newspaper to read (see below) and asked my opinion about what it said.  My friend knows that I’m a Christian and where I stand on issues of faith, but I think he was trying to get me to see...

Starting a Grassroots Apologetics Ministry

Starting an Apologetic Ministry I had the privilege of speaking with Chris Arnzen of Iron Sharpens Iron Radio about the birth of New York Apologetics and how to start an apologetics ministry.  We know that "unless the Lord builds it, it's laborers labor in vain", so...

Beware the Hebrew Roots Movement

Hebrew Roots is dangerous! In my recent radio interview with Chris Arnzen on the Iron Sharpens Iron Radio Show, I was asked a question about the Hebrew Roots movement.  Although I've heard about the movement and knew some basic information, I promised to post some...

Who was Jesus? | NY Minute

We're using the "Handbook of Apologetics" by Peter Kreeft and Ronald Tacelli to go over the arguments for the existence of God.  Today, we will be covering the above referenced subject in relation to the existence of God. Dr. Kreeft teaches logic in two major...

The Deity of Jesus: the alternative | NY Minute

We're using the "Handbook of Apologetics" by Peter Kreeft and Ronald Tacelli to go over the arguments for the existence of God.  Today, we will be covering the above referenced subject in relation to the existence of God. Dr. Kreeft teaches logic in two major...

Jesus’ Divinity leads to Trustworthiness | NY Minute

We're using the "Handbook of Apologetics" by Peter Kreeft and Ronald Tacelli to go over the arguments for the existence of God.  Today, we will be covering the above referenced subject in relation to the existence of God. Dr. Kreeft teaches logic in two major...

Divinity of Jesus Difficulties | NY Minute

We're using the "Handbook of Apologetics" by Peter Kreeft and Ronald Tacelli to go over the arguments for the existence of God.  Today, we will be covering the above referenced subject in relation to the existence of God. Dr. Kreeft teaches logic in two major...

Evolution: Science Fable, or fact?

This hilarious video on evolution illustrates the absurdity of the Theory of Evolution and the consequences that follow.  On evolution, you have no significant value or meaning.  

One of the goals of Apologetics is to deal with the objections that people have regarding the existence of God. For the last several weeks, we have been listing some of these objections and the arguments that address them. Here is how Norm Geisler addresses the issue of God being an illusion:

 

An Illusion. Sigmund Freud insisted that God is an illusion—something we wish to be true but have no basis for believing, beyond our wish.  His apparent reasoning:

1. An illusion is something based only in wish but not in reality.

2. The belief in God has the characteristics of an illusion.

3. Therefore, belief in God is a wish not based in reality.

Of course, in this form the theist challenges the minor premise. Not all who believe in God do so simply because they wish for a Cosmic Comforter. Some find God because they thirst for reality; others because they are interested in truth, rather than feeling good. God is not only a comforting Father; he is also a Judge who punishes. Christians believe in hell, and yet no one really wishes this to be true. Freud, in fact, may have it backwards: perhaps our image of earthly fathers is patterned after God, rather than the reverse. Certainly the desire for God is not the only basis for believing that God exists (see God, Evidence for). Freud’s argument would, at best, apply only to those who had no other basis than their own wish that God exists.

What is more, the reality of God’s existence is independent of the reasons people do or do not wish him to exist. Either God does not exist or he does. Desires cannot draw the truth an inch either way. Freud’s disbelief might itself be an illusion, based on his own desire not to follow God and obey God (cf. Ps. 14:1; Rom. 1:18–32).

Geisler, N. L. (1999). In Baker encyclopedia of Christian apologetics (p. 293). Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books.

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