Christian apologist and math academic Professor John Lennox has challenged the views of evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins on the difficulty of ultimate justice.
The two academics have debated in person before, but Lennox quoted Dawkins when addressing the difficulty of suffering, in his latest email circular as President of the Oxford Centre for Christian Apologetics (OCCA).
The Dawkins quotation referenced by Lennox got here from the atheist’s book, “River Out of Eden: A Darwinian View of Life.” – “In a universe of blind physical forces and genetic replication, some individuals are going to get hurt, other individuals are going to get lucky, and you will not find any rhyme or reason in it, nor any justice. The universe that we observe has precisely the properties we must always expect if there may be, at bottom, no design, no purpose, no evil, no good, nothing but pitiless indifference. DNA neither knows nor cares. DNA just is. And we dance to its music.”
Lennox wrote in response that he found himself to be an ethical being and his heart cried out for justice.
“Atheism may appear to supply an answer by removing God from the equation, but in doing so, it removes all hope,” wrote Lennox. “Without God, there isn’t any ultimate justice, no life beyond death. Atheism is a hopeless faith.”
Lennox said he had visited the Nazi concentration camp Auschwitz persistently “and every time I’ve wept.” He understood why people turn into atheists within the face of such suffering. He also concurred that the difficulty of suffering itself is complicated.
The Oxford apologist further said that a cross lay at the guts of Christianity and with it got here “suffering and extreme pain.”
“It could also be difficult to simply accept,” he added, “however the Christian claim is that the person on the cross was God incarnate.”
Lennox queried what God was doing on a cross and opined that it showed the Lord was not distant from our suffering.
“Instead, he has entered into it, becoming a component of it through Jesus Christ, but that is not the ultimate step. Beyond the suffering of the cross, there may be hope. The resurrection of Jesus implies that death is just not the top. That changes all the things.”
A private and poignant illustration was utilized by Lennox to underline his point. His niece, aged 22, died from a brain tumor not long after marrying a youth pastor. Lennox recalled the experience of “profound suffering” for his family but acknowledged, “she held onto her faith in Christ.” The reason being that Jesus “brings hope.”
“He doesn’t guarantee a release from the physical technique of death,” added Lennox, “but what he does guarantee is a salvation that transcends pandemics, transcends brain tumors, transcends death.
“Now atheism cannot offer anything like that.”
