Can Man Live Without God? Appendix

(Originally Written September 22, 2005 in Book 1)

Can Man Live Without God?
Ravi Zacharias
1994

Appendix A

The theory that there is insufficient evidence for theism contains three logical blunders:

1. The move to atheism by default is not an academically credible switch to make when there are many other choices

2. To state that 'I am an atheist because there isn't enough evidence for theism' implies a logically satisfactory defense of atheism they do not possess. They hold it even though it is logically indefensible while at the same time rejecting theism on the basis that it is logically indefensible.

3. Atheism cannot be defended and that is why it has become a softer version of agnosticism.

Nietzsche may have created an environment for Hitler, but what about the crusades under Christianity?

The difference is that under the philosophy of Nietzsche, Hitler's ideology was permissible. The crusades were a political endeavor that was disguised as an outlet of Christianity. It takes a path starkly different than that of Christ's philosophies.

Appendix B

Rene Descartes (1596-1650)

Believed that "I think, therefore, I am"

Defends the existence of God by stating that the human mind cannot come up with the concept of a perfect mind because a man's mind is imperfect. It therefore must have been placed into the imperfect mind by the perfect mind, which is God.

Defends the existence of God by stating just as a triangle by definition must have three sides, so a necessary being must exist. God is necessary and therefore, He exists.

Descartes reduced God to an innate idea.

David Hume (1711-1776)

Believed knowledge could only be derived by experience.

Anything that transcends a man's finite existence on earth is meaningless. God and creation are therefore not worthy to question about.

Believed that man has no soul

Immanuel Kant (1724-1804)

Attempted a synthesis between empiricism (British philosophy) and rationalism (Continental European philosophy)

Kant's theory of knowledge (summary): Raw material consists of the outside world which is perceived by the senses, but that is inevitably processed by the human brain. It is the mind's perception of the object that we see, not the object in reality.

Soren Kierkegaard (1813-1855)

The individual's ability to choose is of the supreme importance. Choosing God is a 'leap of faith' that affirms God's existence, but recognizes it as an intellectual absurdity.

Three stages of life:
-Aesthetic
-Ethical
-Religious

From Kierkegaard's journal: "The thing is to find a truth which is true for me, to find the idea for which I can live and die". Thus, truth is relative to the individual.

Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900)

Believed everything in life could be reduced to sheer will.

Belief in the superman. Superman was one who realizes the human predicament but who nevertheless creates his own values in the face of anguish or deprivation and can build his life in triumph over it.

Elizabeth (Friedrich's sister) called Hitler the superman

Bertrand Russell (1872-1970)

Concerned himself with dilemmas and argued against God by making the debater against him choose one of his either/or postulates.

His presuppositions were however, wrong.

Jean-Paul Sartre (1905-1980)

A leading exponent of atheistic existentialism

Shifted from existentialism to a version of Marxist sociology later in life.

Sartre's philosophy led to the bloodshed in Cambodia

Man must choose for himself and author his own values.

Argued against the existence of God by stating that man cannot find God by himself.

Possibly disavowed his life's philosophy on his death bed.