Guest Blogger, Dr. Kevin Kinghorn, Associate Professor of Philosophy and Religion at Asbury Theological Center, D.Phil., University of Oxford, The Queen’s College
Sometimes the objection is made that religious hypotheses, unlike scientific hypotheses, aren’t open to verification through observation. The objection goes something like this: “There’s no way ever to show conclusively that Christianity is true or that it’s false. If we’re going to make progress in understanding the world, it would be helpful to stick with theories that can be tested by observation and either conclusively verified or conclusively shown to be false. Otherwise, why should anyone take a non-verifiable theory seriously? If someone wants to claim that God exists, that angels exist, or that any other kind of supernatural stuff exists, then fine. But if the claim could never be verified through observation and induction, why should anyone take it seriously?”
The recent school shooting in Newtown, CT that killed 20 children and 6 adults has left people speechless, angry, confused and wondering where God is in the midst of this. In essence people are wondering, “If there is a God, how can He let something like this happen?” In fact, this is a question atheists pose to theists by arguing that if an all loving, all good, all-powerful God exists, He would not allow things of this nature to occur.
