When William Dembski said, “Naturalism is the disease. Intelligent design is the cure,”1 I had never thought of naturalism in those terms. I had always thought of naturalism as a faulty belief system – a wrong worldview. But the more I thought about it, I think that Dembski is absolutely correct. Since naturalism denies the possibility of the supernatural and instead attributes all phenomena to scientific laws, the idea of God becomes irrelevant. Thus, the world becomes self-sufficient and not in need of a creator. But without a creator we face a host of debilitating consequences.
First, we do not have to account for our sins to a creator. According to Dembski, “Naturalism promises to free humanity from the weight of sin by dissolving the very concept of sin.”2 Since we cannot sin against nature we can justify wrong behavior and eat, drink, and be merry, because tomorrow we die. However, peace and joy, which is a by-product of obedience to God, are rarely found by the naturalist.
Second, the strict naturalist, by definition, came into this world by chance, and must give up the comforting belief that life on earth has a purpose. Our naturalist friend is faced with the reality that he came from nothing and when he dies he goes back to nothing and somehow he must cram all the meaning he can in life in between these two states of nothingness. Depression and sleepless nights often can accompany those individuals that take God out of the equation of life.
Third, naturalism leads to all forms of idolatry. For the naturalist, he sets the creation above the creator and worships all types of false gods from sex, to money, to fame, and a host of other idols, that never seem to deliver what they promise. Fleeting happiness is often accompanied by despair as these idols can never deliver real peace and joy.
And finally, whether the naturalist wants to admit it or not, he is on a collision course with death. In fact, he must come to grips that he has a terminal illness from birth – his body will grow old, and soon die. With no hope of an afterlife, and no real idea of why you were born in the first place, if it is only to die shortly thereafter, despair becomes the traveling companion of those who deny there is a God. As a former atheist, I can tell you that life has so much more joy, peace, and meaning, now that I have put the creator in his rightful place – above nature.
1 William A. Dembski, Intelligent Design: The Bridge Between Science & Theology. (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1999), 120.
2 Ibid., 100.
Curt, well said brother… Thanks for the article!