Apologetics
The Folly of New Atheism: Verificationism
“For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities--all things have been created through Him and for Him. “ Colossians 1:16
If anyone is familiar with new atheism, even faintly, they know that one of their perpetual criticisms of Christianity and religion in general is that we believe in the existence of that which we cannot lay hold of by sense experience. Put simply, they object to our beliefs in things we cannot see such as God, angels, demons, miracles, etc. The supernatural they say cannot be a valid mode of explanation for anything because it is undetectable using the five senses. If a belief, assertion, or claim is not scientifically verifiable, or is capable of empirical means of testing, than it must be, as 18th century philosopher David Hume purported, committed to the flames for it is sophistry and illusion. That is verificationism.
This piece will not be extensive because contrary to new atheistic apologetics, this is remarkably easy to refute, and believers need not fear verificationism or be intimidated by it. In truth, this argument, no matter who employs it--whether they be a scholar or a layman--is never approached with any measure of rigor or intellectual density, because if it were, the people who parrot it would recognize immediately the flagrant defects it possesses. Once you begin to discover exactly what it is claiming, it will actually inspire laughter and mockery.
Two central difficulties confront verificationism, and the first of these is the accepted, and obviously axiomatic reality that a plethora of things that we, including the atheists, believe in and thus take for granted that are not detectable by sense experience, nor can they be proven scientifically.
Moral values are not accessible through sense experience, nor or they demonstrable in any lab. You can’t see, feel, touch, taste, or smell morality, yet everyone, with the exception of a handful of lunatics, believes it exists. Morality is not physical, it is metaphysical. We all take moral values as self-evident, even though their existence is not anything the scientific method can access.
Mathematics and logic, which are the linchpins of the scientific method, cannot be proven through sense experience. Propositions and numbers cannot be seen, or felt or placed into a test tube--they are abstract entities existing apart from the physical world, yet we all take for granted their existence and validity.
The next time an atheist jeers because you profess to believe in the unseen world, ask them to prove scientifically and empirically that they have a mind. Request that they present to you this mind--ask them politely to produce their thoughts, to prove its existence empirically. The existence of other minds besides one’s own is another metaphysical reality which cannot be annexed by sense experience. Unless you take it for granted that other minds exist, that other homosapiens are capable of thinking processes that are abstract, you have no reason to believe that anything you or they say is any more than audible random gibberish generated by brute cerebral processes and erratic chemical conglomerations.
Verificationism also is unable to confirm the reality of the past. There is no scientific means of proving that the past is an illusion; that the universe wasn’t created an hour ago with the appearance of age, and that all of our memories and historical record were not implanted to deceive us into thinking a past once existed. Although such a notion to us is obviously ridiculous, sense experience cannot prove otherwise.
Lastly, but certainly not completely, verificationism cannot prove aesthetic claims. Science can’t tell you why we think a sunset is beautiful, or why we regard certain physical archetypes of men and women as “gorgeous” or “handsome”. It has no place in aesthetics whatsoever.
The second difficulty is obvious, or at least it ought to be: verificationism is self-refuting. The statement “ Whatever is to be regarded as valid or assumed as truth must be shown empirically or proved scientifically” itself cannot be proved empirically. It fails to meet its own criteria because all statements by nature are metaphysical and abstract. . Statements are concepts representing some form of physical reality that are not verifiable empirically.
That means David Hume’s statement about all things bearing the requirement of evaluation by sense experience must itself be committed to the flames, and deemed sophistry and illusion. And moreover, if atheists really grasped the presumption of this sort of theory of knowledge, they would conclude that all statements, about anything, made by anyone, would be invalid because they couldn’t be proven empirically. This would include all of their assertions about faith and religion, and all of their braggadocio about unbelief being the residual fortress of reason and rationality. No truth concerning anything could be validated since the determinations of truth require making a statement . All of science, all of historical investigation, all of philosophy, and everything else would be deemed inoperative and baseless. This is why verificationism is so utterly hilarious.
So believers need not sweat when being pressed about our beliefs in the unseen or unfelt. We can always point to those things metaphysical that the unbeliever couldn’t possibly prove via sense experience, and like us, take entirely by faith.
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