Unpin
← All Episodes Episode 44 of 50

The Atheists' God of the Gaps

Allah's Peace and Mercy be upon you What leads scientists —distinguished in their fields— to utter the most ridiculous and comical statements about the universe and life? We will find out today as we discuss 3 statements that reflect errors in the thinking process: 1. A theory is the most widely accepted scientific explanation within the scientific community 2. One cannot reject the theory of evolution until an alternative is found 3. Saying Allah created all beings is not a scientific answer; it's a "god of the gaps" explanation We promised you in the introduction of our episodes on the evolution myth that they'd be methodical to organize your thinking process Today's episode is a special example as you'll see So, stay tuned "It is very hot today... extremely hot!" "But, there is no sun." "Come on, it is right there. I can't even look at it and I am sweating profusely because of it!" "It isn't the sun. Let's exclude the possibility that it's the sun." "What is it then?!" "It's either an optical illusion or we are under the influence of hallucinogens which makes us think that the sun is up. We didn't take any hallucinogens so the remaining possibility is that it's an optical illusion My theory is that what we see is an optical illusion; this is the most acceptable scientific explanation." This is the story of: "the most acceptable scientific explanation" ...after ruling out the only true explanation leaving only a few absurdities for you to choose from It's said that: "The theory of evolution is the best theory to explain living organisms as it's the most widely accepted within scientific communities." Widely acceptable by whom? By scientists! Which 'scientists'? Those who ruled out the only true explanation in advance then tried to find any other explanation for the universe and life?! This is clearly stated by the evolutionary professor of biochemistry Franklin Harold On page 205 of his book: "The Way of the Cell" Harold says: "We should reject, as a matter of principle, the substitution of intelligent design for the dialogue of chance and necessity; but we must concede that there are currently no detailed Darwinian accounts of the evolution of any biochemical or cellular system, only a variety of wishful speculations." Remember that we don't use the term: Intelligent Design. Rather, we believe in an Unseen All-Knowing Intending Doer Such an explanation is rejected in principle by Harold and other evolutionists They reject it in advance and close their minds to it; from the start Do not explain the sun as a sun!! This is despite the fact that —in his book— Harold expresses their inescapable confusion. On page 245, he says: "Cell components as we know them are so thoroughly integrated that one can scarcely imagine how any one function could have arisen in the absence of the others. Genetic information can only be replicated and read out with the aid of enzyme proteins, which are themselves specified by those same genes. Energy is harnessed by means of enzymes, whose production requires energy input." Harold is describing the absurdity of the idea that a cell can form slowly by gradual evolution; through blind natural selection How is DNA replicated to produce multiple cells in an organism and read out to produce proteins? Through enzymes How did these enzymes come about? Through DNA transcription Which one came first then? How can randomness and chance extract one from the other? It is not possible! One cannot form without the other Let's set aside this dilemma How were these enzymes formed? It requires energy How did this energy come about? Through enzymes Such are the body systems: integrated and interdependent without any apparent starting point or keystone for evolutionary randomness and blindness to work on For example, imagine that the instructions for making a computer are saved on a CD The problem is that —without a computer— it is not possible to read the CD; to begin with In the conclusion of his book Harold says: "It would be agreeable to conclude this book with a cheery fanfare about science closing in, slowly but surely, on the ultimate mystery; but the time for rosy rhetoric is not yet at hand. The origin of life appears to me as incomprehensible as ever, a matter for wonder not for explication." Harold asserts again and again that it is not a matter of time and that, apparently, it can't be explained in the context of evolution Despite all of this the existence of a creator outside the tangible materialistic framework must be ruled out Why? Because Harold is committed to the material interpretation of the universe as he says on page 190: "Let me, therefore, state unambiguously that I, like the vast majority of contemporary scientists, see the living world as wholly the product of natural causes." So, this is the whole story! A conflict occurred centuries ago in the Western world between distorted religion and empirical science Between, on the one hand, the Church —with its illogical views about the Unseen and the mythology it wants to impose— and on the other hand, science which is viewed as a tangible description of reality Westerners were caught up in this conflict They could have searched for a sound system for life without such contradictions; which we believe is the Islamic system as we'll prove in the Journey of Certainty, Allah willing They could have taken an objective look at Islam; whose sources remained pure and free from contradiction between a sound mind and authentic Revelation from Allah and Hadith of His Messenger; without any conflict between sensory observation and experimentation and authentic Revelation; as it all comes from Allah "...had it been from anyone other than Allah, they would have found in it, many inconsistencies." (Quran Translated Meaning 4:82) Authentic testimony (including Revelation), the mind, and observation are sources of knowledge They work in harmony; geared to reach truthful knowledge Ilm (knowledge) in the Islamic context includes all these sources However for most Westerners embracing Islam wasn't even an option as they had a major psychological barrier to Islam and their leaders blocked their path to it From this, they embarked on their (still ongoing) journey of diaspora and errors. They decided to sanctify science based on sensory observation and experimentation and consider it the only source of knowledge and abandon religion altogether; rejecting it as a reliable source of knowledge or restricting it to an emotional choice; unrelated to science Accordingly, explanations for all universal phenomenon must be material explanations developed by the senses: I.e. observation or experimentation After that, you can believe what you want about the Unseen as long as you don't mix the two together With such psychological problems many Western scientists ventured through the universe to explain it; applying the "Either/Or fallacy" i.e. reducing the choices to only two: both of which are false They did not accept Christian theology in teaching rooms so, their only other choice became a materialistic interpretation "Get intelligent design in schools today and we can have school prayers tomorrow." They completely ignored the only correct explanation: That organisms must have an All-Knowing Creator with Perfect Attributes; free from distortions These are the 'scientists' who give the seal of approval for a theory so that it can then be called: "the most widely accepted interpretation in the scientific community." The correct ending to their statement is: "in the community that rejects the only valid explanation in advance." And then: "...what is there beyond the truth except falsehood?..." (QTM 10:32) Do you want to better understand their psyche? Read the words of Professor Richard Lewontin: mathematician, geneticist, evolutionary biologist, and author of "Biology as Ideology: The Doctrine of DNA" You'll be shocked at his frankness! I checked and double-checked the authenticity of this quote As usual, I include the links to enable you to review and verify Richard Lewontin said in his 1997 article: "Billions and Billions of Demons" published on "The New York Review of Books" website "Our willingness to accept scientific claims that are against common sense is the key to an understanding of the real struggle between science and the supernatural. We take the side of science in spite of the patent absurdity of some of its constructs, in spite of its failure to fulfill many of its extravagant promises of health and life, in spite of the tolerance of the scientific community for unsubstantiated just-so stories, because we have a prior commitment: a commitment to materialism. It is not that the methods and institutions of science somehow compel us to accept a material explanation of the phenomenal world, but, on the contrary, that we are forced by our a priori adherence to material causes to create an apparatus of investigation and a set of concepts that produce material explanations, no matter how counter-intuitive, no matter how mystifying to the uninitiated. Moreover, that materialism is absolute, for we cannot allow for a Divine Foot in the door." "for we cannot allow a Divine Foot in the door!" Dear viewers, we've seen examples of absurd explanations that contradict with rational axioms in previous episodes; the last two in particular Now we can add a new joke from the evolutionists to the list The evolutionary professor George Gamow suggested a mechanism for breast milk formation in mammals In his biology book, he says: "But incidentally the young of these reptiles began to lick the sweat of the mother for nourishment. Certain sweat glands began to secrete a richer and richer secretion, which eventually became milk." So, according to Gamow the sweat which gets rid of body waste transformed by the frequent licking of its glands into whole-food milk containing a wide range of proteins, antibodies, sugars, vitamins, etc. This is corroborated by a 'scientific' paper published in 2012 which suggests that mammary glands evolved from apocrine-like glands This is not an obscure paper; but a frequently cited one! Isn't this an absurd explanation? "What's the problem? We told you in advance that we were ready to accept absurd interpretations in order to preserve our sacred absolute materialism." Dear viewer Would you like another example? "Nature" in 1999 published a paper by Dr. Todd stating: "Most important, it should be made clear in the classroom that science, including evolution, has not disproved God's existence because it cannot be allowed to consider it (presumably). Even if all the data point to an intelligent designer, such a hypothesis is excluded from science because it is not naturalistic." After all this read the definition of a scientific theory according to the National Academy of Sciences in the United States: "Theory: a well-substantiated explanation of some aspect of the natural world that can incorporate facts, laws, inferences, and tested hypotheses." Add to this definition: "strictly within the materialist framework with an absolute requirement to rule out the existence of a Creator regardless of the resultant absurdity, irrationality, and violation of basic axioms." Here, you may get confused and say: "Isn't explaining scientific phenomena with the existence of the Creator considered 'God of the Gaps'?" Definitely not! What is the idea behind God of the Gaps? It is a relic from the altered Middle Age religions Someone gets ill. Why did he get ill? God made him ill God might be angry with him for mocking the church! Then, the microscope was invented and we saw the microbes and learned that they were the cause of illness You had a knowledge gap (of not knowing the cause of illness) which you closed by saying: "God did it!" Thus, a conflict occurred between the interpretations that say: God did it and those based on experimental science In Islam we have no such conflict Allah decrees illness upon us; but this doesn't mean that illness has no material reasons In fact, these reasons are acknowledged in Islam, as are the precautions to prevent the illness. The Prophet (Peace & Blessings be upon him) said: “Cover up the containers, and fasten the water-skin nozzles,” (Muslim) to prevent food and drink from becoming disease-ridden Microscopes were later invented and microbes discovered Did this change anything in our faith? Nothing! Except to increase it when we saw that microbes with such efficient and precise composition must have a Creator The sound mind (a source of knowledge) necessitates this The discovery of microbes did not replace faith in the Creator as the idiocy of atheism supposes Illness happens and Allah cures "And when I am ill, it is He Who cures me"(QTM 26:80) Does this mean that there are no means to recovery that I can use? Of course not! "...From their bellies comes out a drink of diverse colors, wherein is a cure for mankind..." (QTM 16:69) The Prophet (Peace & Blessings be upon him) was asked: “Oh Messenger of Allah should we seek medical treatment?" He replied: "Seek treatment, for Allah has not made a disease without creating a remedy for it with the exception of one disease: old age." (Abu Dawud) Rain is formed by the sun which causes water to evaporate. Then it condenses at low temperatures in the upper layers of the atmosphere Wind carries it and rain eventually falls This is all tangible science At the same time, the sun and sea must have a Creator; the laws of evaporation, condensation at certain temperatures, compression, and retraction to drive wind must all have a Creator; for laws cannot act on their own Rather, laws describe the effects of a Deliberate Doer Who decrees that things happen the way they do These are all mental necessities and the mind is a source of knowledge The story is thus complete without any conflict between, mind, observation, and experimentation Therefore: 1) Scientific phenomena must have a Creator 2) This Creator set means for phenomena to happen These two facts result from employing the mind and innate nature to explain things that fall under observation and experimentation; even though the Creator Himself cannot be observed The problem lies in the minds of those who create a conflict between these two facts It's not an issue in our religion praise be to Allah Furthermore, when the Creator tells us that He sends down water as mercy or retribution, it doesn't mean the abolition of material causes Rather, it was sent down through these causes as mercy or retribution There are two questions with regards to living organisms: First: Must they have a Creator? Second: How did the Creator create them? As for the first question we've proven —starting with episode 13 of The Journey of Certainty— that the answer is yes They must have a Creator Who created them with Intent and Will and that they were not formed by chance or randomness This is a mental necessity! The second question: How did the Creator create them? As they are, all at once? Or by transforming one to the other? Here, you may use your senses and observation to drawing up hypothetical scenarios of what happened at the beginning of time without any way to confirm any hypothesis or delving now into whether this research is useful or not These points will be addressed later, Allah willing What must be made clear now is that the possibilities are open and assumptions can be made as long as they don't oppose the authentic sources of knowledge of mind, observation, authentic narration, and Revelation (whose authenticity has been established) All this comes after we agree on the prerequisite —necessary for each sane person— that organisms must have a Creator i.e. after we stop denying that the sun exists If you bring us a device that we've never seen before; an integrated device with a purpose everyone will be sure that it has a maker who designed and fine-tuned it for a set purpose; beforehand We might disagree on how he/she made it With his hands or a machine? In a factory? Where and when? We may disagree on all this But, what's indisputable to any sane person is that this device has a maker Saying, "If you do not tell me exactly how it was made then you must accept that it was never made in the first place!" is comical ignorance! So, we did not close a gap in knowledge by saying that a Creator exists Instead, we are certain based on the true sources of knowledge that a Creator must exist However, I will tell you where a god of the gaps is evident A god of the gaps is evident when this fact is ruled out When the question: "Who created organisms?" is answered by, "Evolution, random mutations and blind selection." But what do you say about this phenomenon? They reply: "It must also be evolution We will make an amendment to accommodate this phenomenon" until they ended up with gods with various names, as we discussed in the past two episodes Everything becomes a gap to be closed with yet another kind of evolution god A god of the gaps is needed when you ask: "Why doesn't 95% of the genetic material contain genes?" and they respond: "The evolution god did it; by chance and randomness!" "What is the function of this structure in the human body?" "It doesn't have to have a function! Don't bother looking for one As everything came by chance it is no wonder that you see useless organisms and parts everywhere." Thus, the door to exploration gets firmly shut Why explore, when there is no wisdom behind the universe, for us to search for; no purpose for things that we may discover and benefit from? When ill, why search for a cure? The gods of evolution made you ill and since living creatures formed by chance and randomness there is no guarantee that randomness and chance created a cure for the illness. Why search then? Thus, "evolution" prevents progress because it answers every question with: "It's a result of randomness" Westerners did not advance until they discarded this nonsense in practice; even while continuing to pay lip service to it; and until they used the science of those before them who were not polluted by this lunacy While in our religion "Indeed, all things We created with predestination." (QTM 54:49) Hence, we are certain that everything in this universe has a role and that there must be wisdom behind its creation, so we search and benefit Observe the difference between: evolution created, vestigial organs, flaws ...didn't we tell you that it is randomness and chance? and, on the other hand: A Creator must have wisely created it for a purpose and we are actively searching for its function and benefits Compare the two and find out who the god of the gaps truly belongs to From all that, we realize the invalidity of the statement: "You cannot invalidate the theory of evolution until you produce an alternative"; which was a common objection in the comments on previous episodes; one which glorifies ignorance A myth produced by materialism that rejects the only true interpretation, ascends the throne of delusions, and says: "You can't reject me until you produce an alternative as long as this alternative isn't the only true explanation." The myth of evolution is invalid from the start as it gives an irrational answer to the first question: Must all creatures have a creator? The only correct answer to this question is: Yes, they must have a Creator! Once we agree on this answer the second question: How did the Creator create them? can be addressed with different hypotheses: He created them as they are or transformed one to another then discuss the pros and cons of each hypothesis However, whether we propose a hypothesis or not it has nothing to do with the invalidity of the evolution myth because of its false answer to the first question Therefore, dear viewers to recap our thoughts we can add —to the list of logical fallacies used to promote myths— fallacy #13: The Either/Or fallacy The fallacy of restricting the choice to two options, both of which are false Either a distorted religion that contradicts mind and Ilm or ridiculous interpretations that contradict mind and Ilm while ignoring the only true explanation: that this universe has a Creator described appropriately in an authentic religion and that He created everything with Wisdom and Intention The important question remains: Do the Western 'scientists' who declare their commitment to materialism truly commit to it? Do they really leave out the Unseen from their interpretations? Does pure materialism really exist? And, can it be used in scientific fields? Or will we find what Allah ordained: that whoever denies the truth is in total loss unable to safeguard his mind, innate nature, testimony, or observation We will answer this next episode Allah willing, so stay tuned! Peace and mercy of Allah be upon you
Up Next →
Has Materialism Hijacked Science
Ep #45 · 39 min