Steve Hinrichs Rational Site with a Meaningful Purpose
http://home.roadrunner.com/~rrr33/homepage.html (revised 12/2008)
The goal of the Steve Hinrichs web page is to present in an accurate and concise manner the best arguments for and against the position that there is a meaningful explanation for humans because a genuine investigation involves studying the best rational arguments for and against all the different possible hypothesis.
Rational Reasoning for Reality explains that proof by elimination is a key logical concept used to rationally determine the truth about reality. The Steve Hinrichs Rational Site presents Steve Hinrichs' rational evaluation of issues related to determining if there really is a meaningful explanation for humans. Also, external links are provided for further study.
Who am I?
What caused me to exist, what am I and where am I going are simple questions which have led to a study which results I briefly summarize in several articles that I've made available through this homepage.
It is apparent to me that I am built with a desire for a meaningful explanation for my life. Some critical scientist will claim this is just a personal bias; however, science is suppose to be guided by observation. If there is anything such as a honest observation about the personal nature of myself, it is that I have an interest in a meaningful explanation for my life. If one finds a key hole (interest for purpose), it is natural to search for the complimentary feature, a key (purpose) that fits the lock. Finding such a key should allow one to open the door to discover what is the purpose for humans. Also, it is apparent to me that many other people have a similar interest so I have made my articles available in case they are interested in reading them over.
Section 1 of Apologetics Summary for the Bible shows that the natural world cannot on it's own provide a meaningful explanation for humans; thus, it is natural to investigate if there is evidence for the super natural to see if there is a plan or purpose for humans. A rational method for such an investigation is proposed in Rational Methodology for Identifying Supernatural Intervention. This approach is conservative and falsifiable. It makes use of the key logical concept used to determine the truth about reality (whether natural or supernatural), proof by elimination, so I would think scientist would appreciate it.
Can chance and natural necessity completely explain the origin of life and the universe?
The universe started with a Big Bang and out of it fell quite an array of stars and planets with our Earth just happening to be well suited for life. Does this appeared to be planned or just happened by chance? This is investigated in Universal Design.
Some evolutionist claim that their theory along with the impersonal natural laws completely explain the existence of humans. Since evolution theory claims that all new information originated by chance, this claim obviously has great bearing on the questions that I raised at the beginning of this page. The great complexity of life raises the question if it could have all evolved by chance. The scientific community has extensively studied the origin of life issue and most scientist propose that based upon fossils in the geological record all life is related by common ancestors which developed by a process of chance and natural necessity. This proposal is shown on Tree of Life and the arguments for it are very well summarized in Talk.Origins Archive. Natural selection is completely dependent upon chance or the intervention of intelligence for providing the new life forms on which it acts upon. The following articles claim that just chance cannot completely explain the origination of the information on which these new life forms are based.
In Probability of Abiogenesis the probability of obtaining something like the first cell which is a crucial step in the proposed evolutionary process is investigated. This article described the great problems of such a life forming out of a primordial soup. The best attempts of evolutionist to explain such a process are also presented so you can see for yourself if such a belief is scientifically justified. Read this article and found out why Frances Crick the Nobel prize winner and discover of DNA stated, "An honest man, armed with all the knowledge available to us now, could only state that in some sense, the origin of life appears at the moment to be almost a miracle".
Darwin stated in Ref. 2. "If it could be demonstrated that any complex organ existed which could not possible been formed by numerous, successive, slight modifications, my theory (Natural Selection) would absolutely break down." This is appropriate since the step by step sequence guided by natural selection is limited to unplanned mutations and copying errors. Since the scientific process is supposed to be one that focuses on falsification, it is appropriate to investigate features of life to see if they fit the description that Darwin defined. Several features about life are submitted in Design Articles as satisfying Darwin's requirement. They include, the blood clotting system, the immune system, the fabrication of the crucial nucleotide AMP and vision.
Rational evidence in Judeo-Christianity for a meaningful purpose?
Is there evidence for a God that has left a message that indicates hopefully a good purpose for humans? In Section 1 of Apologetics Summary for the Bible I propose certain characteristic to look for in trying to answer this question. In Section 2, I submit evidence from the Bible that I propose indicates that these characteristic can be found in the Bible. Section 3 presents evidence that indicates there is reliable information in the Bible. The Bible does has it's difficulties and it is appropriate mention them which I do by reference in Section 4 and briefly deal with some of them. Extensive work has been done by the critics in academia which claim that the Bible was completely fabricated by men. This work is briefly mentioned and dealt with in Section 4.
Messianic prophesies are an important issue concerning the claim that Jesus was the divine Messiah. The most remarkable one is found in Daniel 9:25. Even the critics admit that this the passage is the most convincing prophecy for Christians that Jesus was the divine Messiah. However, the critics claim it is full of problems, well is this the case or are they just avoiding the obvious. Well, you have the opportunity to see for yourself. In Daniel's Messiah in the Critics Den is a comprehensive list of the critics attempts to dismiss the prophecy along with rebuttals. Read and see for yourself.
The apostle Paul states in I Cor. 15:14 "And if Christ be not risen, then our preaching is in vain, and your faith is also in vain." Unlike most religions, Christianity hinges on a proposed historical event. That Jesus died for the sinner, defeated the consequence of sin (physical and spiritual death for humans) and proved it by bodily rising again. Naturally, the critics dismiss the resurrection account by claiming that they were fabricated by the early Christian Church. They attempt to support this view by claiming that the five different resurrection accounts are so contradictory that is impossible to resolve them in a reasonable manner. Is this the case? Well, in Resurrection Puzzle is a reconstruction of the resurrection that is proposed as consistent with the five different accounts. The five different accounts are listed in parallel according to the proposed reconstruction so that the reader can see for themselves if the reconstruction is consistent with these accounts. Also, are listed are the 19 alleged contradictions made by the critics along with rebuttals so that the reader can determine for themselves if these accounts are truly contradictory.
Another interesting point of the resurrection account is the guard listed in the Gospel of Matthew. This remarkable story must be pure fabrication according to the critics because it explains fits well with the idea that Jesus's body arose. However, there are certain features about it that do not fit well with the legend hypothesis. These are explained in the testimony of hostile witnesses concerning the resurrection. By the way the Tabloid story of Jesus being buried in the Talpoit Tomb is not true.
Conclusion
Converge presents a summary of the best rational evidence that I am aware of that there is a God with a meaningful purpose for humans.
Send any further question to S2c2h@aol.com in case I am able to help by providing more discussion or relevant information. Also, please inform me of any broken links. .
Social Issues
Steve Hinrichs Social Page has several articles related to social issues.
References for Steve Hinrichs Homepage
1. Hauer, Young, An Introduction to the Bible, Prentice Hall, 1986
2. Darwin, C., Origin of Species
Links for Further Study
A fair evaluation of any issue involves hearing out the best arguments from the different positions as is theoretically done in the court room. Thus, I provide links to the best criticism of the points I make in my articles.
Debates
Debates are interesting because one can see in a condensed format the key arguments from both sides along with rebuttals. Read the Steve Hinrichs debate on the rationale for indentifying supernatural. Read the Hinrichs the application of this rationale in the Daniel 9 prophecy debate. As far as I am aware, William Craig is the best debater for the existence of God. At his web site, Reasonable Faith in the debate section under "Audio-Visual" are listed many debates. However, you must apply for an account, but the acount is free. The Does God exist? debate is well organized. Also, you can watch his UTube God Existence Debates where Craig argues for a creator who initiated the beginning of the universe and fine tuned it for life. In the UTube Jesus Ressurection Debates Craig argues that an actual resurrection of Jesus well explains the Gospel accounts and early Christian leaders while the legend explanations are not plausible because of reasons typically used in historical investigations such as certain significant features about these things developed while eyewitnesses were still around who could verify or dispute claims about the resurrection.
Evolution
The scientific community has extensively studied the origin of life issue and most scientist propose that based upon fossils in the geological record all life is related by common ancestors which developed by a process of chance and natural necessity. This proposal is shown on Tree of Life and the arguments for it are very well summarized in Talk.Origins Archive. Any other good links can be found through The WWW Virtual Library: Evolution (Biosciences) and Talk.Origins Counterpoints.
Atheism
The arguments against my claims concerning christianity are very well summarized in The Secular Web. These folks think that themselves and Judeo-Christianity are ultimately explained by just chance and natural necessity. They also provide many links.
Christianity
These folks believe that themselves and Judeo-Christianity cannot be completely explained by just chance and natural necessity Dembski's Design Discovery Page, William Craig's Page, Craig's Historical Jesus, Gary Habermas Website, Gary Habermas Links. They also provide many links.
Creation
These folks agree that life and themselves cannot be completely explained by just chance and natural necessity. Access Research Network, Origins, and Reasons To Believe.
Mixed
Professors at Cal State Fullerton that offer a class on dicussing these issues have set up a web page with many links from a variety of different positions.
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