The folly of determinism

The other day I heard a Professor of Stanford University, interviewed on BBC’s Radio 4 Today programme, putting forward the notion that everything in the universe is determined, and there is no freedom really. This is the logical outcome when the presupposition of atheistic scientific materialism is accepted: everything comes down to the haphazard movement of atoms of matter since the original Big Bang.

Being interviewed, the Professor frankly acknowledged how “dismal” this seems, when you come to assessing your own life and realise “there’s no ‘Me’ in there”. The interviewer, normally very astute in dealing with current affairs, oddly failed to ask the obvious question that would have unsettled the American author: “What do you yourself think and feel about this philosophy of yours?”

Such a question would reveal the inherent contradiction between the Professor’s thesis and his daily reality. It is impossible to really live in accordance with such a vision of things, which demonstrates the utter stupidity of determinism as a philosophy about real life. No one can, nor does, live according to such a theory. Why did the Professor write his books? Was he determined to do it?? Or what does he make of counter-arguments that propose that a man is free, for example, to execute his writing projects or organise his career moves according to his own best interests?

Determinism is a self-defeating philosophy with no leg to stand on. However profound and sophisticated may be the wording of the author’s thesis, it remains unbelievable because it is unliveable. Even the Professor admits it is “dismal”, but in fact he lives out a lifestyle in his professional sphere in a way that negates his own materialistic atheism.

No wonder atheism is losing steam these days: materialistic scientific atheism reduces man to irrational stuff, logically undermining the value of his reason; so in atheism itself there is a systemic contradiction in its epistemology. It is an unbelievable faith-system!

The biblical account of man’s creation in the likeness of an intelligent, wise and rational God, on the other hand, is a solid foundation – indeed, the only possible foundation – for man’s personality and his rationality – to say nothing of his freedom. The evidence for God as Creator and Saviour is set forth for all to check out in the Bible, notably in the life, teachings, death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. He was living and walking around Palestine as a young man exactly 2,000 years ago, and the positive influence of his ministry has improved the world more than any other historic person.

Those who hold to determinism would do well to ponder Jesus’ famous statement: “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free”. In the context Jesus teaches we are all “slaves” – not to our genes or to fate or to our circumstances: “I tell you the truth,” he says, “everyone who sins is a slave to sin… but … if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed” (John 8.31-36). 

Though we are thus “slaves”, we are not caught inexorably in a hopeless determinism. Millions throughout the world can testify how Jesus delivered them from the grip of addictions, whether to drugs, alcohol, pornography, lying, bitterness, hatred… Still today, the risen Christ sets people free.

Clive Every-Clayton