Monday

An Atheist No More

As I mentioned in my post, An Atheist At Thanksgiving, I think about my grandfather, Thomas Russell Jones, and his atheism at this time of year.
Two of the words on Grandpa's gravestone are scholar, and philosopher. He wasn't either of these in the formal sense, but he was an avid reader of scholarly works in philosophy, religion, and other disciplines.

Most his life was spent without TV, so he read. I have no doubt he read the works of the great philosophical atheist Antony Flew. This saddens me... because Grandpa died long before the publication of Antony Flew's greatest work: There Is A God. A chronicle of perhaps the 20th century's most influential atheist's journey into deism.

I have no doubt Mr. Flew's book would have had a major impact on Grandpa. Unlike many “couch atheists”, grandpa wasn't an atheist because he wanted to be, he said he was an atheist because that's where the evidence led him. There Is A God was written by an insider, and is devastatingly precise in crumbling the evidence supporting atheism.

In memory of my Grandfather, I plan to use some blog space this week to briefly quote Mr. Flew's major points. I begin with, what is for me, the most astounding quote in the book:

"I must say again that the journey to my discovery of the Divine has thus far been a pilgrimage of reason. I have followed the argument where it has led me. And it has led me to accept the existence of a self-existent, immutable, immaterial, omnipotent, and omniscient Being.", [Antony Flew with Roy Abraham Varghese, There is a God]

You can buy the book on Amazon.com. It should go without saying that I still have respectful disagreement with Mr. Flew on a number of points. Thanks to my friend Dr. Pat Briney for first informing me of Antony Flew's conversion to deism. God amazes me.
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3 comments:

  1. Thanks for pointing me to what looks to be a very interesting read...
    btw... also available in ebook format
    http://www.ereader.com/ebooks/b52010/?si=59

    ReplyDelete
  2. You're welcome my friend... I'm sure you'll enjoy it. I have it in Hardback to keep, and digital format for quoting.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Larry:

    I'll be looking forward to the points. Not being an atheist myself, I'm sure it will help me to see some ideas I might use in dealing with atheists. True atheists are few, but God loves 'em just the same. And, I do to. Thanks.

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