Thoughtfully, Sir Francis Bacon observed, “a little philosophy inclineth man’s mind to atheist, but depth in philosophy bringeth men’s minds about to religion.” Reality, truth and knowledge can not be satisfactorily explained by naturalism. None-the-less non-naturalism can not adequately explain reality, truth and knowledge, either. While Karl Marx’s dialectical materialism and naturalism are not the same, they are similar. The Bible, which is the basis for the Christian worldview covers philosophy better than any other worldview. Philosophy appears in the world and is vital for explaining life and what it means.
Naturalism can not explain fully reality, truth and knowledge. Naturalists of the secular humanist thinking believe that all of reality is composed of matter and only matter. Only what can be seen. When something happens, it is explained by natural causes, because there is no supernatural. The existence of God, the creator is denied, preferring the idea that eternal matter spontaneously generated life, which science has never successfully proven. The complex human mind evolved into its present state through billions of years by accident; therefore logic and reasoning happen by accident. Going just by what can be seen, there is no logic, as it can not be proven by science. All that can be known must be proven by science or it is wrong and does not exist. Surprisingly, not even numbers exist. When this world was created, no one was there; consequently, creation can not be proven by science either with or without a creator. The accidental earth’s complexity is greater than anything humans have purposefully accomplished. The earth can not be an accident. According to Naturalism, there is absolutely no absolute truth; but would not that be an absolute truth? Naturalism can not provide sufficient explanations for philosophy including: truth, knowledge and reality.
Naturalism can not explain reality, truth and knowledge, but neither can non-naturalism. Non-naturalism is the belief of the Cosmic Humanist that everything is a part of God and in essence, spiritual, while the physical world is just a figment of the imagination. In short, everyone is god, just “find” the god-force within first. Truth is anything that feels like truth, and if it feels like truth it is. Taking math test, someone studies that last question: two plus two, and according to the teacher the answer IS four, but for some reason the student feels like twenty-three and a half is the answer. It felt right. The student is not correct. If all truth is, one person’s opinion, then all would be in an uproar. Joseph Stalin, who was know as the bloody butcher, did what “felt” right, and killed about twenty-five million, Lenin killed about two or three million. Were these cruel deaths just an illusion? Was this evil or just an illusion? If it were possible to ask the people who died, they would not say it was an illusion. So that is truth? For non-naturalist, truth is emotive rather then descriptive. There is no need to go to school for all you have to do is “tap” into your inner self and find knowledge. Jack Underhill explains what would happen if everyone in the world were to connect with his own godhood, “They can turn off the sun and turn it back on. They can freeze oceans into ice, turn the air into gold, talk as one with no movement or sound. They can fly without wings love without pain, cure with no more than a thought or a smile. They can make the earth go backwards or bounce up and down, crack it in half or shift it around. There is nothing they can not do.” So, if every human connected with his god then they could make it so that physically life could not exist. If the earth was moved even an inch or two out of its orbit, no life could exist at all, for gravity would become either to strong or too weak, so humans would be crushed or they would just fly of into space. Ultimate reality is not material, but spiritual; therefore the philosophy of non-naturalism can not give a constant account about the basics of life.
There is a difference between secular humanist naturalism and Marx’s Dialectical materialism. Both naturalism and Marx’s dialectical materialism are atheistic, which deny the existence of God so that whatever exists must be explained by natural causes. Dialectical Materialism is the belief that in everything there is a thesis and an antithesis, which must inevitably clash. The result of the struggle is that the thesis and antithesis merge and becomes a synthesis, which is stronger, and then it attracts another antithesis and the process is repeated. Naturalism on the other hand according to Corliss Lamont “…considers man’s supreme aim as working for the welfare and progress of all humanity in this one and only life…” Dialectical materialist then would believe that to improve humans driving their cars there must be a clash to improve and it must become a complete new way of driving a car, while naturalism on the other hand will work together to improve what is already there. While secular humanist naturalism and Marx’s dialectical materialism are similar they clash mightily in an important area.
The Bible states that metaphysical dualism is the philosophy that Christians believe. Metaphysical dualism contends that the body is material in the substance while the mind is immaterial. Reality is physical and spiritual. The Christian view of metaphysics is clearly showed in scripture: John 1:1-4 states “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men.” A supernatural God created a physical world. Stephen D. Schwarz quoted four particular scientific discoveries that support the conclusion that God exist: The second Law of thermodynamics (which is that is earth is running out of some imperative materials), the impossibility of spontaneous generation of life from non-life (proved by Pasteur over one hundred and fifty years ago), genetic information theory (which postulates the complex life, found in DNA, comes from a mind, not by chance), and the Anthropic principle (that the earth and the universe are made just for life to exist). Already spontaneous generation is making a stand after being proven wrong, the only change is the fact that it is now from chemicals instead of non-life. If it was proven wrong one hundred and fifty years ago, after belief for almost two thousand years and proven wrong again and again, would that not be enough to say that is not so, but yet it is being used against the Christian belief. Not only is philosophy covered in the Bible, but it has more evidence to prove and back it up than the philosophy of other worldviews.
Philosophy is the study of the laws that regulate the universe and underline all knowledge and reality. Included in the study are aesthetics, ethics, logic and metaphysics. Naturalism inadequately describes truth, knowledge and reality. Non-naturalism can not portray the basis of life, which are reality, truth and knowledge. There are multiple similarities between naturalism and Karl Marx’s dialectical materialism, but they disagree in various areas as well. Metaphysical dualism is the basis of Christian philosophy according to the Bible. What are knowledge, reality, truth, the mind, and matter, and is there a supernatural being in control? These are some of the questions that all worldviews must adequately answer.
