Better than God?
| by | Kyle Butt, M.A. |
On February 13, 1989, John Morris and Frank Zindler met together for a one-hour debate over the Flood of Noah. John Morris affirmed that there was a global flood as the Bible records; atheist Frank Zindler denied that such was the case. Dick Wolfsie hosted the debate for the NBC affiliate channel 13 in Indianapolis, Indiana. The debate was heated, to say the least, and bounced around to various topics including fossilization, DNA similarities between humans and animals, geological formations, and a host of other subjects.
During the debate, Zindler made a very shocking and telling statement regarding God. In their discussion of DNA, John Morris accused Zindler of claiming to have the mind of God, or be as smart as God. In reply, Zindler said: “Well, I'm better than god. If I couldn’t do better than god, John, I wouldn’t be on this show...god can’t do anything” (emp. added). Seconds later, Morris said: “What you’re saying is that if you were god, you’d have done a better job!” And Zindler replied: “Well, I certainly would!” (Zindler, 2004). These statements made by Zindler speak for themselves. Of interest is the fact that the American Atheists, Inc. have proudly posted this debate on their Web site, which would seem to indicate that they endorse Zindler’s comments.
Boiling this down, Zindler and the American Atheists society believe that they could have created a better Universe than the one created by God. Now that is interesting. It truly amazes me that many educated men and women, such as Zindler and others associated with the American Atheists, do not recognize the limitations of the human mind. While humans are extremely intelligent, millions of basic structures in the Universe still elude our most diligent experts. For example, atoms—the intricate workings of the building blocks of matter—are still very much a mystery to our most educated scientists. In addition, scientists have been studying the “simple cell” for decades, and still do not have a grasp on all of its functions. Our most brilliant minds have been working for at least half a century in an attempt to synthesize life, but to no avail. DNA codes information biochemically—a process that we never have been able to master. We humans do not even completely understand our own brains. In summary, we cannot code information chemically, we cannot create life, and we do not fully understand the most basic building blocks of matter or life—yet some among us think they could do a better job with this Universe than God!
This human arrogance is nothing new. The prophet Ezekiel was sent to the prince of Tyre with this message from God: “[Y]our heart is lifted up, and you say, ‘I am a god, I sit in the seat of gods, In the midst of the seas,’ yet you are a man, and not a god….” (Ezekiel 28:1). For millennia, we humans have wanted to think that we are the pinnacle of intelligence. But, truth be told, we are not. We are frail creatures created by the omniscient God, designed with the ability to recognize His activity in the Universe, but often too stubborn or too arrogant to allow the evidence to penetrate.
Make no mistake, should the Lord delay His return, Zindler and the American Atheists who have endorsed his material will go to their graves, as will the rest of us, having never unlocked most of the mysteries of this Universe. Others will rise up after them, just as they have after the prince of Tyre, and claim that they can “do better than God.” But God’s work cannot be improved upon. As He told those during the time of Isaiah: “ ‘My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways,’ says the Lord. ‘For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts’ ” (Isaiah 55:8-9).