If Carl Sagan was the world’s smartest man, shouldn’t he have a compelling argument?
Question:
You ever look at Carl Sagan reasons why he doesn't believe in the Christian God, since he's the world's smartest man he should have a compelling argument? [A link to a video clip of Sagan was then given].
Answer:
"For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are dying, but to us who are saved it is the power of God. For it is written, "I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, I will bring the discernment of the discerning to nothing." Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the lawyer of this world? Hasn't God made foolish the wisdom of this world?" (I Corinthians 1:18-20).
If Carl Sagan was the world's smartest man, perhaps he might manage a compelling argument. But Sagan did a poor job of making an argument in the video clip that you provided. I didn't bother to listen to all of it, I just don't have the time to waste. But the beginning has Sagan arguing that there are other possible ways that the world could have come into being. In particular, he argues that matter and energy could possibly be eternal. He doesn't prove his point. He only asks a series of questions about possibilities. Since he acknowledges that creation by God is a possibility, I found it amusing that he made no attempt to eliminate this possibility.
The problem is that arguing from possibilities doesn't prove a truth. My parents could have found me in a cabbage patch, so does that prove spontaneous generation?
Let's just assume that matter and energy were eternal. The second law of thermodynamics says that entropy increases. That is everything decays to a steady-state where there is no greater or less energy throughout the universe. If matter was eternal, then the system should have been in a steady state of the greatest entropy. That isn't what we see. Therefore, we haven't reached the steady-state yet and matter could not have always existed.
"The queen of the South will rise up in the judgment with the men of this generation and condemn them, for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and indeed a greater than Solomon is here" (Luke 11:31).
Instead of finding faith in self-proclaimed wisdom, put your trust in proven wisdom.
