Antony Flew: The Existence and Belief of God
How can I start this paper? Hmmmm ..??? Let's begin with the parable. Antony
Flew starts off his speech by telling the audience this story of two explorers
that accidentally came upon a garden in a jungle. In this garden, there were
many beautiful flowers and weeds. One explorer says, "some gardener must tend
this plot". While the other disagrees, "there is no gardener". So, these two
explorers tried to figure out who was right and who was wrong. They waited the
whole night, but no gardener was ever seen. Then the "Believer" said that there
must be a gardener, that he "is an invisible gardener". He tried everything he
could to convince to the "Sceptic" that he was right, barbed-wire, electrifying
fence, patrolling bloodhounds. But no gardener was ever found. Still the
"Believer" was not convinced. He gave the "Sceptic" many excuses as to why they
couldn't see the gardener. The "Sceptic" told him that he was crazy because
what started out as a simple assertion that there was a gardener, turned into
"an imaginary gardener".
This parable that Flew is using is clearly an analogy to the existence
and belief of God. The garden represents God, " invisible, intangible,
insensible ". The "Sceptic" says there is no gardener, just as an atheist
denies the existence God. The "Believer" says there is a gardener, like a
theist telling everyone that God exists. The "Believer" tries to prove that
there was a planter, who planted the seeds for the flowers to grow. This
planter takes care of them, a parallelism to God supposedly taking care of "us".
Flew talks about assertions. He states that "what starts as an
assertion, that something exists may be reduced step by step to an altogether
different status". He uses the example of how if one man were to talk about
sexual behavior, "another man prefers to talk of Aphrodite". They don't seem to
make sense. How can one confuse the idea of a sexual behavior with... [continues]
How can I start this paper? Hmmmm ..??? Let's begin with the parable. Antony
Flew starts off his speech by telling the audience this story of two explorers
that accidentally came upon a garden in a jungle. In this garden, there were
many beautiful flowers and weeds. One explorer says, "some gardener must tend
this plot". While the other disagrees, "there is no gardener". So, these two
explorers tried to figure out who was right and who was wrong. They waited the
whole night, but no gardener was ever seen. Then the "Believer" said that there
must be a gardener, that he "is an invisible gardener". He tried everything he
could to convince to the "Sceptic" that he was right, barbed-wire, electrifying
fence, patrolling bloodhounds. But no gardener was ever found. Still the
"Believer" was not convinced. He gave the "Sceptic" many excuses as to why they
couldn't see the gardener. The "Sceptic" told him that he was crazy because
what started out as a simple assertion that there was a gardener, turned into
"an imaginary gardener".
This parable that Flew is using is clearly an analogy to the existence
and belief of God. The garden represents God, " invisible, intangible,
insensible ". The "Sceptic" says there is no gardener, just as an atheist
denies the existence God. The "Believer" says there is a gardener, like a
theist telling everyone that God exists. The "Believer" tries to prove that
there was a planter, who planted the seeds for the flowers to grow. This
planter takes care of them, a parallelism to God supposedly taking care of "us".
Flew talks about assertions. He states that "what starts as an
assertion, that something exists may be reduced step by step to an altogether
different status". He uses the example of how if one man were to talk about
sexual behavior, "another man prefers to talk of Aphrodite". They don't seem to
make sense. How can one confuse the idea of a sexual behavior with... [continues]
Cite This Essay
- APA
-
(1999, 10). Antony Flew: the Existence and Belief of God. StudyMode.com. Retrieved 10, 1999, from http://www.studymode.com/essays/Antony-Flew-Existence-Belief-God-3091.html
- MLA
-
"Antony Flew: the Existence and Belief of God" StudyMode.com. 10 1999. 10 1999 <http://www.studymode.com/essays/Antony-Flew-Existence-Belief-God-3091.html>.
- CHICAGO
-
"Antony Flew: the Existence and Belief of God." StudyMode.com. 10, 1999. Accessed 10, 1999. http://www.studymode.com/essays/Antony-Flew-Existence-Belief-God-3091.html.
