{"id":41119,"date":"2015-09-07T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2015-09-07T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/professor-says-humans-are-just-machines\/"},"modified":"2015-09-07T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2015-09-07T00:00:00","slug":"professor-says-humans-are-just-machines","status":"publish","type":"sermon-illustrations","link":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/professor-says-humans-are-just-machines\/","title":{"rendered":"Professor Says Humans Are Just Machines"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>In his book <em class=\"citation\">Flesh and Machines<\/em>, MIT professor Rodney Brooks writes that a human being is nothing but a machine&mdash;or what he calls a &quot;big bag of skin full of biomolecules&quot; interacting by the laws of physics and chemistry. In ordinary life, of course, it is difficult to actually see people that way. But, he says, &quot;When I look at my children, I can, when I force myself &hellip; see that they are machines.&quot;<\/p>\n\n<p>Is that how he treats them, though? Brooks admits, &quot;That is not how I treat them &hellip; I interact with them on an entirely different level. They have my unconditional love, the furthest one might be able to get from rational analysis.&quot;<\/p>\n\n<p>Sadly, Brooks&#39; love for his children has no basis within his worldview. It sticks out of his box. How does he reconcile such a heart-wrenching cognitive dissonance? He doesn&#39;t. Brooks ends by saying, &quot;I maintain two sets of inconsistent beliefs.&quot; He has no defense. This is the tragedy of the postmodern age. The things that matter most in life, that are necessary for a humane society&mdash;ideals like moral freedom, human dignity, even loving our own children&mdash;have been reduced to nothing but useful fictions.<\/p>\n\n<p><em>Possible Preaching Angles: This illustration not only shows the folly of atheism, it also reveals the need for a worldview that compels us to show true compassion to others, treating them with dignity as creatures made in God&#39;s image, not just machines.<\/em><\/p>","protected":false},"author":30,"featured_media":0,"template":"","tax_ctp_audience":[],"tax_ctp_authors":[],"tax_ctp_categories":[165],"tax_ctp_format":[171],"tax_ctp_illustration_types":[411],"tax_ctp_multimedia":[],"tax_ctp_point_editor":[],"tax_publications":[140],"tax_ctp_tags":[3361,3402,3648,3781,4184,4395,4400,4520,4667,4900,5011,5303],"tax_ctp_topics":[],"class_list":["post-41119","sermon-illustrations","type-sermon-illustrations","status-publish","hentry","tax_publications-ct-pastors","tax_ctp_tags-abortion","tax_ctp_tags-agnosticism","tax_ctp_tags-compassion","tax_ctp_tags-dignity","tax_ctp_tags-human-worth","tax_ctp_tags-love","tax_ctp_tags-love-of-god","tax_ctp_tags-national-sanctity-of-life-day","tax_ctp_tags-postmodernism","tax_ctp_tags-secularism","tax_ctp_tags-social-justice","tax_ctp_tags-worldview"],"acf":{"scripture_references":[{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null}]},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Professor Says Humans Are Just Machines - CT Pastors<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/professor-says-humans-are-just-machines\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Professor Says Humans Are Just Machines - CT Pastors\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In his book Flesh and Machines, MIT professor Rodney Brooks writes that a human being is nothing but a machine&mdash;or what he calls a &quot;big bag of skin full of biomolecules&quot; interacting by the laws of physics and chemistry. 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