Where Do Thoughts Come From?: Evidence for God

What if the very thing that makes you *you*—your thoughts, feelings, and sense of self—can't be weighed, measured, or explained by physics alone? In this episode of Faith and Science, we dive into one of philosophy's most stubborn puzzles: the origin of consciousness. Drawing on rigorous **Christian apologetics**, we explore why leading naturalist philosophers have struggled to account for belief, emotion, and thought using matter and energy alone—and why this gap points toward **evidence for God** as the most logically coherent explanation. It's a conversation that blends hard philosophy with a compelling **biblical worldview**, showing how something as ordinary as a passing thought may be extraordinary evidence of the supernatural. Joining the discussion is Dr. John Ashton, co-editor of *The Big Argument: Does God Exist?*, who tackles the claim made by prominent naturalist philosophers that consciousness—along with beliefs, emotions, and desires—can be reduced to nothing more than chemical reactions and electrical voltages in the brain. Dr. Ashton unpacks why this materialistic explanation collapses under its own logic, using vivid illustrations like a message written in sand to show how thoughts are fundamentally non-material realities that can't be weighed or measured, even though they arise within a physical body. He concludes that this unbridgeable gap between mind and matter is best explained not by blind evolutionary processes, but by a non-material, self-existent Creator who designed human beings with the capacity to think, choose, and reflect His image. **In this episode, you will hear:** - Why philosophers like Marvin Minsky, Paul Churchland, and Daniel Dennett wanted to strike words like "belief," "desire," and "emotion" from science altogether - The self-defeating logical trap of philosopher Stephen Stich's famous claim that "there are no beliefs" - The "message in the sand" illustration—how a phrase like "John loves Colleen" reveals that meaning and emotion are non-material, even when written on physical matter - Why the human body works like a "transducer," translating non-material thoughts into real, physical actions in the world Watch all the episodes on our YouTube channel at this link: https://www.youtube.com/@CreationConversations/featured Discover more inspiring Christian content—browse all our video & audio podcasts here. www.youtube.com/@3abnaustraliaradio885/playlists