Season 4 Podcast 149 Edmund Spenser’s The Faerie Queen, Book I, Canto 8 Pt II Episode 21 “King Arthur Slays the Giant Orgoglio.” 

In last week’s episode, King Arthur, his squire, and Una are led to the giant’s castle by the dwarf. The squire blows his magic horn and all the gates of the castle fly open.  Duessa riding a many headed beast and the giant Orgoglio attack King Arthur and his squire while Una looks on from a distance. This podcast tells how Arthur slays the Giant and how Una and King Arthur find an emaciated Redcross Knight deep in the dungeon.  We ended last week’s episode with King Arthur cutting off the giant’s arm and by King Arthur scalping one of the many heads of the beast that carried Duessa. We begin today by hearing the beast roar in pain causing the beast to nearly throw off his gorgeous rider. However, the giant rushes to her aid and forces King Arthur to back away. 

Thereat he roared for exceeding paine,

That to have heard great horror would have bred,

And scourging th' emptie ayre with his long traine,

Through great impatience of his grieved hed

His gorgeous ryder from her loftie sted

Would have cast downe, and trod in durtie myre,

Had not the Gyant soone her succoured;

Who all enrag'd with smart and franticke yre,

Came hurtling in full fierce, and forst the knight retyre.

King Arthur had cut of the giant’s left arm and he was left to fight with only one hand. However, because of his rage, his right arm was doubly strong, and he raises his club high with the strength to cut a mighty oak tree into two pieces. He strikes King Arthur’s shield with such force that King Arthur falls to the floor. No mortal could have endured such a blow.

The force which wont in two to be disperst,

In one alone left hand he now unites,

Which is through rage more strong than both were erst;

With which his hideous club aloft he dites,

And at his foe with furious rigour smites,

That strongest Oake might seeme to overthrow:

The stroke upon his shield so heavie lites,

That to the ground it doubleth him full low:

What mortall wight could ever beare so monstrous blow?

However, King Arthur is no ordinary man. He has on the full armor of God. He has the shield of faith. As Arthur falls, his shield which before was covered shakes the veil and a light reflects from the shield so bright that it blinds Orgoglio. The giant drops his arm and withdraws from the battle. 

And in his fall his shield, that covered was,

Did loose his vele by chaunce, and open flew:

The light whereof, that heavens light did pas,

Such blazing brightnesse through the aier threw,

That eye mote not the same endure to vew.

Which when the Gyaunt spyde with staring eye,

He downe let fall his arme, and soft withdrew

His weapon huge, that heaved was on hye

For to have slaine the man, that on the ground did lye.

The many headed beast that carried Duessa was so amazed at the flashing beams of the shining shield that he was blinded, and all of his senses dulled. The beast tumbled to the dirty ground and yielded his powers. When Duessa perceived the fall, she cried aloud to the giant to come back to her rescue. 

And eke the fruitfull-headed beast, amazd

At flashing beames of that sunshiny shield,

Became starke blind, and all his sences daz'd,

That downe he tumbled on the durtie field,

And seem'd himselfe as conquered to yield.

Whom when his maistresse proud perceiv'd to fall,

Whiles yet his feeble feet for faintnesse reeld,

Unto the Gyant loudly she gan call,

O helpe Orgoglio, helpe, or else we perish all.

Season 4 Podcast 148 The Stories of the New Testament, Matthew Ch 18:1-14, Pt I, “That Which is Lost.”

The disciples, who from the beginning have been taught about the Kingdom of Heaven, ask Christ a very human question. 

1 At the same time came the disciples unto Jesus, saying, Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?

Perhaps the Savior wondered if they had even listened to the Sermon on the Mount,

1.     Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

2.     Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth.

3.     Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy.

4.     Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall cee God.

5.     Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God.

6.     Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness’ sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

It is clear that the greatest in the kingdom of heaven are not measured as are the greatest on earth: kings, queens, captains of industry, the rich and powerful, the talented and famous, the movers and shakers. The greatest in the kingdom of heaven are the humble, meek, merciful, pure in heart, peacemakers, and those who endure persecution for the sake of Christ.

Perhaps Christ is disappointed because he knows his time is short, and from the beginning he has been preparing his disciples to carry on the work after his death; and here they appear to be jostling for superiority. His answer, as usual, is shockingly brilliant, and turns their thoughts away from earthly standards of judgment. One can assume that the twelve apostles had been feeling pretty special having been called and set apart by Christ himself for such a high position. The Lord reminds them that they are servants and have no greater claim to the kingdom of heaven than a small child. 

And Jesus called a little child unto him, and set him in the midst of them, And said, Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven. Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven.

What Christ says to the twelve apostles is true for all of us.

5 And whoso shall receive one such little child in my name receiveth me.

It is difficult to find a greater lesson in humility.  But Christ then places a tremendous responsibility upon those who preach the gospel of Christ. 

6 But whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea.

The millstone you saw as you opened the podcast is from a photo I took at Cades Cove in East Tennessee in the Smoky Mountains, a small 19th century village settled by the Europeans in 1818.  Some millstones weigh 2000 pounds. At the time of Christ, millstones weighed over 3000 pounds.  If you can imagine it hanging around your neck and being cast into the sea, you will get some idea of the seriousness of the Savior’s image. 

When we think of little ones we naturally think of small children, but the context suggests Christ’s definition of little ones expands from the very young to the very old. It could refer not just to children but also to all those who are innocent; for example, to anyone who is just learning right from wrong, good from evil, truth from error. It could refer to those who have just come to Christ at whatever age and are seeking to be taught the truth of the gospel. Imagine someone who hangs on to your every word.  

Season 4 Podcast 147, A New Voice of Freedom, Argument for the Existence of God, Episode 4, “God and the Existence of Absolute Law.”

As recorded in the last podcast, in “The God Delusion,” Mr. Richard Dawkins makes the following statement.

“However statistically improbable the entity you seek to explain by invoking a designer, the designer himself has got to be at least as improbable. God is the Ultimate Boeing 747.”

Mr. Dawkins is referring to Hoyle’s fallacy. The following description of Hoyle’s fallacy is from Wikipedia Encyclopedia.

“The junkyard tornado, sometimes known as Hoyle's fallacy, is an argument against biogenesis, using a calculation of its probability based on false assumptions, as comparable to "a tornado sweeping through a junk-yard might assemble a Boeing 747 from the materials therein" and to compare the chance of obtaining even a single functioning protein by chance combination of amino acids to a solar system full of blind men solving Rubik's Cubes simultaneously.”

Atheists must account for the existence of life in the same way that theists must account for the existence of God. Statistically it is not possible that life or creation happened by accident. Christians argue for intelligent design. Strangely science argues for accident. Christians do not feel they need to prove the existence of God for faith is extra-metaphysical, that is to say, it is outside of physics or outside of science.

God simply cannot be proven or disproven by the scientific method. To put it another way, no one, theist or atheist, scientist or nonscientist can prove or disprove the existence of God. Christians claim that to perceive God one must have the testimony of the Holy Ghost which appeals to the heart rather than to the mind. It is often referred to as having spiritual eyes. Things of the spirit can only be discerned by the spirit; Let’s turn to the writings of Paul in 1 Corinthians 2:

“But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God. For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God. … But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. But he that is spiritual judgeth all things, yet he himself is judged of no man. For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ.”

When Christ was on the earth thousands of people saw him, but only a few saw him as the Messiah because they did not see him with spiritual eyes or with the eyes of faith or by the witness of the Holy Ghost. 

The same claim is made for the other senses. For example, Christians use the phrase, “Still Small Voice” to describe the whisperings of the Holy Ghost. In First Kings 19 we read.

“And he said, Go forth, and stand upon the mount before the Lord. And, behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind rent the mountains, and brake in pieces the rocks before the Lord; but the Lord was not in the wind: and after the wind an earthquake; but the Lord was not in the earthquake: And after the earthquake a fire; but the Lord was not in the fire: and after the fire a still small voice.”

Season 4 Podcast 146 Edmund Spenser’s The Faerie Queen, Book I, Canto 8 Pt I Episode 20 “King Arthur and the Giant.” 

In last week’s episode, King Arthur, perceiving Una’s grief, persuades her to tell her entire story. Una is so distraught that she at first refuses to confide in King Arthur. The wise King Arthur persists so Una relates the story of how her parents are held captive by the dragon and how the Redcross Knight is held captive by the temptress Duessa and the evil giant Orgoglio. King Arthur covenants to deliver The Red Cross Knight from the dungeon.

CANTO VIII

Faire virgin, to redeeme her deare

brings Arthur to the fight:

Who slayes that Gyant, woundes the beast,

and strips Duessa quight.

Spencer laments that the righteous must face so many perils from Satan who daily seeks their fall. Only through heavenly grace can we be sustained against the wiles of the devil. Grace is firm and her care continuous. Spencer compares Una, which means truth, to pure grace for her love for the Redcross Knight is steady. However, through foolish pride or personal weakness or sins man becomes overpowered by Satan. If not for the steadfast Una, the RedCross Knight would have died. The Dwarf leads King Arthur, his squire, and Una to the giant’s castle. In the quest, we have everything we need to conquer the giant: Una represents truth. The Dwarf represents common sense. The Squire represents faith. King Arthur represents all the virtues. They are on a quest to rescue the Redcross knight who symbolized holiness but through the wiles of Duessa he committed grievous sins and is now bound by his sins in the giant’s dungeon, persecuted by Duessa, the whore of Babylon. 

AY me, how many perils doe enfold

The righteous man, to make him daily fall,

Were not that heavenly grace doth him uphold,

And stedfast truth acquite him out of all.

Her love is firme, her care continuall,

So oft as he through his owne foolish pride,

Or weaknesse is to sinfull bands made thrall:

Else should this Redcrosse knight in bands have dydd

For whose deliverance she this Prince doth thither guide.

3 RON

They persevere until they reach the castle whose walls are very high. The Dwarf spies the castle first and cries out, “Lo yonder is the same in which my Lord my liege doth luckless lie.” The Dwarf turns to King Arthur and begs him to use his mighty powers to free his master. They order Una to stay behind till she knows how the battle ends.

They sadly traveild thus, until they came

Nigh to a castle builded strong and hie:

Then cryde the Dwarfe, Lo yonder is the same,

In which my Lord my liege doth lucklesse lie,

Thrall to that Gyants hateful tyrannie:

Therefore, deare Sir, your mightie powres assay.

The noble knight alighted by and by

From loftie steede, and bad the Ladie stay,

To see what end of fight should him befall that day.

King Arthur moves forward with his squire. The castle gates are shut tight, and no one answers. The Squire takes out his magic horn which has great powers.

So with the Squire, th' admirer of his might,

He marched forth towards that castle wall;

Whose gates he found fast shut, ne living wight

To ward the same, nor answere commers call.

Then tooke that Squire an horne of bugle small.

Which hong adowne his side in twisted gold

And tassels gay. Wyde wonders over all

Of that same hornes great vertues weren told,

Which had approved bene in uses manifold.

Season 4 Podcast 145 The Stories of the New Testament, Matthew Ch 17:14-27, Pt 1I, “The Law of Miracles.”

Let’s examine verses 14-21. First we have a statement of the problem, verses 14-15

14 And when they were come to the multitude, there came to him a certain man, kneeling down to him, and saying,

15 Lord, have mercy on my son: for he is lunatic, and sore vexed: for ofttimes he falleth into the fire, and oft into the water.

The unnamed father is obviously a person of great faith for he sought out Jesus. The father is driven by his love for his son. Without second guessing the father, whom we know virtually nothing about, probably every parent who has a crisis in the family can relate to him. Not judging the father, many of us, however, are often crisis driven. We do not act until driven by necessity. As with the natural man, we seek Jesus only when we desperately need him. This is apply illustrated by Christ’s condemnation of those who put their faith in worldly things rather than in spiritual things. It reminds me of the curse recorded in Isaiah against the wealthy women who put their trust in temporal treasures.

Isaiah 3: 18-23

“In that day the Lord will take away the bravery of their tinkling ornaments about their feet, and their cauls, and their round tires like the moon, The chains, and the bracelets, and the mufflers, The bonnets, and the ornaments of the legs, and the headbands, and the tablets, and the earrings, The rings, and nose jewels, The changeable suits of apparel, and the mantles, and the wimples, and the crisping pins, The glasses, and the fine linen, and the hoods, and the veils.

 There is another striking analogy given by the Savior in Matthew 19:24.

24 And again I say unto you, It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God. 

It isn’t the wealth of course that makes one unworthy to enter the kingdom of God. It is the confidence in the wealth rather than in God. Some who live in the security of their own wealth do not feel they need God. In James 2:5 we read.

5 Hearken, my beloved brethren, Hath not God chosen the poor of this world rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom which he hath promised to them that love him?

Those who are rich in wealth and rich in faith are twice blessed. It is not the rich who are excluded from the Kingdom of God. It is those who put their faith in their wealth. Proverbs 28 teaches:

11 The rich man is wise in his own conceit; but the poor that hath understanding searcheth him out.

As recorded in Revelation 2, John wrote to the Church in Smyrna,

9 I know thy works, and tribulation, and poverty, (but thou art rich)

Sometimes when we are bemoaning our poverty, we should acknowledge our wealth. Christ considers wealth as only that which is eternal. There is, of course, absolutely nothing wrong with being crisis driven because frequently it has a humbling influence and provokes one to turn to God effecting a mighty change of heart. I suspect, however, that those who turn to God regardless of circumstances have the greater advantage. In the story of the father with the troubled son we cannot judge. We can only observe that because of his love for his son he came to Christ while he was near, and Christ perceiving his faith healed his son. However, before coming to Christ the father had first approached the disciples of Jesus.

Season 4 Podcast 144, A New Voice of Freedom, Argument for the Existence of God, Episode 3, is entitled, “Mount Improbability.” 

In a previous podcast I analyzed Richard Dawkins—The God Delusion—for his use of the anthropic principle as an alternative to Intelligent design (Listen to Season 4 Podcast 141, “The Fallacy of the Anthropic Principle.”). In this podcast I shall simply point out the inconsistency of Dawkins’ argument against intelligent design. I am referring to Chapter 4 of The God Delusion.  Entitled  “Why There is Almost Certainly No God.”  As often happens when one is so caught up in a cause that the ends justify the means, they swim in a whirlpool of words and ignore the maelstrom of their own misaligned logic. 

Since Mr. Dawkins attacks Hoyle’s famous Boing 747 argument against chance, let me introduce Mr. Fred Hoyle. The following is taken from Wikipedia Encyclopedia.

According to Fred Hoyle's analysis, the probability of obtaining all of life's approximate 2000 enzymes in a random trial is about one-in-1040,000 

Life cannot have had a random beginning … The trouble is that there are about two thousand enzymes, and the chance of obtaining them all in a random trial is only one part in 1040,000, an outrageously small probability that could not be faced even if the whole universe consisted of organic soup.

He further said:

The chance that higher life forms might have emerged in this way is comparable to the chance that a tornado sweeping through a junkyard might assemble a Boeing 747 from the materials therein.

This echoes his stance, reported elsewhere:

Life as we know it is, among other things, dependent on at least 2000 different enzymes. How could the blind forces of the primal sea manage to put together the correct chemical elements to build enzymes? 

Hoyle used this to argue in favor of panspermia, that the origin of life on Earth was from preexisting life in space. 

Mr. Dawkins’ (logically I might add) counters with: 

3 LINDA

“However statistically improbable the entity you seek to explain by invoking a designer, the designer himself has got to be at least as improbable. God is the Ultimate Boeing 747.”

On that perceptive point, Mr. Dawkins deserves an answer. In next Wednesday’s Podcast, Number 147, I shall address the issue. The existence of God could not happen by chance. In fact, anyone who rejects chance and accepts intelligent design must disallow chance on any level of creation, even, if not especially, the existence of God.

Ironically, as I shall show next week, science gives us the answer. But first let me have some fun at Mr. Dawkins’ expense. Unknowingly, in arguing against the existence of God, Mr. Dawkins builds a case for the existence of God. Unfortunately, his argument is too flawed to accept it. But here is his argument.

“Natural selection works because it is a cumulative one-way street to improvement. It needs some luck to get started, and the ‘billions of planets’ anthropic principle grants it that luck. Maybe a few later gaps in the evolutionary story also need major infusions of luck, with anthropic justification.”

If that is true, how can Mr. Dawkins possibly argue against luck accounting for the existence of God. After all, it only had to happen once and as Mr. Dawkins adamantly claims,

“The origin of life only had to happen once. We therefore can allow it to have been an extremely improbable event, many orders of magnitude more improbable than most people realize, as I shall show.”

The argument is a classic non sequitur. It could be used as an excuse for the creation of anything. Let me write it another way.

Season 4 Podcast 143 Edmund Spenser’s The Faerie Queen, Book I, Canto 7 Pt III Episode 19 “King Arthur Counsels Una.

In last week’s episode, Una by chance meets King Arthur, the greatest of all knights.  She tells him her sad tale, almost fainting with grief. She recounts the story of her own parents who are held captive by a great dragon. She relates how many knights have failed in trying to free them. She tells of how she met the Red Cross Knight and recounts his sad fate. King Arthur listens patiently and carefully reasons with her. He vows not to rest until he has delivered her beloved knight from the clutches of the giant Gorgoglio and the wicked witch Duessa.

This is a battle of virtue, good versus evil. The Red Cross Knight, has fallen to the seductions of the witch Duessa, lost his powers, equivalent to Samson having his hair cut because of the cunningness of his unfaithful wife Delilah. 

King Arthur, however, is above reproach. He wears the full armor of God. He is accompanied by his young squire, his arms bearer. 

A gentle youth, his dearely loved Squire,

His speare of heben wood behind him bare,

Whose harmefull head, thrice heated in the fire,

Had riven many a brest with pikehead square:

A goodly person, and could menage faire

His stubborne steed with curbed canon bit,

Who under him did trample as the aire,

And chauft, that any on his backe should sit;

The yron rowels into frothy fome he bit.

At first Una, overcome with grief, is reluctant to open her heart. King Arthur draws closer to Una. He discerns her secret sorrow and strives to calm her fears with gentle words. Una resists but King Arthur cleverly draws her out with fitting words. King Arthur is a master counselor for he has total empathy for Una. He listens both with his head and his heart. He is a true minister of Christ.

When as this knight nigh to the Ladie drew,

 With lovely court he gan her entertaine;

But when he heard her answeres loth, he knew

Some secret sorrow did her heart distraine:

Which to allay, and calme her storming paine,

Faire feeling words he wisely gan display,

 And for her humour fitting purpose faine,

To tempt the cause it selfe for to bewray;

Wherewith emmov'd, these bleeding words she gan to say.

Una rejects King Arthur, saying her sorrow is too deep to express. In other words, King Arthur couldn’t understand her grief. Spencer is a student of human nature for it is very common that those who seek help fight against those who offer help. She says it is better to keep her sorrows to herself. Her only comfort is in weeping. The exchange between Arthur and Una is a lesson in compassionate counseling. Una says to King Arthur.

What worlds delight, or joy of living speach

Can heart, so plung'd in sea of sorrowes deep,

And heaped with so huge misfortunes, reach?

The carefull cold beginneth for to creepe,

And in my heart his yron arrow steepe,

Soone as I thinke upon my bitter bale:

Such helplesse harmes yts better hidden keepe,

 Then rip up griefe, where it may not availe,

My last left comfort is, my woes to weepe and waile.

Carefully notice the patient exchange  between King Arthur and Una. He acknowledges her grief for he feels it in his own spirit. But Arthur doesn’t accept her argument that keeping her story to herself is best. He argues that good counsel softens or soothes the pain and overpowers the hurt. Those who keep their sorrows hidden cannot find help. King Arthur counsels:

Season 4 Podcast 142 The Stories of the New Testament, Matthew Ch 17:1-13, Pt 1, “The Mount of Transfiguration.”

Matthew 17 contains one of the most unique events in scripture, The Mount of Transfiguration. 

“And after six days Jesus taketh Peter, James, and John his brother, and bringeth them up into an high mountain apart, And was transfigured before them.” 

The Oxford English Dictionary defines transfigure as follows:

To alter the figure or appearance of; to change in outward appearance, to transform.

On the Mount of Transfiguration, we have the following description.

“and his face did shine as the sun, and his raiment was white as the light.”

That, of course, is a foreshadowing of his resurrection. In Revelation 1 John describes the resurrected Lord as follows:

“And in the midst of the seven candlesticks one like unto the Son of man, clothed with a garment down to the foot, and girt about the paps with a golden girdle. His head and his hairs were white like wool, as white as snow; and his eyes were as a flame of fire; And `his feet like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace; and his voice as the sound of many waters. And he had in his right hand seven stars: and out of his mouth went a sharp twoedged sword: and his countenance was as the sun shineth in his strength.”

Paul had a similar experience on the road to Damascus. In Acts 26 in his account to King Agrippa, he said.

“At midday, O king, I saw in the way a light from heaven, above the brightness of the sun, shining round about me and them which journeyed with me. And when we were all fallen to the earth, I heard a voice speaking unto me, and saying in the Hebrew tongue, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks. And I said, Who art thou, Lord? And he said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest. But rise, and stand upon thy feet: for I have appeared unto thee for this purpose, to make thee a minister and a witness both of these things which thou hast seen, and of those things in the which I will appear unto thee;”

In 1 Corinthians 15, Paul further tells us that in the resurrection, we too will have a transfiguration. Those who live in the celestial glory will shine as bright as the sun, only this transfiguration, which is the resurrection, will be permanent.  

7 LINDA

“There are also celestial bodies, and bodies terrestrial: but the glory of the celestial is one, and the glory of the terrestrial is another. There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars: for one star differeth from another star in glory. So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption; it is raised in incorruption: It is sown in dishonour; it is raised in glory: it is sown in weakness; it is raised in power: It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body.”

Paul tell us that he was caught up in the Third Heaven. John the Revelator also saw the kingdom of heaven.

“5 And there shall be no night there; and they need no candle, neither light of the sun; for the Lord God giveth them blight: and they shall reign for ever and ever.”

Therefore, we may look at the transfiguration on two levels. One, of course, the literal level, for it actually happened, which we shall discuss in this podcast, and two, the analogical, symbolic, or metaphorical level for it is a foreshadowing of the resurrection of all those who live in the presence of God with the holy prophets. According to John the Revelator in Chapter 21 the earth also will be transfigured.

Season 4 Podcast 141, A New Voice of Freedom, Argument for the Existence of God, Episode 2, “The Fallacy of the Anthropic Principle.” 

In his Preface to “The God Delusion,” Richard Dawkins stated, 

“If this book works as I intend, religious readers who open it will be atheists when they put it down.” 

First let me point out the obvious. There are two assumptions we must accept.

1.     Science and philosophers can never prove the existence of God.

2.     Science and philosophers can never disprove the existence of God.

The existence of God is entirely based on faith. Once a person has faith, he sees the hand of God everywhere. The road to faith is to prayerfully read the scriptures and to obey the commandments of God. That will lead to all the proof one needs. Man’s belief in God or man’s disbelief in God has no effect on the existence of God. The entire world could deny the existence of God, but it would not affect his existence. It would limit his blessings to us because he only demonstrates his power through our faith. He chooses to remain invisible that faith may flourish and freewill be protected. 

In this podcast I want to reveal the fallacy of the Anthropic Principle which is Richard Dawkins’s primary argument against the existence of God. He uses the Anthropic Principle as an alternative to intelligent design. 

Mr. Dawkins defines the Anthropic Principle in the following way.  All quotes of Mr. Dawkins are from his book, The God Delusion.

“We exist here on Earth. Therefore Earth must be the kind of planet that is capable of generating and supporting us, however unusual, even unique, that kind of planet might be.”

The Wikipedia Encyclopedia defines the Anthropic Principle in the following way:

“The anthropic principle, also known as the "observation selection effect", is the hypothesis, first proposed in 1957 by Robert Dicke, that the range of possible observations that we could make about the universe is limited by the fact that observations could only happen in a universe capable of developing intelligent life in the first place.”

It echo’s Descartes’ famous phrase, “Cogito, ergo sum.” I think therefore I am. However, the difference between Descartes principle and the anthropic principle is that Descartes affirms existence; the anthropic principle claims to affirm the reason for existence, but it doesn’t. It is circular. It says we exist because we exist. It adds no information for or against God or for or against intelligent design. It is a non-argument. Because earth supports existence doesn’t mean that earth has the power to generate existence. It is like claiming that a farm doesn’t need a farmer, or a machine doesn’t need an inventor or that architecture doesn’t need an architect. 

Let’s first assume that the anthropic principle is true by necessity. Since it is circular, it is hard to refute that the earth has power to support life, but we cannot assume that earth is responsible for first cause. 

Mr. Dawkins essentially said that “We exist because Earth is the kind of planet that allows us to exist.” Mr. Dicke essentially said the same thing, “Observations are only possible where intelligent life makes observations possible, and intelligent life exists only where it is possible for intelligent life to exist.” That too is acceptable but there is a gap between the ability to support existence and the ability to generate first cause.

All circular arguments are self-evident if the premises are true. But the information does not extend beyond the circle. We still don’t know anything about the origins of creation.

Then why bother to refute it? I bother because in some convoluted way Mr. Dawkins uses that circular argument as proof that God doesn’t exist. Mr. Dawkins’ argument against God could be worded this way:

Season 4 Podcast 140 Edmund Spenser’s The Faerie Queen, Book I, Canto 7 Pt II Episode 18 “King Arthur

In last week’s episode, The Redcross Knight is seduced by Duessa and captured by the giant Orgoglio and put into a dungeon.  In this podcast we continue with the adventures of the Redcross Knight who is languishing in the dungeon of the giant Orgoglio. The dwarf witnessed the Red Cross Knight’s capture. He picks up all of the mournful armor of the Redcross Knight and sadly leaves to tell his tale to Una.

The woeful Dwarfe, which saw his masters fall,

Whiles he had keeping of his grazing steed,

And valiant knight become a caytive thrall,

When all was past, took up his forlorn weed, 

His mighty armor, missing most at need;

His silver shield, now idle masterless;

His poignant spear, that many made to bleed,

The rueful moniments of heaviness,

And with them all departs, to tell his great distress.

Notice that the Red Cross Knight did not wear his armor when he most needed it. For example, the Red Cross Knight did not have his armor on when Duessa seduced him; therefore, he fell to her salacious charms. The Red Cross Knight did not have his armor on when the giant Orgoglio, who was three times bigger than he was, attacked him. The Red Cross Knight had never lost a battle before because he always wore his armor. When he most needed it he had placed it out of his reach.

Soon the dwarf met Una head hung heavy in sorrow for she thought her knight had been killed. She was still fleeing from the pagan Sansloy who was in a bloody battle with her hero the Satyrane. When she saw the dwarf carrying the armor of the Red Cross Knight, she fell to the ground in a swoon for it confirmed her fears.

He had not traveled long, when on the way

He woeful Lady, woeful Una met,

Fast flying from that Paynims greedy pray,

Whilest Satyrane him from pursuit did let:

Who when her eyes she on the Dwarf had set,

And saw the signs, that deadly tydings spake,

She fell to ground for sorrowful regret,

And lively breath her sad breast did forsake,

Yet might her piteous heart be seen to pant and quake.

The dwarf who loved Una nearly died for pity at seeing her fall. He rubs her temples and strokes her chin and brings her out of her faint. Still thinking her knight is dead, she grieves her great loss. With great difficulty the dwarf coaxes Una back to life.

The messenger of so unhappy news,

Would faine have died: dead was his hart within,

Yet outwardly some little comfort shewes:

At last recovering hart, he does begin

To rub her temples, and to chaufe her chin,

And every tender part does toss and turn.

So hardly he the flitted life does win,

Unto her native prison to retourne:

Then gins her grieved ghost thus to lament and mourne.

Una laments as she sees the armor of her fallen knight. She wants to die for her life and love were wrapped up in the Red Cross Knight.  She wanted eternal night to cover the sad sight.

Ye dreary instruments of dolefull sight,

That doe this deadly spectacle behold,

Why do ye longer feed on loathed light,

Or liking find to gaze on earthly mould,

Sith cruel fates the careful threads unfold,

The which my life and love together tide?

Now let the stony dart of senseless cold

Perce to my hart, and pas through every side,

And let eternal night so sad sight from me hide.