Do not be intimidated

Listen along here:  https://www.pastorwoman.net/podcast/episode/34796e12/do-not-be-inti...

It happened again. In a barbecue joint in Charlotte, North Carolina last week, I exchanged a few words with the manager, who asked me if I enjoyed the food and would be back. 'No, not likely,' I said.

Noting the look that came over his face, I quickly supplied, 'My food was great, but I don't live here--just met some friends at the Billy Graham Library.' [which of course provided the segue to ask if he was a man of faith.]

'No, not really.' he replied.

'Why is that?' I stepped a little closer.

'Science,' he said. By 'science' he meant that science is at odds with Christianity.

Is that true? Is science incompatible with biblical Christian faith?

We are taking a closer look at the Christian faith - and why it is true, so that when someone asks you why you are a Christian, you confidently know that:

1. Christianity is the best explanation for the way things are: https://conta.cc/46xjyEF
2. The Resurrection is a historical event. If the Resurrection of Jesus Christ is true, and it is, [https://conta.cc/46E5uba] , then Christianity is true.

Mindful of what my young friend, Kenzie, and another college freshman Calvin (and countless others) are facing in their prerequisite science courses in secular universities, they must be equipped with answers to what they will hear about science and the Bible being at odds.

Come with me . . .

The year was 1917. Albert Einstein, a pantheist1, made what he called an 'irritating' discovery: the universe had a beginning. In 1929, Einstein traveled to Southern California's Mt. Wilson to look through Edwin Hubble's 100-inch telescope; what he saw confirmed the irritation: the universe expanded from a single point in the distant past, meaning the universe had a beginning. And because the universe had a beginning, the universe had a cause. 

That cause - from that single point in the past? Scientists commonly call it the Big Bang. Why? First there was nothing and then Bang! there was something--the entire universe exploded into being. 

Everything that had a beginning had a cause.

The universe had a beginning

Therefore the universe had a cause or a Beginner.2

Something outside of nature had to be the 'Causer' of this beginning - something outside of space and matter, an eternal Cause. Something outside of the natural order? Why yes, some one or some thing supernatural - 

1: of or relating to an order of existence beyond the visible observable universe

2: departing from what is usual or normal especially so as to appear to transcend the laws of nature3 

Hmmm... supernatural. Irritating if you want to believe something different.

Astronomer Robert Jastrow made this impactful statement: For the scientist who has lived by his faith in the power of reason, the story ends like a bad dream. He has scaled the mountains of ignorance; he is about to conquer the highest peak; as he pulls himself over the final rock, he is greeted by a band of theologians who have been sitting there for centuries.4

This 'cause of the cosmos' is called the Cosmological Argument, which provides more evidence of the connection between God and science: the Teleological Argument, taking its name from the Greek word 'telos' meaning design. 

Every design had a designer

The universe has highly complex design

Therefore the universe had a Designer.5

Sir Isaac Newton (1642-1727) noted its design when he wrote, "This most beautiful system of the sun, planets and comets, could only proceed from the counsel and dominion of an intelligent and powerful being."6 Well of course it did! Scripture records this: And God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night. And let them be for signs and for seasons, and for days and years, and let them be lights in the expanse of the heavens to give light upon the earth.” And it was so. And God made the two great lights—the greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night—and the stars."7  The Universe was designed from the beginning.

Scientists have noted the universe's fine tuning seems to be just right for man's existence, which is called the anthropic principle. Then there is the human brain, the coding in a single DNA molecule . . . and more. How do we know that the brain and the DNA molecule didn’t just happen by chance? First of all, chance doesn’t create anything at all. The probability that the brain or DNA molecule would arise by natural forces alone is truly incredible. If you doubt this, remember that the probability of forming a simple protein molecule by random processes would take somewhere in the vicinity of 10²⁵⁷ power years--one with 257 zeros behind it, a number which is incredibly large. Forming a simple cell by random processes would take around 10^119,000. That is a number so large it’s incomprehensible. Of course, scientists such as A.E. Wilder-Smith and others have argued persuasively that the Darwinian theory of matter, energy, and time combining to produce life is not only improbable, it is indeed impossible. Life can only emerge when there’s a code and this code has to come from an intelligent creator.8 A supernatural being - like the God of the universe.

'Science' does not say anything; only scientists do. And it turns out that a lot of scientists have always believed in God, and many today are changing their minds.'

You see, my friends, tag lines such as 'science has disproved Christianity' and the like are dangerous because they stop us in our tracks... they disarm and intimidate us, until we tap the evidence that is available to us. (maybe starting with what is included in this Morning Briefing, drawn from several sources.)

This is an incredibly exciting time in which we are living - who knows but. at you and I were born for such a time as this? Even before the events of the last couple weeks, Millennials and Gen Z, have been driving a resurgence in church attendance. Reports have emerged of spiritual interest, rising faith activity, signs of revival—and the recent rise in commitments to Jesus in the U.S. While overall church attendance trends have been flat in recent years, the return to church among the next generation stands out as a powerful sign of rising openness to faith.9

Hence, the reason for answers to their questions about Christianity I have been discussing. We have a living God who reveals himself to us:

For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—

his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen,

being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.10

The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands.11

And he is not far off. Our God says:

You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.12

Christianity is true; it is reasonable and intellectually defensible.

And our God? Well, he is awesome!

Listen: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sT5whoRt4wA&list=RDsT5whoRt4wA&a...

So glad to be on this journey with you!

Christine

PastorWoman.net

1- pantheist - 1) a doctrine that equates God with the forces and laws of the universe; 2) the worship of all gods of different creeds, cults or peoples indifferently Merriam Webster

2 - I Don't Have Enough Faith to be an Atheist, Norman Geisler, Frank Turek

3 - Merrriam Webster 'supernatural'

4 - God and the Astronomers, Robert Jastrow

5 - I Don't Have... Geisler, Turek

6 - "General Scholium" in Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy (1687)

7 - Genesis 1.14-16

8 - Christian Research Institute, https://www.equip.org/perspectives/what-is-the-teleological-argument/

9 - New Barna Data: https://www.barna.com/research/young-adults-lead-resurgence-in-chur...

10 - Romans 1.20

11 - Psalm 19.1

12 - Jeremiah 29.13