Tag: faith and science

JONAH #4: THE FAITHFUL LOVE THAT SAVES US

On By Pastor TomIn Bible, Bible Teaching, Jesus, Jonah, Old Testament, Podcast, Religion, science, Sermon, UncategorizedLeave a comment

Jonah, influenced by the world around him, unwilling to listen to God, found himself banished from God’s presence, dying. He turned back to the Lord in his distress, the and Lord saved him. This is the gospel in a nutshell, and we find it today in the Old Testament. We are separated from God by our own sin, and yet God’s faithful, covenant-love saves us when we cry out to him, when we trust him to do what we cannot do.

To listen to the sermon, click the play button: To download, right click on the link (or do whatever you do on a Mac) and save it to your computer: Download Jonah Part 4

I just said something briefly last time about the miraculous nature of Jonah being in the fish. For Christians today, I think it might be worth spending some more time on the relationship of faith, miracles, and science. A miracle, by definition, is when the normal laws of physics, biology, etc. are set aside by God. Because of this, science cannot either prove or disprove the existence of miracles. Science can’t study them. Many people who pride themselves for being rational thinkers, say that this makes miracles bogus. If they can’t be studied scientifically, why should we believe they are real at all?

Behind that sort of attitude is an assumption that science is the only true way of knowing things. The idea is that if something can’t be studied by science, it isn’t real, or true. Or, to put it another way: everything that exists can be discovered and studied and known by science.

Even though many people think like this, it is utterly ridiculous to believe that science is the only way of knowing anything, or even that it can (eventually) know everything. In the first place, science itself cannot prove that it is the only way of knowing anything. That is a completely non-scientific proposition. It is an example of what we call “a circular argument,” that is, an argument that depends upon itself in order to be true. To simplify, it is like saying, “science is the only way of knowing anything, and the reason we know that is because science is the only way of knowing anything.”

In fact, we can think of many things that normal people consider rational, but cannot be proven by science. We believe that some things are good, and others are evil – yet we cannot know that by the scientific method. Science uses math and logic, but it cannot prove the validity of either one – that would be another circular argument (I can’t use logic to show that logic is real).

We encounter things that are outside of the realm of science every single day. Take for instance, love. If someone were to study love scientifically, they would have to ask questions like these: “How much does love weigh? How long is it? How high? At what speed does love travel? Which molecules are used to build love-units? What does it look like under a microscope? How does it behave under laboratory conditions?” Obviously, these sorts of questions do not apply to love.

However, just as obviously, love exists. So do dozens more such things that profoundly affect our lives, but which science can know nothing about. Another example is freedom. What is the specific mass of freedom? What happens when you mix freedom with water? Again, silly questions. Science is excellent for studying the physical world. All Christians should rejoice at the way science has helped human beings. But obviously, there are more ways of knowing than science, and human beings couldn’t function if we knew nothing other than what science knows.

In fact, in order to do science, we must first accept, without evidence, that human thinking is rational, that our senses do not deceive us, and our thoughts correspond to reality, and that it is possible to discover what it true. In order to do science, all of those things have to be taken as “givens;” that is, we must simply believe that they are true, that is, we have faith that they are true. In other words: science could not exist without faith. Therefore, while science is a powerful way of knowing, faith is also a powerful way of knowing, and in some ways, faith is necessary for science to work.

I want to make sure that we Christians understand that there is no necessary conflict between faith and science. They are not at war. They are complementary ways of knowing things. It is true that some scientists try to use science to attack or undermine faith, but when they do that, they are being unscientific. When a scientist says something like: “this proves that there is no God,” or “this proves that miracles do not happen,” those are not scientific statements. Science cannot pass judgment on matters of faith without becoming unscientific.

All right, let’s look once more at the prayer, or psalm, that Jonah composed while he was (unscientifically) in the belly of the whale. It is important that we do so with the foundation of last week: In the belly of the sea creature, Jonah was saved, and yet, his salvation was not yet complete. So we too, have been saved, but our salvation won’t be complete until we stand with Jesus in the New Creation. Therefore, what Jonah says at this time is very relevant to us.

The Psalm starts with this: “I called out to the LORD, out of my distress, and he answered me.” This is the main point. Jonah says he cried for help from “Sheol,” which means “the place of the dead.” He doesn’t think he died, but he thinks he was knocking on death’s door. Jonah recognizes that he needed salvation because of his own sin and wrongdoing. He says, (as I pointed out last time) that it was the Lord who cast him into the sea, and he says he was banished from the sight of the Lord. In other words, his own sin and disobedience separated him from God. Jonah was almost beyond hope. He says he was near death, banished from the sight of God by his own sin. You can’t get any closer to lost than Jonah was. It reminds me of several different New Testament verses, including:

1 Once you were dead because of your disobedience and your many sins. 2 You used to live in sin, just like the rest of the world, obeying the devil—the commander of the powers in the unseen world. He is the spirit at work in the hearts of those who refuse to obey God. 3 All of us used to live that way, following the passionate desires and inclinations of our sinful nature. By our very nature we were subject to God’s anger, just like everyone else.
4 But God is so rich in mercy, and he loved us so much, 5 that even though we were dead because of our sins, he gave us life when he raised Christ from the dead. It is only by God’s grace that you have been saved!  (Ephesians 2:1-5, NLT)

Jonah, in his desperate situation, looked to the Lord alone for salvation. When we recognize our need and distress, when we know we have no hope apart from the Lord, and we call on him, he saves us. No one who trusts him will be put to shame. All who call on him will be saved. This is the basic message of the whole Bible.

This is the message of faith that we proclaim:9If you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.10One believes with the heart, resulting in righteousness, and one confesses with the mouth, resulting in salvation.11Now the Scripture says, Everyone who believes on Him will not be put to shame,12for there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, since the same Lord of all is rich to all who call on Him.13For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. (Rom 10:8-13, HCSB)

This is the gospel in a nutshell, and here it in the book of Jonah, in the Old Testament, seven hundred and fifty years before Jesus! 

I want us to pay special attention to verses 8 and 9. The best English translation of verse 8 is the HSCB: “Those who cling to worthless idols//forsake faithful love.” That’s really all it says in Hebrew. I think it is implied, however that the faithful love they forsake is the love of God. In the New Testament there is a Greek word that describes the unconditional, never-ending, sacrificial love of God: agape. In the Old Testament, there is a Hebrew word that is the equivalent of agape. That word is cHesed. (I add the small “c” for pronunciation. It’s like starting to softly clear your throat). It means: “faithful, never-ending love; covenant-love.” That is what Jonah says idol worshippers forsake. God offers us never ending, faithful love. He loves us so much that he sent Jesus to die in our place. But we can’t have both our idols, and also, at the same time, God’s love. If we choose to live for human relationships, or money, or achievement, or pleasure, or art, we forsake God’s love.

Now, all of the things I just named are good in their rightful places. Not even pleasure is evil in and of itself. But if we make any of these more important than God, or if we think of any of them as the “ultimate thing,” we forsake the love of God. If we must have something (other than God), or if we run to such things, rather than God, to bring us comfort and hope, we are in danger of idolatry. Jonah realizes what he almost gave up. Nothing is worth more than God’s cHesed , his covenant-love. But idol worshipers ignore what is eternally precious in the pursuit of things that only temporarily satisfy.

In verse 9, Jonah says he will sacrifice to the Lord, and do what he had vowed. God called Jonah to preach His word. Jonah accepted that call. But when God sent him to Nineveh, he balked. Now, he says, “I will do what I was supposed to do.” Notice that this comes after God has saved him. He is not trying to pay for his salvation. He knows he can’t earn it. But because God showed Jonah his power, and because God saved him, Jonah will live in obedience. It is a response to God’s grace, not a way to earn something from God. He has remembered (with God’s obvious help) that he is in a covenant with God, a cHesed covenant. That means, among other things, that he will go where God tells him, and do what God asks. He does this, not in order to get saved, but because God has already saved him, and given him covenant-love.

Jonah’s ending statement basically reiterates this main point. However, the words he uses makes it truly stunning.

Salvation is from the lord!” (Jonah 2:9, HSCB)

OK, maybe it doesn’t seem that stunning to you. This will take a bit of concentration to understand, but it is worth it, so listen closely. In the book of Exodus, God revealed himself personally to Moses as “I am that I am.” The Israelites took that to mean that God’s name was literally, “I am that I am,” or, as they pronounced it: “Yahweh.” They believed that God’s personal name was Yahweh. God commanded them not to take his name in vain. As time went on, the Jews took this command very seriously, and so, when the Old Testament text said “Yahweh,” they felt it was too holy to pronounce. Instead they said “The Lord.”

Most English Bible translations use this same practice. So, in most English translations, when you read “The Lord,” the Hebrew actually says, “Yahweh.”

Fast forward to New Testament times. For the first Christians, the basic confession of faith was this: “Jesus is Lord.” Those who said that did not mean: “Jesus is an important person (a lord).” They were saying: Jesus is THE LORD, the one true God who revealed himself to the people of Israel in ancient times. In other words: Jesus is Yahweh.

Now, one other thing. Jesus is our English way of saying his name. In Hebrew, “Jesus” is pronounced “Yeshua” and it means, “(the Lord’s) salvation.” Almost certainly, when his disciples said his name, they would have said, “Yeshua.”

Now let’s return to Jonah 2:9. There are only two Hebrew words in this verse. It is translated, “Salvation belongs to the Lord.” But let me give it to you straight from the Hebrew: “Yeshua Yahweh.”

In other words: Jesus is Yahweh.

I don’t want to create any misunderstanding. Jonah had no idea that one day God was going to come into the world as a man named Yeshua. But that doesn’t change the fact that the Lord inspired Jonah to use those exact words. To me, it is sort of like finding an Easter egg hidden by God, or maybe like having God wink at us. He’s saying, “Here I am! In case you were wondering if it’s all really true, look, I’m everywhere.” Seven hundred years before he came into the world, the Lord dropped that little breadcrumb there for us!

Thoughts for application:

  • Though some scientists are antagonistic to Christianity, there is no necessary conflict. What are ways that you can praise God for the wisdom he has given the world through science? What are concerns that you might want to turn over to the Lord?
  • How has your own sin and disobedience separated you from the Lord? What about the world, or temptations? Have you called on the name the name of the Lord? Hear the word of the Lord through Jonah that all who call upon him (which means, also trusting him) will be saved!
  • Consider meditating on God’s covenant love for you, his commitment to love you, even to his own death. Receive his love by thanking him for it (and possibly singing, or responding in some other creative way)
  • What is the Lord saying to you today through his word?

Colossians #6: Created by and For Jesus

On By Pastor TomIn Bible, Bible Teaching, Colossians, Podcast, Religion, science, Sermon, UncategorizedLeave a comment

photo of mountain under starry night sky
Photo by Marco Milanesi on Pexels.com

Jesus Christ is God in visible form. Everything that exists was made by him, and for him. This means that our love for nature shows us what it is like to love Jesus. It means that our lives, created deliberately by Jesus, have meaning and purpose. It means that we do not belong to ourselves, but to Jesus, and when we live with Him as our ultimate authority, we are living as we were made to live, and that has many wonderful, gracious, joyful benefits.

To listen to the sermon, click the play button:

To download, right click on the link (or do whatever you do on a Mac) and save it to your computer:
Download Colossians Part 6

Colossians #6.  Colossians 1:15-17

Before we move on from Paul’s prayer for the Colossians, I want to add one final thought. We have looked at this phrase by phrase, and found many rich applications for us. But we should not forget that this is a prayer. It is a wonderful thing to find prayers like this in scripture, and to use them as “model prayers” when we pray for ourselves, and for others. I might use it in my own prayer time, something like this (read verses 9-14, and then look at the prayer I’ve written):

Lord, thank you for saving me. Let me be filled with the knowledge of your will, and increase in spiritual wisdom and understanding. Especially give me your spiritual wisdom and understanding to deal with the issues I’m having with Joe at work. Lord, please enable me to walk in a way that is worthy to you. Thank you, that through Jesus, I am already fulling pleasing you, but help me to live more and more according to that spiritual reality. Please use me to bear fruit – to help others become disciples, or be better ones. Help me to know you more and more. Lord, strengthen me today with your power so that I can endure and have patience and joy, even in the tough situation I’m facing at work right now. Help me to be more thankful to you; I am thankful that you have qualified me to share in the inheritance of the saints. Thank you, above all, that you have delivered me from the domain of darkness and brought me into your kingdom through Jesus Christ. Thank you for the grace and forgiveness you have given me! AMEN.

I’m sure you can see how easily that might be adapted into a prayer for other people, also.

In verse 14, Paul ends his prayer in praise of Jesus, who is the source of our redemption. He moves smoothly into a brief statement about Jesus Christ, himself. Remember, Paul has not personally taught these Colossians. It seems to me that he is making sure that they hear from him exactly who Jesus is, and what he has done.

15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. 16 For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. 17 And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together.

Verses 15-20 all go together, and yet each phrase is important, and worthy of consideration. Let’s take a look at just 15-17, which tells that Jesus is himself one of God’s three persons:

He is the image of the invisible God… Paul does not mean “image” as in “a copy.” He means: No one has seen God the Father. He is a Spirit. In Jesus Christ, however, God took on flesh. If you want to see God, the only place to look is Jesus. Jesus is God in a form that is visible to the world.

…the firstborn of all creation…To understand this properly, we need to know about the culture to which Paul was writing. This does not mean that Jesus was the first thing created out all things. In fact, quite the opposite. Jesus was never created. As one of God’s three persons, he has always existed. “Firstborn” had a very special meaning in ancient times. In those days, the firstborn son of a noble father was considered to be, in some ways, exactly the same as his father. If a grown firstborn son of a wealthy family said to a farmer, “I want to purchase 25 cows,” the farmer did not need to follow up, and make sure that the head of the household agreed. To speak to the son was the same as speaking to the Father. Whatever the son did, the father would back him up. Whatever the father wanted to be done, he trusted his son to carry it out. Paul’s readers would have understood this. So “firstborn” to them does not mean, “created.” In means, “exactly the same as; having the same authority; representing the same thing.” If you spoke to the son, you might as well be speaking to father. So it is with Jesus: if you are speaking with Jesus, you are as good as speaking with the Father. Jesus himself made this clear:

7 If you had known me, you would have known my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him.”
8 Philip said to him, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us.”

9 Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? 10 Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own authority, but the Father who dwells in me does his works. 11 Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, or else believe on account of the works themselves. (ESV, John 14:7-11)

Next comes this: 16 For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him.

If we had any lingering doubts about whether Jesus Christ is a created being, we have this statement: he the Creator. He is the one doing the creating, not the other way round. Again, John affirms this:

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. (ESV John 1:1-3)

9 The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world. 10 He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. (ESV John 1:9-10)

Just to clarify, later John says that “The Word” became flesh, and he was known as the man, Jesus Christ (John 1:14-18). Now, you can be sure that both John and Paul knew Genesis 1:1-3

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. (ESV, Genesis 1:1-3)

If Jesus Christ is the Creator, then he is God. Like John, Paul makes it clear that all things were created through Jesus Christ, and for Jesus Christ. He mentions things both visible and invisible. Of course in that, we would include physical “invisible” things like air and microbes and energy and subatomic particles. Also invisible, yet very real, are things like love, and joy and freedom and grace. I think Paul also intends to mean that through Jesus, the realities of the spiritual world were created. When he mentions things like “thrones, dominions, rulers and authorities,” Paul is usually talking about spiritual entities: that is, angels and demons, although, when Jesus created them, they were not yet demons. Demons were originally created by Jesus as good angels, but they chose to rebel, along with the former angel, Satan.

One piece of this that I have not thought about very often is that the universe was created not only through Jesus, but also for Jesus. We were made for Jesus. Sometimes, lovers exclaim to each other: “We were made for each other!” With Jesus, this is literally true. We were made for him. We belong to him twice over: he made us for himself, and then he also went and redeemed us for himself.

And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together.  Once again “before all things” reminds us that Jesus is God. Only God himself was before all things. Christians have also always believed, based upon this verse, that Jesus Christ is actively involved in the day to management of universe. If Jesus chose to let go, everything would fly apart.

As we speak of Jesus creating everything, and holding everything together, I want to make sure that we understand how to speak about this to others who may not share our beliefs. This verse, that Jesus holds all together, provides us with a very tempting idea. At this point in the development of science, astrophysicists realize that actually, their calculations concerning the universe must be incorrect somehow. In fact, based on our current understanding of physics, the universe ought to fly apart. There is not enough mass in the universe for gravity to work the way it does. Planets and stars should never have formed, because, as far as we know, there isn’t enough mass to hold them together. So, they have come up with two theoretical entities called dark matter, and dark energy, to account for the missing pieces of the current theory.

It is very tempting for us as Christians to say: “Ha! Jesus is what holds the universe together! There is no dark matter or energy, it is Jesus!”

Hear me, my fellow believers: that would be a mistake.

Whatever dark matter and energy are, they are part of the created order. But Jesus is not part of creation. Imagine that we were people inside a painting. Someone has painted us. The role of science is to find out all about what sort of brushes were used, and what kind of paint, and how we hang on the wall, and so on. But the role of Faith is to talk about the Artist. Now, the artist uses brushes, and techniques, paint, and other materials. But those things are his tools and materials – they are not the Artist Himself. You can find out about them without knowing much about the Artist. And it would be wrong to confuse what the artist made with the Artist Himself.

Jesus certainly made whatever dark matter and energy are. He probably (though we don’t know) created them for the very purpose of holding the universe together. But his holding the universe together is a step beyond what can be discovered by science. It is important for us to understand this, because it may be that at some point in the future, scientist understand better what dark matter and energy are. If we Christians are confused between the Creator and the Creation, when that happens, scientists will say: “See, there’s no God! It’s just a subatomic particle.” Confused Christians will have their faith shaken by such things. What we do believe is that whatever substance is holding the universe together, Jesus is the one that created it, and gives it the power to do so. If he so chose, Jesus could let go, and it would all fly apart.

I think a lot of people, if they pay attention at all, have noticed that our world is a beautiful, awe-inspiring place. I love driving through Middle Tennessee, and coming around a corner, or over a hill, finding unexpectedly, a beautiful valley ringed by hills and trees with a  stream running through it. All over here, I see beauty and peace. This is true of many, many places in the world. Human beings see cliffs, and the ocean, and mountains, and empty plains, and great forests, and we love it all. Some people dedicate their entire lives to trying to protect the world from human damage.

But why? Why in the world should we love the physical world? Why does it inspire us, or evoke longing in us? What is that?

I suggest to you that the reason we love the world, and are so inspired by it, is because in the world, we see the reflection of its Creator, Jesus Christ. Jesus made everything there is. The longing we have for physical beauty in the world is first of all a longing for Jesus himself. This should be good news. Loving Jesus is not a feeling that is totally alien to us. The love we feel for nature is, at least in part, a love for Jesus, who made nature.

Let’s look for some application of this truth that Jesus is God made visible, and that he created all things for his own purpose and pleasure.

I think sometimes, I am in danger of becoming a little too casual about Jesus. He is so kind, and so good. He forgives and loves. It seems easy to me to start taking him for granted, and to not give him the kind of respect and awe that he deserves as God, Creator of all things.

It is easy to get the idea that God is there to help us out. Without really thinking about it, we think operate as if God exists for us; that his job is to work on our behalf. But that is the opposite of the real situation. He created us for his own purpose and pleasure. That means many important things. It means that we exist to pleas him, not vice versa. In spite of the fact that many act that way, Christianity is not about getting God to do what we want. It is about God saving us from the destruction we cause when we don’t allow him to lead our lives. And then, it s about letting him fulfill his purpose in us.

It is a wonderful thing that God created the universe in such a way that when we do live with Him as our ultimate authority, we find joy and peace and grace.

Also, the fact that he created us gives our lives value and meaning. You are here for a reason. Someone – the Ultimate Someone – wanted you to exist and to live. That means that you are important, and that your life has value.

Another direction we might go for application is to think about how the beauty of Creation reflects the character of Jesus. If we love nature, then we should look beyond nature to the One who created it. The beauty and joy that we get from nature come ultimately from Jesus Christ.

THE FAITH OF SCIENCE

On By Pastor TomIn Christianity, Faith, science, Uncategorized4 Comments

SCIENCE

 

Scientists often try to make people choose between believing in their discoveries or believing in a Designer who made what they discovered. This is a false choice. The moment we start talking about what it all means in terms of God, Life and personal significance we have left the realm of science.

 

I’m doing some different writing for a few weeks, because, for various reasons, I won’t have any new sermons to post until August 19th.

A lot of folks seemed to appreciate my last post on faith and science, so I thought I’d share a little more. I just read a pair of articles in the Minneapolis Star Tribune. Links are provided, but wait a second before you read them. One was written to defend belief in Evolution: http://www.startribune.com/opinion/commentaries/163231226.html.

The other was written in response to the first one, defending the idea that God created the world without Evolution: http://www.startribune.com/opinion/commentaries/164491876.html?refer=y.

One of the pieces was written by the fire-chief of a small town. The other was written by a city pediatrician. One cited a number of scientific discoveries. The other spoke of personal experience, and stuck to generalities.

The surprising thing? The article defending evolution was written by the fire chief, and lacked any reference to a single scientific discovery. Instead he spoke of his own personal journey of coming to faith in evolution. The pediatrician defended creationism, and cited many discoveries in support of his beliefs, generally avoiding anecdotes from his own life.

The comments afterwards were also surprising. Many people attacked the Pediatrician for not being a “real scientist.” I wonder what they thought of the Fire-Chief. They insisted that the Pediatrician had offered no support for his argument. I wondered if they actually read what he said. On the other hand, it was apparently assumed that the Fire Chief did not need to actually offer support for his belief.

Now, the truth is, I’m a little bit on the fence about evolution, and I lean toward believing that the universe is about fourteen billion years old (though, obviously, I don’t really know). I also have a rock solid Evangelical Christian faith, and I believe the bible is the inspired, inerrant word of God. But these articles and the comments following it helped me sort through something that has bothering me for some time.

I believe the primary reason for the Creation-Evolution debate is that scientists relentlessly and continually insist that each new discovery they make proves the non-existence of God. In a previous post I shared the non-sequitur of Lawrence M. Krauss – who insisted that the recent discovery of a new particle made God vanish in a cloud of illogic. Krauss is not alone, unfortunately. It seems that the scientific community cannot announce a new discovery without also trying to make it a religious statement. After all, “God does not exist” is a religious statement; in fact it is quite definitely a statement of faith.

What this amounts to is this: many Christians suspect secular scientists of religious motivations, and we have reams of writing to support the suspicion. If science is about God not existing and proving a certain world-view, then it IS a religion, and one that is vehemently opposed to Christianity. Richard Dawkins, Christopher Hitchens, Lawrence Krauss and many others essentially put it this way: “Science is right and that proves Christianity is wrong.”

This leaves many Christians understandably believing that they can either accept what science says, or what the Bible says, but not both.

The good news is, that is not the case. Dawkins, Hitchens and company are wrong. Science is not a religion. It is a method used to discover the universe around us, but the moment we start talking about what it all means in terms of God, Life and personal significance we have left the realm of science. These questions cannot be subjected to the scientific method. The answers can’t be found in laboratories or particle accelerators, any more than you can answer “what is your favorite movie?” with a mathematical equation.

As I shared before, imagine that ancient Greek scientists have somehow obtained a modern automobile. Through theorizing and testing they learn more and more about how it works. They are often right about what they think they’ve learned. They say, “Now we understand how the ABS brake system works.” That is all well and good, but then they add, “The whole system is automated, therefore this proves there was no designer or driver to the car.” Non-sequitur – it doesn’t follow. The conclusion isn’t even relevant to the work the scientists are supposed to be doing.

In other words, scientists often try to make people choose between believing in their discoveries or believing in a Designer who made what they discovered. This is a false choice.

I can believe that various aspects of the universe are, in fact, as scientists describe, and still believe that Someone designed the whole thing. There is nothing incompatible in those beliefs.

By the way, the Bible does not demand a belief in a literal six day creation. I won’t go into the whole thing here, but if I am an expert in anything, it is the bible. I’ll just give two quick thoughts here. First, the ancient Hebrew word for “day” is “yom,” and it can mean a 24 hour period. But it can also mean simply a segment of time with a definite beginning and end. In this third definition, yom could be several weeks, or years, or even an epoch. The second thing I would point out is that “yom” is certainly not describing a literal 24 hour day until at least the fourth day (Genesis 1:14) because before that, the Bible records that there was no fixed orbital pattern. Therefore you can believe the bible wholly and truly, and also believe that the universe is billions of years old. In fact “young earth” Creationism was not a Christian doctrine at all until the late 1800s. Up until that point in time, Christians did not consider the age of the earth to be significant, nor did they believe the Bible had to be interpreted in such a way that we must believe the earth is very young.

Don’t believe scientists when they start talking religion. At that point they are just un-educated couch-theologians. Understand this: in spite of what people on both sides of the issue may say, science done scientifically does not exclude faith, and Christian faith does not exclude science.