Sermon notes 6-19-16 - Science verse Religion

6-19-16

Always Prepared - Week 2

Tool # 2 - Science.

The Existence of God

1. Introduction:
1. We started a series called Always Prepared last week. 
2. I can already tell this is going to be a tough series for some. You will be required to actually think about things. 
3. You see there is a problem in today’s Christian faith. 
1. Christians are not prepared to answer the tough questions.
2. Christians remain silent and there is no longer a voice crying out for good anymore.
4. We need to prepare ourselves to share the Gospel of Christ with others, to defend the faith, to persuade others to come to the faith, and probably most important we need to understand what we believe and why we believe it. 
5. Like this tool belt. Many of us have tool belt that looks good, but it has no tools. We need to add the right tools to our belt so that we are prepared for all this world will throw at us. 

1. We started a series called Always Prepared last week. This series is based on 1 Peter 3:15 - “but sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence;”
2. This verse commands believers to prepare themselves to make a defense.
3. What kind of things do we need to prepare ourselves for?
4. Well first, we need to know there is truth.  Last week we saw there was Truth and that truth is discoverable, knowable, transcultural, unchanging and absolute. 
5. Once we determine those things, we believe that we need to discover what the Truth is - especially when it comes to God. 
6. Jesus told us He is the way, the TRUTH, and the life. If Jesus is truth then anything that teaches different is False. 
7. Now that doesn’t mean that we hate anyone who disagrees with Jesus. In fact, we are to do the opposite. This verse tells us to share the Truth with gentleness and respect. In other words, we love others who disagree with us, but we don’t agree with them. 
8. We also never admit that we can prove Christianity to be true. We must admit that there are many things in this life we accept by faith because we have not seen everything with our own two eyes. Instead there is a standard of proof that amounts to a moral certainty that allows us to see Christianity is true beyond a REASONABLE doubt. 
9. We make decisions all the time based on probability, not certainty. For example, crossing the road we look both direction, collect the evidence and then decide the probability of making the crossing the street safely.
10. When it comes to religion, we apply the same standards of probability looking at the evidence of logic and reason and determine what is most logical and scientific. 
11. Now today, we are going to apply that same logic to the second question that we need to be able to answer and add more tools to our tool belt. The second question is Does God exist
2. Science verses Religion
1. When it comes to the question of God we are led to study what the world calls science.
2. Those who believe there is no God often make it a question of Science verses Religion.
3. Maybe you have heard the argument before that science disproves there is a God.
4. In his book “The God Delusion” renowned atheist Richard Dawkins argues that you cannot be an intelligent scientific thinker and still hold religious beliefs.
5. In fact, Dawkins even list a statistic that says that only 7% of American scientist believe in a personal God. 
6. And so today we have a culture that believes that there is a war between faith and science. The media enhances this problem by making every story have a good side and a bad side, a protagonists and antagonists. 
7. In the process, it gives wide publicity to battles between secular and religious people.
8. For example, the teaching of evolution in schools, stem-cell research, in vitro fertilization, medicine and science, homosexuality verses heterosexuality, animal rights verses people, pro-life and pro-choice, etc… the list goes on and on.
9. Christians often find themselves caught in this battle to speak truth and know what they believe and at the same time trying to love people in a society where the media portrays them as the bad guys who impose their dogmatic beliefs on everyone or the ones who practice hate speech.
10. In the process of all this balancing we still have the question - Does science really disprove God?
11. I would argue that science actually is one of the greatest tools Christians have when it comes to explaining our faith. Science and the bible actually go hand and hand. In fact, as you study the Bible we begin to understand science and the world we live in.
12. In fact, it’s not really science verse religion or faith verse reason. It is reasonable faith verses unreasonable faith. It’s good science verse bad science. 
13. I hope to show you why today by giving you the second tool for your tool belt.

1. Does God exists?
1. You see using logic we know that we must come to one of three conclusions when it comes to God.
1. There is No God.
2. There are many God.
3. There is one God
2. Let me begin by saying, no of these can be proven to be true beyond doubt, so we must now look at the evidence and science that we know to draw to a reasonable conclusion.
3. Science teaches us that everything that has a beginning had a cause. That nothing can just pop out of the air. You can’t just pull a rabbit out of a hat - the rabbit had to come from somewhere else. You can’t just ask a genie for a million dollars - because everything that has a beginning has a cause. 
4. this is called the Law of Causality. 
5. Now Science proves that the universe had a beginning. Without going to deep into this let me just explain a few discoveries that have helped understand this. 
6. The second law of thermodynamics which explains that the universe is slowly running out of energy. Since we are not out of energy this is scientific proof that the universe had a beginning.
7. Or how about the fact that the universe is expanding from one spot called General Relativity. 
8. This picture is a picture seem from the Hubble Space telescope. In 1929 Albert Einstein looked through this telescope and came the conclusion that the earth is not eternal. He actually called this discovery irritating because it meant that the universe was a not self-existent or reliant on anything outside cause. 
9. But now he had General Relativity and the hubble space telescope that proves to the fifth decimal point that the universe had a beginning. 
10. But just because the universe has a beginning doesn’t prove there is a God or a theistic God. We must do some more research. 
11. As we continue to look at science we see two other factors that point to the beginning. These are radiation and galaxy seeds. Not to become so scientific that I lose you - but in 1989 a discovery of galaxy seeds was made. Basically, scientist found precise ripples that point to a beginning in that the universe was created at one point in History. Scientist all agree that this is called the Big Bang. 
12. Again, this doesn’t prove God - it just proves a beginning that started with a Big Bang that sent radiation cells throughout our universe. 
13. At the Big Bang Time, Space and matter came into existence. But How and When did the Big Bang happen?
14. That is the question that every person has to struggle with. You can’t just say it came from nothing because we have already learned that nothing comes from nothing - everything comes from something. You take away that law and you no longer have science.
15. Some scientist said that the universe has been expanding and contracting forever and therefore it didn’t need a beginning. But that still doesn't answer how the first bang happened and answer all the questions about all the evidence we have found.
16. So what do we decide - we must figure out what it is that caused the first cause that existed or exist outside of time, space and matter. 
17. Let’s review - We know the universe had a beginning. 
1. Everything that had a beginning had a cause.
2. The universe had a beginning
3. Therefore the universe had a cause
18. We also come to the conclusion that the first cause that started this world had to be self-existent, timeless, and immaterial. In order to create this entire universe out of nothing it had to be powerful and creative. 
19. What we can’t deny is that all science and evidence points to a beginning and a supreme being that was there before time, space and matter.
20. So now we have to decide what that supreme being that existed outside of time, space and matter is.
21. It seems to me that we have one choice left. 
22. To believe in a God.
23. Now the next question atheist are quick to assert is well then where did God come from.  But the answer to this question is easy. Man is subject to time and space but God is not. God exists outside of time and space. Colossians 1:17 states, “He is before all things.”
24. This is where faith comes in - You either believe that the universe always existed or that something caused the universe. Both are possible but one seems more actual. 
25. That is where we have to look at the second argument for the existence of God.

1. Design
1. Every that has design has a designer.
2. The universe has a highly complex design.
3. Therefore, the universe has an designer.
4. You see everything that has design has a designer. The universe has a highly complex design - Therefore the universe has an intelligent designer.
5. Let’s say you go for a walk on the beach and you find a iPhone on the beach. You pick up the iPhone and say what a nice iPhone. I’m so glad the wind and rain and erosion with a combination of natural forces made this for me. You put it in your pocket. 
6. You then see a heart in the sand that says Sean loves Anna. You come to conclusion that this just appeared after 100 years of corrosion and beach erosion. Of course not. 
7. You conclude that there’s absolutely no question in your mind that some intelligent being made the iPhone and someone drew that marking in the sand. 
8. Now what is incredible is that earth is far more complex than an iPhone or anything man has created yet we some how come to the conclusion that the earth happened to come together from many natural things and evolution - and fail to take into account the complexity of the world in which we live. 
9. Let me explain how complex the world we live in is….
10. Oxygen compromises 21% or the atmosphere. If oxygen were more than that the earth would erupt spontaneously, if it were less there would not be enough oxygen for humans to survive. We would all suffocate. But our earth is just right for man to live. 
11. Gravity and gravitational pull is just right. If it were any greater than it would cause tidal effects on the oceans and atmosphere that would be too severe for us to survive. If it were less, orbital changes would cause climatic instabilities and make life on earth impossible. It also would mean our sun would not exists. And if we didn’t have sun we all die as well. 
12. The carbon dioxide level is perfect. If it were any higher than it is now we all burn up. If the level were lower than plants would not be able to maintain efficient photosynthesis and we all suffocate. 
13. Finally, let me give you just one more. Atheist and evolutionists believe that all life came together by spontaneous generation without any intelligent intervention. That some one-cell amoeba floating in some little pond in the world turned into a living creature, which became a reptile, then to a animal of some sort and finally into the human race that we are today. It’s called macro-evolution - not to be mistaken with micro-evolution. Micro-evolution is commonly believed by all because it is the changing and adapting of creatures. Macro-evolution… let me just say there is absolutely no evidence of one creature being transformed to a new creature. For example, from fish to mammal - from monkey to human. 
14. In order for macro-evolution to be true the fist life must have been generated spontaneously from nonliving chemicals. 
15. But in 1953 two meanly the name of James Watson and Francis Crick made a huge discovery that showed us spontaneous generation is a huge leap of faith to believe in. 
16. They discovered what we know as DNA. In each DNA strand contains thousands of cells. In each cell there is such complexity that just one cell, a DNA full of millions of cells, there is enough information to fill the 30 volumes of Encyclopedias. 
17. A full DNA link it will fill 1000’s of Encyclopedias of information. 
18. Now think about this - no human being has created anything close to a strand of DNA. So why should we expect non-intelligent natural laws to be able to create life forms, when intelligent humans can’t even create a DNA strand.
19. There is so much design in just one strand of DNA that it takes a huge amount of faith to NOT believe in a Designer. 
20. How can we look at something at the complexity of world and think anything different. 
21. In fact, “science is the only source of objective truth claims to be objective truth, but it’s not a scientific truth.”
22. In order to deny an intelligent designer who existed before and outside of time atheists must take extreme measures to deny the obvious that the world is full of design.
23. Some claim that there are multiple universes in the galaxy and we just happen to live on the one that sustains life. But there is no proof to that. It allows you to deny that there is a God, but your putting your faith in something that evidence doesn’t support. 
24. Other atheist claim that aliens deposited the first life here. I guess that’s all possible… Again, no proof 
25. There is another option…

1. Romans 1:21 
1. For since the creation of the world God’s invisible attributes, His eternal power, and divine nature, have been clearly been, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse.
2. Psalm 19:1-2 - The heavens are telling of the glory of God; and their expanse is declaring the work of His hands. 
3. There is faith in whatever you believe. It just makes more reasonable sense to believe in an almighty God who created the world.
4. So now we must research the Gods of each religion to see what they teach
5. Genesis 1:1 says, “In the beginning (that means the beginning of time, space and matter) God created the heavens and the earth.” 
2. 
   
1. More Objections:
2. Now I have not proven there is a God. I have only used science, evidence and logic to determine that the belief is completely logical. 
3. Before we move on today… Let’s handle a couple more objections.
4. Evolution and science still contradict the Bible. The Bible says the world is young and science says it is old. Now as we already mentioned, atheist have a major problem of answering where the first life came from. But once there is life - Atheist love to point to evolution as more scientific.
5. I have already answered that many Christians hold to the fact the life adapts and things change. There is no denying that. But to change from one life form to another is something that the Bible doesn’t teach and that science has very little proof in. Let me explain. Evolution is the ideal that more complex life-forms evolved from less complex forms through a process of natural selection.
6. An example would be bacteria when it is attacked by anti-biotic. If the bacteria survives the attack from the anti-biotic then the surviving bacteria now becomes resistant to the anti-biotic. The bacteria has now evolved to multiply and dominate. Atheist love to point out that this is an example of evolution. But the problem is the bacteria is still bacteria. It didn’t mutate into a frog or a monkey. Again, there is absolutely no evidence to support macro-evolution. 
7. Atheist then love to point out that the Bible says the earth is 6000 to 8000 years old when science points to the earth being much older - billions of years old. 
8. Now I would love to get into this debate, but here is something that everyone needs to hear. There are Bible believing Christians that believe the earth is old.  For some of you traditional Christians I will be labeled a heretic and a liberal for not teaching the inerrancy of the Bible. But the Bible has different ways in which we interpret it. We always start with the literal translation, but that doesn’t mean that at times the literal translation is symbolic.
9. There are some who interpret Genesis 1 where it talks about God creating the world in six days as literal six days (24 hours) - but others say it was a time lapse. Because the Bible speaks of God days being like a thousand years. It can be looked at as a poem or song and Genesis 2 is more the historical way it all happened. 
10. The point is… this is something that should not divide us as believers. We can debate it and work through it, but in the end we can still agree that God created and that the Bible does not contradict science. 
11. David Atkinson said it this way, “If evolution is elevated to the status of a world-view of the way things are, then there is direct conflict with biblical faith. But if evolution remains at the level of scientific biological hypothesis, it would seem that there is literal reason for conflict between the scientific explorations of the way which - at the level of biology - God has gone about his creating process.
12. Objection 2 - Earlier we mentioned how Dawkins said only 7% of scientist believe in a personal God. Does that mean we are the unreasonable ones to accept the Bible over science. Absolutely Not! For one, Dawkins quote is inaccurate - much like polls in the political process. You interview the right people in the right place you can come up with anything. 
13. More recent research has shown that 40% of scientist believe in a Creator God, 40% believe there is no God, and 20% aren’t sure. 
14. also, keep in mind this - science doesn’t really say anything - scientist do. They interpret their findings many times based on personal preferences and unproven philosophical assumptions. They do exactly what they accuse religious people of doing. Within the scientific or academia there is immense pressure to conform to the what others think and say. To say you believe in God might get you outcast from the group. There have been several professors who have lost their job for just claiming that there could be a god. 
15. Truth is we don’t have to accept scientist findings when they let their ideology dictate their conclusions for reasons we have already looked at today. 
16. Final objection: Since miracles go against science we don’t accept any miracles. This is tough one that needs more time than i have today to break down, so let’s just give you the cliff note version.
17. First, a miracle is an act of God. We don’t define miracles as a baby being born (although it is beautiful - it can be described by science). Now a virgin birth is a miracle because it does not follow the normal laws of science. 
18. Many people reject Bible stories and call them myths or fables because they hear about a man being swallowed by a whale and living, water parting, the sun stopping for a day, and blind man being healed, etc… 
19. My quick answer is this - If there is an all powerful Creator of the universe who made this complex world in which we live - why couldn’t He reach down into His creation and change the natural laws for a time period? In weeks to come we will go into greater detail with this, but for now we will stop there.
20. Finally, let me end with this Atheist are quick to say that - Religion is just a crutch that helps people cope with the problems of life.
21. Truth be told, it is possible that Christianity could have started b/c people needed something to lean on and that everything happened through a process of a billion years of natural selection and chance. But there we must also recognize something.
22. First, life is hard and the fact of the matter is all of us need a crutch to get by in this world. Some people choose drugs and alcohol, others turn to religion, and others turn to other things that let them down.
23. The question then is “Is the crutch we call Christianity true, or is it something on the same level as drugs or alcohol, invented to meet an admitted need?”
24. Evidence and logic point to the former that Christianity could be true and that there is a God. 
25. At the same time, I would also argue this that atheists and agnostics may be using their beliefs as a crutch to avoid the responsibility of God’s demand.

1. Conclusion
1. James Tour a nanoscientist - “Only a rookie who knows nothing about science, would say science takes away from faith. if you really study science, it will bring you closer to God.”
2. I encourage you to study the Bible and study science. We shouldn’t be scared of it. In fact, as Psalm 19 tells us the heavens declare His glory. As we study the living creatures and the stars and the planet in which we live - we see the fingerprints of God everywhere.
3. Let’s pray!