Reaching Higher 1 - The Earthly Things

Transcription

1 Reaching Higher 1 - The Earthly Things

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3 Light or Darkness 3

4 Biblical Worldview Survey 1. Only 9% of all Americans hold a Biblical Worldview For the purposes of the survey, a biblical worldview was defined as believing that absolute moral truth exists; the Bible is totally accurate in all of the principles it teaches; Satan is considered to be a real being or force, not merely symbolic; a person cannot earn their way into Heaven by trying to be good or do good works; Jesus Christ lived a sinless life on earth; and God is the all-knowing, all-powerful creator of the world who still rules the universe today. In the research, anyone who held all of those beliefs was said to have a biblical worldview. - Barna Survey 4

5 Biblical Worldview Survey 2. Only 19% of those who identified themselves as Born again Christians hold to a Biblical Worldview One subgroups of respondents that the survey explored included those who said they have made a personal commitment to Jesus Christ and He was important in their life today. They are certain they will go to Heaven after they die, only because they confessed their sins and accepted Christ as their Savior. Labeled born again Christians, the study discovered that they were twice as likely as the average adult to possess a biblical worldview. However, that meant that even among Born-again Christians, less than one out of five had such an outlook on life. - Barna Survey 5

6 Biblical Worldview Survey 3. These numbers have remained fairly consistent over the past 20 years, although are declining relative to the Nation historically Year Born again Christians All Americans % 7% % 10% % 11% Today 19% 9% - Barna Survey 6

7 Biblical Worldview Survey 4. One-third of all adults (34%) believe that moral truth is absolute and unaffected by the circumstances. Slightly less than half of born again adults (46%) believe in absolute moral truth. 5. Half of all adults firmly believe that the Bible is accurate in all the principles it teaches. That proportion includes the four-fifths of born again adults (79%) who concur. 6. Just one-quarter of adults (27%) are convinced that Satan is a real person/force. Even a minority of born again adults (40%) adopt that perspective. 7

8 Biblical Worldview Survey 7. Similarly, only one-quarter of adults (28%) believe that it is impossible for someone to earn their way into Heaven through good behavior. Not quite half of all born again Christians (47%) strongly reject the notion of earning salvation through their deeds. 8. A minority of American adults (40%) are persuaded that Jesus Christ lived a sinless life while He was on earth. Slightly less than two-thirds of the born again segment (62%) strongly believes that He was sinless. 9. Seven out of ten adults (70%) say that God is the allpowerful, all-knowing Creator of the universe who still rules it today. That includes the 93% of born again adults who hold that conviction. 8

9 Cultural Shift 9

10 Cultural Shift Simplifying to the extreme, I define postmodernism as incredulity toward meta-narratives. A meta-narrative is any large story that pretends to give an all-encompassing explanation of anything, especially an overarching story of the history of life in an attempt to legitimize some version of truth. 10

11 Arbiters of Truth 11

12 Arbiters of Truth 12

13 Earthly and Heavenly Things If I tell you of earthly things, and you do not believe; how will you believe if I tell you of heavenly things? John 3: 12 If you do not believe the earthly things (i.e., things about our physical universe) in the Word of God, then how can you believe the heavenly things (i.e., things of a spiritual nature)? Paraphrase of John 3: 12 13

14 The Bible & Physical Things Astronomy study of celestial bodies Biology / Physiology study of living organisms Chemistry study of matter and its elements Entomology study of insects Epidemiology / Pathology study of health related issues and disease Hematology study of blood Geology study of the earth (including rock layers and plate tectonics) Mathematics study of numbers or quantities Meteorology study of the atmosphere Oceanography / Hydrology study of water and its movement Optics / Electromagnetism study of electricity and magnetism Physics / Astrophysics study of matter & motion through space-time Paleontology study of fossils Thermodynamics study of heat transfer just to name a few 14

15 The Bible & Physical Things 15

16 The Bible and Astronomy (Study of material universe beyond earth s atmosphere) 16

17 The Bible and Astronomy (Earth as Sphere) It is He (God) who sits above the circle of the earth, and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers, Who stretches out the heavens like a curtain, and spreads them out like a tent to dwell in. Isaiah 40: 22 17

18 The Bible and Astronomy (Sun s Revolution/Circular Path) The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament shows His handiwork. Day unto day utters speech, and night unto night reveals knowledge. There is no speech nor language where their voice is not heard. Their line has gone out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world. In them He has set a tabernacle for the sun, which is like a bridegroom coming out of his chamber, and rejoices like a strong man to run its race. Its rising is from one end of heaven, and its circuit to the other end; and there is nothing hidden from its heat. Psalm 19:

19 The Bible and Astronomy (Relevant Pioneer Quotes) This most beautiful system of the sun, planets and comets, could only proceed from the counsel and dominion of an intelligent and powerful Being. Sir Isaac Newton, General Scholium, in Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy (1687) We are, by astronomical standards, a pampered, cosseted, cherished group of creatures.... If the Universe had not been made with the most exacting precision we could never have come into existence. It is my view that these circumstances indicate the universe was created for man to live in. - Dr. John O Keefe, Show Me God (1995) 19

20 The Bible and Astrophysics (Study of the time-space-matter continuum) 20

21 The Bible and Astrophysics (Expanding Universe) It is He (God) who sits above the circle of the earth, and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers, Who stretches out the heavens like a curtain, and spreads them out like a tent to dwell in. Isaiah 40: 22 Bless the Lord, O my soul! O Lord my God, You are very great: You are clothed with honor and majesty, Who cover Yourself with light as with a garment, Who stretch out the heavens like a curtain. Psalm 104:

22 The Bible and Astrophysics (Composition of Matter) By faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible. Hebrews 11: 3 22

23 The Bible and Astrophysics (Relevant Pioneer Quotes) 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. Dr. Robert Jastrow, God and the Astronomers (1992) 23

24 The Bible and Biology (Study of Life) 24

25 The Bible and Biology (Noah s Flood and Animal Ancestry) And of every living thing of all flesh you shall bring two of every sort into the ark, to keep them alive with you; they shall be male and female. Genesis 6:19 25

26 The Bible and Biology (Shared Human Ancestry) So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them and Adam called his wife's name Eve, because she was the mother of all living. Genesis 1: 27; 3: 20 26

27 The Bible and Biology (Relevant Pioneer Quotes) There is for a free man no occupation more worthy and delightful than to contemplate the beauteous works of nature and honor the infinite wisdom and goodness of God. John Ray, The Wisdom of God Manifested in the Works of the Creation (1691) The flowers' leaves... serve as bridal beds which the Creator has so gloriously arranged, adorned with such noble bed curtains, and perfumed with so many soft scents that the bridegroom with his bride might there celebrate their nuptials with so much the greater solemnity... Carl Linnaeus, Systema Naturae: Creationis telluris est gloria Dei ex opere Naturae per Hominem solum (1729) 27

28 The Bible and Cardiology (Study of the Heart) 28

29 The Bible and Cardiology (Impact of Despair on Heart Health) Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but when the desire comes it is the tree of life. Proverbs 13:12

30 The Bible and Cardiology (Impact of Laughter on Heart Health) A merry heart does good, like medicine, but a broken spirit dries the bones. Proverbs 17: 22

31 The Bible and Cardiology (Relevant Pioneer Quotes) We acknowledge God, the Supreme and Omnipotent Creator, to be present in the production of all animals, and to point, as it were, with a finger to His existence in His works. Аll things are indeed contrived and ordered with singular providence, divine wisdom, and most admirable and incomprehensible skill. And to none can these attributes be referred save to the Almighty. The examination of the bodies of animals has always been my delight, and I have thought that we might thence not only obtain an insight into the lighter mysteries of nature, but there perceive a kind of image or reflection of the omnipotent Creator Himself. William Harvey, Anatomical Exercises on the Generation of Animals (1651) 31

32 The Bible and Chemistry (Study of the Properties of Matter) 32

33 The Bible and Chemistry (Chemical Composition of Human Body) And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being. Genesis 2: 7 33

34 The Bible and Chemistry (Crustal Rock and Seawater) You must understand that in the last days scoffers will come, scoffing and following their own evil desires. They will say, "Where is this 'coming' he promised? Ever since our fathers died, everything goes on as it has since the beginning of creation. But they deliberately forget that long ago by God's word the heavens existed and the earth was formed out of water and by water. By these waters also the world of that time was deluged and destroyed. II Peter 3:

35 The Bible and Geology (Crustal Rock and Seawater) 35

36 The Bible and Geology (Crustal Rock and Seawater) 36

37 The Bible and Chemistry (Relevant Pioneer Quotes) And when with excellent Microscopes I discern in otherwise invisible Objects the Inimitable Subtlety of Nature's Curious Workmanship; And when, in a word, by the help of Anatomical Knives, and the light of Chemical Furnaces, I study the Book of Nature, and consult the Glosses of Aristotle, Epicurus, Paracelsus, Harvey, Helmont, and other learned Expositors of that instructive Volume; I find my self oftentimes reduced to exclaim with the Psalmist, How manifold are thy works, O Lord? In wisdom hast thou made them all. Robert Boyle, Some Motives and Incentives to the Love of God (1659) 37

38 The Bible and Dentistry (Study of Teeth)

39 The Bible and Dentistry (Trigeminal Nerves) And the doors shall be shut in the street; when the sound of the grinding is low, and one shall rise up at the voice of a bird, and all the daughters of music shall be brought low; Ecclesiastes 12: 4 Trigemina l 39

40 The Bible and Dentistry (Relevant Pioneer Quotes) Jesus Christ proclaimed the word of God to be Truth. I found this to be true in all of my research. I therefore urge all the readers of this book to consider the facts that I have presented which uphold the scientific and historical accuracy of the Scriptures. The Bible is not just another finite book. It is the infinite Word of God. My research is finite and I do not for one minute equate it with the Bible. Dr. Jack Cuozzo, Buried Alive (1998) 40

41 Electromagnetism (Study of Electrically Charged Particles) 41

42 Electromagnetism (Wave Particle Duality of Light) "Where is the way to the dwelling of light? And darkness, where is its place, that you may take it to its territory, that you may know the paths to its home? Job 38:

43 Electromagnetism (Relevant Pioneer Quotes) The Bible, and it alone, with nothing added to it nor taken away from it by man, is the sole and sufficient guide for each individual, at all times and in all circumstances For faith in the divinity and work of Christ is the gift of God, and the evidence of this faith is obedience to the commandment of Christ. Michael Faraday, as quoted in Bence Jones work The Life and Letters of Michael Faraday, Vol. 1 (1870) 43

44 Electromagnetism (Relevant Pioneer Quotes) Almighty God, Who has created man in Thine own image, and made him a living soul that he might seek after Thee, and have dominion over Thy creatures, teach us to study the works of Thy hands, that we may subdue the earth to our use, and strengthen the reason for Thy service; so to receive Thy blessed Word, that we may believe on Him Who Thou has sent, to give us the knowledge of salvation and the remission of our sins. All of which we ask in the name of the same Jesus Christ, our Lord. James Clerk Maxwell, a prayer of his found among his papers as cited by E.L. Williams and G. Mulfinger in their work, Physical Science for Christian Schools (1974) 44

45 Electromagnetism (Relevant Pioneer Quotes) No theory of evolution can be formed to account for the similarity of molecules, for evolution necessarily implies continuous change The exact equality of each molecule to all others of the same kind gives it the essential character of a manufactured article, and precludes the idea of its being eternal and self-existent. James Clerk Maxwell, Discourse on Molecules, a paper presented to the British Association at Bradford (1873) 45

46 The Bible and Entomology (Study of Insects)

47 The Bible and Entomology (Worker Ants as Female) Go the ant, you sluggard, consider her ways and be wise, which, having no captain, overseer or ruler, provides her supplies in the summer, and gathers her food in the harvest. Proverbs 6: 6 8

48 The Bible and Entomology (Autonomous Ants) Go the ant, you sluggard, consider her ways and be wise, which, having no captain, overseer or ruler, provides her supplies in the summer, and gathers her food in the harvest. Proverbs 6: 6 8

49 The Bible and Entomology (Relevant Pioneer Quotes) In no part of creation are the POWER, WISDOM, and GOODNESS of its beneficent and almighty Author more signally conspicuous than in the various animals that inhabit and enliven our globe. William Kirby, The Seventh Bridgewater Treatise on the Power, Wisdom, and Goodness of God as Manifested in the Creation: The History, Habits and Instinct of Animals, Vol. 1, (1835) 49

50 The Bible and Meteorology (Study of the Atmosphere and Weather)

51 The Bible and Meteorology (The Weather Cycle) All the rivers run into the sea, yet the sea is not full; to the place from which the rivers come, there they return again. Ecclesiastes 1: 7 51

52 The Bible and Meteorology (The Weather Cycle) The Lord s home reaches up to the heavens, while its foundation is on the earth. He draws up water from the oceans and pours it down as rain on the land. The Lord is His name! Amos 9: 6 52

53 The Bible and Meteorology (Relevant Pioneer Quotes) The cause of the six-sided shape of a snowflake is none other than that of the ordered shapes of plants and of numerical constants; and since in them nothing occurs without supreme reason -- not, to be sure, such as discursive reasoning discovers, but such as existed from the first in the Creator's design and is presented from the origin to the day in the wonderful nature of animal faculties, I do not believe that even in a snowflake this ordered pattern exists at random. Johannes Kepler, The Six Cornered Snowflake (1611) 53

54 The Bible and Neuroscience (Study of Nervous System, including the Brain) 54

55 The Bible and Neuroscience (Cognitive Learning) Pleasant words are like a honeycomb, sweetness to the soul and health to the bones. Proverbs 16:24 The wise in heart will be called prudent, and sweetness of the lips increases learning. Proverbs 16:21

56 The Bible and Neuroscience (Enteric Nervous System) Behold, O LORD; for I am in distress: my bowels are troubled; my heart is turned within me; Lamentation 1: 20a Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering; Colossians 3: 12 Yea, brother, let me have joy of thee in the Lord: refresh my bowels in the Lord. Philemon 1: 20 But whoever has this world's good, and sees his brother has a need, and shuts up his bowels of compassion from him, how can the love of God dwell in him? I John 3: 17 56

57 The Bible and Physiology 57

58 The Bible and Neuroscience (Relevant Pioneer Quotes) One of the most encouraging marks of growth is the spirit of those who have accepted Christ and are now working earnestly for the salvation of others... Clara Swain, A Glimpse of India (1909) I am a believer in the fundamental doctrines of Christianity. - Joseph Lister 58

59 Earthly and Heavenly Things If I tell you of earthly things, and you do not believe; how will you believe if I tell you of heavenly things? John 3: 12 If you do not believe the earthly things (i.e., things about our physical universe) in the Word of God, then how can you believe the heavenly things (i.e., things of a spiritual nature)? Paraphrase of John 3: 12 59