Does Science Disprove God? Sermon Series: I Believe in Doubt Sunday, April 14, 2013 Dr. Victor D. Pentz Senior Pastor Scripture Lesson: Psalm 8 Join me in reading Psalm 8, one of the great exultant outbursts of praise in the Bible: 1 Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! You have set your glory in the heavens. 2 Through the praise of children and infants you have established a stronghold against your enemies, to silence the foe and the avenger. 3 When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, 4 what is mankind that you are mindful of them, human beings that you care for them? 5 You have made them a little lower than the angels and crowned them with glory and honor. 6 You made them rulers over the works of your hands; you put everything under their feet: 7 all flocks and herds, and the animals of the wild, 8 the birds in the sky, and the fish in the sea, all that swim the paths of the seas. 9 Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! Considering Science When I consider your heavens, says the Psalmist. When I consider human beings, when I consider the animal world of birds and fish and oceans, I stand in slack jawed wonder. When I consider. We have a word today for those who spend their lives considering the natural world. We call them scientists very intelligent people who observe and measure the phenomena of nature from the micro to the macro, from the tiniest quarks to the mightiest quasars. I ought to start with some wow from nature, don t you think? As breathtaking as it is to look up at the night sky, what we see with our naked eye is just pinprick of interstellar space. Do you know that if our Milky Way galaxy were shrunk to the size of the continent of North America Canada and the U.S. from Florida up to Alaska if the Milky Way were shrunk to the size of North America, how much 1
space would our solar system take up? It would fit inside a coffee cup. Then consider this: 36 years ago, in 1977, NASA sent up Voyager I and Voyager 2 on a probe and they have been traveling 36 years and still haven t reached the edge of our coffee cup. They still aren t there. Today when engineers beam a command to Voyager at the speed of light, (186,000 miles per second) at that speed it takes more than 13 hours to arrive at Voyager. And still Voyager hasn t reached the edge of our solar system. Yet this vast neighborhood of our sun, in our coffee cup, fits with several hundred billion other stars in our Milky Way galaxy, and our Milky Way is one of perhaps 100 billion other galaxies in the universe. Today we re sitting on a tiny fleck of dust rotating around a minor star at the edge of the Milky Way galaxy. And you and I are but fleeting flesh flakes, who are here today and gone tomorrow in a nanosecond of cosmic time. What inspired David s poem in Psalm 8 at that time was a little flat earth with a dome over the top, a tiny BB in what we now know is the humongous boxcar of a universe. How much more ought we in the twenty-first century to be praising God when we consider the heavens today! Did you know the inventors of modern astronomy were Psalm 8 scientists? Let me read you a prayer: "Great is God our Lord. Great is his power and there is no end to his wisdom. Glorify him O sun and moon for out of him, through him and in him are all things and all perceptions." That was written by Johannes Kepler, discoverer of the laws of planetary motion. And it wasn t just him. Copernicus, Newton, and even Galileo as he clashed with the close-mindedness of the church said, "I do not feel obliged to believe that that same God who has endowed us with sense, reason, and intellect has intended us to forego their use." What s more, faith wasn t an add-on for them. Science was their way of getting closer to God and understanding our purpose in the universe. Today things have changed, maybe because of the mind-numbing complexity and vastness of it all. Today considering the heavens often leads people less and less to worship and more and more to questioning and doubting the very existence of a Creator. A good example is the late Carl Sagan, who had a television show, Cosmos, where he d show a montage of nebulae, and comets and planets, and he d say, The Cosmos all that is or was or ever will be. To which I always think, How does he know that? Is there a place for Psalm 8 in today s world? What does the Bible ask us to believe in the realm of science? It All Began with God First, it asks us to believe that it all began with God. Verse 3: When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars... John 1 says of Christ, All things were made through him and without him was not anything made that was made. God was before all things. Then John goes on to say, In him was life. All living things depend on God for life. Take a big breath; blow it out. See, he gave you another one. Every heartbeat is a gift from him. It is said that a group of top scientists got together and announced, With the technologies now available to us we can create 2
life just like in the book of Genesis. We no longer need God. God said, Well, if you can do what I did in Genesis you re right; you don t need me. So the scientists went out and got a truckload of dirt. God said, Hold on; wait a minute get your own dirt. Whether you believe in the big bang, creationism, or evolution it all began with God. Science is Possible only through God Not only did it all begin with God, but second, science is possible only because of God. Now here I m going to get in way over my head; I am outkicking my punt coverage, so pray for me. In this intellectual stratosphere of faith and science, I m sort of a groupie who sits on the sidelines and I watch these sumo wrestlers of the mind fight it out. Christian philosopher Alvin Plantinga is the most important thinker in faith and science today. I met Plantinga years ago when we were both planning a hike up Mt. Rainier. Unfortunately none of his brilliance rubbed off on me. Recently Alvin Plantinga rocked the world of today s pop atheists like Richard Dawkins by saying it s only the relation between God, nature, and humans that makes it reasonable for us to go into the world and assume that our logic and perceptions are reliable. In other words, having had the same God who created that out there create this in here (head) is what makes it reasonable to believe that the scientific theories our minds come up with are true and actually do describe reality. But he says if, as the atheist scientists say, we are simply the random products of unguided Darwinian evolution, it is unreasonable for us to believe that our cognitive faculties are reliable, because they re just part of that same chaotic, random, irrational process. Therefore it s unreasonable to believe any theories our cognitive faculties may lead us to, and that includes the theory of evolution. (Where the Conflict Really Lies: Science, Religion, and Naturalism by Alvin Plantinga, Oxford, Also Conflict Resolution by Edward Feser in First Things, December 2012) So here s the punch line. How s this for irony? The only way we can rationally believe that we are products of evolution is if we also believe that this evolutionary process was in some way guided by God. Because if the world and all that s here is from the random chaotic process the atheist scientists claim, then it is only by the tiniest odds that our random chaotic brains are truly making any sense out of that random chaotic world. So any claim to having a grasp of reality is a fairy tale. (I don t understand it either it just sounds so impressive.) Here s breaking news. In the last year, one of the great atheist philosophers of our time, Thomas Nagel, has been won over to Plantinga s side. This has sent shock waves through the blogosphere. If you re into this sort of thing, go home and Google Thomas Nagel N-a-g-e-l. This atheist philosopher has just come out with a book and here is the title: Mind and Cosmos: Why the Materialist Neo- Darwinian Conception of Nature is Almost Certainly False. Talk about in your face. He is now seen as a Judas by the atheist community, which is not exactly true. Nagel is still saying, I m not a believer. I just know that mechanistic Darwinism is a joke and does not make sense of the real world. There s just too much going on in the human mind for there not to be some sort of spiritual reality. ( Awaiting a New Darwin by H. Allen Orr in New York Review of Books, February 7, 2013) First, the Universe is here because of 3
God. Second, the universe makes sense to us because of God. And now third, human beings are in the image of a loving God. Humans Are Made in God s Image Science itself is punching holes in some Darwinian doctrines. Let me do a sidebar here and say, I m not talking about evolution God easily could have made his creation so that one species evolved into another. The question is whether this process happened as Darwin explained it or was guided by the hand of a loving God. There are those who say the mystery of human nature and indeed of all life is natural selection. The survival of the fittest would favor ruthless behavior. Therefore people who sacrifice and risk their lives for others, should be at an evolutionary disadvantage and would most likely die before passing on their genes to the next generation. By that logic altruism should have died out a long time ago. Yet today generosity and sacrifice are honored in all cultures of the world. I was reading an article by Jonathan Sacks, chief rabbi of England, who says not just in humans but in social animals like dolphins and chimpanzees scientists have found what they call mirror neurons that cause them to feel pain when they see others suffering. We are hard wired for empathy. Humans are moral animals. Even with all our falleness and sin, we are made in the image of a loving God. Natural selection, biological determinism, does not begin to explain reality. That was the tipping point for today s head of our National Institutes of Health, Dr. Francis Collins, founder of the Human Genome Project. Dr. Collins grew up an atheist and got his Ph.D. in physics at Yale. Then he became interested in biology and genetics, became a physician, and served a brief time in a small hospital in North Carolina. He says, I knew religion was a psychological crutch but was it ever powerful. Here were suffering people who should have hated God and who instead loved God. And they kept asking me Doctor, what do you believe? Figuring he had to say something Collins studied religion, and saw how arguments for atheism have huge logical holes in them. Someone gave him a book by C.S. Lewis. He was taken by Lewis s argument for faith based on the innate knowledge of good and evil. If you and I disagree, one of us will appeal to this innate law of good and evil. In the war in Iraq, one side says we had to get in there and get rid of an evil tyrant, and the other side said, no, we were wrong to unilaterally invade a sovereign nation. Neither says To heck with right and wrong. They don t say I m stronger or I m fitter. They say I m right. Both say, My argument is more consistent with moral behavior. Our need to make excuses about our behavior points to the inner moral law. And that is the deepest truth about humans that we are moral beings. He says suppose you re walking by a lake and someone is screaming in the water. Something tugs at you. You think, I should do something. Even if it s your enemy, you feel this tug, this ought. You don t say, Their kids will be jerks, too and let them drown. Then he says in fact if the person who s drowning has a disability, you feel not less of a tug; you feel more of a tug. You are more likely to risk your life for a weak person which is against the survival of the fittest. (The Language of God by Francis Collins) Dr. Collins says, I don t have enough faith to be an atheist. The Universe is here because of God. The universe makes sense to us because of 4
God. Human beings are in the image of a loving God. God Fills the Emptiness Fourth, our world s great emptiness can only be filled by God. Science is a gift that tells us how the world works and gives us healthier, better, longer, more productive lives. But there s more to life than science. We were made for a relationship with God. Along with the hows of science and technology, we need to know the why of our existence. Around here we ask that famous question, What is the chief end of man? The chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy him forever. A missing God creates a vast unfillable vacancy. N.T. Wright says, There is all the difference in the world between waking up in a single bed and waking up in a double bed with nobody on the other side. Many in our Western culture may be atheists or agnostics, but they still find themselves wondering why the other side of the bed still feels warm, and the sheets [are] a little rumpled. In other words, how odd that many in our world feel abandoned by someone they don t even believe in. It s a little like you young parents when at last your child is old enough for you to get away on an overnight and leave your child with a babysitter or grandparents. When you come home you expect your child to be overjoyed and thrilled to see you. Instead, what do they do? They turn away, ignore you. You don t even exist. They felt abandoned. Many people in our world feel abandoned by a presence they won t even believe in. And if that isn t lostness, I don t know what is. God is as much our answer today as he was 3000 years ago in the time of David. One day while I was pastoring in Houston a scientist came to see me. This man, a geology professor at Rice University, had been visiting our church for a while. When he sat down I ll never forget him asking, How much do you have to believe to be a member of this church? Because I don't believe very much. As a scientist I have lots of doubts about Christianity. I said, "Like what?" He said, "The deity of Christ, miracles, the resurrection," and he went on and on. It felt like I was hearing the Apostle's Creed in reverse: "I do not believe in the God the Father almighty, maker of heaven and earth. I do not believe in Jesus Christ his only son. I do not believe in the resurrection of the body or the life ever lasting." And by the time he was finished I thought, You re an intellectual. This is a job for C.S. Lewis." So I gave him Mere Christianity and The Screwtape Letters and said, Read those. Then we ll talk. A few weeks later he came back and sat down. He said "Vic, I've become a Christian." I did my little happy dance: C.S. Lewis does it again. Then he said, No. It happened in a dream. I said, What? A dream? This is proof God has a sense of humor. Here s a professor who travels the world lecturing on the scientific method zapped in a dream. I love what he said, so professorially: "Well, it may have been a vision. But I think it was a dream." He said, "It was so real. I was walking down a long corridor carrying a huge backpack on my back. At the end of this hallway, I came to a door. Through that door I saw the most beautiful room I've ever seen and there were people laughing and talking and having fun all around this gorgeous room 5
flooded with light. He said, "Vic, I knew that in that room was everything I've ever wanted in life. And so I tried to go in but my backpack was too big to go through that doorway. I tried to go sideways, but again my backpack held me up. The things I had in there were too bulky to let me through the doorway. Then he said, " I realized in the backpack were all my doubts about God and faith and Jesus. My questions and doubts were just too big. But then, he said, I heard a voice say, Take off your backpack and leave it right by the door. You can always come back and visit your questions or explore your doubts. They'll be right there anytime you want to come back. But slip that thing off. Don t miss out. Go through the door. " Then he beamed and said, I did. I took off the backpack and today I'm living inside the room with all my dreams." I ll tell you the rest is history. To this day that geologist is one of the most dynamic, en fuego Christians I ve ever met, who will tell anyone at any time at any place how even the rocks declare the glory of God. Prayer: Lord, we pray for the students and teachers and scholars and professors and researchers here among us today. May our scholarly pursuits honor you. Lord, may our lives be a continual adventure of discovery and learning, as we strive to unite our faith with understanding, in order to love you, our God, with all our mind. Amen. 6
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