QUESTION:

HASN’T SCIENCE BURIED GOD?

Francis Collins, former atheist, now evangelical Christian, ex-director of the Human Genome Project, appointed by President Barack Obama as Director of the National Institutes of Health, July 2009.

QUESTION:“OK, maybe you’re right. Science hasn’t ‘buried’ God, but as we discover more and more through science, the Bible’s version of events does look increasingly unlikely. Yes?”

QUESTION: SCIENCE?1. The origin of the universe2. The “fine tuning” of the universe3. The origin of organic life

Past History of the Universe Present

A CASE FOR THE EXISTENCE OF GOD:STEP 1: Everything that begins to exist has a causeSTEP 2: The universe began to exist

CONCLUSION: The universe has a cause

QUESTION: SCIENCE?1. The origin of the universe2. The “fine tuning” of the universe3. The origin of organic life

THE ORIGIN OF ORGANIC LIFE:a) A cause for biological information (e.g. DNA code and means of translating it, needed

simultaneously)a) No “reducing” atmosphereb) No pre-biotic soup of chemicalsc) Oxygen-ultraviolet paradox

THE ORIGIN OF ORGANIC LIFE:a) A cause for biological information (e.g. DNA code and means of translating it, needed

simultaneously)a) No “reducing” atmosphereb) No pre-biotic soup of chemicalsc) Oxygen-ultraviolet paradox

QUESTION: SCIENCE?1. The origin of the universe2. The “fine tuning” of the universe3. The origin of organic life

Q. WHAT ABOUT THE ‘MUTLI-VERSE’?Q. WHO MADE GOD?Q. WHAT ABOUT STEPHEN HAWKING?

Q. WHAT ABOUT A BOUNCED OR OSCILLATING UNIVERSE?Q. ISN’T THIS JUST THE ‘GOD OF THE GAPS’?

Q: WHY DON’T MORE SCIENTISTS BELIEVE IN GOD?

HASN’T EVOLUTIONDISPROVED GOD?

HASN’T EVOLUTIONDISPROVED GOD?THREE DIFFERENT CHRISTIAN POSITIONS:

1. Young Earth Creationism

• The earth is 20,000 to 30,000 years old.• Dinosaurs and all fossils are thousands

not millions of years old. • The Earth created in 6 x 24 hour days.• Macro-evolution has NOT taken place.• Micro-evolution HAS taken place.

HASN’T EVOLUTIONDISPROVED GOD?THREE DIFFERENT CHRISTIAN POSITIONS:

2. Old Earth Creationism

• The universe is 13.7 billion years old. The earth is 4.5 billion years old.

• Long creation days of more than 24 hours.• Macro-evolution has NOT taken place.• Hominids (e.g. Homo Ergaster 1.8m - 0.5m

years BC) did exist before Adam & Eve, but NOT ancestors of Adam & Eve.

HASN’T EVOLUTIONDISPROVED GOD?THREE DIFFERENT CHRISTIAN POSITIONS:

3. Theistic Evolution

• Macro-evolution HAS taken place & Common Descent HAS taken place.

• God may have intervened to get evolution over barriers.

• Humans & chimpanzees share ancestor.• Adam & Eve were part of a population and

God put his spirit into them, so that they received the “image of God.”

THREE DIFFERENT CHRISTIAN POSITIONS:

1. Young Earth Creationism2. Old Earth Creationism3. Theistic Evolution

HASN’T EVOLUTIONDISPROVED GOD?

HASN’T EVOLUTIONDISPROVED GOD?• Is the assumption behind this

question a “category mistake?” • Surely there is a difference between

“how?” questions and “why?” questions

THREE KEY QUESTIONS THAT LIE OUTSIDE THE SCOPE OF EVOLUTION:• Why did the universe begin to exist?• Why is the universe so finely-tuned?• Why & how did life start on earth?

JESUS IS ASKED A QUESTION ABOUT DIVORCE:“Some Pharisees came to him to test him. They asked: “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any and every reason?”(Matthew 19:3)

JESUS’ REPLY:“Haven’t you read,” he [Jesus] replied, “that at the beginning the Creator ‘made them male and female.’” (Matthew 19:4, quoting Genesis 1:27)

JESUS’ REPLY:“and said, ‘for this reason a man will leave his father and mother and the two will become one flesh.’” (Matthew 19:5, quoting Genesis 2:24)

QUESTIONS EVOLUTION FACES:

1. How can gradual step by step evolution explain the missing links in the fossil record and “the Cambrian Explosion”?

“The Cambrian strata of rocks, vintage about 600 million years are the oldest ones in which we find most of the major invertebrate groups. And we find many of them already in an advanced state of evolution, the very first time they appear. It is as though they were just planted there without any evolutionary history.” Richard Dawkins The Blind Watchmaker p229

“The fossil record in defiance of Darwin’s idea of gradual change often makes giant leaps from one form to the next. Far from the display of intermediates to be expected from slow advance through natural selection, many species appear without warning, persist in fixed form, and disappear, leaving no descendants. Geology assuredly does not…

“reveal any finely graduated organic chain, and this is the most obvious and gravest objection that can be urged against the theory of evolution . . . As more bones turn up the story becomes less clear . . . In spite of a century’s claims of ‘missing links,’ it is quite possible that no bone yet found is on the direct genetic line to ourselves. With so many kinds to choose…

“from and so few remains of each, and such havoc among the relics, none of the fossils may have direct descendants today.” Steve Jones, Almost Like a Whale, p252 & p457

QUESTIONS EVOLUTION FACES:

2. How do you get the new genetic information needed to drive evolution over all the barriers it faces? What’s the mechanism?

QUESTIONS EVOLUTION FACES:

3. Surely much of the evidence for common descent could just as easily be interpreted as common design?

A CAUTIONARY TALE OF HUMAN ORIGINS?

1. The “Multi-Regional Hypothesis” replaced by the “Out of Africa” model.

A CAUTIONARY TALE OF HUMAN ORIGINS?

2. The demise of “Junk” DNA

RESPONSE:• If the case for God is NOT defeated by

evolution, then the way may be clear for you to look at the claims of Christ.

• Today we’ve heard Jesus calling us back to basics. Is there an area of your life where you are seeking God’s will or God’s word to guide you?