151-Science vs God Part 2

The spiritual condition of America, politics, culture, and current events, analyzed through the lens of scripture. Welcome to the Alex McFarland Show. The heavens declare the glory of God, the skies proclaim the work of his hands.

Welcome back to the program, Alex McFarland here. We're continuing our conversation about science, God and the Bible. Has science quote unquote disproven Christianity? You know in the first of this two-part program we were talking about how there is very often this assumption that there's faith and there's the Bible but somehow there's like true truth which is science. And we talked about the fact that scientists do not enjoy the unified front, many assume. You know when it comes to things like the environment, secularists love to say, they'll say that well 97% of scientists agree in climate change and human activity causing global warming.

Well let's talk about that 3% that don't. You know many of the greatest scientific advancements in the world came about when there was not even 3% but maybe one voice. You know for years scientists believed that the earth was the center of the solar system. And then you know there was Galileo who was excommunicated by the church and he said no the sun is the center of the solar system. And he was in his own lifetime castigated and yet he was shown to be right.

And so here is something that's worth pointing out that innovators and innovation has always faced resistance. And the scientific evidence affirming biblical creation is compelling, growing, and can't be ignored forever. And so you know science is not a majority vote type of thing. I am keenly aware, believe me, I am keenly aware that many many people in the halls of academia scoff at the idea of the Bible, do not believe in the God of the Bible, and like the Cornell professor I quoted are utterly confident that when they die they will simply be worm food. And yet you know the Bible is clear and I think near death experiences have documented this.

I would encourage people to look at the fall of 2023 theatrical release After Death. And there were some filmmakers from Canada that interviewed hundreds of people that were declared brain dead, flat line, no brain wave, and yet they resuscitated, came back to life. And many report seeing God experiencing heaven, some report seeing hell. And so there is compelling empirical evidence that the soul survives death.

There's a non-physical part of the human being that call it the spirit, call it personality, personhood, but there is a part of a human being that survives clinical death. And so I'm keenly aware that many evolutionists, they have just convinced themselves that there is no God before whom they'll appear, and yet there is scientific evidence that the soul survives death. In the first program I concluded mentioning this really fascinating website called A Scientific Dissent from Darwinism. And to sign this statement, Darwin has to have a PhD in one of the sciences, and it says this, quote, we the undersigned are skeptical of the claims for the ability of random mutation and natural selection to account for the complexity of life. Careful examination of the evidence for Darwinian theory should be encouraged.

It's not being hit over the head with a Bible or anything like that, just careful examination. And that to account for the hundreds of thousands of varieties of plant life, animal life, marine life, reptile life, avian, bovine, equine, canine, human being, really all of this in a plethora of life and everything, whether it's a blade of grass or a potato or your four year old toddler. We're talking about billions of bits of DNA encrypted data. And remember, we've never observed information arise from a non-intelligent source. Further, we've never observed mutation add additional information to the genome. So it's a lot of mutations that we've never observed that we're trusting in to have given us this multiplicity of life forms. And so this should not really be a controversial statement, and yet it is.

Let me read further. Philip Skell, member of the National Academy of Sciences, emeritus Evan Pugh professor at Pennsylvania State, said the following, quote, scientific journals now document many scientific problems and criticisms of evolutionary theory, and students need to know about these as well. In other words, you know, the problems and limitations of Darwinian evolution, I mean, these questions that scientists are asking should not be kept under wraps. I go on, Dr. Skell says, quote, many of the scientific criticisms of which I speak are well known by scientists in various disciplines, including the disciplines of chemistry and biochemistry in which I've done my work. And what he's saying there is, and he is one of the signers of the scientific dissent, D-I-S-S-E-N-T from Darwin, that look, scientists do not enjoy the unified front, many assume, and godless evolution is not the slam dunk that many might assume. Let me read a quote. It's a somewhat lengthy but a very interesting quote by Paul Davies. There was an interview in the New York Times taking science on faith was the title. And Dr. Paul Davies said the following, quote, over the years I've often asked my physicist colleagues why the laws of physics are what they are.

The answers vary from that's not a scientific question to nobody knows. The favorite reply is there is no reason that the laws of physics are what they are. They just are, end of quote.

Now listen, Davies goes on. He says the idea that the laws exist reasonlessly is deeply anti-rational. After all, the very essence of a scientific explanation of some phenomenon is that the world is ordered logically and that there are reasons things are the way that they are. If one traces these reasons all the way down to the bedrock of reality, the laws of physics, only to find that then reason deserts us, this makes a mockery of science, end of quote. Now in theology there is a word called fideism. Now F-I-D-E, fide is the Latin word for faith. And keep in mind as I'm sure you know many of the evolutionists they say well we don't walk by faith.

That's for you Christian intellectual weaklings. We are rational. And you say well then why are things the way they are? This is a universe governed by laws.

Precise, repeatable, dependable laws. Why is the universe ordered the way it is? And they say well it just is.

Nobody knows. Well that is fideism. That's just having faith and saying that those laws were random, came about, no rhyme no reason. It's an orderly world and yet it's a purposeless undirected irrational world. That's contradictory. There is an answer beyond this though.

But it involves being open to a radical hypothesis. A creator God. Stay tuned we're going to come back and talk more about Science vs. God on this edition of the Alex McFarland program.

Don't go away. Fox News and CNN call Alex McFarland a religion and culture expert. Stay tuned for more of his teaching and commentary after this. Christian author and speaker Alex McFarland is an advocate for Christian apologetics. Teaching in more than 2200 churches around the world, schools and college campuses, Alex is driven by a desire to help people grow in relationship with God. He arms his audiences with the tools they need to defend their faith while also empowering the unchurched to find out the truth for themselves. In the midst of a culture obsessed with relativism, Alex is a sound voice who speaks timeless truths of Christianity in a timely way. With 18 published books to his name, it's no surprise that CNN, Fox, the Wall Street Journal and other media outlets have described Alex as a religion and culture expert. To learn more about Alex and to book him as a speaker at your next event, visit alexmcfarland.com or you can contact us directly by emailing booking at alexmcfarland.com. He's been called trusted, truthful and timely. Welcome back to the Alex McFarland show.

Welcome back to the program. We're talking about science and God and the purpose of this. This is of course not exhaustive, but it's reasonable to believe that creation had a creator.

It's reasonable to believe that design had a designer. It's reasonable to believe that God is a personal God because he created persons. If God is this impersonal force, he's less developed than we are.

It's reasonable to believe that laws come from a lawgiver, whether they be natural laws or moral laws, the law of gravity, just the myriad of laws that govern the physical world, and then the laws that are the boundaries and parameters of the spiritual world. You know, in salvation, we often talk about the fact that Romans 4 says when you come to Christ, Christ's righteousness is imputed to you. That is an utterly, absolutely unique concept, unique to Christianity. The standard for heaven that you and I don't naturally have, but which is the requirement. If you want to get into heaven when you leave this world, you have to be as holy as God. That means righteous.

Not real good, not pretty good. If you want to go to heaven, not hell, you have to be righteous. And you don't have it and you can't buy it.

And you can't work really hard to earn it. So we are in a debacle. So what do we do? Well, Romans chapter 4, and again, no other belief system has anything like this, much less an empty tomb. But Romans chapter 4 says if we believe in Jesus Christ, the righteousness required for heaven, the holiness of Jesus is accredited to us. Imputed righteousness. That's why there's Romans 5.1 that says therefore, in other words, in light of this, therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Peace with God. Well, salvation involves the imputed righteousness of Jesus. But there's another spiritual law. We must be born again because prior to salvation, we have the imputed unrighteousness of Adam.

If you're not under Christ, you're under Adam. And so we have a twofold need for salvation. We have a birthright, sin, fallenness, separation from God. And then we do sinful things. We know the right and we do the wrong. So it's been said we're sinners by birth and sinners by choice.

But it's rational to believe in the God of theism. Because this universe is an orderly universe. And I will tell you this, as I'm sure you know, just as if you fall, so many people have died in recent years, falling off of objects, mountains and buildings, trying to get a selfie. And gravity does not grant you an exception just because it was an accident.

Gravity does not get suspended simply because you overestimated your ability to hold an iPhone while leaning out over a ledge. Well, in a similar way, the laws of the spiritual world will not cut you a break. You can be sincere. You can have faith.

All of your buddies can tell you what a great guy you are. But if you enter eternity unsaved, there is no second chance. That's why it's important to talk about the laws that govern time and eternity. Now, evidence does support design, creation of human beings, and recently so. Hugh Ross is an apologist that I know. We've had him speak in our events.

He actually offered me a position about 15 years ago, but I didn't feel led to take it. And his ministry deals with what's called Old Earth creationism, and I'm a Young Earth creationist, but we agree in the God of the Bible and the Lord Jesus Christ. But Dr. Hugh Ross and Fazil Rana, one of his colleagues, both PhDs, said this, quote, a litany of scientific advances in genetics, biochemistry, archaeology, and even geology and astronomy comport with the belief in God and God the Creator.

Okay. Genetic studies of human population groups signify that humanity had a recent origin in a single geographical location from a small population with genetic links back to a single man and single woman. The research demonstrates that humanity and human civilization arose relatively recently near or in the Middle East to fill the earth. In fact, the first genetic ancestors of humanity are referred to in the scientific community as Why Chromosomal Adam and Mitochondrial Eve. That's page 249 from their book, Who Made Adam? And so there are incredible amounts and neurology, anthropology, growing bodies of research indicating not only the necessary presence of a Creator, but really not only the solar system, but the human race in accord with what the Bible would say about it. Now earlier I mentioned the quote from Charles Darwin.

He lived 1809 to 1882. And I'm no fan of Darwin, obviously. But he said, quote, I feel compelled to look to a first cause having an intelligent mind in some degree analogous to that of a man.

I deserve to be called a theist, end of quote. Now a mind. Why should the first cause have mind? Well, we have a mind. And if the cause is not in some way an intelligent cause, then again that cause would be more primitive than we. So since we bear image of the Creator, we are persons, God must be personal. We have intellect, God is omniscient, knows all things. Everything that we discover reveals incredible levels of structure, organization, and purpose. And to infer an intelligent cause, a powerful cause, a cause that spoke the world into existence, governs and decreed the laws of this world, that is not at all irrational.

And while we do believe by trust, faith, it's very rational faith. Examples, I want to give some quotes, some examples of growing numbers of scientists that are bold enough to acknowledge the evidence for God and creation, and also the lack of evidence for secular Darwinism. I think of Jeffrey Schwartz of the University of Pittsburgh, a PhD in evolutionary anthropology.

He said, quote, the formation of a new species by any mechanism has never been observed. Now when we come back, we'll continue with more quotes by scientists questioning the efficacy of Darwinism and secularism to account for creation and life. Stay tuned.

We're back after this. Fox News and CNN call Alex McFarland a religion and culture expert. Stay tuned for more of his teaching and commentary after this. Over the last several decades, it's been my joy to travel the world talking with children, teens, adults, people of all ages about the questions they have related to God, the Bible, Christianity, and how to know Jesus personally.

Hi, Alex McFarland. I want to make you aware of my book, The 21 Toughest Questions Your Kids Will Ask About Christianity. You know, we interviewed hundreds of children and parents and families to find out the questions that children and people of all ages are longing to find answers for. In the book, we've got practical, biblical, real-life answers that they have about how to be a Christian in this modern world.

My book, The 21 Toughest Questions Your Kids Will Ask, you can find it wherever you buy books or at resources.afa.net. He's been called trusted, truthful, and timely. Welcome back to The Alex McFarland Show. Welcome back to the program.

We're going to conclude our brief talk about science versus God, but I want to remind people, please be in prayer. For our seven summer youth camps, the website is equipretreat.org. We'll be all over the country, and maybe you want to sponsor a young person to go to camp. You know, I say of our Christian biblical worldview camps, invest a week that will count for a lifetime. And folks, your tax-deductible contribution in any amount costs us about $400 to provide a week of camp for a youth. And really, as summer camps go, and especially ones that have so many things, from hiking and ropes courses, horseback riding, but best of all, biblical worldview teaching to inspire this generation for God and country. We really do things, I think, with excellence and very economically.

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Charlie Kirk is the person most responsible for inspiring millions of young adults to biblical constitutional citizenship. And yes, there will be open mic Q&A. We'll be at the Alabama theater in Myrtle Beach on August 21. September 14, our longtime colleague Lauren Green, anchor and journalist on Fox News, religion correspondent, best-selling author. She's going to speak but also moderate a roundtable on the health and future of the church in America.

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You can give securely online at alexmcfarland.com. We promise to faithfully uphold God's Word, tell sinners how to be saved. We will stand for God and country without compromise, and you can be sure of that. Well, in conclusion, we've been talking about examples of the growing numbers of scientists that are bold enough to acknowledge the evidence for God and the limitations of secular Darwinism. And yeah, one of my favorite quotes, Tony Rothman, he's a PhD from the University of Texas at Austin, an American theoretical physicist and academic writer, Tony Rothman said this quote about how design cries out, there must be a designer. He said, quote, we are by astronomical standards a pampered, cosseted, cherished group of creatures. If the universe had not been made with the most exacting precision, says Rothman, we could never have come into existence. It is my view that these circumstances indicate the universe was created for man to live in. Now what, folks, this is called the anthropic principle, that the universe seems fine-tuned to support human life. And in a similar vein, John O'Keefe, a NASA scientist renowned for numerous discoveries in astrogeology, O'Keefe said this quote, when confronted with the order and beauty of the universe and the strange coincidences of nature, it is very tempting to take the leap of faith from science into religion. I'm sure that many physicists want to and they wish they would admit it, end of quote. I mentioned Paul Davies, a PhD from the University College in London, a renowned astrophysicist, a faculty member at Arizona State University. Paul Davies said, quote, there is for me powerful evidence that there is something going on behind it all. It seems as though somebody has fine-tuned nature's numbers to make the universe. The impression of design is overwhelming indeed.

And if there's design, there has to be a designer. Now we're almost out of time, but I want to close with some observations from the renowned physicist Robert Jastrow. Jastrow's PhD was in physics from Columbia in New York.

He was a professor at Yale, served as the founding director for NASA's Goddard Institute for Space and Planetary Studies. I don't know if Jastrow ever became a Christian, and for much of his life he identified as an agnostic. But he frequently criticized the assumption that science necessarily refutes the existence of God. Now he wrote a book called God and the Astronomers, a book that documents how discoveries in physics affirm what the Bible says about creation and a creator. Robert Jastrow said this, quote, far from disproving the existence of God, astronomers may be finding more circumstantial evidence that God exists. Now he goes on, astronomers now find they have painted themselves into a corner because they have proven by their own methods that the world began abruptly in an act of creation to which you can trace the seeds of every star, every planet, every living thing in the cosmos and here on earth. And they have found that all this happened as a product of forces they cannot hope to discover, that there are what I or anyone would call supernatural forces at work is now I think a scientifically proven fact.

End of quote. Listen, if there are forces beyond nature, then they must be super nature, super natural. Jastrow also said this, quote, at this moment it seems as though science will never be able to raise the curtain on the mystery of creation. 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, end of quote. Let me give you a couple of more from Robert Jastrow. He wrote a book in the 80s called The Enchanted Loom, the Mind in the Universe. There's a strange feeling and emotion in these reactions of scientists to evidence that the universe had a sudden beginning.

They come from the heart, whereas you would expect the judgments to come from the brain. Why? asks Jastrow. I think part of the answer is that scientists cannot bear the thought of a natural phenomenon which cannot be explained even with the unlimited time and money. There's a kind of religion in science. Isn't that ironic? Counterintuitive. Jastrow says there is a kind of religion in science.

It is the religion of a person who believes there is order and harmony in the universe. Every event can be explained in a rational way as the product of some previous event. Every effect must have its cause. There is no first cause. This religious faith of the scientist is violated by the discovery that the world had a beginning under conditions in which the known laws of physics are not valid and as a product of forces or circumstances we cannot discover. When that happens the scientist has lost control.

If he really examined the implications he would be traumatized. Final quote by Robert Jastrow. Now we see how the astronomical evidence supports the biblical view of the origin of the world. The details differ, but the essential elements in the astronomical and biblical accounts of Genesis are the same.

The chain of events leading to man commenced suddenly and sharply at a definite moment in time in a flash of light and energy. So what do we say in conclusion? You know, French mathematician Blaise Pascal said people invariably arrive at their beliefs not on the basis of proof but on the basis of what they find attractive. Maybe you think it's appealing that there's no God and there's no creator in our past, no judge in our future.

But again, the nihilism and emptiness and hopelessness, meaninglessness that people feel at that prospect is very empty. But we say this in conclusion, science and Christianity are not necessarily at odds. A Christian's acceptance of science should never be on the same plane as our belief in God. Christians have faith in God and respect for science, but we must remember God is perfect and infallible. Human scientific endeavor and speculation is not. I mean, modern science that wants to reject God, let's remember that we're not entrusting our soul to limited finite people who are prone to mistakes and even sinful people that are prone to willful blindness and bias. True science is the pursuit of truth.

It is not or should not be the advancement of agendas such as relativism and globalism. Modern scientific advancements support the biblical claims of an orderly, consistent, intelligible creation, the product of a creator beyond time, space and matter. And with astonishing complexity and the replication of DNA, the independent laws of physics and the anthropic constants that make biology, chemistry and life itself possible, well these all support claims we find in the Bible.

And what else do we find in the Bible? How you and I may have a relationship with God through Jesus Christ. Alex McFarland Ministries are made possible through the prayers and financial support of partners like you. For over 20 years, this ministry has been bringing individuals into a personal relationship with Christ and has been equipping people to stand strong for truth. Learn more and donate securely online at alexmcfarland.com. You may also reach us by calling 1-877-Yes-God-1. That's 1-877-Y-E-S-G-O-D-1. Thanks for joining us. We'll see you again on the next edition of the Alex McFarland Show.