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Science and Christianity: friends or foes?

Science and Christianity: friends or foes?. Steve Taylor. Ever heard the following?. “ Scientists don ’ t believe in God ” “ At the present rate of progress, it is almost impossible to imagine any technical feat that cannot be achieved ”

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Science and Christianity: friends or foes?

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  1. Science and Christianity: friends or foes? Steve Taylor

  2. Ever heard the following? • “ Scientists don’t believe in God ” • “At the present rate of progress, it is almost impossible to imagine any technical feat that cannot be achieved” • “ Science is based on evidence, Christianity is based on faith ”

  3. Great scientists who are also Christians… Past: Faraday, Maxwell, Fleming Morse etc Today: Andrews, Burgess,Lennox, McIntosh, Nevin, Wright etc

  4. The limitations of Science • Limited remit : ‘How or what... but not why?’ • Science is always changing : No certainties • Scientific method based on repeatable experiments: Origins ? • Science does not and cannot disprove the claims of Christianity!

  5. Christianity: evidence based • Creation • Where did everything come from? • Life from non-life… information implies Intelligence • Right and wrong…we are moral beings • Design is everywhere…. ‘For the invisible things of Him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made; even His eternal power and Godhead’ Romans 1:20

  6. Sandcastle in Oregon…Accident or Design?

  7. Christianity: evidence based • Bible • Claims to be the Word of God • Teachings unsurpassed • Never proven wrong, always correct • Predictive prophecies fulfilled in detail….

  8. Psalm 22… “They pierced my hands and my feet…they look and stare at me… they divide my garments among them, for my my clothing they cast lots…” Written 1000BC, 300 years before crucifixion was invented Fulfilled in detail when Jesus was crucfied

  9. Christianity: evidence based • Christ • The central figure of human history - BC:AD • Claimed to be God: • “ I and my Father are one “ John 10:30 • Eyewitness accounts of life and miracles • Rose from the dead 3 days after crucifixion

  10. Christianity: evidence based ‘Inasmuch as many have taken in hand to set in order a narrative of those things which have been fulfilled among us, just as those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and ministers of the word delivered them to us, it seemed good to me also, having had perfect understanding of all things from the very first, to write to you an orderly account, most excellent Theophilus, that you may know the certainty of those things in which you were instructed. Luke 1:1-4

  11. Christianity: evidence based The former account I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do and teach, until the day in which He was taken up, after He through the Holy Spirit had given commandments to the apostles whom He had chosen, to whom He also presented Himself alive after His suffering by many infallible proofs, being seen by them during forty days and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God. Acts 1:1-3

  12. The empty tomb... • The facts: • Christ lived • Christ died • His tomb was empty • predicted • seen by witnesses • friends • doubters • enemies • believed by millions • best explanation…? • “ He is not here, for He is risen, behold the place where He lay” Matthew 28:9

  13. Christianity: evidence based • Conversion • Then: Thomas the doubter, Paul the persecutor, Lydia the seller of cloth… • Throughout history:Wesley, Newton… • Today…

  14. Science and Christianity…. • Science arose out of a Christian worldview ‘Friends… not enemies’ • Some great scientists also Christians: • ‘It is the very nature of science, that leads me to belief in God’ Professor John Lennox (Oxford) • Science: limited remit, no certainties: • On origins – speculative • Based on repeatable experiments: • The scientific method…

  15. So where is the conflict…. • Naturalism: • ‘There is no Creator, no design, no purpose. Everything there is emerged and evolved by chance from an unknown void…’ • ‘Nothing + no-one = everything’ • Unproven philosophy (not science) • Christianity and naturalism are opposed • Science and naturalism are opposed

  16. Questions to the atheist…. Where did it all come from? How did fine-tuned orderly Universe arrive out of chaos by chance? How did life arise spontaneously from dead material?

  17. Some conclusions… • What is faith…. • A verdict based on evidence • Trust in a reliable person • Christianity is a reasonable faith based on solid evidence…. • creation, reason, Bible, history, Jesus Christ • The message of Jesus: ‘…the kingdom of God is at hand: repent and believe the Gospel’ Mark 1:15

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