470 likes | 559 Views
Christianity and Science Enemies or Friends?. Simple Truth Club, UCLA October, 20, 2012 John Oakes PhD. Thomas Huxley, Darwin’s “bulldog”.
E N D
Christianity and Science Enemies or Friends? Simple Truth Club, UCLA October, 20, 2012 John Oakes PhD
Thomas Huxley, Darwin’s “bulldog” “We are as much the product of blind forces as is the falling of a stone to earth, or the ebb and flow of the tides. We have just happened, and man was made flesh by a series of singularly beneficial accidents.”
In the universe of blind physical forces and genetic replication, some people are going to get hurt and other people are going to get lucky: and you won’t find any rhyme or reason to it, nor any justice. The universe we observe has precisely the properties we should expect if there is at the bottom, no design, no purpose, no evil and no good. Nothing but blind, pitiless indifference. DNA neither knows nor cares. DNA just is, and we dance to its music. Richard Dawkins
Accident or Design? William Paley
The Teleological Argument Evidence for Design in Nature The Anthropic Principle Boeing 747 Design or Accident?
Water • Ideal solvent to support life (dissolves ions and molecules • Right boiling and melting points • High specific heat • Solid floats on liquid • Contracts from 0 to 4 degrees centigrade
Carbon: The Central Element of Life 3-D molecules Large, complex yet flexible molecules
The Ozone Layer: Is oxygen a designed element?
DNA a) b)
A House of Cards: Order and Information. Nature does not spontaneously create information. The simplest conceivable living thing: e-coli have one trillion + pieces of information.
Science before the 1950s: The universe was NOT created. Hebrews 11:3 “By faith we understand that the universe was created… so that what is seen has been made from things that are not visible.” Genesis 1:3 God said “Let there be light,” and there was light. The Big Bang · 1929 Hubble. The Red Shift: The universe is expanding. · 1965 Penzias and Wilson, background microwave radiation. Physicists now: The universe was created.
Physics: The Finely Tuned Universe
.00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000001.00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000001
Fine Tuning of the Universe Constant A Little Bigger A Little Smaller 1. Gravitational constant very short-lived stars no stars 2. Ratio of electrons to protons no stars or galaxies no stars or galaxies 3. Strong Nuclear Force no hydrogen, fusion only hydrogen 4. Weak Nuclear Force all H2He at big bang no He at big bang no heavy elements 5. Electric Force no chemical bonding no chemical bonding 6. Expansion rate of universe no galaxies universe collapses quickly 7. Ratio of matter to antimatter too much radiation for life not enough matter for galaxies to form and many more….
A finely-tuned instrument built by humans. Good to one part in a billion?
Fred Hoyle on Fine-Tuning “… a super-intellect has monkeyed with physics, as well as with chemistry and biology.”
Antony Flew Considers God... • 2004 Anthony Flew accepts the Anthropic Argument, concluding that “some sort of Deity brought about this universe.” He says he has in mind something like the God of Aristotle, a distant, impersonal "prime mover."
Conclusion: “Since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.” Romans 1:20 The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. Day after day they pour fourth speech. Night after night they display knowledge Psalms 19:1-2
Part II Science and the Bible Delos B. McKown: “Christianity is scientifically unsupported and probably insupportable, philosophically suspect at best and disreputable at worst, and historically fraudulent.”
The Ebers Papyrus: “To prevent hair from turning gray, anoint it with the blood of a calf which has been boiled in oil or with the fat of a rattlesnake.” “A mixture of six fats, namely those of the horse, the hippopotamus, the crocodile, the cat, the snake and the ibex.... to prevent hair loss.”
Drugs of Choice in Papyrus Ebers: • Lizards blood • Swine’s teeth • Putrid meat • Moisture from Pigs’ ears • Excreta from animals including human beings, donkeys, antelope, dogs, cats and flies
“I will not bring on you any of these diseases...” Exodus 15:26 “The pig... is unclean for you...those that walk on their paws...the weasel, the rat...are unclean for you.” Leviticus 11
“The sting of a hornet is healed by the house-fly, crushed and applied to the wound.” “The gnat, feeble creature, taking in food but never secreting it is a specific against the poison of the viper.” An ancient Hebrew medical manuscript.
“Whoever touches the dead body of anyone will be unclean for seven days. He must purify himself with the water on the third and seventh day...take some hyssop, dip it in the water and sprinkle the tent and furnishings and the people who were there.” Numbers 19
Vienna, 1847 • In maternity wards one out of every six women dies. • Obstetricians ascribe deaths to constipation, fear and poisonous air.
Leviticus 13:46 “As long as he has the infection he remains unclean. He must live alone; he must live outside the camp.” Quarantine for infectious disease
LEPROSY • Killed millions of people in Europe and around the world for thousands of years. • “Fear of all other diseases taken together can hardly be compared to the terror spread by leprosy.” • —Dr. George Rosen
MEDICAL COMMUNITY HAD NO ANSWERS They taught that it was brought on by eating hot food, pepper, garlic and the meat of diseased hogs. Other physicians said it was caused by a malign conjunction of the planets. Leviticus 13:46 “As long as he has the infection he remains unclean. He must live alone; he must live outside the camp.”
The life is in the blood Leviticus 17:14 “… the life of every creature is in its blood. That is why I have said to the Israelites, ‘You must not eat the blood of any creature, because the life of every creature is its blood; anyone who eats it must be cut off.’ ”
Bloodletting The most common medical practice in 1700s and 1800s
“For the generations to come, every male among you who is eight days old must be circumcised...” Genesis 17:12 Vitamin K Prothrombrin: a clotting protein.
Clotting Protein Peaks on Day Eight Available Prothrombin
“He spreads out the northern skies over empty space; He suspends the earth over nothing” Job 26:8 The earth is on the back of four elephants standing on top of a turtle, encircled by a serpent, swimming in a sea of milk… The Sutras
Topics not touched on: 1. The origin of the universe. 2. The origin of life. 3. The origin of species; especially of humans. 4. The age of the earth. www.evidenceforchristianity.org