Transcript Christian Worldview In Science

Does the Christian Worldview
Belong In Science?
Samuel L. Gray, PhD
Faith and Learning
• All learning is based on faith in something.
• Does Panama exist?
• Accept on authority
Worldview
• Comprehensive framework of one’s basic
beliefs about things
• “belief” is more than just an opinion or
preference
– Veracity you will defend with an outlay of
money or endurance of hardship
• Functions as a guide to your life
• Framework for your decision making
• In Rom 12:2 Paul exhorts us to “renew our
minds.”
• Testing our worldview against Scripture
and revising our worldview accordingly is
part of renewing the mind.
All worldviews are based
upon assumptions.
False assumptions
can be dangerous
Science
Science
• Systematic knowledge of the physical or
material world gained through observation
and experimentation
Scientific Worldview is Naturalism
• All phenomena in the universe can be
explained wholly in terms of natural
causes and laws
• Natural world cannot be influenced by
anything outside the natural world, i.e.
God
• ex. Houseplant in a dark closet dies
Naturalistic scientist
• Faith exclusively in scientific method and
logic
• Are reason and logic the testing ground for
truth?
Scientific method
• Observe the problem
• Form hypotheses that might explain the
problem
• Test each hypothesis
• Form a theory
Scientific statements are
1. Observable
2. Measurable
3. Repeatable
Is my rifle accurate?
Normal distribution
Hypothesis testing
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Normal distribution – bell curve
Reject the null hypothesis
Confidence interval
Acceptable error – usually 5%
Science never proves absolute truth (white
swan / black swan)
• Truth is an abstraction
Illustrate the Abstract
What is green?
Scientific View of Truth
• The truth is an abstract concept that can
not be known with absolute certainty.
• Theories are always subject to change in
the light of new evidence.
Ramifications of naturalism
• We are chance product of millions of
random mutations over billions of years.
• Mankind not unique
• No absolutes
• No responsibility to God
• No basis for deciding the difference
between right and wrong
• No need for a Savior
• No need to trust Christ
• Man is master of his own destiny
• Life has no real purpose
• No afterlife
Christian Worldview
• Presuppose Christ
• “I am the way, the truth, and the life” (Jn
14:6).
• The spirit of truth will guide you into all
truth (Jn 16:13).
• Orderly arrangement of creation reflects
the orderly nature of God Himself
• Scientific method, reason, and logic flow
forth from the nature of God
• All of life must be observed in the light of
God’s word.
Christ Organized the Universe
• In the beginning was the Word, and the
Word was with God, and the Word was
God. All things were made by Him. John 1
Christian View of Truth
• Christ is the truth. John 14:6
• The truth is not abstract, but became
concrete in space and time in the person
of Jesus Christ. John 1:14
• We can ABSOLUTELY know the truth.
The focal point of the universe is Jesus Christ.
Good Science Recognizes:
• The fear of the Lord is the beginning
of knowledge. Proverbs 1:7
• Jesus said, “If you hold to my
teaching . . . you will know the truth,
and the truth will set you free” John
8:31-32.
Psalm 145:10-13
All Your works shall praise You, O Lord,
and Your saints shall bless You.
They shall speak of the glory of Your
kingdom, and talk of Your power, to make
known to the sons of men His mighty
acts, and the glorious majesty of His
kingdom.
Does the Christian Worldview
Belong In Science?
Can a Christian
Believe in Evolution?
Evolution
• Change over time
• Change in gene frequencies within a
population (microevolution)
– group of organisms of the same species,
living within the same habitat, interbreeding
with each other
Evolution As a Theory of Origin
• Organic molecules in a primordial soup
congregated to form coacervates.
• Somehow a coacervate became a living
cell.
• This first cell was the first living thing on
earth.
• Over billions of years, the offspring of this
cell became the plants, animals, bacteria,
viruses, and men that we see today.
Conflict of Worldviews
Naturalism vs. Christianity
Evolutionism Older Than Darwin
• Anaximander (610-545 BC)—man evolved
from fish
• Empedocles (490-430 BC)—animals
evolved from plants
• Aristotle (384-322 BC)—believed in
evolutionary processes from simple to
complex life forms, but also believed in a
“mover” or “designer”
• Chevalier de Lamarck (1744-1829)—
creatures can develop a new organ as a
result of a new need that the creature
encountered. These changes are
heritable. Giraffe’s long neck
• Charles Darwin (1809-1882)—On the
Origin of Species by Means of Natural
Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured
Races in the Struggle for Life
Assumptions of Evolution
As a Theory of Origin
Spontaneous Generation
• Nonliving substances give rise to living
cells
• Problem with assumption = disproved by
Louis Pasteur in 1861
Increasing Complexity
• The first life forms were simple, unicellular
organisms.
• These simple organisms conducted
photosynthesis.
• These organisms gave rise to modern
plants, fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds,
terrestrial mammals, and men.
• Macroevolution—changes among kinds
• Problem with assumption = never
observed
Random Chance
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No deity involved
Purely a result of natural causes
No intelligent designer
Problem with assumption = not repeatable
Billions and Billions of Years
• Solar system emerged 4.5 billion years
ago.
• First life forms appeared 4 million years
ago.
• Increasingly complex life forms began to
arise, and continue to arise.
• Man first appeared a few million years
ago.
• Problem with assumption = not observable
Uniformitarianism
• Geological, biological, and astronomical
processes that we presently observe
operated identically in the past at the
same strength and intensity
• Problems with assumption = not
observable
– Also, the flood in Gen 7 was catastrophic and
only happened once