Science and Religion

Let me pray.

We thank you, Lord Jesus, for being able to gather around your word.

And we pray it helped me as I speak it tonight that you would speak to us by your spirit

and grow us in Christ to your glory.

And we pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.

Now I got to choose a hobby horse tonight.

And so I've gone back away to something that I have preached before.

And for a time, read quite a bit about this, although not as much recently.

But in the 1990s, or before the mid-1990s, when you start talking about science and religion,

it was either like you're a creationist or you're a Darwinian evolutionist,

and there was no ground in between.

And both camps pushed one another into different corners.

And a man came along called P.E. Johnson, who was a professor of law in the United States,

and he broke new ground.

Because what he did, he looked at evolutionary arguments and the arguments of evolutionary scientists.

And rather than think science, he thought law and the nature of arguments

and the way arguments are won and lost.

And he's also a very gracious man.

I think he's still alive, but a very gracious man.

And so he would work with people who believed and thought things that were very, very different from himself.

And rather than being in a combative way with them,

he'd come alongside them, go away on weekends, talk to them,

submit what he was thinking to them to test against their thinking.

And I think relationally, probably modelled something for us that we could all learn from

in terms of how we engage people when we disagree with one another.

And rather than try to prove God, he came from a different point of view

and worked in a way to show the deficiencies of the arguments for Darwinian evolution.

So some stuff that we get in university and school is just taught as a given

and maybe not reflected on in the way that it should be reflected on

and subjected to us thinking about it in ways that would be good for us to think about it.

So often if you said you're a Christian, you just get put in a basket case

rather than listened to and debated properly.

So the whole notion of intelligent design is the idea that maybe the earth is designed

without actually having to...

So working in a secular field, you can bat for the idea that the earth is designed

without having to necessarily prove what sort of a person or an entity or a creator or a God

brought it into being.

You could discuss that part of it without pushing further.

And I think it was a really clever thing to do.

It was done with a great deal of grace and it's been run on with a lot since then

and sometimes with grace and sometimes with a total lack of grace

which hasn't helped the cause at all.

Pastors and preachers like me encounter all sorts of people in ministry

and very early in my time of ministry I was doing marriage preparation

with one of my relatives, my cousin who was a great friend but also she was my cousin

and she was a teacher and she was marrying a guy who...

and he's married still to a guy with a PhD in geology

and now a professor in geology at a major Australian university.

And he said as we did the marriage preparation, he's not a Christian

but he said he respected me as a Christian

and I said and I respect your knowledge of geology.

And guess where the discussion went to?

It got into a discussion about creation and evolution

and how the world was formed

and for my friend, naturalistic evolution was an absolute given.

Of course that's how the world was formed and how we've come about.

He was a Darwinian evolution man, he still is through and through.

He said that he believed in God

but it wasn't all that clear where God fitted into his belief system.

It was a little bit like, oh well maybe God kicked the world into being

and then stepped away and allowed it to follow its evolutionary course.

Now when my friend talked geology and the details of his science,

guess what happened to me?

I floundered.

Couldn't compete with him.

I could not presume to speak with him on his level or with his expertise.

And it was like being an absolute minnow at the foot of a giant.

And I threw a few ideas forward and he mashed me.

And if he was sitting here tonight and I did it again, he'd mash me again.

And so I said things like, I just tried things out like,

well what about the huge fossil fuel deposits in the world?

All the oil and the gas and the coal that we're now burning to our peril

and creating climate change from.

Weren't all those things once living creatures and organisms, massive forests destroyed by some sort of cataclysmic event in our past?

Where did they come from?

Could they be the result of a worldwide flood?

What about the missing links in the fossil record?

What about the Cambrian explosion where the geological record shows that all of life arose in a relatively short geological time frame?

How does that sit with the long time frames that Darwinian evolution needed to occur?

So I could ask some questions, but I couldn't compete with his knowledge and his understanding of geology.

There was no way that I was going anywhere in a creation-evolution discussion with him.

I was the preacher that he was having on toast.

That is until our discussion turned to Christ.

And I'll talk about that a little bit more as we get towards the end.

So I called this talk, it's just a talk, and I called it Science and Religion, Mortal Enemies or Helpful Friends.

Science and Religion, Mortal Enemies or Helpful Friends.

I heard a talk a while back on science and Christianity.

The speaker was Christian, he saw no conflict between the two.

Heard some great stuff last year, or the year before, from John Lennox when he was in Sydney.

He's worth listening to and reading.

But God is creator, and the discipline of science is merely a process of discovering the wonder of a creation

that God designed and brought into being in the first place.

So for him, science describes and explains what God thought up and brought into being.

And in this system of thought, whatever science discovers is no threat to God,

because we're just discovering things that are part of the magnificence of his creation.

Francis Bacon discovered the scientific method over 400 years ago.

You've probably been taught it if you've done science at school.

And Bacon had a two-books understanding of the world.

He said,

And he encouraged us to learn, he encouraged people back then,

to learn as much as they could from the Bible,

but also to be learning as much as they can from creation or nature.

Michael Faraday lived in the 19th century,

and he's regarded as the greatest experimental scientist of all time.

He discovered benzene. Is that petrol?

Close.

And electromagnetic induction.

So he was the guy that invented electric generators and motors.

And as he lay on his deathbed,

a friend asked him,

What speculations do you have now?

And he replied,

Speculations? Man, I have none.

I have certainties.

I thank God that I don't rest my dying head upon speculations,

for I know whom I have believed,

and am persuaded that he is able to keep

that which I have committed to him against that day.

And so there is no shortage of scientists over time

who have had a clear faith in a creator God.

Science and religion?

Mortal enemies?

Friends?

Or helpful friends?

The easy answer is that they're very helpful friends.

Many significant scientific and brilliant medical discoveries have been made

as people have sought to use their inbuilt creativity

to search out and understand this universe that we live in.

If the creator God is true,

then seeking to understand this wonderful world that he has made

should be no threat to any of us.

In fact, it is something that we should pursue with energy and with vigour.

Do science at university and at school.

None of my life.

Have my last three kids done any of it?

No.

Certainly not following the footsteps of an engineering father.

But the harder answer may be determined by your own prejudices.

Because matters other than science might prejudice your view about these things.

And I think some of our troubles begin when we move away from describing how the world is

to saying why the world is the way it is.

One of the world's leading evolutionary biologists has written,

if Darwinism is true, there are five inescapable conclusions.

There is no evidence for God.

There is no life after death.

There is absolutely no foundation for ethics.

There is no basis for right and wrong.

There is no ultimate meaning for life.

And people really do not have a free will.

The respected ABC science commentator, the late Robin Williams,

wrote a little book which was very popular for a while

and probably still on the shelves of ABC shops.

And it was called Unintelligent Design.

And it was subtitled, Why God Isn't As Smart As She Thinks She Is.

And so he was refuting this growing interest in the intelligent design movement

and he was tenaciously defending his views on science.

And he said things in it.

He said, I find it gobsmackingly outrageous that intelligent design can be allowed to pretend

that our state of knowledge is inadequate.

It's incomplete, certainly, but expanding at a ferocious rate.

And he also said, the science, the Darwinian naturalism, it's endlessly fascinating.

It's also rigorously tested.

Why buy a vehicle from dodgy brothers when there is one tested and retested by the best firm in the business,

which is Darwinian evolution.

And so what he does, he takes this high moral ground and he effectively slanders intelligent design

as dodgy without interacting with the issues.

Play the man rather than the ball.

On the other hand, this is one for Adam after the surface.

Edwin Erwin Schrodinger.

I'm just reading a quote from a book at this point.

Was perhaps the most important founder of wave mechanics

and the originator of the most important equation in science.

Schrodinger's equation.

Who knows what it is?

Do you know?

Yeah, he does know.

Ask him later.

I've never heard of him.

I did physics at uni and I've never heard of him before.

Quantum physics.

I probably switched off at that particular moment.

But more than 60 years ago, he wrote,

I am very astonished that the scientific picture of the real world

is very deficient.

It gives a lot of factual information,

puts all our experience in a magnificently consistent order,

but it's ghastly silent about all and sundry that is really near to our heart.

And that really matters to us.

It cannot tell us a word about red and blue, bitter and sweet, physical pain and physical delight.

It knows nothing of beautiful and ugly, good and bad, God and eternity.

Science sometimes pretends to answer questions in these domains.

But the answers are very often so silly that we're not inclined to take them seriously.

For more than 3,000 years, 2,000 years,

the Bible has said that there is a contest in the world over truth.

We've been there the last few weeks with Romans.

Romans 1, the wrath of God is being revealed from heaven

against all the godlessness and wickedness of people

who suppress the truth by their wickedness.

Since what may be known about God is plain to them

because God has made it plain to them.

For 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 people are without excuse.

For although they knew God,

they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him.

But their thinking became futile

and their foolish hearts were darkened.

And although they claimed to be wise,

they became fools.

And they exchanged the glory of their mortal God

for images made to look like mortal men

and birds and animals and reptiles.

So the Bible is asserting that the imprint of our Creator

is there to be seen in his creation.

I'm going to say more about that in a moment.

But the passage also asserts

that we are culpable in rejecting the truth.

We put our fingers in our ears

and we close our eyes

because we do not want to know about it.

You see the words,

we suppress the truth by our wickedness.

The creation clearly bears the markings of its creator

and we have chosen neither

to glorify him as God

or to give thanks to him.

So we break the second of the Ten Commandments all the time.

We live in a material world

and are so obsessed with what has been made

or what God has made

that we have turned away from him

and we have turned to these things

that he has made or that we have made.

And the Bible passage says

that that makes us culpable.

We are as guilty as sin.

Who are we to sit in judgment on God?

The physicist Max Planck,

who I don't think was a believer,

at least had a humility

as he went about his science.

He said that science cannot solve the mystery of nature

and that is in part because in the last analysis

we are part of the mystery

that we are trying to solve.

You almost need a bigger look from outside

to see what's going on.

And I think I want to say to all of us

that we need a return to humility.

We need to be able to gasp

at the wonder of the world in which we live.

There's a wonderful little...

Not an easy book,

not too hard a book,

but it's a great book,

Case for a Creator,

written by Lee Strobel.

You'll find that at Coorong.

But he summarises the thinking

of many recent scientists

in terms of some of the things

that we're talking about tonight.

But he's got some great information in here as well.

He said things like,

do you know that if the surface of the earth

was flat,

so if you brought all the mountains down

and all the valleys are,

the entire world would be covered with water

to a depth of two kilometres?

Do you know that the earth exists

in a place in the Milky Way galaxy

that protects it from huge amounts of radiation

from gamma bursts

that come from exploding stars?

Do you know that Jupiter's circular orbit,

which is the largest planet in the solar system,

helps the earth maintain a circular orbit

that gives us steady temperature

and predictable climate?

That Jupiter, Saturn and Uranus

have tremendous gravitational pull

that draws in comets and asteroids

and helps minimise the number

that strike the earth?

That if the earth's distance from the sun

moved 5% either way,

we would die.

Oceans would boil off

or they would permanently freeze.

The sun is just the right mass

and emits just the right amount

of red and blue light

to sustain our atmosphere.

The moon stabilises the earth's tilt

at 23.5 degrees

and this is what gives us

very mild seasons.

And I read tonight

that liquid iron surrounds the earth's core,

molten iron surrounds the earth's core

and its heat is driven

by radioactive isotopes

going on inside the centre

of the earth all the time.

And they create this sort of a dynamo

that generates the earth's magnetic field.

It's a huge machine.

And the magnetic field of the earth

protects us from dangerous radiation

coming from outer space.

And it stops the solar winds

from the sun

stripping away our atmosphere.

If the solar winds from the sun

could touch the earth's atmosphere,

the water vapour would just disappear.

We'd be gone.

And he's got this wonderful quote.

He says,

We are, by astronomical standards,

a pampered,

cosseted,

cherished group of creatures.

Our Darwinian claim

to have done it all by ourselves

is as ridiculous

and as charming

as a baby's brave efforts

to stand on its own feet

and refuse its mother's hand.

If the universe had not been made

with the most exacting precision,

we could never have come into existence.

It is my view

that these circumstances

indicate that the universe

was created for people to live in.

Or we turn inward.

That's the macro picture.

That's outward.

The enormity of the universe

and our place in it.

If you turn inward

and you go,

you look at the complexity of life,

the molecular biologists

who are looking further and further

into our cells

and they're dazzled

by what they see.

They're finding machines

in our cells.

See, you know,

Darwinian evolution,

everything builds a little bit

on everything else

and they're looking

into our cells

and the tiny detail

of our cells

and how our molecules look

and they see

organisation there

which needed to be complete

for it to work

in the first place.

It couldn't have just happened

bit by bit.

They're blown away by it.

It's called irreducible complexity.

We are so complex

that it couldn't have been like that.

That it couldn't have just evolved.

They said that,

did you know

that every cell

in the human body

contains more information

than 30 volumes

of Encyclopedia Britannica?

I think in today's terms

that's like a gigabyte

of information

in every cell.

The late astronomer

Fred Hoyle,

guess what his theory was?

He coined the phrase

Big Bang.

Big Bang Theory.

And he wrote

that it is as likely

that life began

from random mutations

as it is that a tornado

blowing through a junkyard

could assemble

a 747 jumbo jet.

The psalmist

looks at creation

and he is blown away.

The heavens

declare the glory

of God.

The skies proclaim

the work

of his hands.

Day after day

they pour forth

speech

and night after night

they display knowledge.

And there is no speech

or language

where their voice

is not heard.

Their voice

goes out

into all the world.

In the heavens

he's pitched a tent

for the sun

which is like a bridegroom

coming forth

from his pavilion

like a champion

rejoicing

to run his course.

It rises

at one end

of the heavens

and it makes

its circuit

to the other

and nothing

is hidden

from its heat.

So he looks

at creation

as we can look

at creation

tonight

and see it

as reflecting

the work

and the glory

of its creator.

Some

I shouldn't say

scientists

but some philosophers

look at a Bible

reading like this

and go

oh how simplistic.

Haven't we come

to understand

how foolish

this is.

The sun

going around

the earth

we all know

that the earth

goes around

the sun.

And so

you ridicule

the scriptures

in a way

but you've got

into taking

into account

that the Bible

writer is like

a scientist.

Three thousand

years ago

he's observing

the world

and he's using

the tools

which are available

to him.

He didn't have

satellites

he couldn't

go away

from the earth's

surface

and observe

things from afar.

He described

what he saw

and it was awesome.

and so

that the

regular

daily

march

of a

blazing

sun

rising

across

the

heaven

giving light

giving heat

to all

and going

down at

the end

and he

gives glory

to our

maker.

Sure his

science back

there had to be

modified along

the way

but he gave

a true

description

of what he

saw at the

time.

But he

goes further

because he

drew attention

to the fact

that the

creator

does not

just reveal

himself

by what he

does.

He speaks

words and

for those

with ears

to hear

he has

very specific

things to

say.

It's the

second half

of this

psalm.

He changes

from talking

about creation

to talking

about the

word of

God.

The law

of the

Lord is

perfect

reviving

the soul.

The

statutes

of the

Lord are

trustworthy

making

wise

the

simple.

The

precepts

of the

Lord are

right.

They give

joy to

the heart.

The

commands

of the

Lord are

radiant.

They give

light to

the eyes.

The fear

of the

Lord is

pure

enduring

forever.

The

ordinances

of the

Lord are

sure and

altogether

righteous.

They are

more precious

than gold

than much

pure gold.

They are

sweeter than

honey than

honey from

a cone.

And so

God is a

God who

speaks and

he speaks

through his

word the

Bible.

Francis

Bracken's

two books

he speaks

a specific

word through

the Bible

and a more

general word

through creation.

If you

haven't read

the Bible

you can see

something of

what God

is like by

the creation

that he's

put us in

and who we

are and

how we're

made.

But we

need to

come to

the

scriptures to

find out

what God

is really

like.

Now I've

spoken in a

really

generalised way

tonight and

some of you

may have

very detailed

learning about

some of the

things that I

know very

little about.

I'm sure some

of you guys

and girls have

done much

better at

science than

I did at

science at

school.

You asked

me a few

questions and

you soon find

them out of

my debts.

That's why if

you ask me

about Schrodinger's

equation, I'm

doing that.

And I said

at the

beginning that

I was unable

to talk on a

level playing

field with my

PhD in geology

relative who is

deeply committed

to Darwinian

naturalism.

but I was

back in the

fray when I

was able to

turn the

conversation to

Jesus Christ.

See most

people will say

that Jesus was

a good bloke

and my friend

did but he

was quickly out

of his depth

when I asked

him to grapple

with who Jesus

is.

So the

Bible makes

huge claims

about Christ

and they are

closely linked

to what I've

been talking

about tonight.

Christians,

we have all

sorts of

debates and

arguments about

how the

creator created

it.

But when

he comes to

Christ,

when it

comes to

Christ,

who he

is,

is not

negotiable.

John

John 1:10

chapter 1

verse 10

says,

Jesus was

in the

world and

though the

world was

made through

him,

the world

did not

recognise him.

Huge claim.

The

creator God

stepped into

the world

and we

did not

recognise him.

It's not

the only place

in the New

Testament that

says such a

thing.

Colossians

Colossians 1:15

chapter 1

verse 15

16.

Jesus is

the image

of the

invisible God.

the first

born over

all creation.

For by

him all

things were

created in

things in

heaven and

things on

earth,

visible and

invisible,

whether

thrones or

powers or

rulers or

authorities,

all things

were created

by him

and for

him.

Very

bold claim

that Christ

is number

one in

the

universe,

the creator

of everything

and everything

wonderfully made

for his

pleasure.

It's a far

bigger claim

than Jesus

is my mate

and just a

good bloke.

world.

And so the

Bible over

and over

affirms an

intelligent and

awesome creator

who has shown

his face in

the person of

Jesus Christ.

And you

cannot hold to

the majesty of

Christ and

believe in a

world that

happened by

accident.

The ideas

are completely

incompatible.

The Bible

makes a huge

claim about

Jesus Christ.

He was in

the world and

though the

world was

made through

him, the

world did

not recognise

him.

And that's

either true

or it's

not.

And if it's

not, you

can sleep

soundly tonight

in the

knowledge that

at the end

of your

days your

molecules will

be dust in

the ground

with no

further

existence.

But if it

is true, you

need to know

what follows.

He came to

that which was

his own, but

his own did

not receive

him.

Yet to

all who

received him,

to those who

believed in

his name, he

gave the

right to

become children

of God, to

come into

his family.

And it is

through believing

in the Lord

Jesus Christ that

we come into

his family and

we can be

called his

children.

Not everybody

is a child of

God.

Those who have

believed in

God's Son, the

Lord Jesus Christ,

are invited into

the family and

called his

children.

And we

inherit all the

safety and

security that

goes with it.

We are

invited to be

much more than

creatures of

the Creator.

We are

invited to

become his

children.

So science and

religion, mortal

enemies or

helpful friends?

From a

Bible point of

view, in the

end it depends

on where you

stand in terms of

relationship with

Christ.

If you are in

the family,

science gives

us deep

appreciation for

the work of

the Creator.

And if you

want to stand

apart from

Christ, we

leave ourselves

in a position

where the

Creator holds

us culpable

for ignoring

what is plainly

true about

him.

Friend or

enemy of the

Creator comes

down to where

you stand with

Christ.

Christ.

And you do

not need to be

a clever

scientist to

understand that.

Amen.