A God Who Created or Matter and Pure Chance?

Father, make us good soil, that your word might come into our lives, that we will listen with an honest and true heart,

and that as your word comes into our lives, we will bear much fruit in our daily lives for your glory.

Father, this is our prayer, and we ask it in Jesus' name. Amen.

Please be seated.

So, you can see from the screen up there that I'm beginning a sermon series on Genesis 1-11.

And if you're not that familiar with the Bible, Genesis 1-11 has two different creation stories.

It has the story of Adam and Eve.

It has the story of Cain and Abel.

It has the story of Noah and his ark and the flood.

It has the story of the Tower of Babel.

So, there's nothing controversial at all in the 11 chapters, first 11 chapters of the book of Genesis.

There's nothing in there that would cause a biologist or a physicist or just a TV presenter to squirm.

So, it's a very, very challenging series.

It's a really, really foundational series.

A few weeks ago, I was, I think maybe it was even last week, I mentioned a movie that I saw on Netflix called Calvary.

It's a very, very thought-provoking film.

And I think I told you that if you watch the film, make sure you don't miss the first minute.

Because if you miss the first minute, then nothing in the movie is going to make sense.

And I think that we can actually say the same thing about the first 11 chapters of Genesis, especially the first four.

That if you miss it, you're not going to understand anything else in the story that's in the Bible.

Well, yet because of the controversy surrounding, well, the creation of the world.

Because of the controversies, a lot of us are very uncomfortable reading it, very uncomfortable thinking about it.

And so, we're going to look at it.

We're going to look at it this week and for quite a few weeks in the future.

But we're going to begin, well, I'm going to tell you about something.

And this will help you to understand a little bit of the controversy.

Some of you already feel it in your bones.

I think it was last May, one of the other hats that I wear, apart from being the rector of this church,

is I'm the chair of a yearly apologetics conference.

And a year ago, or in this past May, we had an opportunity to bring in Os Guinness,

who's written many popular Christian books.

And so, we, the apologetics group, we teamed up with the main atheist organization in Ottawa

to have a conversation, a dialogue around the meaning of life.

And so, they, the atheist organization, they brought up their champion.

They brought up a philosophy professor from the University of Toronto.

And we had Os Guinness, and they sat right there on the stage, and they had a conversation.

And if you go to the Dig and Delve website, you can see it if you're interested.

One of the things about it being here in the Ottawa Little Theatre is,

because I was, I'm both the rector of this church and the head of this committee,

when we approached the Ottawa Little Theatre, they gave us a better rate to be able to use this facility.

The downside for me was that I had to be one of the last people to leave.

So, it was quite late on Sunday night that I finally left this place.

But I was standing up there in the corner of the lobby,

and about 30 of the keenest atheists were all at that end of the lobby.

And they were just, they were blowing off steam and venting.

I don't think their guy did a very good, I mean, he did a very, very, very good job on one hand,

but I don't know how convincing it would have been.

But one of the things that they kept going on and on about,

because I couldn't help listening to it,

they went on and on and on and on about how evolution is scientifically proven,

and it proves atheism.

How you cannot believe in evolution and not be an atheist.

And they went on and on and on about it.

And I just, you know, I just started listening to them and letting them blow off steam.

So, I could just picture that if we had advertised that I was going to talk about this today,

starting into Genesis chapter 111,

they would just be rubbing their hands with glee that they could come here

and try to see how I'm going to bend myself in knots

to try to explain how plants were created on the third day,

but the sun was created on the fourth day.

And how am I going to twist myself into a pretzel

to try to explain how day and night begins with the first day,

but the sun isn't created until the fourth day.

And they would be sitting here with glee,

waiting for me to try to explain these things,

which makes me think about basketball.

And I'm not changing the topic.

No?

What about those raptors?

Let's talk about something safe.

No, it makes me think about basketball.

And here's how I think about it.

In 1998, I know that was a long, long, long, long, long time ago.

And as soon as I say basketball,

some of you sort of go,

okay, but just think about this for a second.

Try to keep your attention on this.

In 1998, there was the championship game.

It was the sixth game, the championship game.

The Chicago Bulls were up three to two.

They had been underdogs throughout the entire series,

but they're up three games to two.

They have a chance to win the championship in Utah,

which is where they were playing the opposition.

And on the 1998, 97-98 Chicago Bulls,

who was the main player on that team?

The great Michael Jordan,

the greatest basketball player in the history of the sport.

And I think he was only 34 years old.

He was at the pinnacle of his fitness,

his competitive edge, his ability.

Okay?

That Michael Jordan's on the team.

So when, I don't know what they said in the room,

but you can just imagine Phil Jackson,

he gets the 15 guys together who are on the Chicago Bulls.

They're all in there.

They're going to go out into the stadium.

All the Utah fans are all ready to go, boo.

And they have, you know,

and the coach brings the 15 guys around.

And here's the question.

When the coach is talking to the team,

does he have the basketball?

And he says, okay, guys,

I mean, we all have to play really hard.

We all, it's going to be a team effort to win,

but we all know who needs to step up

and whose broad shoulders needs to carry us in this game.

Who we need to give the game ball to?

Keith Booth.

And you go, who the heck is Keith Booth?

I had to look him up.

I had to look him up because every team

has somebody at the very, very, very, very, very end of the bench.

Like no team would say, you know, we have Michael Jordan.

We have these other six guys.

We won't bother having anybody else on the bench.

No, no.

They have a chance to have 15 guys.

They always put 15 guys.

Who's Keith Booth?

Keith Booth, that season, played in only six games.

And every time he played, he played less than three minutes.

And guess how many points he got in the entire season?

Ten points.

So here's the question.

Would the coach say, I'm going to give the ball to Keith Booth

because Keith Booth, he has to win this game for us.

No way.

He'd take the ball.

He'd say, Michael, this is your team.

Michael Jordan, this is your team.

Do what you got to do.

And those of you who know basketball,

highest watched basketball game in the history of the NBA

was that game.

And it's considered to be one of the greatest games of all time.

Michael Jordan was on fire.

And with 5.8 seconds left in the game,

he sunk a basket that won it.

It wasn't Keith Booth.

I don't even know if Keith Booth played.

So here's the question.

We have this huge controversy around science and evolution and the Bible.

And we have many, many, many, many people in our culture

who would just say that if you,

they just understand that because of evolution,

Christianity cannot possibly be true.

It's a laughable option.

So why, if this is such a big controversy,

would when it comes to trying to figure this out,

would we want to say, you know what?

Let's give the ball to Moses.

I want to give the ball to Jesus.

Like, doesn't that just make more sense?

Like, if the whole Christian faith is going to crumble and fall

on how science and how the existence of God and all of that,

how that ties in,

like, why would we want to give it to Genesis 1 or Genesis 2?

Why would we want to say,

we want your broad shoulders to carry this battle?

No!

I want to give the ball to Jesus.

I want his broad shoulders to carry this.

So we are going to look at Genesis,

we're going to look at one verse in Genesis today,

but before we do that,

we're going to listen to Jesus,

or at least one whom Jesus taught.

So it would be a great help to me if you got out your Bibles

and we're going to look at John chapter 1, verses 1 to 4.

John 1:1–4

Because you know what?

If we want to try to figure out the relationship of science

and the Christian faith,

if we want to figure out whether origin matters

and how things got created and came to be

and the Christian faith,

we want to look to Jesus.

I want to look to Jesus on this matter.

I want his broad shoulders to carry this.

I don't want to...

You know, our Jewish friends can say it's all on Moses' shoulders,

but I'm a follower of Jesus.

I want to go to Jesus.

So let's look at John chapter 1, verses 1 to 4.

John 1:1–4

And some of you might say,

well, George, the words that you're about to read here,

I know the Bible, it's not words from Jesus.

And you're right, it's not words from Jesus.

But, you know, this...

Why does anybody read John's gospel?

Because of Jesus.

Who was John?

He was the beloved disciple.

He was the one who sat closest to Jesus' heart.

Jesus had 12 disciples.

And out of 12 disciples,

he had three that were even the closest disciples.

And out of those three,

he had one who was closest of all.

And who was that who was closest of all?

It was the guy who wrote these words.

And I just suggest to you, friends,

that if you want to hear

Jesus' thinking and teaching on this subject,

that what you're hearing when you read the gospel of John

is not only when you see the red letters,

if you have a red letter Bible,

or are you hearing Jesus,

you're hearing Jesus all the way through it.

Jesus is the one who taught John.

And here's what it says.

John chapter 1, verses 1 to 4.

John 1:1–4

In the beginning was the Word,

and the Word was with God,

and the Word was God.

He was in the beginning with God.

All things were made through him,

and without him was not anything made that was made.

In him was life,

and the life was the light of men and women.

Very, very simple, very, very profound.

And it's just very, very, very clearly stated.

I mean, the word here,

it's translating a Greek word,

and it's doing something which both ties in

what we call the Old Testament

and the pagan thought of the ancient world

that they all, in their own different ways,

they had this basic sense that God was a God who spoke,

that there was a type of order and a structure.

And for the pagans, it was abstract.

And for the Old Testament,

it was this idea that God's Word

would just cause things to be.

And it was just a very simple,

sort of a mystical and profound way

of John gently introducing that Jesus was God.

And so it says,

in the beginning was the Word.

And we're going to see if you keep reading

that it's Jesus that he's referring to.

In other words,

that it's not just some type of abstract principle

that brings order to the universe,

and it's not just a sort of a God

just merely speaking.

All the way through the Old Testament,

there's these hints in the Old Testament

that there's only one God,

yet God somehow is something like Trinity.

It's all the way through the Old Testament,

constant hints.

And John, after knowing Jesus,

and John, who also did not believe

that Jesus was actually going to die,

and John, who did not believe

that Jesus would rise from the dead,

but John, who was a witness

for over 40 days beyond any shadow of a doubt

that the grave was empty,

John knew that the disciples

did not steal the body.

John knew that Jesus had defeated death,

and that which caused death,

and had risen from the dead.

And John is completely and utterly transformed by this.

He comes to understand this,

and now he looks,

as he's reading the Scriptures,

he reads the Old Testament,

he sees all these plurals

referred to a singular God.

And he now makes,

in this very, very powerful way

that would speak to his pagan audience

in the beginning.

Not that matter is in the beginning,

not that energy is in the beginning,

not that there's many gods in the beginning,

not that there's chaos in the beginning,

but in the beginning was the Word,

and the Word was with God,

and the Word was God.

It means that in the beginning, God.

He was in the beginning with God.

And then it says it two ways

in one very powerful verse.

All things were made through him.

And then just to make sure we get the point,

and without him was not anything made that was made.

In him was life.

And the life was the light of men.

Let me tell you,

if some of you are thinking,

okay, George is just going to try to dodge this bullet,

Jesus is very clear.

The teaching of the New Testament is very clear.

If you could put up the first point, Andrew,

the uncreated God created all things,

visible and invisible, out of nothing.

That's the biblical teaching.

The uncreated God created all things,

visible and invisible, out of nothing.

You want to know something really surprising?

Two things.

When I was at the Anglican Church of Canada,

I think most pastors, not all,

but most pastors would just casually understand

that evolution is completely and utterly true,

as it's taught at the University of Ottawa

in high school textbooks,

understood by CTV news anchors and interviewers.

That's completely and utterly true,

and they think it was completely and utterly irrelevant

to the Christian faith.

In other words,

they would probably be very uncomfortable

with the atheist club,

saying that the teaching that you get in high school

and university means that atheism must be true.

Here's the surprising thing.

Jesus agrees with the atheist club.

Not that God doesn't exist,

but if you think that some other process,

just by matter and cause and effect and chance,

that that's created human life,

if you believe that, then atheism is true.

Jesus actually believes that part

of what the atheist club was saying.

Isn't that a bit surprising?

Isn't that a bit surprising?

Jesus and the atheist club would team up

to make the Anglican Church of Canada pastors

very uncomfortable,

and maybe many of us.

It's a very surprising thing.

Now, some of you are going to say,

George, you've actually made things worse for me.

Like, it was all right, George,

if I could just say,

okay, I believe in Jesus,

and I believe in evolution,

and I understand, by the way,

that how it's normally talked about

that you just hold those two things together

and just trust that somehow they work together,

and I really understand that,

and I don't really want to make you uncomfortable

just for the sake of making you uncomfortable,

but I want to share with you

something I learned from watching Star Trek.

You heard me right.

Something I learned from watching Star Trek.

I don't know if Andrew was going to do this or not.

It's actually,

I learned it from watching Q.

Q.

You weren't going to put up,

oh, yeah.

This guy helped me understand the Bible better.

Q is in three of the Star Trek series,

if I remember correctly,

and I'm not going to try to tell you very much about Q

because I know there's people here

who know an awful lot,

I would maybe even say too much about Star Trek,

and I won't say very much

before you all say,

no, no, that's not how it works, you know,

and then you all get into an argument,

no, no, no, but in the Voyager,

he does that,

so we're not even going to go there, okay?

But here's the thing about Q.

I remember this is a long, long time ago.

I was watching an episode,

and afterwards,

I don't know,

you know,

I'm out on a run,

and my mind is sort of just in neutral,

and all of a sudden,

it sort of struck me

because one of the things that happens

when you watch Q

in a Star Trek episode

is that he can create things out of nothing,

and it just was part of a seamless thing in the show,

and so he could do something

like create an entire starship enterprise

or a planet out of nothing,

and so these guys,

data,

you know,

the whatever he was,

the machine that's the science guy,

you don't have,

I should have said you put up a picture of data,

but there you go.

Anyway,

he got Q,

and they would go,

and they'd try to say,

you know,

is it real?

Is it just an imagination?

Is it an hallucination?

Is it just in my mind?

But it's real,

and I don't know if the chair

is made out of leather,

or I don't know,

I don't know,

probably some animal

and some odd star

that's the skin from it,

but I mean,

they would try to do

all of their scientific tests

to see if it's real,

and it's real,

and even though Q

had just made it

a moment before,

well,

I mean,

I guess in theory,

data could have said,

well,

the leather in this chair

came from a,

it's from a cow,

it's probably from a cow

that was raised in Montana

and was cured here

and cured that,

and it has a whole backstory

and a whole history,

and yet the viewer knows

that Q just made it

out of nothing,

and I was out on a run,

and one day it hit me,

I mean,

nine months,

it was definitely not the case

that they were trying

to do anything about Q

and the Bible,

but channeling my inner Tim Keller,

I want to tell you

about the true and greater Q,

the true and greater Q,

and,

you know,

you listen to this again,

in the beginning was the Word,

and the Word was with God,

and the Word was God,

he was in the beginning with God,

all things were made through him,

and without him

was not anything made

that was made,

in him was life,

and the life

was the light of men,

Andrew,

could you put up

the next point,

please?

God did not make creation

a stage set,

he made creation

with real height

and depth

and a vast backstory,

that's what the doctrine

of creation

teaches us,

the doctrine of creation

just by,

and by observation,

we understand

that God did not make

something like a stage set,

a couple of weeks ago

I had one of my

granddaughters here,

she's six years old,

children by the way

are not allowed

on the stage

after the service,

okay,

but I knew that she was

a bit fascinated,

it was a different set,

but she was a bit

fascinated by it,

and I said,

you want to come up

on the stage

and see,

like,

did they make

a house over there,

like,

is there a room

through those doors,

and she was curious,

I mean,

I think she knew

what was there,

so we went up the stairs,

we walked around,

and she came

and looked behind things,

and in case you

hadn't thought of it,

that isn't actually

a room,

behind it,

there's nothing,

and God could have

made a world

like that,

couldn't he have?

But here's the thing,

if let's say,

now,

I don't know

if you knew this,

but Orthodox Jewish people,

sometime this year,

it's the year 5777,

because our Orthodox Jewish friends

have tried to go through

a certain reading

of the Old Testament

to figure out

when God created the earth,

and they date the year

from how many years

creation's been going,

but,

you know,

whatever it is,

and so whether God,

however it is,

let's say God is like

a two and greater cue

that he creates

everything out of nothing,

and he can create it

all just like this

in the blink of an eye,

he can take a day

if he wants,

he can do it

in the blink of an eye,

but he creates all things

completely out of nothing,

and let's say,

why am I losing my mic here?

Is my battery dying?

Okay,

there we go.

Sorry about that.

So just imagine for a second

that you were able,

that God allowed it,

that we could take

the best astronomers,

the best astrophysicists,

the best geologists,

the best biologists,

and the best geologists,

I don't know if I mentioned that,

and go back in time,

and God allowed them

to stand in the Garden of Eden

five minutes after he had created

the earth,

and these people,

these men and women,

with all of their,

the best,

the stuff that they have,

the best stuff that they have

now to test things,

and they come,

and they stand there

with Adam and Eve

five minutes after God

has created everything.

So here's the first thing.

If you stood there

with Adam and Eve

five minutes after

he's created them out of nothing,

if they looked up at night,

would they see a star?

Yes, they would see a star.

But what do we know?

I think it's 4.2 light years

is the closest star.

It would really mean

that you should be waiting

4.2 years to see the first star,

but there'd be stars in the heaven.

There'd be stars in the sky,

and if they could bring

a chainsaw

and cut down a tree,

there'd be rings in the tree.

But even though the tree

is only five minutes old,

there'd be rings in the tree.

Why?

Because if there wasn't,

it wouldn't be a tree.

And the geologists

would be able to go and say,

you know,

that mountain's brand new.

That mountain's only,

you know,

whatever,

so many million years old,

and that's a really old mountain.

And they would be able

to go to another place

and say,

that's a brand new river.

And they'd look at another river,

maybe in somewhere like England,

where it goes like this,

and they'd say,

that's a really old river.

And it would only be

five minutes old.

Why?

Because the doctrine of creation,

God could have created

a universe that was like

a stage set

with nothing behind it.

It was all just surface.

But he didn't create

anything like that.

He created,

he created,

he created

a creation

with real heights

and real depths

and a vast backstory.

And that's what he created

out of nothing.

And I would actually say,

ultimately,

he created it out of nothing

in an instant.

Or at least in the book of John,

it doesn't tell you

how long it took,

but it's very clear

that why,

I mean,

why does he need time to do it?

I mean,

did he go up and say to Jesus,

whoa, gosh,

this mountain's going to take me

a week to work at.

No.

He just creates it.

And so,

if you could put up

the next thing,

the biblical doctrine

of creation

means that we cannot know

when God created.

We can only begin

to map creation's

heights and depths

and explore its backstory.

We can know

that a designer

made things

out of nothing.

We can know that.

Not only because,

as I'm going to show you

in a moment,

it's actually reasonable,

but we know it

because that's what

Jesus tells us.

And we know it

that it's the wisest

alternative

out of any other idea

to account for

all of reality

is that

a creator,

designer,

God,

made all things

out of nothing.

That he has

no rivals.

And you know what?

You know,

in a couple of weeks

we're going to get to it.

We're going to talk about

how,

you know,

in one of the stories

how human beings

are told to be fruitful,

to be multiply,

to care for the earth

and tend the earth.

And you know what?

It's because scientists

and physicists

can look at the planets

and look at light

and look at light

and how it relates

to gravity

and how it relates

to this and that,

that they can come up with

that's all part

of the knowledge

that helps them

to figure out

how they can use light

to send it down a cable

to send information.

And it's because

they can look at

how biology works

and how chemistry works

and they can reverse engineer

different things

that they can figure out

new drugs

and they can figure out

better fertilizers

and they can,

they can,

they can figure out

how to care,

they can figure out

how to,

they can look at formations

and rock formations

and how the backstory works

and they can figure out

where they can find gold

or where they can find oil.

It's all part,

the backstory

and the heights

and depths of creation

which we can look at

with our minds

and try to understand

the heights

and understand the depths

and map how things work

and that helps us

to be,

well,

to make vaccines

and provide food

and medicine

and to cause things

to flourish.

So,

you see,

if we,

if we grab this story

and the beginning

was the Word

and the Word

was with God

and the Word

was God,

He was in the beginning

with God,

all things were made

through Him

and without Him

was not anything made

that was made

and Him was life

and the life

was the light of men.

This is an invitation

to study.

It's an invitation

to love people.

No human being

you meet

is a cosmic accident

and if you have

a love for engineering

or for biology

or for chemistry

or for physics

or for geology

or for any of the scientists,

the sciences,

you can look

because you know

that behind it

there's a design

that you can understand.

There's something there

in creation

that you can understand

that God wants you

to understand

and He wants you

to articulate it

and so the doctrine

of creation

rather than undermining

science

or making us

afraid of it,

it invites us

to launch into it

if that's the way

your mind works

and your heart works,

whether you're a man

or a woman,

if that's to explore it

and not be afraid

because why?

In the beginning

was the Word

and the Word

was with God

and the Word

was God.

He was in the beginning

with God.

All things were made

through Him

and without Him

was not anything

made that was made.

In Him was life

and the life

was the light of men.

Now,

some of you might say,

George,

I don't know,

that's,

what about evolution?

What about science?

You know,

back,

I don't know when it was,

sometime in the summer

and I can't remember

what it was for,

I go for a run

along the,

either along the Ottawa River

along the canal

and sometime back

it was a warm day

and I was out there

for a run

and I got stopped

by CTV.

I wish I could tell you

I got stopped

by a cop

for running too fast

but it definitely wasn't.

it wasn't that,

you know.

You know,

I was talking to a guy

for a couple of times

on the phone

he'd never seen me

and I was telling him,

you know,

I don't know if you want

me for this

because I'm not hip

and I sort of,

because I think

his organization

is a bit of a hip organization

I said,

I'm not hip.

When people look at me

they think hip replacement

not hip.

But anyway,

so anyway,

I went for a slog,

a run

and the CTV stops me

and he said,

do you have a moment sir?

And I said,

sure.

And he said,

have you heard,

I can't remember

if it's cancer or Alzheimer's

but anyway,

there's some study

that people who run a lot

for a long time

they're less susceptible,

I can't remember

which one it was.

Have you read the study?

Or heard the study?

I said,

no,

I haven't heard that.

He said,

well,

what do you think about it?

And I,

without even thinking,

just being me,

I said,

well,

you know,

God created us

and,

you know,

he created us to run.

It's a natural thing

so it sort of makes sense

that if God created us

to do a natural thing

that it would be

naturally healthy.

Well,

I wish I'd had a cameraman

there to film

the interviewer

from CTV.

He literally went

like this

and we talked

for another three

or four minutes

because,

and I'm sure

I wasn't on TV,

he definitely didn't want

anybody to say on TV

that God created us.

He said,

well,

I guess you can look

at it evolutionary

and I guess there's

some evolution

and I think

God created us.

Well,

I think there's some,

you know,

it was like,

why,

does this guy

have three heads?

Like,

is he an alien?

Like,

did he crawl out

from a rock?

Anyway,

I mean,

that's the world

we live in,

right?

So here's where

atheist helps us again.

If you could put it up.

And there's a,

he really is

a famous atheist.

He's not one of those

atheists who gets

all the press

like hot,

you know,

like Dawkins

and all that,

but he's been

a professor

at New York University

since 1980.

He's an emeritus

professor.

He's written all sorts

of important books

and articles.

A well-known atheist.

Wouldn't agree with me

on probably just about

anything at all.

And he wrote this book

in 2012,

which got published

by the Oxford University Press,

which some of you

might know

as sort of a significant

publishing press,

highly academic

and intellectual.

The book was called

Mind and Cosmos,

Why the Materialist,

Neo-Darwinian

conception of nature

is almost certainly false.

Here's two quotes.

First one.

I don't know if you can see it,

small print.

Whatever one may think

about the possibility

of a designer,

remember,

he's a committed atheist,

complete,

in fact,

he has a very,

very famous quote

that Tim Keller

likes to quote

all the time

about how

it's not just

that I believe

intellectually

that God

does not exist.

I don't want

God to exist.

I'll do whatever

I can to come up

with an argument

to make sure

that I'm right

that God doesn't exist.

Okay?

This is the same guy.

Keller uses his quote

all the time,

but he also said

this in this book.

Whatever one may think

about the possibility

of a designer,

the prevailing doctrine,

that is what

CTV news anchors

and interviewers

and all would say,

that the appearance

of life

from dead matter

and its evolution

through accidental

mutation

and natural selection

to its present forms

has involved

nothing but the operation

of physical law.

That's what basically

you get taught

in your chemistry,

your biology books.

Here's what he says.

Cannot be regarded

as unassailable.

Here's the big thing.

It is an assumption

governing the scientific project

rather than a well-confirmed

scientific hypothesis.

This is from an emeritus

professor of philosophy

at New York University

who's had a 40-some-odd year

career as a serious scholar

and a serious atheist.

Here's another quote.

But for a long time,

I have found the materialist

account of how we

and our fellow organisms

came to exist

hard to believe,

including the standard version

of how the evolutionary process works.

Here's this really big thing

he says.

The more details we learn

about the chemical basis of life

and the intricacy

of the genetic code,

the more unbelievable

the standard historical account becomes.

If you could put up the point,

the choice

that we face

is not between science and faith.

The choice

is between two beliefs.

The choice

is not between

science and faith.

The choice

is between two beliefs.

You know,

why is it that an atheist,

you know,

and in fact,

one of the things that

Nagel said

in interviews around this

book,

which caused a lot of,

in fact,

he had to turn his phone off,

he turned off his answer machine,

stopped looking at email

because of all the hate mail

he got,

because people said

he was playing into

the hand of theists

and his response was

the current understanding

of how evolution works

cannot possibly be true

and the longer

we keep holding to this,

the more

that the intelligent design

and theist crowds

are going to gain followers.

So if we want to win

the world for atheism,

let's stop

flogging a dead horse

and find the right

scientific explanation.

Why does he do this?

He understands several things.

He understands

that this materialist

understanding

of how things came to be

cannot account

for how the human mind works.

It cannot account

for human freedom.

It cannot account

for creativity.

It cannot account

for human dignity.

It cannot account

for morals.

It cannot account

for love.

And as he also

makes a point here

as he shows in this book,

it can't even account

for the growing knowledge

of science

about all of the basic

intricacy

of things

that cannot possibly

be accounted for

by natural selection.

You see,

he understands

that if the choices

between these two ideas,

and if this is,

which I'm going to show you,

Andrew,

could you put it up?

If this is the choice,

if the choices

between two ideas,

then at some point in time,

as it's made clearer

and clearer to people,

people will realize

that one idea

cannot possibly be true.

And this is what

the choice is

that we face.

Matter,

pure chance,

and cause and effect

account for life

and the intricate,

fine-tuned universe.

universe.

Or,

God designed

and created life

and the intricate,

fine-tuned universe.

I'm going to read it

again in a moment.

Let me just tell you,

you know,

as science has developed

in the last 159 years

since the origin

of the species

was written

by Charles Darwin,

as science has progressed

in the last 159 years,

as you understand

increasingly,

the intricacies

of everything,

I mean,

every time they look

at something,

it becomes more

and more intricate.

When you look at DNA

and the genetic code,

to think that these things

could happen completely

and utterly by chance,

the more that science grows,

the more impossible it is

to believe that it can happen

by chance.

Because the thing is,

this first statement

that matter,

pure chance,

and cause and effect

account for life

in the intricate,

fine-tuned universe,

that's what it has to do.

You know,

it's not just a matter

that maybe,

you know,

something like natural selection

can account for,

you know,

how a bat,

you know,

or a moth

changes its colors

or certain types of changes

in terms of the size

of horses and stuff.

But this project,

this idea,

it has to account

for how big the sun is

and how fast the sun

is hurtling through space

and how fast

that the planets

around the sun

are spinning

and how far

the earth is

from the sun.

compared to the size

of it

and the angle

of the earth

and how fast

the earth spins

and how fast

the earth is moving

and the distance

of the earth

to the moon

and countless

other things.

And that all

has to be accounted

for completely

and utterly

by chance.

And that doesn't

even count on

trying to understand

how the chemical

makeup of something

like DNA

could purely

happen by chance.

Because here's

the thing,

if we were out

and let's say

we had a chance

to go somewhere,

I don't know,

off of the Atlantic

or in the Gulf Coast

or off of an island

in the Caribbean

and we had a,

just because we're

an ordinary guy,

but we haven't had,

we're an ordinary

middle class guy

who just happens

to know a billionaire

who can get flown

by a helicopter

to a private island.

Sorry,

a little bit of a jab.

And we go to this place

and then we go

to an island

that's just a little bit

of a thing

in the middle of nowhere

and we're wandering around

and we're looking

and we're marveling

at the driftwood

and we're marveling

at how,

you know,

the waves have drawn

things up

and maybe if some

of you are photographers

you're just taking

some of the pictures

of some of the beautiful

things that you can see

when just things

get thrown together

higgledy-piggledy.

You know,

many of us maybe

have pieces of driftwood

that just look really

beautiful after they've

just been banged up

but if we were walking

around the island

and we found stones

that said,

I love Joe,

nobody would say

that that came by chance.

In fact,

if you had somebody

in your party

who said,

whoa,

I love Joe,

that must have been

a rogue wave

that came up

with big stones

from the bottom

and when the wave

came back

it spelled,

I love Joe.

You'd think he was

an idiot.

And everybody

would think

he was an idiot.

Right?

Like if it was

in a movie,

who's that?

actor,

the Greek Isaac.

Yeah,

that would be

the guy

in the movie,

probably stoned

or drunk

in the movie

who would say,

whoa,

it came from a wave.

You know,

he's just being a goof.

The genetic code

of DNA

is exponentially

billions times

more complicated

and that's just

one tiny little thing

in an intricately

fine-tuned universe

than having stones

be washed up

from a wave

that said,

I love Joe.

And that's what

Thomas Nagel

understands.

That the evolutionary

project

has to

from purely

from matter,

pure chance

and cause and effect

count for not just life

but for everything.

And as science grows

it becomes more and more

completely and utterly

impossible

to believe

that matter

and chance

and cause and effect

could cause that.

That's the direction

of knowledge.

The more science grows

the more it shows

that in the beginning

was the Word

and the Word

was with God

and the Word

was God.

He was in the beginning

with God.

All things were made

through Him

and without Him

nothing was made

that was made.

And now is a good time

to turn to Genesis

Genesis 1 · chapter mention

chapter 1.

And if you look

at Genesis chapter 1

Genesis 1:1

verse 1

you'll see that

this isn't just something

that the New Testament

teaches.

You look at the very

very very first verse

and you see that

God opens

the book

and the story

by nailing it

to the mast.

In the beginning

God created

the heavens

and the earth.

In the beginning

one word

it means

there's nothing

before

God created

the heavens

and the earth.

You want to know

something which is

really cool?

In Hebrew

the word for God

is plural

and the word

that they choose

is the sort of

in a sense

what we would

just say God.

It's not like

our Heavenly Father

or the Lord Jesus Christ

it's just the word

for God

the way our culture

just generically

wants to refer to God

but in the Hebrew

it's plural

and there's a singular

verb

which is why

it's translated

not as God's created

but God created

because the verb

is singular.

Isn't that cool?

In the beginning

was the word

and the word

was with God

and the word

was God

he was in the beginning

with God

all things were made

through him

and without him

nothing was made

that was made.

In him was life

and the life

was the light of men.

And Genesis 1

1 says

in the beginning

God created

the heavens

and the earth

which is called

in grammar

a merism

it means

how you describe

a totality

by using

its two extremes

I had to look that up

I didn't know

what it was before

it was in one

of the commentaries

I had to look it up

in the dictionary

what on earth

is a merism

I don't even know

I'm pronouncing it correctly

I never heard the word

spoken in speech before

but it means

in the beginning

God created

without him

nothing was made

all things were made

through him

and without him

nothing was made

that was made.

Okay we have just

a few more minutes

I have a couple of things

you know there's a

you know the story

of the emperor

in his new clothes

it's a really cool story

eh

and you know

in the original version

of the story

well the original story

was written by

Hans Christian Andersen

I think 18

first part of the 1800s

and if you remember

the story

a couple of tailors

wanted to rip off

the emperor

and so they said

oh emperor

we found this

new type of fabric

and they went like this

new type of fabric

and you know what's

so unique about this

you need this fabric

emperor

because only people

who are unfit

for their position

or unbelievably stupid

can't see it

the emperor

doesn't want to admit

that he's unfit

for his position

or that he's

unbelievably stupid

so he says

whoa

I would love you

to make something

for me out of that

they said

oh yeah

you know

you can walk

around with this

and you'll find out

who's unfit

for their position

or unbelievably stupid

so they pretend

to sew

clothes

on the emperor

and he goes out

for a walk

in his new clothes

and nobody wants

to say to the emperor

you don't have

anything on

because it's

an invisible fabric

and to not see it

shows that you are

what unbelievably stupid

or unfit

for your position

and so people

don't want to say

in our culture

that maybe

that if you go

and you see

I love Joe

and you know

that it wasn't

by a rock

but somehow

or another

the genetic code

and DNA

could happen

by chance

maybe the emperor

has no clothes

just a couple

of things

in closing

this is how

the whole story

begins

and what I'm

going to show

over the next

couple of weeks

is this is

what carries

we've given

the ball

to Jesus

it's on his

broad shoulders

and now

we understand

that in the

very very first

words

in the beginning

God created

the heaven

and earth

that's how

God is introduced

it's how

the story

begins

and what's

going to be

described

in the two

next things

of chaos

and days

and garden

of Eden

they're all

going to be

true

we're going

to talk

about that

and I'm

not going

to deny

that there's

problems

with understanding

it

but

the seven

days of

creation

don't have

to carry

the big

weight

we can

understand

that God

has made

his big

point

in his

first

verse

and he's

going to

communicate

other types

of true

truths

in Genesis

1 and

Genesis

2

and we'll

talk about

that in

the weeks

to come

it's how

the story

begins

so what I

want to

say is

if you're

in science

stay in

science

if you're

in physics

stay in

physics

if you're

in biology

stay in

biology

like study

there is

truth

to be

found

things

can be

reverse

engineered

they were

designed

like study

them

and don't

be afraid

it's not

in conflict

with science

God made

the created

order with a

back story

and with

heights and

depths

you're just

discovering

in the

beginning

God created

the heavens

and the

earth

and for

all of

us

all the

way

through

life

you know

here's

this very

fundamental

thing

you know

Christians

have a

very

different

direction

than

secular

people

I don't

mean to

offend

you if

you're

here as

a secular

person

but secular

people

don't want

to keep

going back

to this

fundamental

idea that

everything

exists as

a result

of chance

and only

matter

because once

you start

to do

that

let me

tell you

if you

start to

try to

do that

not just

me but

atheist

philosophers

like Thomas

Nagel

they'll

tie you

up in

knots

you can't

account for

how minds

work

one of the

things which

was so

interesting if

you go back

and watch

that dialogue

between

Osginis and

the atheist

philosopher

he had a

hard time

affirming that

human beings

could know

things or

had freedom

in fact he

actually says

he's not sure

if human beings

have any

freedom at

all

and I just

want to have

you you know

hear that so

the whole force

of secularism is

to have us not

think about these

fundamental ideas

but what is it

that we do

every week here

at Church of

the Messiah

most churches

do think on

these things

be gripped by

them remember

the gospel

remember that

God exists

remember that

in the real

world God

exists and

that's why in

the real world

you pray

that's not a

flight from

reality it's

entering the

real world

it's living in

the real world

so read

Genesis

begin the

story

remember that

you're not a

result of chance

that God

created you

think about

these things

study science

think about

the fundamentals

and here's the

other thing

you know it's

also really

matters to the

gospel

Andrew if you

could put it

up

here's why it

matters to the

gospel

if this story

is true and I

believe it is

and if it's

going to show

that God

created all

things

some people

wonder how