Incredible Faith!

Monte certainly took us to places we never thought we would go on Sunday morning. His presentation was certainly meaty. What does it all mean?

Monte had a very profound word for the church this past Sunday. His goal was to build our faith and courage so that we would not be intimidated by the culture we live in. There are an increasing number of anti-Christian elements in our culture. They want to silence the voice of God’s church by making us feel like we are foolish because we believe in God and believe that the earth and man were created by Him. Should we be worried about the intellectual integrity of our faith?

Below I will attempt to summarize some of the points that Monte made:

Being a Christian is first and foremost about what you do with Jesus. It has nothing to do with how you understand geology or politics.

Monte presented two questions that as Christians we should be able to confidently answer:

1. Does anything exist besides the physical universe?
2. Is man basically “good”?
(Builders put the biggest stones on the bottom because the foundation must be able to support everything else.)

Does anything exist besides the material world? Those who subscribe to a materialistic belief system assume that “stuff” is all there is. Others assume that all “stuff” everywhere always acts the same way.

(Making assumptions is not “bad”. In fact, unless you are omniscient, you have no choice but to base much of your life upon assumptions. This is true for scientist as well. The effect of assumptions is to limit possibilities.)

Today many believe that man is inherently good and all the goodness in man cannot get out because of various elements of his environment. As a result everyone becomes a victim and there is no accountability for our actions. The Bible is very clear that man’s heart is bent toward sin because he is born with a sinful nature. As such he is in great need of a Savior

Monte asked the question, “Is it possible for a Biblical worldview to be scientific?”

Modern Science is designed to answer the questions, “What and How?” Scientism adds to science an additional assumption- empirical science is the only source of authentic knowledge. Is this really a necessary assumption? Is the Bible not another source of authentic knowledge?

(A Biblical worldview can be scientific, but it will not be scientistic.)

The Scientistic assumption allows those who believe in it to answer the basic question that science cannot: Why? Scientism defines what questions authentic science can answer and insists that no other questions can be asked.

The Scientistic assumption leads to the following implications:

* What we cannot sense is “non-sense”- there is no non-material reality
* Values, morals, beauty, etc., are totally subjective
* Truth is not absolute,but merely a subjective evaluation of personal experience
* There is no spiritual reality- if god exists, he is a creature
* Nothing has meaning

The assumptions of science are necessary, but the additional assumption of scientism is not necessary. Scientism is non-rational.

Nobel prize winning physicist Murray Gell-Mann said that, “Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.” In other words we must erect artificial intellectual barriers to ideas contrary to our current belief system. This type of thinking sets up barriers to open, honest, and rational dialogue.

Should we be worried about the intellectual integrity of our faith? Absolutely not. True science is not a threat to the Bible or our belief in God and His role as Creator.

• What about cavemen? They exisited.
• What about dinosaurs? The Bible talks about them.
• Did the flood waters cover the highest mountains? Perhaps the mountains were created as a result of the earth opening-up and releasing water.
• What about radiometric dating? There are basic issues with this method of dating because of assumptions they have to make concerning the original creation (since nobody was there, how do we know if these assumptions are true?).
• What about the fossil record? The strata you find various fossils in varies in different parts of the world. Perhaps because of a world wide flood?
• How did distant starlight get to the earth if the earth is only 10,000 years old? There are a number of theories, including existing stars in a rapidly expanding universe leaving behind trails of light.

We can have absolute confidence in what we read in the Bible and in our belief in God. There is no need to be intimidated by science. Most of what is promoted as science today is more scientism than true science.