Science, moral, spiritual and biblical skeptics
Part II
Science
Good-day friends! What a beautiful, though windy day it is here! I always love the sunshine, well and the rain too! As a matter of fact, we could really use some rain!
Speaking of rain, don’t you just hate it when someone ‘rains’ on your day? That’s how I used to feel before I learned some techniques to combat attacks on my faith. Let’s continue to look into not only defending our faith, but helping to lead others to the truth.
So if you remember from last week, we discovered the root idea behind most scientific objections is “The natural world is all there is.” And the probing question is “How much faith is required for that belief?” “It is important to point out to the skeptic that his naturalistic view invokes supernatural power as much as yours (God) does. The big difference is that naturalism puts faith in the absurd-nature doing supernatural things-while a theistic worldview merely puts faith in the unseen-a cause beyond nature that has left evidence in nature of its presence.”1
Science has already proved that nature is unable to create matter, space or time--for nature to do so, it would have to go against the First Law of Thermodynamics (matter can neither be created nor destroyed but it can change form), Second Laws of Thermodynamics (everything goes from a state of order to disorder, i.e. decay, etc) the Law of Biogenetic (life cannot come from non-life; no spontaneous generation), Mathematical probability (shows evolution NEVER could have occurred), The fossil record ( it holds no transitional forms), just to name a few facts. In other words, nature would have to have supernatural powers, like God. I have even run into those people who believe in a powerful “Mother Nature” or “Gaia”, in other words nature can do godlike things. Yet they are adamantly against even the thought of an Intelligent Designer⎯the Creator God. It is a far more logical explanation to believe in the unseen (God) than what has already been proven cannot happen.
As you can see one of the biggest problems with the science skeptic is that they tend to divorce reason from faith. Another great example of this is their emphasis that natural selection and mutation can create different forms of life (evolution). So when a scientist claims there is evidence that a life form has evolved from one species into another, what you can point out is that both of these process create nothing new. These processes only remove or rearrange what is already present (in the genes). Speciation--the changing of one species into another, and adaptation which is changes within a species, are two vastly different processes. Speciation is found only in the textbooks. Adaptation is found everywhere. What the scientific skeptic has really done is exchange one source of faith for another.
Here are just a few examples of the extreme faith some secular scientists have:
In regards to life originating from non-life (spontaneous generation);
“One has only to contemplate the magnitude of this task to concede that the spontaneous generation of a living organism is impossible. Yet here we are⎯as a result, I believe, of spontaneous generation.” -Harvard biochemist, NobelLaureate, and evolutionist Georg Wald. The Design Inference. Cambridge University Press, 1998, pg. 55. Google Book Search. 27 Aug. 2008. Note the words impossible and believe. Both determine that this is a statement of faith, not science.
In regards to evolution;
“Imaginations run riot in conjuring up an image of our most ancient ancestor--the creature that gave rise to both apes and humans. This ancestor is not apparent in ape or human anatomy nor in the fossil record. Anatomy and the fossil record cannot be relied upon for evolutionary lineages. Yet paleontologists persist in doing just this.” -Anthropologists and evolutionists, J. Lowenstein and Adrienne Zihlman, Ph.D. “The Invisible Ape.” New Scientist/ 120(1641) 1988:56,57. Look at all the highlight words in this statement….easy to see this is a belief and not science.
Yet sad to say statements like these are found in many “scientific” journals and conferences. Next week we will look into some specific questions and red flag words.
Until then, may our Lord Jesus find favor with you all!
Willow Dressel
This week in the night skies: In the northern latitudes; “Tuesday, April , The biggest and brightest asteroids, 1 Ceres and 4 Vesta respectively, are only about 2° apart in eastern Virgo, some 12° northeast of Mars. They've brightened to magnitudes 7.1 and 5.9, respectively. They'll be at opposition in mid-April. Thursday, April 3, with binoculars or a telescope, North Americans can watch the waxing crescent Moon crossing the Hyades star cluster. The Moon's dark, earthlit limb will occult three 4th- and 5th-magnitude stars depending on where you are…”2
For the southern hemisphere; “Two bright asteroids are now visible in binoculars in the evening sky. 2 Pallas and 4 Vesta. By the end of the week Vesta will become bright enough to be just visible to the unaided eye in dark sky locations.While Vesta is easily seen in binoculars, you will need to watch the same patch of sky in binoculars for a couple of nights to identify it by its movement. Thursday morning is also a good time to see Venus in the daytime. Venus can be readily visible during the day if you know where to look. Using the Moon as a handy guide will help you find it. Make sure the Sun is hidden behind something solid like a building or a wall when you are looking for Venus, not trees or your hand. Exposing your eyes directly to the glare of the Sun can be very dangerous and you could potentially lose your sight. Look for the crescent Moon, and Venus should be visible as a bright dot about a hand-span (the distance covered by your fingers when you hand is help up at arms length in at "stop" gesture, about 6 degrees) below and a little to the right of the Moon. It's best to look just after Sunrise when the Sun is still low and the sky is less bright. You may need to look carefully for a while before Venus ‘pops’ out at you. Sometimes locating Venus in binoculars will help with locating it with the unaided eye.”3
References;
Foster, Bill. “Meet the Skeptic, A Field Guide to Faith Conversations.” Master Books, Green Forest, AR, 2012. Pp 87-92. 1pg. 87.
No comments:
Post a Comment