1 00:00:01,440 --> 00:00:06,200 All right, so in Christianity one O 1, looking at the basic 2 00:00:06,200 --> 00:00:11,880 fundamentals of the faith, I tried to back out as far as 3 00:00:11,880 --> 00:00:17,320 possible to come up with what where do you begin to to discuss 4 00:00:17,320 --> 00:00:20,560 Christianity? And so today it it's about as 5 00:00:20,560 --> 00:00:24,080 far a 10,000 foot view as we can get as possible. 6 00:00:24,440 --> 00:00:27,400 And we're going to deal with the topic of theism. 7 00:00:28,520 --> 00:00:31,080 You may not be familiar with some of the words and 8 00:00:31,080 --> 00:00:33,680 terminology. I don't mean any of it to be 9 00:00:34,640 --> 00:00:38,560 overly and intellectual. And we'll define some of those 10 00:00:38,640 --> 00:00:41,800 definitions. But first, let's just deal with 11 00:00:41,800 --> 00:00:44,480 point #1 which is the case for a creator. 12 00:00:46,720 --> 00:00:52,480 Theism is the belief that there is a God, the case for a 13 00:00:52,480 --> 00:00:56,360 creator. If you backed up the furthest 14 00:00:56,360 --> 00:00:59,880 away possible to look at Christianity at the surface, I 15 00:00:59,880 --> 00:01:03,200 think at the center or the greatest possible thing you 16 00:01:03,200 --> 00:01:07,000 could walk away with would be that there is a God. 17 00:01:07,760 --> 00:01:12,880 In Christianity. We believe in a God and really 18 00:01:12,880 --> 00:01:16,520 as we look at the world, there are really only two major world 19 00:01:16,520 --> 00:01:20,880 views that we that somebody believes there is a God that 20 00:01:20,880 --> 00:01:22,760 created all things and that doesn't mean they're a 21 00:01:22,760 --> 00:01:26,320 Christian, but that there is some kind of God or someone that 22 00:01:26,320 --> 00:01:30,360 does not believe in some kind of God. 23 00:01:31,480 --> 00:01:33,920 Now what whether you believe that or not doesn't make it 24 00:01:33,920 --> 00:01:36,440 true. Truth is true whether what it 25 00:01:36,440 --> 00:01:38,120 doesn't matter what we think or care about it. 26 00:01:38,720 --> 00:01:42,720 But let's first talk about the the opposite of this, and that 27 00:01:42,720 --> 00:01:47,640 is atheism may not be a popular church word today. 28 00:01:47,640 --> 00:01:49,960 It's not technically a Bible word. 29 00:01:50,640 --> 00:01:55,440 But if theism is belief in God, the A in front of theism is an 30 00:01:55,440 --> 00:01:58,400 awe. It it, it takes away theism. 31 00:01:58,400 --> 00:02:04,200 So it is without God. This is essentially where our 32 00:02:04,200 --> 00:02:07,840 country is headed, where much of the world is. 33 00:02:07,840 --> 00:02:10,280 We're so smart, we don't need God anymore. 34 00:02:11,440 --> 00:02:14,240 And I have a statistic for you on the screen. 35 00:02:14,240 --> 00:02:16,840 It might be a little bit small, but I think this was twenty, 36 00:02:16,840 --> 00:02:25,880 2444% of Portland and Vancouver were religiously unaffiliated in 37 00:02:25,880 --> 00:02:30,120 some way in some form of atheist, agnostic, or nothing in 38 00:02:30,120 --> 00:02:33,280 particular. So you're looking at about half 39 00:02:33,280 --> 00:02:36,360 of the city that would say we we want absolutely nothing to do 40 00:02:36,360 --> 00:02:38,800 with spirituality, with faith, with God. 41 00:02:38,800 --> 00:02:43,000 We're literally not interested, and that ranks at one of the 42 00:02:43,000 --> 00:02:46,520 highest 4 cities in the United States. 43 00:02:47,480 --> 00:02:49,800 So these are the people that we're trying to reach, people 44 00:02:49,800 --> 00:02:52,680 that think God doesn't even exist. 45 00:02:52,680 --> 00:02:57,440 And that's why this topic is so big and so broad today. 46 00:02:58,440 --> 00:03:01,920 Many would not claim atheism and they would use another term, 47 00:03:01,920 --> 00:03:05,520 agnosticism, which is to say I can't know if there is a God or 48 00:03:05,520 --> 00:03:11,040 not a God, as atheism is kind of a difficult position to hold 49 00:03:11,040 --> 00:03:14,200 down. But let me give you words from 50 00:03:14,200 --> 00:03:17,440 one of the greatest prophets of atheism in our day. 51 00:03:18,360 --> 00:03:20,000 Maybe you've heard of Stephen Hawking. 52 00:03:20,000 --> 00:03:23,400 He says we are each free to believe what we want. 53 00:03:24,320 --> 00:03:27,560 And it's my view that the simplest explanation is there is 54 00:03:27,560 --> 00:03:31,000 no God. No one created our universe and 55 00:03:31,000 --> 00:03:34,800 no one directs our fate. This leads me to a profound 56 00:03:34,800 --> 00:03:37,840 realization. There is probably no heaven and 57 00:03:37,840 --> 00:03:41,000 no afterlife either. We have this one life to 58 00:03:41,000 --> 00:03:43,200 appreciate the grand design of the universe. 59 00:03:43,200 --> 00:03:47,320 Somehow an atheist would say there is a grand design of the 60 00:03:47,320 --> 00:03:50,920 universe, and for that I'm extremely grateful. 61 00:03:53,400 --> 00:03:58,240 This is the end of atheism. There is no heaven, there's no 62 00:03:58,240 --> 00:04:02,840 afterlife, there's no meaning or purpose to life. 63 00:04:02,840 --> 00:04:08,720 That's one of the greats. Psalm 14 says the fool hath said 64 00:04:08,720 --> 00:04:13,360 in his heart there is no God. That's the position of atheism. 65 00:04:13,360 --> 00:04:15,880 It doesn't mean they're not intelligent or haven't studied 66 00:04:15,880 --> 00:04:19,600 things, but that is the the position of atheism. 67 00:04:19,600 --> 00:04:21,640 Let's look next at the position of theism. 68 00:04:26,040 --> 00:04:28,840 Theism, as I said before, is a belief in a God. 69 00:04:28,840 --> 00:04:33,120 And if you look up this word, it mostly leans itself into a 70 00:04:33,120 --> 00:04:36,160 monotheistic Christian kind of worldview. 71 00:04:37,160 --> 00:04:40,960 But at the very core of our faith is a belief in God. 72 00:04:42,080 --> 00:04:44,800 You know this, right? If you open your Bible to the 73 00:04:44,800 --> 00:04:51,560 very first page, Genesis 11, how does it go? 74 00:04:55,680 --> 00:04:59,800 Yeah, in the beginning, God, right? 75 00:05:00,840 --> 00:05:07,200 It is only four words into the Bible until there is a God. 76 00:05:08,240 --> 00:05:12,760 So it is perhaps the biggest, most basic, fundamental element 77 00:05:12,760 --> 00:05:16,840 of our faith that we believe there is a God. 78 00:05:17,720 --> 00:05:21,920 According to this verse, the first verse in all of the Bible, 79 00:05:23,480 --> 00:05:29,280 God exists. He created all things and He 80 00:05:29,280 --> 00:05:32,120 exists outside of the physical universe. 81 00:05:32,120 --> 00:05:36,240 He is not a part of creation. He existed before creation. 82 00:05:36,840 --> 00:05:41,320 Right there lets us know how everything began and it really 83 00:05:41,320 --> 00:05:46,160 is quite amazing how even one verse in the Bible can give more 84 00:05:46,160 --> 00:05:50,200 answers than tons and tons of research. 85 00:05:50,200 --> 00:05:51,840 Looking for an alternative option. 86 00:05:53,280 --> 00:05:58,120 Here in this verse, we get time, space, and matter. 87 00:05:58,640 --> 00:06:06,600 All beginning time in the beginning space, Heaven. 88 00:06:07,800 --> 00:06:11,320 If you study Genesis 1, you'll see that heaven is an expanse. 89 00:06:11,320 --> 00:06:13,680 It's called the firmament. The waters are separated from 90 00:06:13,680 --> 00:06:16,560 the waters, and everything in between is called heaven. 91 00:06:16,560 --> 00:06:19,560 And then we have matter, which is earth. 92 00:06:20,320 --> 00:06:25,880 All of life's answers are so simply found in the truths of a 93 00:06:25,880 --> 00:06:29,480 God creating the world. There's a famous Christian 94 00:06:30,320 --> 00:06:34,560 scholar named William Lane Craig who said our whole universe was 95 00:06:34,560 --> 00:06:38,240 caused to exist by something beyond it and greater than it. 96 00:06:38,960 --> 00:06:42,440 For it is no secret that one of the most important conceptions 97 00:06:43,000 --> 00:06:49,040 of what theists mean by God is creator of heaven and earth. 98 00:06:50,520 --> 00:06:52,240 It's a pretty basic fundamental force. 99 00:06:52,240 --> 00:06:53,720 So I put it to you this way in your notes. 100 00:06:54,240 --> 00:07:00,360 Theism doesn't make 1A Christian, but you can't be a 101 00:07:00,360 --> 00:07:12,970 Christian without theism. So theism to believe in a God 102 00:07:12,970 --> 00:07:16,770 isn't the thing that saves us. It's not the thing that makes us 103 00:07:16,770 --> 00:07:18,970 uniquely Christian. There are many people that 104 00:07:18,970 --> 00:07:21,810 believe in a God, a form of God, a different God. 105 00:07:23,290 --> 00:07:27,850 The Bible even tells us in the book of James, Thou believest 106 00:07:27,850 --> 00:07:30,970 that there is one God. Thou doest well. 107 00:07:31,960 --> 00:07:35,440 The devils also believe in tremble. 108 00:07:36,840 --> 00:07:40,800 So even God's enemies, there are spiritual beings in the 109 00:07:40,800 --> 00:07:43,520 universe. They know that there is a God, 110 00:07:43,840 --> 00:07:45,920 but that doesn't make them Christians. 111 00:07:46,120 --> 00:07:50,240 They're not submitted to him. They don't believe him by faith. 112 00:07:50,240 --> 00:07:53,880 They don't want to follow him. So if you're new to your faith, 113 00:07:53,880 --> 00:07:58,920 this is the place where you have to start believing that a God 114 00:07:58,920 --> 00:08:04,680 exists, acknowledging him and saying if you're real, I need to 115 00:08:04,680 --> 00:08:08,280 know, I want to know, I'd like to find out. 116 00:08:09,240 --> 00:08:11,320 That's the place where we all have to begin. 117 00:08:12,720 --> 00:08:16,040 Secondly, let's look at the case for evidence. 118 00:08:19,560 --> 00:08:25,080 So far, we've made a really bold claim that Genesis 11 is the 119 00:08:25,080 --> 00:08:26,720 answer that science can't figure out. 120 00:08:28,560 --> 00:08:32,480 But what about the evidence? Wouldn't it be intellectual 121 00:08:32,480 --> 00:08:35,559 suicide to say that you have faith that something happened 122 00:08:35,559 --> 00:08:40,720 that you can't see to describe a being that you'll never 123 00:08:40,760 --> 00:08:43,159 physically material interact with? 124 00:08:44,640 --> 00:08:48,280 Well, not really. We have a few verses that tell 125 00:08:48,280 --> 00:08:52,760 us that it's possible for us to see and understand things even 126 00:08:52,760 --> 00:08:56,520 if we can't fully describe them. Romans chapter 1 says the 127 00:08:56,520 --> 00:08:59,040 invisible things of him. Him is God. 128 00:08:59,920 --> 00:09:06,080 From the creation of the world are clearly seen, so it is 129 00:09:06,080 --> 00:09:09,840 possible for man to see clearly invisible things. 130 00:09:11,360 --> 00:09:15,920 Perhaps it is not absolutely scientifically, perfectly 131 00:09:15,920 --> 00:09:20,960 observed, but the creation of the world tells us that there is 132 00:09:20,960 --> 00:09:24,840 an eternal power and Godhead to the universe. 133 00:09:26,880 --> 00:09:31,200 You, you know this, right? Like we can't go and see God in 134 00:09:31,200 --> 00:09:34,120 person. The Bible says no man has seen 135 00:09:34,120 --> 00:09:40,080 God at any time but nature. We have to have an answer for 136 00:09:40,080 --> 00:09:43,560 how did we get here? How is the world the way that it 137 00:09:43,560 --> 00:09:45,800 is? And it would be just like this 138 00:09:45,800 --> 00:09:48,840 building, right? This building was, it's 139 00:09:48,840 --> 00:09:51,320 wonderful. And it was constructed by 140 00:09:51,320 --> 00:09:56,320 somebody that you've never met. Do you think that this building 141 00:09:56,320 --> 00:10:00,040 built itself? According to the second law of 142 00:10:00,040 --> 00:10:03,320 thermodynamics, you cannot get order out of chaos. 143 00:10:03,320 --> 00:10:06,320 It's not possible for this building to accidentally 144 00:10:06,320 --> 00:10:09,680 assemble itself. But you don't deny that the 145 00:10:09,680 --> 00:10:12,920 building exists. You don't deny that it was 146 00:10:12,920 --> 00:10:17,360 built, although you've never met the person to build it. 147 00:10:18,280 --> 00:10:20,320 We see the same thing in the Bible. 148 00:10:20,320 --> 00:10:24,560 Psalm, chapter 19. The heavens declare the glory of 149 00:10:24,560 --> 00:10:28,400 God. All we have to do is go out and 150 00:10:28,400 --> 00:10:33,560 look up. However far you can see, we can 151 00:10:33,560 --> 00:10:37,000 tell that there is something greater and more powerful than 152 00:10:37,000 --> 00:10:40,720 we understand. The firmament is the whole 153 00:10:40,720 --> 00:10:46,080 expanse of the heaven shows a handiwork that there is somebody 154 00:10:46,080 --> 00:10:50,240 actively involved in creating and designing the fine tuning of 155 00:10:50,240 --> 00:10:54,440 the universe. For example, Earth's place just 156 00:10:54,440 --> 00:11:00,680 close enough to a son, no other life anywhere in existence. 157 00:11:02,240 --> 00:11:08,600 This witness of creation goes beyond even the special 158 00:11:08,600 --> 00:11:12,440 revelation of the Word of God. It says day unto day utter a 159 00:11:12,440 --> 00:11:16,480 speech every single day. Creation speaks even through the 160 00:11:16,480 --> 00:11:19,400 night. There is no speech nor language 161 00:11:19,400 --> 00:11:24,960 where their voice is not heard. If you can see, you can tell 162 00:11:25,680 --> 00:11:29,840 that there's a God. Now, I have a few folks that 163 00:11:29,840 --> 00:11:33,760 I'll be introducing you to today through this time, and one of 164 00:11:33,760 --> 00:11:40,280 them is a Nobel Prize winner. Christian B Anfinson won the 165 00:11:40,280 --> 00:11:45,720 Nobel Prize in 1972 for his work on the ribonucleus. 166 00:11:45,720 --> 00:11:48,200 He is a biochemist. And this is what he said. 167 00:11:50,240 --> 00:11:53,040 I think only an idiot can be an atheist. 168 00:11:55,040 --> 00:11:59,640 We must admit that there exists an incomprehensible power or 169 00:11:59,640 --> 00:12:03,120 force with limitless foresight and knowledge that started the 170 00:12:03,120 --> 00:12:05,840 whole universe going in the first place. 171 00:12:07,960 --> 00:12:10,920 So tell me that Christianity and science can't work together. 172 00:12:12,560 --> 00:12:15,360 Here's a Nobel Prize winner that would say, if you can't figure 173 00:12:15,360 --> 00:12:18,080 that one out, you're just not very smart. 174 00:12:20,440 --> 00:12:21,960 So first, let's look at creation. 175 00:12:21,960 --> 00:12:25,920 Creation proves that God is real. 176 00:12:30,320 --> 00:12:32,080 Creation proves that God is real. 177 00:12:32,080 --> 00:12:36,840 We're talking now about the objective observable sciences. 178 00:12:38,800 --> 00:12:41,360 So in case you need to be reminded, if it's been a minute 179 00:12:41,360 --> 00:12:44,520 since you've been in science class, science, this is the 180 00:12:44,520 --> 00:12:47,480 definition from Google. OK, it's the world's best 181 00:12:47,480 --> 00:12:48,760 trusted source. Here you go. 182 00:12:48,760 --> 00:12:52,440 This is for you the systematic study of the structure and 183 00:12:52,440 --> 00:12:55,240 behaviour of the physical and natural world through 184 00:12:55,240 --> 00:12:59,480 observation, experimentation, and the testing of theories 185 00:12:59,480 --> 00:13:03,960 against the evidence obtained. Now this through observation 186 00:13:03,960 --> 00:13:07,960 part is critical. To be a scientist is essentially 187 00:13:07,960 --> 00:13:11,200 to observe, to study, to figure things out, to test and probe 188 00:13:11,200 --> 00:13:15,280 over time. But what most science is today 189 00:13:16,000 --> 00:13:20,360 is theory. We're talking about things 190 00:13:20,360 --> 00:13:23,040 authoritatively that we've never seen or observed. 191 00:13:23,960 --> 00:13:26,040 And if we're specifically talking about the theory of 192 00:13:26,040 --> 00:13:29,840 evolution, we have predicted a model backwards into the past 193 00:13:30,080 --> 00:13:32,920 millions and billions of years that we've never observed. 194 00:13:32,920 --> 00:13:36,280 We just think our algorithm is right, and then we make a 195 00:13:36,280 --> 00:13:39,880 declarative, authoritative stance to say this is absolutely 196 00:13:39,880 --> 00:13:43,880 the way it has to be. And that's honestly not science. 197 00:13:44,840 --> 00:13:50,120 That's called theory. Christianity in some way is also 198 00:13:50,120 --> 00:13:54,640 a theory in the sense that we cannot observe and prove the the 199 00:13:54,640 --> 00:13:57,320 beginning of the universe. We take it by faith that God 200 00:13:57,320 --> 00:14:00,520 says in his word. But we do have material things 201 00:14:00,520 --> 00:14:04,360 that we can prove as well. But you've got to be careful 202 00:14:04,360 --> 00:14:08,440 with people that use the word science or have degrees in their 203 00:14:08,440 --> 00:14:11,280 names or teach courses and classes or write books. 204 00:14:11,640 --> 00:14:14,400 Just because they're revered, just because they're peer 205 00:14:14,400 --> 00:14:21,880 review, doesn't make them right. Paul writes to Timothy and says 206 00:14:21,880 --> 00:14:25,520 to him, Timothy was a pastor. He says, O Timothy, keep that 207 00:14:25,520 --> 00:14:30,120 which is committed to thy trust and avoid profane and vain 208 00:14:30,200 --> 00:14:33,920 babblings. Profane would be gross, immoral. 209 00:14:34,240 --> 00:14:36,560 Vain would be empty, meaningless, purposeless. 210 00:14:37,960 --> 00:14:41,920 And he says an opposition's of science falsely so-called. 211 00:14:43,480 --> 00:14:47,360 Now, that is not to say that you can't enjoy science or be a 212 00:14:47,360 --> 00:14:49,720 scientist and be a Christian. I'll tell you in a moment that 213 00:14:49,720 --> 00:14:54,400 that's definitely not true. But science, falsely so-called, 214 00:14:54,400 --> 00:14:59,720 is what most science is today. It's claiming to be something 215 00:14:59,720 --> 00:15:04,240 that it actually is not so we don't waste our time. 216 00:15:04,240 --> 00:15:06,840 I don't read books by people I don't respect. 217 00:15:07,440 --> 00:15:11,280 If I do, it's for research. I bought a book by Secular 218 00:15:11,280 --> 00:15:14,920 Humanist recently, and I did it really just to be able to quote 219 00:15:14,920 --> 00:15:17,120 them. I'm not interested necessarily 220 00:15:17,120 --> 00:15:20,320 in what they have to say. Maybe you've had this 221 00:15:20,320 --> 00:15:22,120 experience. This has been my experience. 222 00:15:22,120 --> 00:15:26,360 When I go to Powell's Books, my office is in the Pearl District. 223 00:15:26,880 --> 00:15:28,600 Right down the road is Powell's Books. 224 00:15:28,760 --> 00:15:31,280 And when my wife and I go on dates, we go into the city and 225 00:15:31,280 --> 00:15:34,680 walk around and do stuff. And Powell's Books is a city 226 00:15:34,680 --> 00:15:38,320 block of just books, tons of books. 227 00:15:38,840 --> 00:15:41,280 And in Portland, it's like a virtue to read. 228 00:15:41,280 --> 00:15:43,560 It's like, you're a good person if you read books, right? 229 00:15:44,360 --> 00:15:48,360 So I go in the bookstore and we, I just try to putz around and 230 00:15:48,360 --> 00:15:53,760 look at books. And I'm just overwhelmed by the 231 00:15:53,760 --> 00:16:00,800 amount of falsehood that's published, the things that would 232 00:16:00,800 --> 00:16:04,800 disagree with what we truthfully know about science, like things 233 00:16:04,800 --> 00:16:08,080 like gender and the basics of life and reality. 234 00:16:08,840 --> 00:16:13,240 And yet the the reprobate mind is at work producing, producing 235 00:16:13,240 --> 00:16:17,000 and producing and writing and publishing tons of information. 236 00:16:18,200 --> 00:16:20,720 And I just struggle to wonder who is reading all of these 237 00:16:20,720 --> 00:16:24,600 books and why so much of it is emotion. 238 00:16:25,560 --> 00:16:27,880 It's not science, it's not data, it's not good. 239 00:16:27,880 --> 00:16:33,000 It's politics and emotion. And this is where honestly we 240 00:16:33,000 --> 00:16:37,800 end up. To come to a position of theism 241 00:16:39,440 --> 00:16:42,240 means I can't make that decision based on how I feel. 242 00:16:44,240 --> 00:16:46,960 But if you have talked to people, even good staunch 243 00:16:46,960 --> 00:16:51,640 atheists, it is a feeling based decision. 244 00:16:53,720 --> 00:16:57,480 I have two examples for you. I talked to a guy this week who 245 00:16:59,440 --> 00:17:02,880 would openly call himself a devout atheist materialist. 246 00:17:04,440 --> 00:17:06,480 And I joke, I'm getting to know him. 247 00:17:06,480 --> 00:17:08,480 So I joke around a little bit and I say, what, what would it 248 00:17:08,480 --> 00:17:10,079 take for you to be a person of faith? 249 00:17:11,200 --> 00:17:14,720 And he's like, you know, kind of already starts to get worked up. 250 00:17:14,720 --> 00:17:16,520 And that was, that was my basic question. 251 00:17:17,640 --> 00:17:20,720 And he immediately went to Christian nationalism. 252 00:17:21,079 --> 00:17:23,640 And I was like, bro, I don't, I mean, that isn't where I was 253 00:17:23,640 --> 00:17:26,680 started. And we, we had this kind of 254 00:17:26,680 --> 00:17:34,520 emotional conversation and I just tried to digress and keep 255 00:17:34,520 --> 00:17:37,800 the main thing, the main thing. But finally I asked him and I 256 00:17:37,800 --> 00:17:39,920 used you should use this. I use this. 257 00:17:40,840 --> 00:17:45,440 I said, if I could prove to you that there is a God, would you 258 00:17:45,440 --> 00:17:48,000 believe it? And he said, no. 259 00:17:49,880 --> 00:17:53,440 You see, what he really said in his answer was I don't want 260 00:17:53,440 --> 00:17:56,040 there to be a God. It isn't. 261 00:17:56,040 --> 00:17:58,400 I'm objectively wanting to know the truth. 262 00:17:59,840 --> 00:18:04,560 It's I reject the truth. I don't like that is most 263 00:18:04,560 --> 00:18:08,000 people's position. Recently, probably two months 264 00:18:08,000 --> 00:18:10,120 ago, I met with a guy who was a chemist. 265 00:18:10,520 --> 00:18:13,960 His, his job is to do chemistry things. 266 00:18:14,880 --> 00:18:18,480 So I inquired at the scientist in him and said, ah, you're a 267 00:18:18,480 --> 00:18:20,720 scientist. So if I and I asked this 268 00:18:20,720 --> 00:18:23,840 question, if I could prove to you that God was real, would you 269 00:18:23,840 --> 00:18:25,440 believe him? And he said no. 270 00:18:27,000 --> 00:18:32,000 And then he admitted how illogical it was to be a 271 00:18:32,000 --> 00:18:36,640 scientist and deny evidence. And he admitted from his own 272 00:18:36,640 --> 00:18:40,320 work, his own mouth, that he made the decision about whether 273 00:18:40,320 --> 00:18:44,120 there's a God or not based on how he felt a scientist. 274 00:18:45,560 --> 00:18:49,200 This is how people discern their worldview. 275 00:18:49,200 --> 00:18:53,680 It's not about the truth. It's about do I want there to be 276 00:18:53,680 --> 00:18:58,080 a God, yes or no. But let me encourage you for a 277 00:18:58,080 --> 00:19:01,920 moment. There are several respectable 278 00:19:01,920 --> 00:19:06,320 men in the sciences, fathers of modern science. 279 00:19:06,320 --> 00:19:09,920 I want you to hear from them. You don't have to just go with 280 00:19:09,920 --> 00:19:12,800 the flow of what everybody says or whatever is popular and 281 00:19:12,800 --> 00:19:17,840 trending today. 1st is Sir Isaac Newton. 282 00:19:19,400 --> 00:19:23,640 He invented calculus, he formulated the laws of motion, 283 00:19:23,640 --> 00:19:26,680 developed the theory of universal gravity and design 284 00:19:26,680 --> 00:19:29,040 telescopes. How's that for being a 285 00:19:29,040 --> 00:19:32,480 scientist? He says this most beautiful 286 00:19:32,480 --> 00:19:36,040 system of the sun, planets and comets can only proceed from the 287 00:19:36,040 --> 00:19:39,000 counsel and dominion of an intelligent and powerful being. 288 00:19:40,240 --> 00:19:41,520 They'd kick him out today, wouldn't they? 289 00:19:41,520 --> 00:19:44,720 They don't want your calculus. That's that's evil. 290 00:19:45,360 --> 00:19:49,720 That sounds conservative to me. How about Robert Boyle? 291 00:19:50,440 --> 00:19:52,480 He's called the father of chemistry. 292 00:19:52,560 --> 00:19:55,720 He developed Boyle's Law and the vacuum pump. 293 00:19:56,400 --> 00:19:59,760 He says the two great books of nature and of Scripture. 294 00:20:00,160 --> 00:20:03,760 Have the same author. So the latter does not hinder at 295 00:20:03,760 --> 00:20:07,520 all an inquisitive man's delight in the study of the former. 296 00:20:10,600 --> 00:20:14,840 How about Sir Francis Bacon, known as the father of 297 00:20:14,840 --> 00:20:16,960 empiricism? He's the one that created the 298 00:20:16,960 --> 00:20:19,960 scientific method. We study and we check and we 299 00:20:19,960 --> 00:20:22,240 check and we we study and check over and over again. 300 00:20:22,680 --> 00:20:26,880 He says if a man will begin with certainties, he shall end with 301 00:20:26,880 --> 00:20:30,560 doubts, but he if he will be content to begin with doubts, he 302 00:20:30,560 --> 00:20:36,720 shall end in certainties. If you think you got it all 303 00:20:36,720 --> 00:20:39,720 figured out at the beginning of your experiment, you probably 304 00:20:39,720 --> 00:20:44,240 don't have a very good experiment going on about Blaise 305 00:20:44,240 --> 00:20:48,160 Pascal. This guy developed Pascal's 306 00:20:48,160 --> 00:20:51,280 triangle. He designed one of the first 307 00:20:51,280 --> 00:20:55,000 calculators, he revealed how pressure is transmitted through 308 00:20:55,000 --> 00:20:59,240 liquid liquids and he's known for his wager where he says if I 309 00:20:59,240 --> 00:21:04,360 believe in God and life after death and you do not, if there 310 00:21:04,360 --> 00:21:06,360 is no God, we both lose when we die. 311 00:21:08,200 --> 00:21:12,800 However, if there is a God, you still lose and I gain 312 00:21:12,800 --> 00:21:16,160 everything. That's Pascal's wager, you 313 00:21:16,160 --> 00:21:19,680 should use that one. Lastly, how about Galileo? 314 00:21:21,280 --> 00:21:24,360 Galileo is known as the father of modern astronomy. 315 00:21:24,480 --> 00:21:28,680 He invented a telescope, improved heliocentric theory, 316 00:21:29,000 --> 00:21:34,920 inertia and more, he says. I do not feel obliged to believe 317 00:21:34,920 --> 00:21:38,320 that the same God who was endowed us with reason, with 318 00:21:38,320 --> 00:21:43,680 sense reason and intellect, has intended us to forgo their use. 319 00:21:45,280 --> 00:21:47,560 Now, those are some of the big names in science. 320 00:21:47,560 --> 00:21:52,240 We haven't made these kind of discoveries in the modern era. 321 00:21:52,240 --> 00:21:55,760 We're, I mean, this might sound crude, but we're a whole lot 322 00:21:55,760 --> 00:22:03,370 Dumber than these men were. So I put it to you this way in 323 00:22:03,370 --> 00:22:06,570 your notes. Basic science helps us answer 324 00:22:06,570 --> 00:22:10,930 the question, Do I want there to be a God? 325 00:22:22,240 --> 00:22:25,400 You can simply look at heaven and begin that pursuit. 326 00:22:27,280 --> 00:22:31,800 The Bible says in Acts chapter 17 that they should seek the 327 00:22:31,800 --> 00:22:35,440 Lord if happily they might feel after him and find him, though 328 00:22:35,440 --> 00:22:37,560 he be not far from every one of us. 329 00:22:38,720 --> 00:22:42,000 So you got you don't have to know math and science to have 330 00:22:42,000 --> 00:22:46,960 faith, but if you know math and science, you can still have 331 00:22:46,960 --> 00:22:51,040 faith if you want to know him. So that's creation. 332 00:22:51,040 --> 00:22:53,120 Secondly, let's look at morality. 333 00:23:01,200 --> 00:23:05,320 See, morality proves that God exists. 334 00:23:06,360 --> 00:23:10,960 This is a unique part of the human experience, that there is 335 00:23:10,960 --> 00:23:14,920 something within us that understands good and evil. 336 00:23:16,120 --> 00:23:17,680 It certainly didn't come from evolution. 337 00:23:17,680 --> 00:23:23,120 There's no purpose for so much of our conscious morality apart 338 00:23:23,120 --> 00:23:25,480 from a God or a standard of good and evil. 339 00:23:27,120 --> 00:23:33,080 There is no objective right and wrong, Christian apologist Frank 340 00:23:33,080 --> 00:23:35,800 Turek says. Without God there is no basis 341 00:23:35,800 --> 00:23:38,960 for objective morals. It's just Mother Teresa's 342 00:23:38,960 --> 00:23:48,700 opinion against Hitler's. It's not that atheists think 343 00:23:48,700 --> 00:23:52,100 there's no right and wrong. They just don't have an 344 00:23:52,100 --> 00:23:55,900 objective standard. They can't prove one. 345 00:23:55,900 --> 00:23:59,360 It's opinion. It's essentially whoever has the 346 00:23:59,360 --> 00:24:03,000 most power gets to make the rules and determine what's right 347 00:24:03,000 --> 00:24:07,280 and what's wrong. But there is something deep 348 00:24:07,280 --> 00:24:13,120 within us. We know that something is right 349 00:24:13,120 --> 00:24:15,720 and wrong. It doesn't even have to be 350 00:24:15,720 --> 00:24:19,560 taught to us, Romans chapter 1 says, because that which may be 351 00:24:19,560 --> 00:24:23,200 known of God is manifest in them. 352 00:24:24,600 --> 00:24:27,440 There is something uniquely inside inside of us. 353 00:24:27,440 --> 00:24:33,760 We are wired for it. If you read CS Lewis in his book 354 00:24:33,760 --> 00:24:37,720 Mere Christianity, he talks about this law that all of the 355 00:24:37,720 --> 00:24:40,800 world has. Every nature, every culture 356 00:24:40,800 --> 00:24:45,520 seems to have a similar set of rules whereby we know things are 357 00:24:45,840 --> 00:24:48,440 good and evil. Like don't murder the innocent, 358 00:24:49,600 --> 00:24:53,160 that's a good start. Don't take another man's wife. 359 00:24:54,440 --> 00:24:56,520 We should protect children from bad people. 360 00:24:57,640 --> 00:25:00,240 Some of these things you can look throughout the whole world 361 00:25:00,240 --> 00:25:04,160 and just say we all just know that that's not right or that we 362 00:25:04,160 --> 00:25:07,880 should do that. It's deep within us, as Roman 363 00:25:07,880 --> 00:25:11,600 says. For when the Gentiles, those 364 00:25:11,600 --> 00:25:15,600 were the people that didn't know God, which have not the law, 365 00:25:15,600 --> 00:25:18,080 they didn't have the scriptures, he said. 366 00:25:18,080 --> 00:25:21,280 They do by nature the things contained in the law. 367 00:25:21,960 --> 00:25:26,280 These, having not the law, are a law unto themselves, which show 368 00:25:26,280 --> 00:25:32,120 the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience 369 00:25:32,120 --> 00:25:38,320 also bearing witness. See, we have something deep 370 00:25:38,320 --> 00:25:41,560 within us. God has designed us to know 371 00:25:41,560 --> 00:25:46,200 things are good and bad. This is the shame that you feel 372 00:25:46,200 --> 00:25:47,760 when you've made a poor decision. 373 00:25:48,960 --> 00:25:51,360 Maybe you have things in your life you've done that you you 374 00:25:51,360 --> 00:25:56,680 hope nobody ever finds out. There's something deep within us 375 00:25:56,680 --> 00:26:03,040 that knows that, but it's only in a Christian framework that 376 00:26:03,040 --> 00:26:07,760 you can have an objective moral standard. 377 00:26:07,760 --> 00:26:11,000 The conscience isn't perfect. This is the objective standard. 378 00:26:11,000 --> 00:26:14,120 The conscience points us to the objective standard. 379 00:26:14,640 --> 00:26:18,480 But famous atheist Richard Dawkins says that without God 380 00:26:18,560 --> 00:26:21,600 there's no objective morality. And he's absolutely right. 381 00:26:23,840 --> 00:26:27,520 Without a standard, it's just whoever's opinion. 382 00:26:28,760 --> 00:26:34,680 And the end result of this kind of opinion is really quite sad. 383 00:26:36,640 --> 00:26:39,920 I want to read it to you from Dawkins's book The Blind 384 00:26:39,920 --> 00:26:45,040 Watchmaker. He says in a universe of blind 385 00:26:45,080 --> 00:26:49,280 physical forces and genetic replication, some people are 386 00:26:49,280 --> 00:26:53,920 going to get hurt, other people are going to get lucky, and you 387 00:26:53,920 --> 00:26:58,320 won't find any rhyme or reason in it, nor any justice. 388 00:26:59,320 --> 00:27:02,320 The universe we observe has precisely the properties we 389 00:27:02,320 --> 00:27:04,680 should expect. If there is, at bottom, no 390 00:27:04,680 --> 00:27:10,800 design, no purpose, no good, and no evil, nothing but blind, 391 00:27:10,960 --> 00:27:18,720 pitiless indifference, isn't that sad? 392 00:27:21,920 --> 00:27:25,240 There's no purpose. That means, according to 393 00:27:25,240 --> 00:27:27,800 atheism, you have no purpose over any other thing on the 394 00:27:27,800 --> 00:27:29,880 planet. There's no design. 395 00:27:29,880 --> 00:27:32,560 You were not intentionally created, you're just an accident 396 00:27:32,640 --> 00:27:36,120 from a bunch of soup. There's no good and evil, 397 00:27:36,120 --> 00:27:37,920 really. It's just everybody do whatever 398 00:27:37,920 --> 00:27:40,640 they want to do. There's no justice. 399 00:27:40,640 --> 00:27:44,360 There's no ultimate justice for people that make really, really 400 00:27:44,360 --> 00:27:51,080 bad decisions. It's really sad that people 401 00:27:51,080 --> 00:27:55,320 believe this. Put it to you this way. 402 00:27:56,200 --> 00:28:00,640 Rejecting God is ultimately a rejection of what you know is 403 00:28:00,640 --> 00:28:12,040 right on the inside. See, the way that you come to 404 00:28:12,040 --> 00:28:19,840 Dawkins's understanding is you have to reject your internal 405 00:28:19,840 --> 00:28:22,520 mechanisms that tell you there's a God. 406 00:28:23,960 --> 00:28:27,320 You have to choose. I don't want there to be a God. 407 00:28:28,000 --> 00:28:32,160 And then you formulate a scientific worldview around it 408 00:28:32,160 --> 00:28:37,120 that is essentially atheism. But let's look now at the case 409 00:28:37,120 --> 00:28:41,840 for consideration. These are some high and lofty 410 00:28:42,800 --> 00:28:44,680 kind of claims. Maybe we're throwing some words 411 00:28:44,680 --> 00:28:48,800 and phrases around you're not familiar with, but let's just 412 00:28:48,800 --> 00:28:53,400 humble ourselves for a moment. I put these in your notes. 413 00:28:53,400 --> 00:28:58,840 If you're not a Christian, will you be open to the possibility? 414 00:29:01,480 --> 00:29:05,120 Will you be willing to seek the truth and the evidence no matter 415 00:29:05,120 --> 00:29:12,640 where it takes you? If you are a Christian and you 416 00:29:12,640 --> 00:29:15,360 would say, of course, I believe in creation and design and 417 00:29:15,360 --> 00:29:19,640 order, are you living like God is real? 418 00:29:24,320 --> 00:29:26,680 You would say there's a conscience and there's something 419 00:29:26,680 --> 00:29:35,280 in you that knows good and evil. Are you obeying it if you're 420 00:29:35,280 --> 00:29:38,360 doing good so far, Are you getting equipped to be able to 421 00:29:38,360 --> 00:29:43,360 handle this book and share it with others and say there's an 422 00:29:43,360 --> 00:29:47,360 alternative way that has purpose and meaning and hope? 423 00:29:47,400 --> 00:29:53,520 And it's true? I hope if nothing else today can 424 00:29:53,520 --> 00:29:57,640 encourage you that it's OK to read and study and think and 425 00:29:57,640 --> 00:30:02,240 test and probe at the universe. And you will discover, like all 426 00:30:02,240 --> 00:30:07,040 of these fathers of science, God is true and so is his word. 427 00:30:08,640 --> 00:30:11,160 It's not a compromise to be a person of faith. 428 00:30:13,200 --> 00:30:16,400 I'd say most of us in the room are believers. 429 00:30:16,400 --> 00:30:19,960 And so I'd like to take a moment to respond here in a little bit. 430 00:30:19,960 --> 00:30:21,680 We'll have communion. We'll jump back into the 431 00:30:21,680 --> 00:30:25,320 scriptures. But let's take a moment and pray 432 00:30:27,360 --> 00:30:31,280 if you, if you kind of get the tone of which I'm trying to 433 00:30:31,280 --> 00:30:35,840 approach this series, maybe you think there's somebody else that 434 00:30:35,840 --> 00:30:37,960 needs to be in the room that's not here right now. 435 00:30:39,960 --> 00:30:43,400 Maybe at very least you can pray for somebody who believes some 436 00:30:43,400 --> 00:30:47,440 things that aren't true or maybe even for yourself. 437 00:30:47,440 --> 00:30:50,000 There's some decisions that you need to make today to say, man, 438 00:30:50,000 --> 00:30:53,120 I've been living totally different than what I would say. 439 00:30:54,320 --> 00:30:56,880 So I'm going to give you a moment of silence to pray and 440 00:30:56,880 --> 00:31:01,800 respond to the Lord. I'll lead us in a prayer and 441 00:31:01,800 --> 00:31:03,680 then we're going to have a Psalm. 442 00:31:03,840 --> 00:31:05,040 So let's take a moment and pray.