Monday, 16 March 2009

Seeing is not believing

Two weeks ago we looked at the 4th point (creation) in the 1689 Baptist Confession of Faith and thought a little bit about theistic evolution and other ideas related to the origin of life. We talked about the importance of standing by the biblical account of creation, even in the light of scientific theory. We agreed that we don't believe because someone proves to us that God exists, we believe because of faith which is a gift of God.
Since we met, Benj has sent me a link to a fantastic 12 part youtube video about a bunch of scientists who, independently of one-another, had reservations about Darwin's 'Origin of the Species' theory. They got together to discuss what they had discovered and to try and resolve their skepticism. After a lot of debate, they decided that the evidence of nature overwhelmingly pointed towards an 'intelligent designer'. None of the scientists were Christians (I don't think), but they were persuaded that some sort of intelligent being was the author of the complexity that we see around us.
The video is full of images and facts that will blow your mind and the arguments are very persuasive and it helps to place the view that 'God' could have made the universe, back in the frame of consideration, which is good. It challenges evolution. But it is NOT the evidence which makes us believe that God created the universe. We believe that God created the universe regardless of evidence. We believe this simply because he has told us that that is what he did. If scientific discovery brings to light evidence which supports our belief, then isn't that exactly what we expected? Of course it is. We believe and therefore we have to KNOW that the world is exactly as God says it is, a created entity.
The other important point is that, philosophically speaking, it doesn't get anybody a great deal further. The questions still are, 'who is the intelligent designer?' and 'Who created the intelligent designer in the first place?'. Without the bible you can't prove God to be the answer to the first question and that he has always existed, as the answer to the second. Scientific evidence will never prove the existence or absence of God, it will only increasingly bring to light the hallmarks of his works which testify to his being (Rom 1:20). Men and women still have to believe! This is what we were hearing on Sunday morning. Thomas wanted to see the marks in Jesus' hands, feet and side, because he lacked faith in what Jesus had already revealed about himself. In this case God has already revealed to us that he is the creator, we don't need to see the evidence to believe it.
One of the arguments always brought against a biblical view of the origin of the universe, is that it is a religious argument and not a scientific one, we should never shy away from acknowledging that this is completely true. This admission doesn't mean that there isn't good scientific evidence which supports our view. We are simply saying that our belief doesn't depend upon it. Our belief stands with or without scientific evidence. The evolutionist ultimately has to admit the same, because no empirical evidence can be provided to prove the evolutionary belief system either. Sadly in reality, he/she would never admit this because they want people to believe that there is lots of scientific evidence out there to prove the theory.
The video is compelling and worth watching and will give you an even greater appreciation of the awesome nature of God who, we believe is the intelligent being behind all creation (Heb 1:2) and the first cause of everything.

Special thanks to Benj for finding this fantastic resource and sending it to me. I hope you are all encouraged by it and strengthened in faith. Below is the first part, you can search youtube for the other eleven parts easily.
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