Sermon Tone Analysis

to make his point, he asks the students if any of them believe in God and has them raise their hands -- he points at one of those who raised their hands, and had him stand

"So," he said, "You believe in God." -- Absolutely, sir -- "And what scientific rationale is your belief based on?

-- the student looked at him and said, None -- I just believe in God and the Bible based on faith

"That is the problem that science has with God -- science uses empirical, testable, and demonstrable protocols to prove or disprove the existence of things -- God cannot be proved in this way, so He cannot exist"

the professor turns again to the student and says, "We all have five senses that we use to identify and observe the world around us -- tell me, son -- have you ever seen God?" -- No -- "Have you ever heard God?" -- No -- "Have you ever felt your God -- tasted your God -- smelled your God? -- Have you ever had any sensory perception of God for that matter?"

-- No sir, I'm afraid I haven't

"Yet you still believe in Him?" -- Yes -- "According to empirical, testable, demonstrable protocol, we have just proven that God does not exist.

-- what do you say to that, son?" -- Nothing.

I have only my faith -- "Yes -- faith -- and that's not science and so that's why religion is nothing but fairy tales that cannot be proven"

Sir, can I ask you something?

-- "Certainly" -- Is there such a thing as heat?

-- "Yes" -- and is there such a thing as cold?

-- "Yes" -- No sir, there isn't.

-- you can have lots of heat -- even more heat -- superheat -- megaheat -- white heat -- a little heat -- or no heat -- but we don't have anything called cold -- we can hit 459 degrees below zero, which is no heat -- but we can't go any further than that -- there is no such thing as cold -- cold is only a word we use to describe the absence of heat -- we cannot measure cold"

"So, what is your point, young man" -- It's this -- you rightly state that science if the study of observed phenomena -- but, based on your definition, science is a premise which is flawed ....just like religion -- "Flawed?" -- the professor exclaimed -- "How is science flawed?"

Sir, you are viewing the concept of God as something finite, something we can measure.

-- science can't even explain a thought.

-- It uses electricity and magnetism, but a thought has never been seen, much less fully understood -- but we all know that thoughts are real and exist -- so, the absence of something observable doesn't mean it doesn't exist

It takes faith to see God in creation.

Many don’t see God in Creation, because they have become convinced that faith in God has been disproven by science.

They could believe, they just quit looking.

There is a consequence to that.

the student turned to the class -- Is there anyone in the class who has ever seen the Professor's brain?

-- Is there anyone here who has ever heard the Professor's brain, felt it, touched or smelled it?

-- the class roared in laughter

the student turned to the professor -- No one appears to have done so.

So, according to the established rules of empirical, stable, demonstrable protocol, science says that you have no brain, sir.

-- With all due respect, then, how do we trust your lectures, sir?

the room is silent -- the professor stares at the student -- "I guess you'll have to take that on faith, son" -- And, that, sir, was my point -- faith -- believing in that which you cannot see or hear or feel or touch or smell -- doesn't make the object of your faith any less real than anything else

I entered into ministry back in 1999, the year my daughter was born, not because of her, but because of a couple of boys out in Colorado decided to kill some of their classmates because they saw a senselessness in life; not just in death mind you, but in life.

Where did they get this idea?

I entered into ministry back in 1999, the year my daughter was born, not because of her, but because of a couple of boys out in Colorado that decided to kill some of their classmates because they saw a senselessness in life; not in death mind you, but in life.

Where did they get this idea?

Science class

I’m sure they had great teachers.

Teachers who loved their students.

Science teachers who wanted them to have a passion for discovery; who taught them the ends and outs of scientific theory.

That life came about as a result of evolutionary forces, that free will was irrelevant and purpose was inconsequential; that we originated by chance and that our death would have no significant impact on the world.

I don’t know for sure these things were taught straight out like this, but they are the product of much of our modern science teaching…at least that’s how many take it.

There is many a Christian kid who loves Jesus and loves their church, only to go off to college or high school biology and be confronted with facts and information that seems to confront what they heard in church and they look back and see their faith as irrelevant.

You probably know someone as well who has cooled to Jesus and the church because they couldn’t square their faith and what they understood about science.

It happens easy.

We in the church teach kids to trust what the Bible says.

We don’t know much about science, so we tell kids to trust God.

Then they get to HS or college or just grow up and all of a sudden all the simplicity of the faith that we taught them can’t stand up to the seemingly logical conclusions of science.

Doubt enters in.

Believe: Science or the Bible

It’s not that they don’t believe in the idea of God…it’s just the God they learned about growing up seems so elementary, so simple, requiring a blind faith.

Thinking people need more.

Combine that with all the do’s and don’t’s of our faith and frankly it just not worth it.

The fact is though that for many feel that the choice is, believe science or believe the bible; you can’t have both.

Satan wants nothing more than have us doubt God.

When we doubt God we stop relying on His power.

That’s where our friends are today; for some of us it’s our grand-kids or our kids, our spouses or siblings...and that’s why they don’t experience his power in their lives.

Satan wants nothing more than have us doubt God.

When we doubt God he loses power.

That’s where most of our friends are today; and that’s why they don’t experience his power in their lives.

That’s why they fall away…They don’t have the faith to stand.

And we all know that when you fall away, it’s very hard to come back.

But it doesn’t need to be that way.

The truth is Faith and Science need not be in contradiction.

That’s the first objection that I want to look at today.

This is the first thing I want you to be aware of today when you leave.

Objection: Christianity and science contradict.

In fact science as we know it began in a very strange place…the sanctuary.

You see the word science means knowledge and we Christians believe that God created us uniquely with a mind designed to discover, to learn, to steward.

And so with our minds we set out to discover and study the natural laws established by God, and this became science as we know it.

Granted there have been many Christians who take a negative view of science.

This is nothing new.

For instance based on

“The world is firmly established; it cannot be moved.”

says,

“The sun rises and sets and returns to its place.”

The Church said, “Scripture is teaching that the earth is stationary; we’re at the center of the universe, and the sun moves around us.”

Galileo built a telescope and discovered something different and for that he was placed under house arrest for the rest of his life.

The church has some black eyes, it’s true.

But remember what C.S. Lewis said,

C.S. Lewis said,

“Men became scientific because they expected law in nature and they expected law in nature because they believed in a legislator.”

Johannes Kepler, who lived in the late 1500s and early 1600s and whose work was foundational for Isaac Newton’s theory of gravity, said this:

“The chief aim of all investigations of the external world should be to discover the rational order and harmony...which has been imposed on it by God, and which he revealed to us in the language of mathematics.”

Means knowledge…knowledge…stewardship

Francis Collins, who directed the Human Genome Project.

Listen to what he said:

Science was born out of the church’s teaching of natural laws established by God

“The God of the Bible is also the God of the genome.

He can be worshiped in the cathedral or in the laboratory.”

But many scientists are far from there.

Well known atheist scientist William Provine said just before his death:

thoughts

sacrificial love

purpose

“Let me summarize my views on what modern evolutionary biology tells us loud and clear, and I must say that these are basically Darwin’s views.

There are no gods, no purposeful forces of any kind, no life after death.

When I die, I am absolutely certain that I am going to be completely dead.

That’s just all—that’s gonna be the end of me.

There is no ultimate foundation for ethics, no ultimate meaning in life, and no free will for humans, either.”

That’s what I see as the biggest pitfall for people who find science replacing God.

The only meaning in life is one they can create.

But Science doesn’t contradict faith.