George Sayour (Genesis 1:1, 31) "In the beginning God created - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

George Sayour

(Genesis 1:1, 31)

"In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth... God saw all that he had made, and it was very good."

(Nehemiah 9:6)

"You made the heavens, even the highest heavens, and all their starry host, the earth and all that is on it, the seas and all that is in them. You give life to everything, and the multitudes of heaven worship you."

Psalm 104: 24- 25

"How many are your works, O Lord! In wisdom you made them all; the earth is full of your creatures. There is the sea, vast and spacious, teeming with creatures beyond number-living things both large and small.”

Psalm 19:1 The Heavens Declare the Glory of the Lord, the sky proclaims the work of His hands

But… There’s a Debate About this

God’s Providence

• Primary & Secondary Causes’
• “In Him we live and move and have our being”

Acts 17:28

• “In Him all things hold together” - Col 1:17
• He covers the heavens with clouds;
 he

prepares rain for the earth;
 he makes grass grow on the hills. - Psalm 148

• “You Knit me together…” - Psalm 139

Ancient Science

• Early Civilizations

– Astronomy , Botany, Livestock, Mathematics

• Pre – Socratics (Thales & Anaximander, 640 – 546 BC)

– Seek Natural Explanations, interest in the cosmos – Quest for Ultimate Reality and Essence, Unity

• Plato and Aristotle

– Natural Philosophy, Empiricism, logic – Foundations for Western Thought

“Science”

• From Latin – Scientia

– Knowledge, Know, Knowing, To Know

• Middle Ages

“Theology is the Queen of the Sciences and Philosophy her handmaiden”

Historic Theistic Scientists

• Nicholas Copernicus
• Sir Francis Bacon
• Johannes Kepler
• Galileo Galilei
• Rene Descartes
• Blaise Pascal
• Sir Isaac Newton
• Robert Boyle
• Michael Faraday
• Gregor Mendel
• William T. Kelvin
• Max Planck

Sir Isaac Newton

• "The most beautiful system of the sun, planets, and

comets, could only proceed from the counsel and dominion of an intelligent and powerful Being.” (Principia, 2nd ed.)

So What Happened?

• Charles Darwin

So What Happened?

• Charles Darwin

– No, not Darwin…

• Enlightenment Thinking
• The Rise of Modernity
• Romans 1 – It’s the Human Condition

Romans 1:19-23

• 19 For what can be known about God is plain to them, because

God has shown it to them. 20 For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been

• made. So they are without excuse. 21 For although they knew God,

they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were

• darkened. 22 Claiming to be wise, they became fools, 23 and

exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.

The Church and Science

• Galileo & the Church: Geocentric vs. Heliocentric
• The Columbus Flat Earth Hoax
• Bible - Literal / Figurative?
• Phenomenological Language
• What Science Questions does the Bible Answer?

Wisdom of the World

• Romans 1:19 - 23
• 1 Cor 1:19 – 30 :: see Is 29:14, Is 19:12, Is 33:18,
• 1 Cor 3: 18-20 – see Job 5:13, Psalm 94:11

Naturalism

• Methodological Naturalism

– Proceeding with scientific inquiry is limited to the natural realm – The Scientific Method – Not concerned with what exists or the Metaphysical

• Ontological Naturalism (ie. Naturalism)

– The natural order & physical realm is all there is.

Ontological Naturalism

• It is a Worldview & a Philosophy
• No Transcendental, No MetaPhysical, No SuperNatural
• No God, No Soul, No Miracles, No Afterlife
• Closely related to : Materialism, Reductionism,
• Darwinian Evolution, Big Bang Cosmology
• In Search of a TOE
• Theory of Everything

Ontological Naturalism

• The natural order & physical realm is all there is.
• All knowledge in the universe comes through

Scientific Inquiry / Scientific Method

• There are only natural and empirical causes for

everything in the Universe

• Questions that can’t be answered scientific

inquiry are meaningless & irrational

Course Outline

• Intro / The Debate
• Genesis 1 & 2 / Bible
• The Theory of Evolution
• Fossil Record & The

Flood

• Age of Earth & Dating

Methods

• Big Bang Cosmology/

Anthropic Principle

• Genetics, DNA, Design
• Technology & Bioethics
• The Environment &

Global Warming

• Summary Class

Questions?