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Funny kind of a sermon!

A Christian perspective

rather than

A biblical exposition

How important is this?

 

Not hugely important...

we can’t all study this in depth

Christians sometimes have to ‘agree to disagree’ on issues of science & faith

there are more important things (like caring for God’s creation!)

...but... God has given us enquiring minds

the idea that ‘science disproves God’ is a hot topic today

we need to ‘always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks us to give the reason for the hope that we have.’ (1 Peter 3:15)

Charles Darwin (1809-1882)

Darwin’s Idea in a Nutshell

1. Small variations occur in living things which are passed on from one generation to another.

2. Some variations will enable the organism to adapt to its environment. These organisms will thrive and

become more common.

3. Over time, accumulated variations will lead to the development of new species.

4. Humans have evolved from more primitive species.

At the time, Darwin’s theory received a mixed reception

Many of the criticisms were on scientific grounds.

• it demanded more time (i.e. an older earth) than was generally thought to be available

• the fossil record provided only thin evidence

• no mechanism was available for explaining how modifications were passed on (Mendel’s theory of inheritance was virtually unknown for many years

Some feared that it left no room for a wise and loving Creator.

But a number of Christian leaders, such as Temple, Kingsley, Drummond and Warfield welcomed Darwin’s ideas, while others were sceptical or undecided.

So, does this theory‘kill God’?

Some people think so

Robert G. Ingersoll (1833-1899), American politician and agnostic

Ingersoll wrote near the end of the 19th century:-

“This century will be called Darwin’s century...his doctrine of evolution, his doctrine of the survival of the fittest, his doctrine of the origin of species, has removed in every thinking mind the last vestige of orthodox Christianity.”

Richard Dawkins (born 1941), British evolutionary biologist

‘Around the age of 16, I first understood that Darwinism provides an explanation big enough and elegant enough to replace gods. I have been an atheist ever since.’

“The film ‘Creation’ contains one of the most robust defences of atheism and agnosticism ever to appear in a mainstream film.”

Ariane Sherine, TV comedy writer and journalist, creator of the Atheist Bus Campaign (seen here with Richard Dawkins)

Does this theory‘kill God’?

Darwin didn’t think so

The closing sentence of The Origin of Species (2nd edition onwards)

“It seems to me absurd to doubt that a man may be an ardent Theist & an evolutionist.”

(Darwin, in a letter to John Fordyce, May 7 1879)

Stephen Jay Gould (1941-2002), American evolutionary biologist

“Science simply cannot (by its legitimate methods) adjudicate the issue of God’s possible superintendence of nature. We neither affirm nor deny it; we simply can’t comment on it as scientists.”

Commenting on the fact that 50% of biologists are believers:-

“Either half my colleagues are enormously stupid, or else the science of Darwinism is fully compatible with conventional religious beliefs – and equally compatible with atheism.”

John Stott (born 1921) Christian leader and

clergyman

“Scripture reveals religious truths about God, that he created all things by his word, that his creation was ‘good’, and that his creative program culminated in man; science suggests that ‘evolution’ may have been the mode which God employed in creating.”

“Let no man...think or maintain, that a man can search too far or be too well studied in the book of God’s word, or in the book of God’s works...”(Francis Bacon, 1605)

God’s ‘Two Books’

Give two different kinds of explanation of life

One tells of the mechanisms of life and the other tells of the Maker of life

Scripture tells us “how to go to heaven, not how the heavens go” (Galileo)

Why is the kettle boiling?

“Because I want a cup of tea”

“Because, according to the Second Law of Thermodynamics, thermal energy is transferred from a warmer body to a cooler body...”

‘And God said: “Let there be light,” and there was light.’

(Maxwell’s equations for the electromagnetic theory of light)

(Genesis, Chapter 1, verse 3)

Is there any reason why both cannot be true?

Psalm 104

What kind of literature is this?

(Poetry! And we should not read it as if it were a scientific treatise)

Where is God here?

(Everywhere! Look...)

1 Praise the LORD, O my soul.

O LORD my God, you are very great;

you are clothed with splendour and majesty. 2 He wraps himself in light as with a garment;

he stretches out the heavens like a tent 3 and lays the beams of his upper chambers on their waters.

He makes the clouds his chariot and rides on the wings of the wind. 4 He makes winds his messengers,

flames of fire his servants. 5 He set the earth on its foundations; it can never be moved. 6 You covered it with the deep as with a garment; the waters stood above the mountains. 7 But at your rebuke the waters fled,

at the sound of your thunder they took to flight; 8 they flowed over the mountains, they went down into the valleys,

to the place you assigned for them. 9 You set a boundary they cannot cross; never again will they cover the earth.

10 He makes springs pour water into the ravines; it flows between the mountains. 11 They give water to all the beasts of the field; the wild donkeys quench their thirst. 12 The birds of the air nest by the waters; they sing among the branches. 13 He waters the mountains from his upper chambers;

the earth is satisfied by the fruit of his work. 14 He makes grass grow for the cattle, and plants for man to cultivate— bringing forth food from the earth: 15 wine that gladdens the heart of man, oil to make his face shine, and bread that sustains his heart. 16 The trees of the LORD are well watered,

the cedars of Lebanon that he planted. 17 There the birds make their nests; the stork has its home in the pine trees. 18 The high mountains belong to the wild goats; the crags are a refuge for the coneys. 

19 The moon marks off the seasons, and the sun knows when to go down. 20 You bring darkness, it becomes night, and all the beasts of the forest prowl. 21 The lions roar for their prey

and seek their food from God. 22 The sun rises, and they steal away; they return and lie down in their dens. 23 Then man goes out to his work, to his labour until evening. 24 How many are your works, O LORD!

In wisdom you made them all;

the earth is full of your creatures. 25 There is the sea, vast and spacious, teeming with creatures beyond number— living things both large and small. 26 There the ships go to and fro,

and the leviathan, which you formed to frolic there.

27 These all look to you to give them their food at the proper time. 28 When you give it to them, they gather it up;

when you open your hand, they are satisfied with good things. 29 When you hide your face, they are terrified;

when you take away their breath, they die and return to the dust. 30 When you send your Spirit, they are created,

and you renew the face of the earth. 31 May the glory of the LORD endure forever;

may the LORD rejoice in his works— 32 he who looks at the earth, and it trembles,

who touches the mountains, and they smoke.

33 I will sing to the LORD all my life;

I will sing praise to my God as long as I live. 34 May my meditation be pleasing to him,

as I rejoice in the LORD. 35 But may sinners vanish from the earth and the wicked be no more.

Praise the LORD, O my soul.

Praise the LORD.

Psalm 104

What kind of literature is this?

Where is God here?

What is the purpose of this psalm?

(Taking God’s existence for granted, it offers praise for all his works. It closely follows the 6-day pattern of Genesis 1. It subverts the ancient Egyptian Hymn to the Sun, in which the sun is worshipped as a deity)

“I do not think that the religious sentiment was ever strongly developed in me.”

What, then of Darwin’s ‘Loss of Faith’

His ‘Christianity’ was never very Christian. He had little interest in the incarnation, the Cross, the empty tomb, in prayer, or the sacraments.

What, then of Darwin’s ‘Loss of Faith’

“Disbelief crept over me at a very slow rate, but was at last complete. The rate was so slow that I felt no distress.”

What, then of Darwin’s ‘Loss of Faith’

His doubts were to do with the historical accuracy of the Bible, the possibility of miracles, the doctrine of everlasting punishment, and (perhaps most importantly) the problem of suffering.

What, then of Darwin’s ‘Loss of Faith’

He saw suffering in the constant struggle of ‘the survival of the fittest’ and, more personally, in the death of his beloved 10-year-old daughter Anna.

What, then of Darwin’s ‘Loss of Faith’

The Problem of Suffering

Why Doesn’t God Come And Do Something About It?

Two Recommended Books