question authority?
DESCRIPTION
Most of us have heard the phrase “question authority.” Since I’m a Christian, I’m cool with it. After all, the Bible says “be not conformed to this world” (Romans 12:2). Yet, most people who claim to question authority rarely follow through. They want you to believe what they believe, and they definitely don’t want you to critically think about it. After all, if you did, you might not believe it anymore. Evolution is a prime example.TRANSCRIPT
QUESTION AUTHORITY?
Dan Greenup
@DanGreenup
BE NOT CONFORMED
Romans 12:2
We were all told in school about the
importance of “free inquiry” and “critical
thinking” but you know what? It’s a lie.
People love diversity of skin color, and they
love diversity of sexual orientation, but they
absolutely hate diversity of opinion.
EXAMPLE: EVOLUTION
Fact or Fiction?
The following statements are taught as fact:
1. The universe created itself by chance.
2. Non-living chemicals turned into a living
organism.
3. Through natural selection, this organism
grew more complex over millions of
years.
A THEORY OF HISTORY
The Leap of Faith
There’s experimental science and historical
science. Experimental science consists of
doing experiments in the present and
drawing conclusions. Historical science
attempts to piece together what happened
in the past. Since the past can’t be repeated,
explanations about it require assumptions.
BAD STORYTELLING PT.1
A Material World?
Evolution is a theory of history based on the
assumption that matter is all there is. If this is
true, all of our thoughts are simply the result
of chemical reactions in the brain. They’d be
chemically sound, not logically sound. I
guess that means “critical thinking” is out of
the question, no?
BAD STORYTELLING PT.2
Lawless
Evolution teaches nothing created matter.
This violates the First Law of
Thermodynamics, which states matter and
energy can’t be created or destroyed.
BAD STORYTELLING PT.3
Luck of the Draw
Everything that has a beginning has a cause.
What caused nothing to create matter?
Usually, the answer is chance, but chance
doesn’t cause things to happen. That’s like
telling a police officer chance made you run
a red light. Luck isn’t a very “scientific”
explanation for the universe’s existence.
BAD STORYTELLING PT.4
Magic
Eventually, non-living chemicals created a
living organism. This violates the Law of
Biogenesis, which states living organisms can
only come from other living organisms. If a
scientific law says life can only from life, how
did non-living chemicals turn into a living
organism? Maybe it was magic.
BAD STORYTELLING PT.5
Survival Mode
Natural selection supposedly made this one-
celled organism more complex. The weird
thing is, natural selection does the opposite
of what evolution requires. Over time, it gets
rid of genetic information, because genes
which aren’t passed on are eliminated from a
population.
BAD STORYTELLING PT.6
Info Probs
Well, there would need to be a massive
increase in genetic information for a one-
celled organism to turn into a human over
millions of years. Since natural selection
causes a loss of genetic information, how
could a single-celled organism become more
complex?
BAD STORYTELLING PT.7
Mo’ Info Probs
Mutations create new, sometimes beneficial
traits by corrupting existing genes, but they
don’t create new information. For example, a
mutation that produced the loss of wings for
beetles on a windy island would be helpful.
Here’s the catch: the beetle’s loss of wings is
a loss of genetic information.
BAD STORYTELLING PT.8
Sexual Healing
Where did sex come from? An asexual
organism would’ve had to develop male and
female sexual reproductive organs at the
same time, because you can’t have one
gender before the other. If you did, the other
gender couldn’t have reproduced!
A CHOICE OF MIRACLES
Take Your Pick
So, contrary to popular belief, there’s really
no debate between science and faith. That
said, everyone must make a choice between
two miraculous accounts of how we got here,
evolution and the biblical account of
creation, both of which must be accepted by
faith.
WHY TRUST THE BIBLE?
Is It God’s Word?
Why should we trust the Bible? It claims that
it is “God-breathed” (2 Timothy 3:16), but
what’s in a claim? How do Christians know
the Bible is God’s Word?
CONSISTENCY PT.1
Different…
The Bible was written over a period of 1,600
years by approximately 40 people from
several walks of life. They wrote to different
audiences, under different circumstances and
for different reasons. They wrote in different
languages, on different continents, and most
of them never met.
CONSISTENCY PT.2
…Yet Consistent
When all of their writings were assembled
together, we would expect the final product
to be a confusing disaster. Amazingly, the
Bible is one consistent, unfolding record of
God’s dealings with the human race, without
a single contradiction.
PROPHECY
God>Tarot Cards
The Bible contains hundreds of successful
prophecies. For example, Isaiah 66:8
predicted the nation of Israel would be
reborn in a single day. This took place on
May 14th 1948. How likely is it that several
guys made hundreds of successful
predictions about the future? Not likely.
ARCHAEOLOGY
Dig Away
The Bible has been repeatedly confirmed by
archaeological finds. For instance, many
people once doubted Pontius Pilate existed.
When the Pilate Stone was discovered, that
all changed. The limestone block mentions a
“Pontius Pilate prefect of Judea.” More than a
few people had to eat their words.
MEDICINE
White Coat Swag
The Bible has regulations for burying the
dead (Leviticus 11:24-28), quarantining
(Leviticus 13:1-14:57), waste disposal
(Leviticus 13:47-58) and care for wounds and
discharges (Leviticus 15). How did the writers
of the Bible know more about medicine than
everybody else for thousands of years?
SCIENCE
Lab Coat Swag
Well before the rest of the world caught on,
the Bible accurately described rock erosion
(Job 14:18-19), the hydrologic cycle
(Ecclesiastes 1:6-7), hydrothermal vents (Job
38:16), sea currents (Psalm 8:8), and living
things reproducing after their kind (Genesis
1:11), among other natural processes.
POWER
Indestructible
Although it has been banned and burned, it’s
by far the most well-known and widely-read
book in human history. Besides, why would
early Christians die for something they made
up? They died for their faith in Jesus, but
why? Simply put, the Bible has life-changing
power, because it is truly God’s Word.
WHY DOES IT MATTER?
#YOLO?
If evolution is true, when you die, you’re
forever separated from everything you like
and everyone you love. How do you know?
You can’t, so what if you’re wrong? What if
Hell exists, and Jesus is the only way to avoid
it? It’s time to question what you’ve been
told about why we’re here.
LIKE WHAT
YOU READ?
CHECK OUT GENERATION WHY?