The Reason For This Blog

My great-grandfather was one of the first Lutheran ministers in the area in which I live.  My grandparents were very active in the Lutheran Church and my parents took myself and my siblings to church as well.  I was raised a Christian; I did the whole youth group thing on Monday nights, I did the confirmation classes on Sunday afternoons, I went to Lutheran camp in the summer; I did all the things a young Christian is supposed to do.

But in college, as a science major, I was taught to keep religion and science separate.  So, for most of my life, I had the two separated in my head; using science for the “what” questions and using Christianity only for the “why” questions.  I was a perfect example of the type of person Sam Harris describes in his book, The End of Faith (see previous blog).

What I didn’t realize is how much this division created doubt in my mind and therefore affected my lifestyle.  I let challenges to Christianity, and doubt about Christianity, affect my faith and my behavior.  While I didn’t completely lose my faith in college, what I believed was definitely challenged and I became a pretty worldly person; my actions didn’t show that I had any faith at all.

The really sad thing for me was that it took a couple horrible circumstances to shock me back into realizing that I needed faith to make sense of the world.  So I started researching and reading (everything from Chuck Colson, Hugh Ross, Nancy Pearcy, Ravi Zacharias, and William Lane Craig, along with many other authors) a lot, and what I found was truly amazing.  I’d like to share it with you, and this is the purpose of this blog.

Challenges to Christianity are abundant.  Atheists will tell you that “Science has proven that God doesn’t exist.”  Skeptics will proclaim that “The Bible is a myth; a book of fairy tales based on previous mythical stories.”  An anthropology professor will teach (and this happened to my oldest daughter) “The Bible doesn’t talk about dinosaurs, therefore it is not accurate and you shouldn’t believe it.” When challenges come, keep in mind two crucial points: 

1. This is not new; every single challenge to your faith has been dealt with before.  Entire libraries of scholarly books have been written by intelligent people responding to any threat or criticism you may come across. 
2. As a Christian, you have the explanation for the way the world works.  Since Christianity is true, it does not conflict with science.  Think about it….if God is both the author of the Bible and the creator of all of nature…they have to agree!  If interpreted correctly, what the Bible teaches should match what current science is discovering! 

     The more I studied, the more I found that Christianity aligned with current scientific theory! The more I researched, the more things made sense!  There is an amazing harmony between what the Bible says and what science says about nature.  Discovering this changed my life and strengthened my faith more than I could ever imagine!

Science and Christianity have historically been partners.  The vast majority of early scientists (most of the seminal thinkers in their specific areas) incorporated religious arguments and reasoning into their work, motivated by the religious conviction and belief that God had created the world according to an intelligible plan that is accessible through reason.

The writer of the laws of planetary motion, Johannes Kepler, wrote "Geometry is unique and eternal, a reflection from the mind of God. That mankind shares in it is because man is an image of God. 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.” Copernicus & Galileo, both Christians, are the ones who overturned the prevailing model of the universe and moved the sun to the center of the solar system.  So, the Christian faith has a very intellectual tradition.  You can also check out the histories of Harvard, Yale, Princeton and Brown.  Intellectualism, science and Christianity have historically complemented each other!

Currently, there are many areas where scientific discoveries have matched with what the Bible says. Here are just three examples:

1.  The most tested and confirmed scientific theory is that the universe (all matter and time) had a beginning, and it will have an ending. If you have read the Bible, you know it tells us that the current universe (all matter and time) was created and it will have an ending.
2. Current evidence continues to strengthen the idea that the universe is finely-tuned and delicately designed so that life could appear and exist.
3. Current evidence shows that life is characterized by information and the only source of information we know of is a mind!

Now, the Bible is not a science text, but it is amazing how current scientific discoveries are matching what the Bible teaches.  And this harmony is not just in the science realm – if you are studying philosophy, Christianity has the answers to the big questions that no other world view or thought system can answer!  Why is there something rather than nothing?  Why can we trust our minds as rational?  Why are the laws of physics discoverable and understandable?   Why does the math we make up match the way the universe works?  The Christian world view has the best answers to these philosophical questions! There are answers; intellectual, rational, and logical answers to every question and accusation.   

The Bible also tells us that we are to use our minds.   In Mark (12:30), God tells us to love Him with all of our heart, our soul, and our MIND.  As Christians we are not supposed to abandon our brains.  The Christian faith is intellectual, rational & logical and has a synergistic relationship to science.  I hope to show this in future posts.