For the past two Wednesday evenings, the topic of discussion and presentation in our Truth Project study has been the area of science. We are reminded that science has never been exact and never will be. New discoveries are made continuously, and those discoveries continue to make past scientific facts untrue. Whether it was that the world was round, or that one scientist ages ago said there were only 1,000 stars in the heavens, or whether the way to release disease was to bleed the patient out. So, science moves forward with new discoveries. It is never perfect and is therefore ultimately unreliable.
One of the interesting things is that the new discoveries only help to support the Biblical truths and beliefs about this world. Darwin, Sagan and Dawkins have all come to the conclusion that they will never know how "stuff" (anything that is tangible to touch) came about. What is the beginning of all? Where did the first molecule come from? No answer at all, outside the realm of Intelligent Design, and we know that truth as God the Creator.
I reminded those present at church last night that, the ones who are believers in Darwinism and molecular evolution cling to a theory. A theory is something that has not yet been proved! So, they have a belief system in a theory. That is their faith to hang on to; that is, to something that has not and cannot be proved.
The Christian worldview is that God spoke everything into existence. It takes faith to believe that. It is a belief system that is supported by everything in existence.
So, the Christians and atheists both have competing faith issues. It takes just as much faith to believe that man's ancestors came from monkeys, as it takes just as much faith to believe that God created man in the beginning. Who is right? Whose belief system stays static and never changes. Whose belief system changes with each new discovery, and then new statements are needed and framed to make the fresh discoveries fit a certain theory? That is the difference between Christianity and secularists.
Why is this important? Because if there is no God, we have a vacuum for our understanding of morals and values and ethics. How do we know right from wrong? Without God and letting science be our guide, the strong survive and the weak fail. So, in secularism, right and wrong has to be determined by those who have the most power and strength, not the ones with a conscience and supernatural moral guide. We, as believers in the God of creation and life, hold to a higher standard of rightness and to a higher moral code. How does one be good without God? How do you explain that? Again, how does one define the word "good?"
There is a new book out titled Should We Fire God? Finding Hope in God When We Don't Understand. The author, Jim Pace, is pastor of New Life Christian Fellowship in Blacksburg, Virginia, the home of Virginia Tech and the place where 33 people were killed in a massacre in 2007. Pace reminds us of God's role in our lives, that he is still in control and desires deep relationship and communion. Even in the midst of pain, suffering and chaos, and all those things brought about by mankind's disobedience to the very holy plan of God and his love.
Yes, we indeed have personal choice in every avenue of life and have had personal choices that we followed every step of our entire lives. And, yes, circumstances and surroundings do have an impact on us. But they do not make us and force us into certain decisions. We are completely free to make our own choices along life's path. Otherwise, every murderer and rapist and burglar and speeder (and whatever else) can claim that their past, their upbringing, their society, their surroundings made them do what they did. There is no personal responsibility in that. It is making an excuse. And we as adults have to own up to who we are and where we have come from and where we are headed.
I know where I am headed. Do you?
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