Let Science Proclaim the Glory of God

Romans 1:18-25 (ESV) For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. 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. 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. Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things. Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.

I watched Ben Stein's Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed with shocked awe. I'm not sure why. It shouldn't be a surprise that the science community and educators, predominately made up of atheists, would engage in tactics to silence anyone who would propose that science points toward a creator. But I was surprised. I guess in my naivete I held on to the hope that scientists and educators would be more concerned with finding truth than in being right. So I am reminded of what Paul wrote to the church in Rome. They "suppress the truth" and "their foolish hearts were darkened." These words tell me I shouldn't be surprised at all.

But there are those who are being wooed by the arguments of those whose hearts have been darkened. And why not? Those arguments seem wise. But the truth is evident. God's creation cries out that He exists. He designed it that way. His invisible attributes are clearly seen in the things He has made. Those that are being wooed by the "wise" in the scientific community are seeking answers that God has made clear. Isn't it the job of Christians to point them in the right direction?

And yet many of us are resistant to step into the arena of scientific discussion, and not just because of a fear of being "expelled". We feel the discussion is somehow a show of lack of faith. We feel God doesn't owe us proof He exists so we proclaim, "God did it. The Bible says it. I believe it." How true that is. God owes us nothing, yet because of His love for us, He reveals Himself to us through Christ as well as His created order. How arrogant of us to dismiss what God has shown us because of perceived lack of faith. In addition, the youth in our homes and in our churches are being taught that we are here as a result of random chance. The evidence they are presented seems sound on the surface. If they aren't provided with reasoned evidence to the contrary, they will assume it is because there is no evidence and they, too, may have their hearts darkened. We must enter this discussion for these very reasons. Not as the end of a discussion because not all of God is revealed through the light of nature, but as a part of the discussion because scripture tells us He has revealed Himself through nature. Don't turn your nose up to science when God is its author.

But to do so requires us to understand for ourselves what God has revealed to us. We need to understand just how special this "pale blue dot" that we live on is. Learn the complexities of our design and the artful makeup of the harmony of the universe and shout it from the rooftop. While many of the wise have become foolish, many more are seeking answers that are right in front of them and they just need someone to help them see it. When presented with an objection to God through "science", don't just shake your head and mutter, "Oh ye of little faith." Be prepared to guide them to meet God through science. Why not? God does.


Some resources that may be helpful:

The Case for a Creator: A Journalist Investigates Scientific Evidence That Points Toward God by Lee Strobel

The Case for a Creator - Student Edition: A Journalist Investigates Scientific Evidence that Points Toward God by Lee Strobel

The Case for a Creator DVD

Lee Strobel is an excellent example of someone wooed by the secular scientific community. He admits he would have remained an atheist had God not changed his wife's life before his eyes, prompting him to seek answers he had long before settled as truth. People like him are out there and it takes all of God's revelation to reach them. Each book is similar in content. The Student Edition is great for Christian grade school students to arm them with facts to counter what they are taught in school.

The Privileged Planet: How Our Place in the Cosmos is Designed for Discovery by Guillermo Gonzalez and Jay Richards

The Privileged Planet DVD

This is a great book for those who want to go much deeper. It is not an easy read as it is written on the level of a college science text book but it goes beyond evidence of how rare the conditions are that make Earth hospitable to life, pointing to a creator. Gonzalez and Richards also show how the design makes it ideal for scientific discovery. This not only leads the reader to a creator, but a creator who desires us to see evidence of Him. As a side note, Gonzalez was featured in Stein's movie as one who was "expelled", having been denied tenure at Iowa State University after publishing this book, in spite of exceeding the requirements of the university for tenure.

Why Would Paul Anticipate an Objection?

As Christians, reading Romans 8-9 requires one to look at how they view the ideas of predestination and election. There is probably some school of thought I'm not aware of, but it seems to me you either see this passage as an affirmation of the sovereignty of God who determined, based solely on His good will before the foundations of the earth were laid, to only save certain people or you see it as an affirmation of a sovereign God who, based upon foreknowledge, looked through the corridors of time prior to the foundations of the earth being laid and elected those whom he saw would ultimately decide of their own free will to place their faith in Christ.

If God only saves those who he determined beforehand based solely on the pleasure of His will and not on any decision we might make out of free will, then He also chose, by not electing others, to condemn some without them even having an opportunity to do anything about it. This automatically evokes feelings within us that this isn't just. How could God condemn someone whom He didn't give the opportunity to be saved?

On the other hand, if everyone has the opportunity to choose to place faith in Christ according to free will and God looked through time and elected those whom He foreknew would place their faith in Christ according to that free will and only condemns those who choose not to follow Christ, then our fate is in our own hands. There are no feelings that God is unfair in this scenario. We all have the opportunity for salvation and our choice determines our own fate. What is unfair about that?

The latter scenario sure feels better to me according to my fallen view of justice. So if this is what Paul is teaching, why does he anticipate objections from his audience here and here? Unless Paul is teaching that salvation is the sovereign choice of God based on His will alone and not based upon any decision we make, there would be no objection. I can't believe that Paul, guided by the Holy Spirit, would anticipate an objection to something none would object. This leads me to believe that, as uncomfortable as it is to me, my salvation rests upon God's sovereign grace alone and not because of any decision I was able to reason out on my own. My choice was simply a natural response to the supernatural opening of my eyes by the Holy Spirit.

Our Highest Duty

One of the biggest problems I see in society today is the insistence on pluralism, or the view that all faiths are equally valid and none can claim to be more right than any other.

My son, Z, a Life Scout, recently attended National Youth Leadership Training (NYLT). This is a week long camp put on by local councils of The Boy Scouts of America (BSA) in order to teach scouts leadership skills and return them to their Troops equipped to serve them in a true scout-led model. It was a good experience for him and I'm glad he was able to attend.

He has served as Chaplain's Aide for his Troop for almost a year now, so he was particularly interested in the Scout Service portion of the training. Scout Services are simply a small religious service or devotion time held during the regular camp outs or other outings in which the Troop participates. BSA is non-sectarian and, while holding a high regard for faith in God, does not dictate what god or how that faith plays out in each individual's life. As such, they encourage Scout Services to be pluralistic in their approach to include those of all faiths.

Z has written most of his own devotionals for the Scout Services during his tenure as Chaplain's Aide and he is true to his Christianity and speaks from scripture without watering it down to have the pluralistic appeal BSA likes to see. This has not been an issue. Z's Troop is chartered by a Baptist church and while I'm sure there are members of the Troop from a variety of religious backgrounds, those who join know what they are getting.

The funny thing is, I don't think Z ever even considered BSA would have him conduct a Scout Service inclusive of all beliefs until he attended NYLT. I believe the idea of BSA wanting him to be anything but true to God's Holy Word took him by surprise. So when I picked him up after the week was over, the Scout Service was what he talked about the most, indignant that a scout he knew to be a Christian was teaching the group that they needed to hold services inclusive of all faiths, whether Christian, Jewish, Mormon, Muslim, Hindu or whatever. Finally, he declared, "I'm sorry, but I'm not going to do that."

About this same time, the media began reporting on public outcry that Obama had asked Rick Warren to deliver the inaugural invocation. Aside from gay rights groups upset because Warren strongly supported California's Proposition 8 outlawing same sex marriage, there were those upset for fear that Warren would pray in the name of Jesus, citing such a prayer as inappropriate in a public ceremony. Pluralism, to those opposed, was the correct course of action. When asked if he would invoke the name of Christ in his prayer, Warren said, "I'm a Christian pastor so I will pray the only kind of prayer I know how to pray." Now I'm not a big fan of Rick Warren, but I do not question his heart. I may be wrong, but his response makes it clear to me as to how he will pray during this public ceremony.

Finally there is the issue of military chaplains and their freedom to pray and conduct services according to their personal convictions. It seems this right is in jeopardy by some who believe military chaplains should only pray and hold services that give equal merit to all belief systems.

These issues bring up some interesting issues. On one hand, those individuals who serve in the military, accept invitations to pray at an inauguration, or place membership in a private organization have the freedom to be true to their beliefs and pray and teach according to those beliefs. On the other hand, I'm a firm believer in separation of church and state, although not to the degree in which it has been defined by the courts throughout the years. The military is still an all volunteer organization and invitations to pray at state functions can be declined. I also believe private organizations such as BSA should be allowed to determine the types of religious services conducted within that organization and no one can force membership to those organizations.

But here is the bottom line. In all we do and everywhere we go, Christian's are first and foremost to be followers of Christ. As a Christian, one cannot pray to or teach any other god than the God of scripture. We can respect the beliefs of others and still know there is only one way to The Father. To do anything else would be to dishonor Him rather than to love Him with all your heart, soul, strength and mind. To do anything else would be a disservice to your neighbor rather than loving them as you love yourself.

We are asked to accept all religions as equally legitimate, but you cannot believe that Jesus is the only way AND that other religions are true as well. Asking us to be pluralistic is rejecting that our belief is valid, and yet more and more "Christians" are denying the clear word of scripture rather than risk being offensive for the sake of other's lives.

John 14:6 Mark 12:29-31 Joshua 24:14-15

"How much do you have to hate somebody...?"

Penn Jillette is not just an atheist. He's an atheist with a platform. For those who are not familiar with the illusionist team of Penn and Teller, they are like none I've seen. They perform fantastic illusions that amaze their audiences and leave them wondering how they did that. What comes next is what sets them apart from their peers. They actually show the audience how they did it.

Why do they break a long standing code of secrecy among those of their craft? Presumably it is because they feel it's their mission in life to teach people not to be so gullible. They use their live shows and their TV show as a platform to expose pseudo-scientists, mystics and a whole host of other con artists for the shams that they are.

Penn, they verbal partner, is without a doubt an atheist, convinced there is no God. As such, he lumps Christians in the same category as those who he wishes to expose as cons and has used his celebrity and public platform to attempt to discredit us. His delivery is loud, flashy and comedic and I'm sure persuasive to some.

In light of this, I was amazed at the following video. In a world where so many criticize Christians for proselytizing, Penn does just the opposite. This video was convicting to me and I hope it is for you as well.



We need to wake up and tell the good news. We have a gift and God has chosen to use us as the means by which He draws His children to Him. We worry about offending someone or perhaps they'll think we're weird. We need to have the same attitude as Paul who would have, had the choice been his, cut himself off from Christ if it meant saving his brothers. (Romans 9:1-3)

How much do I have to hate somebody to not tell them?

Matthew 28:16-20 Romans 10:14-15 1 Peter 2:9-10