Transcript The Bible - John Oakes

Reasons for Belief
John Oakes
Harvard University
10/16/09
You are Invited!
2010 International Christian Evidence
Conference
Concordia University
Irvine, CA
Evolution: Four Views
Can Science and belief in God coexist?
The Language of
God
Reasons Collins believes in God
1. There is something instead of nothing.
2. The unreasonable effectiveness of mathematics.
3. The Big Bang.
4. Nature does not solve the problem of why.
5. The existence of time.
6. Fine tuning of the universe. The “Goldilocks
Paradox.”
7. Ockham’s Razor.
8. The existence of moral law.
I would add… Because the Bible is inspired
Accident or Design?
The Anthropic Principle
William
Paley
The Teleological Argument
Evidence for Design in Nature
The Anthropic Principle
Boeing 747
Design or
Accident?
Physics:
The Finely Tuned Universe
Fine Tuning of the
Gravitational Constant
.00000000000000000000
000000000000000000000
000000000000000000001
Fred Hoyle on Fine-Tuning
“… a super-intellect has monkeyed with
physics, as well as with chemistry and
biology.”
Flew is increasingly persuaded
that some sort of Deity brought
about this universe. He says he
has in mind something like the
God of Aristotle, a distant,
impersonal "prime mover." It
might not even be conscious,
but a mere force. In formal
terms, he regards the existence
of this minimal God as a
hypothesis that, at present, is
perhaps the best explanation
for why a universe exists that
can produce complex life
Delos B. McKown:
“Christianity is scientifically
unsupported and probably insupportable,
philosophically suspect at best and
disreputable at worst, and historically
fraudulent.”
Proposition #1
The Bible is scientifically unsupported and
probably insupportible
Papyrus Ebers
The Ebers Papyrus:
“To prevent hair from turning gray,
anoint it with the blood of a calf
which has been boiled in oil or with
the fat of a rattlesnake.”
“A mixture of six fats, namely those
of the horse, the hippopotamus, the
crocodile, the cat, the snake and
the ibex.... to prevent hair loss.”
Drugs of Choice included:
Lizards blood
Swine’s teeth
Putrid meat
Moisture from Pigs’ ears
Excreta from animals including human
beings, donkeys, antelope, dogs, cats
and flies
“I will not bring on you any of
these diseases...”
Exodus 15:26
“The pig... is unclean for
you...those that walk on their
paws...the weasel, the rat...are
unclean for you.”
Leviticus 11
“The sting of a hornet is healed by
the house-fly, crushed and applied to
the wound.”
“The gnat, feeble creature, taking in
food but never secreting it is a
specific against the poison of the
viper.”
An ancient Hebrew medical manuscript.
“Whoever touches the dead body of anyone
will be unclean for seven days. He must
purify himself with the water on the third
and seventh day...take some hyssop, dip it in
the water and sprinkle the tent and
furnishings and the people who were there.”
Numbers 19
Semelweiss
Vienna, 1847
In maternity wards one out of
every six women dies.
Obstetricians ascribe deaths to
constipation, fear and
poisonous air.
Death Rate falls
from 18% to 1%
Thymol (Oil of Hyssop)
“For the generations to come,
every male among you who is eight
days old must be circumcised...”
Genesis 17:12
Vitamin K
Prothrombrin:
a clotting protein.
Clotting Protein Peaks on Day Eight
140
Available Prothrombin
% of normal
120
100
80
60
40
20
0
0
1
2
3
4
5
days
6
7
8
9 10
Abraham’s Experiment
Day
Circumcised
Number of Hebrew
Boys
Number of Deaths
1
823
4
3
759
6
5
693
8
7
855
3
9
770
2
11
698
4
Proposition #1
The Bible is scientifically unsupported and
probably insupportible
Genesis 1, Hebrews 11:3
Response: Oh really…
Proposition #2
“Christianity is
philosophically
suspect at best”
Delos McKown
Socrates
Christian Philosophy/Theology
Christian Philosophy (theology) gives a more
realistic description of things as they are than
materialism or postmodernism.
Materialism denies the existence of truth, morality
and value.
Postmodernism says that all truth is relative. No
particular world view is preferred.
Naturalism/Scientism/Materialism
The belief that the only reliable or valid
instrument to deciding the truth or even the
value of any proposition is the scientific method.
No ethics, no morality, no supernatural, no God,
no truth (except that found by science), no
consciousness, no “I.” Justice is a figment of our
imagination.
Richard Dawkins
In the universe of blind physical forces and genetic
replication, some people are going to get hurt and
other people are going to get lucky: and you won’t
find any rhyme or reason to it, nor any justice. The
universe we observe has precisely the properties we
should expect if there is at the bottom, no design, no
purpose, no evil and no good. Nothing but blind,
pitiless indifference. DNA neither knows nor cares.
DNA just is, and we dance to its music.
Questions Science Can Answer
When?
What?
Where?
How many?
By what means?
Questions Science Cannot Answer:
(That the Bible Does Answer)
– Why am I here?
– Is that the right thing to do?
– How valuable am I?
– Does God exist? Does God act (theism)?
– Will that God respond if I pray?
– Do supernatural events (miracles) happen?
If the Materialist is right, then…
Religious thought is absolute nonsense. Prayer is
chemical moving around in your brain.
Art, Literature, Music have no intrinsic value.
Justice is a meaningless word.
Human rights have no basis.
Etc….
Naturalism is a Dangerous (Evil?) Philosophy
If the naturalist is right then:
Good and evil are meaningless ideas.
Stealing is not necessarily wrong.
Any kind of sexual behavior is as right as any other.
There is nothing inherently evil about genocide.
Racism is acceptable.
Postmodernism: Cultural Relativism
Reality is a social construction.
Truth: It is true for you, but it is not true for me.
All beliefs are theory-laden (Thomas Kuhn)
Meaning, if it exists, lies in a community of believers.
Self is a construction of our society.
No rational way to discover which is the best world view.
Challenge to a Postmodernist:
How do you know the postmodern view is the
correct one?
If your culture does not believe in gravity try
throwing yourself off of a high building
The Impact of Christian Thinking on the
World
Women’s rights
Human rights
Abolition of Slavery
Science was created due to the Christian view of the
world
Predictions Based on Christian Theology:
1. The universe will follow a single, unchanging set of laws.
2. The universe will be understandable to human beings.
3. The universe will be describable by mathematics.
4. The universe will be designed so that we can observe it
- (“The Priveleged Planet” Gonzalez and Richards)
Christian Philosophy/The Christian World
View
Realism but not naturalism
Genesis 1:31 The world/creation is good (vs
Pythagoreanism, Platonism, neo-Platonism, Gnosticism,
etc.)
Genesis 1:1 Defeats pantheism, atheism, dualism,
materialism/scientism, humanism, animism, all in one
verse. (Hebrews 11:3)
Christian Philosophy (cont.)
Biblical theology solves the dual problems of suffering
and evil.
Evil the result of people with free will rebelling against
God.
Suffering is not evil. It is from God, but it should be dealt
with by compassion.
Nearly all compassionate works in the world are done by
Bible believers.
Proposition #3
Christianity is historically fraudulent
Ruins of
Hattusha,
capital of
the Hittites
The Lion Gate in Hattusha
The Five City
League,
including Sodom
and Gomorrah
The Tel Dan
Inscription
820 BC
2 Kings 8:28-29
I Hazael killed Joram,
son of Omri and I
defeated Ahaziah of
the House of David
Pilate Inscription Caesarea AD 30
Ziggurat in Ur
Proposition #4
The Bible is full of myths.
This charge is true! The Bible contains true myths.
Myths Common to Nearly All Cultures
Creation myths
–
–
–
–
Gilgamesh (Akkadian/Sumerian)
Popol Vuh (Mayan)
Sutras (Hindu) etc.
vs. Genesis 1-3
God/man myths
–
–
–
–
–
Isis and Osiris
Mithra
Krishna
Eleusian Rites, etc.
vs. Jesus
Babylonian Creation Myth:
Marduk kills Tiamat
Sutras: Hindu Scripture
The Earth sits on the back of four elephants, standing on
a turtle, encircled by a snake, swimming in a bowl of
milk.
Egyptian Creation Myth
Iroquois Creation Myth:
Enigorio and Enigohahetgea Battling the
Ronnongwetowanca (Stone Giants)
Inspiration of the Bible:
Messianic Prophecies Fulfilled
He said to them, “This is what I told you while I
was still with you: Everything must be fulfilled
that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the
Prophets and the Psalms. Luke 24:44
Isaiah 53:1-13:
He was despised and rejected by men, a man of
sorrows, familiar with suffering. (v. 3)
But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was
crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought
us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are
healed. (v. 5) (John 19:31-37)
He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open
his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter and
as a sheep before her shearers is silent, so he did not
open his mouth. (v. 7)
Micah 5:2
But you, Bethlehem Ephrathrah, though you are small
among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for me one
who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from old,
from ancient times.
Isaiah 9:1,6
In the past he humbled the land of Zebulun and the land of
Naphtali, but in the future he will honor Galilee of the
Gentiles, by the way of the sea, along the Jordan…. For to
us a child is born… And he will be called Wonderful
Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of
Peace.
Psalm 22:16-18
Dogs have surrounded me;
a band of evil men have encircled me,
they have pierced my hands and my feet.
I can count all my bones;
(John 19:3-37)
people stare and gloat over me.
They divide my garments among them
and cast lots for my clothing. (John 19:23,24)
Zechariah 11:12,13
I told them, “If you think it best, give me my pay; but if
not, keep it.” so they paid me thirty pieces of silver.
(Matthew 26:14-16)
And the Lord said to me,
“Throw it to the potter”—
the handsome price at
which they priced me! So
I took the thirty pieces of
silver and threw them into
the house of the Lord, to
the potter. (Matthew
27:3-8)
Daniel 9:24-26
Seventy ‘sevens’ are decreed for your people and your
holy city to finish transgression, to put an end to sin, to atone
for wickedness, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal
up vision and prophecy and to anoint the most holy.
Know and understand this: From the issuing of the
decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem, until the Anointed
One, the ruler comes, there will be seven ‘sevens’ and sixty
two ‘sevens’
Decree of Artaxerxes (Ezra 7:12-26) 458 BC
458 BC - 490 years = -32
(no zero BC)
Be born in Bethlehem
Be raised in Galilee near Nazareth
Be despised and rejected by men
Be meek and silent before his accusers
Be “pierced”
Be crucified
Have his garments divided and gambled over
Be betrayed for 30 pieces of silver
Come to Jerusalem to make atonement for sin in about AD 33
And many more….
Was all this an accident, or did God plan all along for the Passion of the
Christ for forgiveness of sins? What do you think?
Is the Bible the Word of God or the word of men?
If The Bible is the Word of God
We Need to Put it Into Practice
Hebrews 11:1 Faith in what is not seen.
John 12:47-50
James 1:22-25
2 Tim 4:1-5
at stake.
The Word will be our judge
Put it into practice
No sentimentality. Eternal life is
www.evidenceforchristianity.org