Mind Games

Intelligent Design and the Bible

2006-01-17T06:11:00.000-08:00

by Kerby Anderson

Psalm 19 tells us that the heavens declare the glory of God. Romans 1 reminds us that the creation shows His divine attributes. So we shouldn’t be surprised that scientists are finding evidence of design in nature.

The subject of intelligent design is in the news due to school board decisions and court rulings. So it is important that Christians be thinking clearly about this important topic.

When I have an opportunity to speak on the subject of intelligent design, I find that most Christians don’t exactly know what to make of this research. On the one hand, they appreciate that scientists working in such diverse fields as astronomy and biology are finding evidence of design. Whether you look in the telescope at the far dimensions of space or in a microscope at the smallest details of life, God’s fingerprint can be found.

But I also find that Christians are ambivalent about the idea of intelligent design. If you go to the websites of many creationist groups, you will find them to be critical of intelligent design research because it doesn’t identify a creator. They want the scientists to connect the dots of their research to the God of the Bible. I would like to suggest another way of looking at this issue.

Those of us who defend the historical reliability of the Bible often use the good work done by archaeologists. These archaeologists uncover historical evidence that gives us a better picture of the ancient near east. We then take their research and show how it fits with the biblical description of history. Although some archaeologists are Christians, many are not. But that doesn’t keep us from using their research to show the truthfulness of the Bible.

We can think of scientists working on intelligent design in the same way. They are pursuing a line of research that shows design in nature. We can then take their research and show how it fits with the biblical description of creation. Although many of the scientists working on intelligent design are Christians, some are not. That shouldn’t keep us from using their research. We can take their research and connect the dots.

In their book The Privileged Planet, Guillermo Gonzalez and Jay Richards show that the earth is positioned in the best place in our galaxy for complex life to exist. They also show that the earth is also positioned in the best place for scientific discovery. Christian theologians and apologists can take this research and point to the fact that God created the heavens and earth and they show His divine care.

Michael Behe in his book Darwin’s Black Box shows that there are numerous molecular motors within the cell that intricately assembled. He demonstrates that they have irreducible complexity. Christian theologians and apologists can take this research and show that there is evidence of design. Design implies a designer, and the Bible tells us that God is the designer of life.

Scientists working on the subject of intelligent design may not be willing to identify the Creator. But that shouldn’t keep us from using their research to connect the dots and lead people to the Creator.

“The Arctic Is Warming! The Arctic Is Warming!”

2005-10-05T11:21:00.000-07:00

by Dr. Ray Bohlin

Many of you have probably seen these “Chicken Little” headlines recently. The ABC Nightly News ran a special feature all last week on the effects of a warming Arctic Ocean. Polar bears, caribou, various marine creatures, even the livelihoods of Native Americans in the area are all being threatened by arctic warming trends that are all tied to human-induced global warming. The articles and TV stories all talk about the warming since about 1970 which is true. Arctic ice is decreasing and some animals and people are making shifts in how they survive. And IF the trend continues, major changes in sea level (increases of as much as 3 feet by 2100) will result, and creatures like the polar bear may go extinct! (See http://www.acia.uaf.edu/PDFs/Testimony.pdf for an example, including a map showing how much of Florida will be submerged.)

But is this all due to increased greenhouse gases from the burning of fossil fuels, as we’re been hearing?

Quite frankly, the answer is probably not. (See my Probe article “Global Warming” at http://www.probe.org/content/view/669/67/)

What you aren’t told is that if you look at temperature records before 1970, you learn that there was a significant trend of arctic cooling during the 1940s through the 1960s, and that temperatures from 1920-1940 actually rose higher and more quickly than those recorded since 1970. The arctic has done this before, well before the greenhouse gases had started to rise significantly.

Check out this web page by an Oregon State climatologist for a more fair assessment of the data. (http://www.techcentralstation.com/112204A.html) You’ll find the graphs at the end of the article to be quite helpful. He has several short conclusions clearly marked if you don’t want to read the whole thing.

In addition, even though the Arctic is warming currently, the Antarctic is cooling and the ice on the continent is actually increasing. (90% of the earth’s ice is in the Antarctic, 4% in Greenland and the rest in the Arctic and glaciers—so Antarctic trends mean far more to sea level rises than anything else.) So if human-induced global warming is causing the Arctic to warm, why hasn’t the Antarctic gotten the message? Michael Crichton’s latest novel State of Fear is not widely recognized by the global warming crowd because it is a very intentional “fictional” exposé of the environmental movement’s sleight of hand tactics about global warming.

Pages 193-194 contain references from the literature, several of which I have personally verified that they exist and that they report precisely what Crichton’s characters say they do. If Crichton’s usually harsh language, violence and sexuality don’t cause you any problems, State of Fear is a great read to give you some insight into the academic skepticism about global warming. If these hurdles are too steep then read the Author’s Message and the two Appendices to get the gist of his critique.

Clearly, worldview is impacting how science is done in many fields today. The short list includes evolutionary biology, cosmology, stem cell research, and global warming. Remember that statistics need verification and you should always ask questions. For example, when you see a graph of temperature increase in the arctic that begins in 1970, you should immediately ask, Why start in 1970? Why not 1870? Short term data can create a lot of trends that disappear altogether when a bigger picture is analyzed. For instance, ice core data indicates that Antarctica has been melting for over 6,000 years! So even if it were melting today, which it’s not, we’d have to say it has nothing to do with people and everything to do with forces we have no control over.

Just remember: "all the available facts are not all the facts." And much of what you're hearing today, about the supposed causes of global warming and increases in the number and strength of hurricanes, is highlighting only a portion of the true statistics to skew the real reality.

Some thoughts on Hurricane Katrina

2005-09-12T07:53:00.000-07:00

A Christian worldview best explains the whole spectrum of behaviors we saw in the aftermath of the hurricane. The looting, raping, lawlessness and general chaos reflected the fallen nature of mankind. The huge outpouring of support and immediate scrambling of resources to care for the victims of the storm is a reflection of the fact that we are made in the image of a loving, caring, providing God.

Rescuers were turned away from places like hospitals when people on the ground started firing at helicopters. What a picture of how things sometimes work in the spirit realm: God hovers over us, wanting to help, and we shoot at Him! Our “bullets” can be a self-sufficient attitude. Or anger at His timing—or at the fact that we have a need at all. We can resent that He is God and we are not. Sometimes God is hovering over someone else, ready to help, and we “shoot” at Him by interfering. (This is what recovery people call “enabling”—when we position ourselves in between God and someone who needs God’s help but we keep preventing Him from reaching them through the consequences of their actions.)

Insurance companies call disasters like Hurricane Katrina an “act of God.” But did God really send it? He allowed it, certainly. But consider this: were there such things as hurricanes before the Fall? Did God create a world where death and destruction were an innate part of creation? We would suggest that when Adam sinned, and the whole world was plunged into a fallen state (Rom. 8:22), he opened a Pandora’s box of unimaginable horror. We ultimately have man to thank for tragedies like hurricanes. But praise God, He has a plan to make it all right again. First, though, He will use disasters like the hurricane to show us more of who He is, and take many to His “laundry room” to work on our stains and wrinkles.

5 Killer Questions

2005-08-13T19:12:00.000-07:00

Remember, in Ray’s Campus Christianity lecture, he talked about the value of learning to ask questions? You can communicate so much more by asking questions than by trying to deliver a lecture! Let people realize the implications of their worldview as they answer good, penetrating questions.

Bill Jack of Worldview Academy, and Dr. Jeff Myers of Bryan College/Summit Ministries have some killer questions that are the most powerful questions I’ve ever heard. Their power is not limited to students or faculty; my friends (middle-aged, even! ) have used these questions with unbelievers and seekers in their lives, and it can be life changing.

1. What do you mean by that?

This question is geared at making people define what they’re saying. For instance, when people say they believe in evolution: “What do you mean by evolution?” Your conversation with them will be different if they only mean “change over time” (since we all accept that organisms change and adapt) or if they agree with the view that evolution is the process by which random, purposeless chance produced life from non-life.

2. How do you know _____ (what you’re saying) is true?

This is a scary-powerful question, because people usually repeat what they’re told, and being challenged about HOW they know what they assert will make them feel defensive (and, often, defenseless. Remember Ray’s “Professor” routine the first night of Mind Games?)

But it can make people realize they really don't know what they're saying is true. Simply planting the doubt is good! (Hey, atheists have been doing it to Christians for years!)

3. Where do you get your information?

This is really related to #2. But it is helpful to help people realize that “they say” is not a legitimate source of information. When answering e-mails to the Probe website challenging our views on homosexuality, I respond to the challenge “people are born gay” with the question, “Would you please show me the scientific journals that prove this? I’ve been studying this subject for 10 years and haven’t found any. What I have found, instead, is a widely-circulated myth of ‘born gay.’” I have yet to get back a single link to a single scientific journal—because there are none.

4. What difference does that make in your life?

The real underlying question is, So what? This is not the strongest question of the five, but when it comes to personal issues, such as those who deny Christianity to be true, it’s an interesting question to ask.

5. What if you’re wrong?

This question is particularly poignant when talking about worldview and the “what happens when you die?” question. Think through the implications of the various views you were taught. Including, what if WE’RE wrong? (We could be, and we should be willing to admit it. It is certainly possible—though not likely, in view of the evidence—that Christianity is a giant hoax and we are fools and buffoons for believing it. The Apostle Paul mentions that possibility in 1 Cor. 15. Consider what it means if there truly IS no life after death. . .)

I invite you to post your responses, especially to the last question, here. . .

The Blog is OPEN!!

2005-08-01T21:27:00.000-07:00

Warm greetings to our beloved Mind Games alumni, which is ALL Y'ALL! (to use a Texas phrase)

This is the place to let us know if you got home uneventfully . . if you have caught up on sleep yet (Ray and I haven't). . . . if your brain is still on overload. . . what's going on with you.

Oh, and one more thing.

As Webservant for Probe, it's my job to launch a general blog for the ministry, so you guys are helping me figure out this blogging thing.

Hugs,
Sue