I just finished the book, The Case for a Creator: a Journalist Investigates Scientific Evidence that Points Toward God by Lee Strobel. Actually, for the sake of full disclosure, I finished the audiobook. This book explores the scientific evidence that points to an intelligent designer of the universe. Although I am an analytical thinker, I am not a scientist. Much of the content of this book sounds good, and makes sense to me, but the details are way over my head.
As I considered the arguments in this book ranging from anti-Darwinian theories, evidence from cosmology, physics, astronomy, and biochemistry, Lee Strobel makes a compelling case. The combined evidence of the Cambrian explosion, the Big Bang (and the gravitational singularity), and the bacterial flagellum give credence to the argument that (1) our universe had a beginning and (2) there was intelligence involved in the creation of life.
Does the book present a compelling argument that proves the universe was created? No. However, does it provide enough evidence that the universe could have been created by a transcendent being and that all life may be infused with biological information that came from source other than chance? Yes, I believe it does.
In pondering the scientific realities presented in this book, my mind drifted to individuals I know that are analytical, scientifically-minded, and who also question either the reality of God in our world or the reality of the Christian faith (that Christ was born, lived a perfect life, died on the cross and was raised again to life eternal). I realized that none of these individuals question that fact that our world was made. They question the person of God as expressed in the trinity (God the Father, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit) and the relevance of this God in their lives.
In a new way, the importance of the resurrected Christ became apparent. If Christ was not indeed raised from the dead, then his teachings have no more value than any other “spiritual leader. We would be free to take what sounds good to us, and discard the rest. For the first time, I finally understood what Paul meant when he said in 1 Corinthians 15:14:
And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain. (ESV)
The most compelling argument for the person of Christ that I have ever heard was offered by C. S. Lewis in Mere Christianity. Read his argument below. Which alternative do you choose to believe about Christ:
I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: ‘I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept His claim to be God.’ That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic – on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg – or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God: or else a madman or something worse. You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon; or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.
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Science and Faith
I just finished the book, The Case for a Creator: a Journalist Investigates Scientific Evidence that Points Toward God by Lee Strobel. Actually, for the sake of full disclosure, I finished the audiobook. This book explores the scientific evidence that points to an intelligent designer of the universe. Although I am an analytical thinker, I am not a scientist. Much of the content of this book sounds good, and makes sense to me, but the details are way over my head.
As I considered the arguments in this book ranging from anti-Darwinian theories, evidence from cosmology, physics, astronomy, and biochemistry, Lee Strobel makes a compelling case. The combined evidence of the Cambrian explosion, the Big Bang (and the gravitational singularity), and the bacterial flagellum give credence to the argument that (1) our universe had a beginning and (2) there was intelligence involved in the creation of life.
Does the book present a compelling argument that proves the universe was created? No. However, does it provide enough evidence that the universe could have been created by a transcendent being and that all life may be infused with biological information that came from source other than chance? Yes, I believe it does.
In pondering the scientific realities presented in this book, my mind drifted to individuals I know that are analytical, scientifically-minded, and who also question either the reality of God in our world or the reality of the Christian faith (that Christ was born, lived a perfect life, died on the cross and was raised again to life eternal). I realized that none of these individuals question that fact that our world was made. They question the person of God as expressed in the trinity (God the Father, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit) and the relevance of this God in their lives.
In a new way, the importance of the resurrected Christ became apparent. If Christ was not indeed raised from the dead, then his teachings have no more value than any other “spiritual leader. We would be free to take what sounds good to us, and discard the rest. For the first time, I finally understood what Paul meant when he said in 1 Corinthians 15:14:
The most compelling argument for the person of Christ that I have ever heard was offered by C. S. Lewis in Mere Christianity. Read his argument below. Which alternative do you choose to believe about Christ:
I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: ‘I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept His claim to be God.’ That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic – on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg – or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God: or else a madman or something worse. You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon; or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.
No related posts.