Archive for the 'Creation' Category

Francis Turretin on Beauty and Order in the Universe

Published at August 14, 2008 in Creation and Quotes. 0 Comments

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17th century theologian Francis Turretin wrote eloquently about the beauty and order of the universe long before the Intelligent Design movement:

[He] is blind who does not see the most beautiful order everywhere and most wicked who does not acknowledge it. There is a suitable disposition of parts, so constant a concord of things so discordant, so harmonious an agreement and consent of creatures the most diverse, so swift and at the same time equable motion of the heavenly bodies and so immutable a stability and constancy of the order once established. So not only do the heavens declare the glory of God, but every blade of grass and flower in the field, every pebble on the shore and every shell in the ocean proclaim not only his power and goodness, but also his manifold wisdom, so near each one that even by feeling, God can be found.

Source: Francis Turretin, Institutes of Elenctic Theology, vol. 1, trans. George Musgrave Geiger, ed. James T. Dennison, Jr. (Philipsburg: Presbyterian and Reformed, 1994), 171-172. (HT: Kairos Journal)

Bible:theology :: Creation:science

Published at June 10, 2008 in Science, Creation, Theology and Bible. 0 Comments

I found the following diagram helpful in understanding the tensions that sometimes exist between science and Biblical faith.

Bible:theology::Creation:Science
                            Bible:theology :: Creation:science
              (The Bible is to theology as creation is to science)

The diagram distinguishes between: 1) Scripture and theology, and 2) creation and science. Scripture is God’s Word and therefore free from error. The physical creation is God’s work and therefore will never be in conflict with God’s word. However, theology is man’s study of Scripture, just as science is man’s study of creation. As such, theology and science are both susceptible to error and can be in conflict with each other.

Thus when science and theology conflict, we should not rush to judgment about which side is wrong. Rather we should continue to test our theology against the evidence of Scripture and our science against the evidence of the physical world. When we get our theology and science correct, there will be no conflict between the two.

I like this model because it affirms:
    1) the truth of God’s word,
    2) the order of God’s world, and
    3) the value of both theological and scientific endeavor.

Note: The diagram comes from David Heddle, associate professor of physics at Christopher Newport University. Heddle is currently teaching a Sunday School class on science and faith at Grace Baptist Chapel in Hampton, VA. He is posting his weekly notes online at GBC Sunday School. You can find an outline of the series here.

Intelligent Design 3-DVD Set

Published at June 3, 2008 in Video, Science and Creation. 0 Comments

Interested in learning more about intelligent design? Campus Crusade is offering the following three DVDs exploring intelligent design as a set for $29.95 (sale ends June 30th). I ordered these last week and received them in the mail yesterday. I was going to wait to post until I had viewed them, but the sale ends this month and I don’t know when I will get to them. Here are video clip previews for each of the DVDs.

Unlocking the Mystery of Life

Unlocking the Mystery of Life transports you into the interior of the living cell to explore systems and machines that bear the unmistakable hallmarks of design. Discover the intricacy of a microscopic bacterial rotary motor, which spins at 100,000 rpm. Within the nucleus explore the wonder of DNA, a thread-like molecule that stores instructions to build the essential components of every living organism. It is part of a biological information processing system more complex and more powerful than any computer network.

The Privileged Planet

We now know that a rare and finely tuned array of factors makes Earth suitable for complex life. We depend on our planet’s oxygen-rich atmosphere, its large moon, its planetary neighbors, and its precise location within the solar system and Milky Way galaxy. But the story does not end here. For the same factors that make a planet like Earth hospitable to life also provide the best conditions for scientific discovery.

The Case for a Creator by Lee Strobel

In The Case for a Creator DVD, Strobel re-examines the theories that once led him away from God. Highlighted by spectacular computer animation, The Case for a Creator DVD is a remarkable film in which you’ll encounter the mind-stretching discoveries from cosmology, cellular biology, DNA research, astronomy, physics, and human consciousness.

HT: Between Two Worlds

God’s Good Creation Series

Published at January 29, 2008 in Culture, Creation and Sermons. 3 Comments

I just recently finished preaching through a series of messages on God’s Good Creation.   Here are some of the questions we addressed in the series:

    1) What does it mean that God created all things good?
    2) What is our place in this world?
    3) How do the fall and mankind’s sin affect creation?
    4) As Christians, how should we view environmental concerns?
    5) How can we know God better though his creation?
    6) How can we use our creative gifts for God’s glory?

These are all questions relating to creational theology, which is an important part of God’s teaching to us in the Bible. Here are the links to the messages if you would like to explore any of these questions further.

God’s Good Creation Series

  1. God’s Good Creation - Genesis 1
        (or click here for a summary)
  2. Our Place in God’s Creation - Psalm 8
        (or click here for a summary)
  3. Knowing God through His Creation - Psalm 19
        (or click here for a summary)
  4. God’s Good Gift of Creativity - Exodus 31
        (or click here for a summary)

Sunday Morning SoundBytes - 1/20/2008

Published at January 21, 2008 in Creation and Sunday Morning SoundBytes. 1 Comment

Yesterday’s message in the God’s Good Creation Series was called Knowing God through His Creation, taken from Psalm 19:1-6.

Psalm 19:1-6: The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they display knowledge. There is no speech or language where their voice is not heard. Their voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world.

In the heavens he has pitched a tent for the sun, which is like a bridegroom coming forth from his pavilion, like a champion rejoicing to run his course. It rises at one end of the heavens and makes its circuit to the other; nothing is hidden from its heat. (NIV)

The main idea of the message was that all of creation testifies to God’s goodness and glory. Here is the outline of the message:

I. God’s creation declares his glory. (1-2)
    A. The heavens speak forth the praises of God.
    B. The heavens reveal knowledge of God to man.
    C. God’s testimony to himself in creation is unmistakable.
        1) It is continuous.
        2) It is abundant.
        3) It is universal.

II. God’s creation speaks to all people everywhere. (3-4)
    A. There is no language barrier – it is understood by all.
    B. There is no volume barrier – it is heard by all.
    C. There is no distance barrier – it is given to all.

III. The sun is an example of God’s revelation in creation. (5-6)
    A. The sun is seen by all on earth.
        1) The sun is like a groom coming out of his chamber.
        2) The sun is like a champion running his race.

    B. The sun serves all who live on earth.
        1) It provides light and heat for everyone.
        2) It testifies to a good and powerful and gracious God.

Two warnings, one reminder, one action point:
    1) Do not mistake nature for God.
    2) Do not mistake nature for Christ.
    3) Remember that the present creation is distorted by sin.
    4) Learn to know and enjoy God through his creation.

Note: To read the complete message, go to the Sermons tab at the top of the blog.

Albert Einstein on the Evidence of a Creator

Published at January 17, 2008 in Science, Creation and Quotes. 0 Comments

Albert Einstein’s response when asked by an interviewer if he was an atheist:

Albert Einstein (1879 – 1955)“I’m not an atheist. The problem involved is too vast for our limited minds. We are in the position of a little child entering a huge library filled with books in many languages. The child knows someone must have written those books. It does not know how. It does not understand the languages in which they are written. The child dimly suspects a mysterious order in the arrangement of the books but doesn’t know what it is. That, it seems to me, is the attitude of even the most intelligent human being toward God. We see the universe marvelously arranged and obeying certain laws but only dimly understand these laws.” (First published as “What Life Means to Einstein,” Saturday Evening Post, October 26, 1929. Quoted in Walter Isaacson, Einstein: His Life and Universe; New York: Simon & Schuster, 2007, p. 386.)

Source: Kairos Journal (subscription required)

The Size of the Earth Compared to Other Objects in Space

Published at January 14, 2008 in Space and Creation. 5 Comments

Here are some great pictures showing the size of the earth in comparison to other objects in space. I shared these in church yesterday as part of a sermon on Psalm 8. You can click on the pictures to see a larger version.

“When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him?” (Psalm 8:3-4)

1. Earth compared to the smaller planets (Venus, Mars, Mercury and Pluto):

Earth compared to smaller planets (Venus, Mars, Mercury and Pluto)
 

2. Earth compared to the larger planets (Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune):

Earth compared to larger planets (Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune)
 

3. The larger planets compared to the Sun:

The larger planets compared to the Sun
 

4. Our Sun compared to Sirius, Pollux and Arcturus:

Our Sun compared to Sirius, Pollux and Arcturus
 

5. Sirius, Pollux and Arcturus compared to Rigel, Aldebaran, Betelgeuse
    and Antares:

Sirius, Pollux and Arcturus compared to Rigel, Aldebaran, Betelgeuse and Antares

Related posts:

Sunday Morning SoundBytes - 1/6/2008

Published at January 7, 2008 in Creation and Sunday Morning SoundBytes. 0 Comments

Yesterday we began a new message series called God’s Good Creation. Yesterday’s message was called God’s Good Creation and was taken from Genesis 1:1, 31; 2:1-3.

Genesis 1:1, 31; 2:1-3 - “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth …

God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning — the sixth day.

Thus the heavens and the earth were completed in all their vast array. By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work. And God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done.”

The main idea of the message was that we must understand our beginnings if we are to rightly understand how we are to live today. Here is the outline of the message:

I. It all starts with God (Genesis 1:1a)
    A. Three philosophical choices
        1) God has always existed
        2) The universe has always existed
        3) Something came from nothing

    B. One biblical choice

II. God created all things (Genesis 1:1b)
    A. God is prior to creation
    B. God is separate from creation
    C. God is over all creation

III. God created all things good (Genesis 1:31-2:3)
    A. God brought order in creation
    B. God approved his work of creation
    C. God completed his work of creation

Note: To read the complete message, go to the Sermons tab at the top of the blog.

Hugh Ross - Iron Sharpens Iron 2007

Published at March 29, 2007 in Space, Science, Iron Sharpens Iron, Men and Creation. 8 Comments

(This is from a series of posts on the Iron Sharpens Iron Men’s Conference in Hartford, CT on March 24, 2007. To view the whole series, click here.)

Here is a brief summary of Hugh Ross’ afternoon seminar called “Creation as Science.”

Hugh spoke about the testable creation model that he and the people at Reasons To Believe have been working on developing. He explained the Anthropic Principle – how everything in the universe tends toward man, toward making life possible on earth and sustaining it. He described the fine-tuning of the universe and how human life on earth can only exist within finely-tuned parameters. Forty years ago astronomers could only identify a few of these characteristics, but by the year 2001 they had identified more than 150 finely-tuned characteristics necessary for life. These findings reduce the odds that any given planet in the universe would possess the necessary conditions to support intelligent physical life to less than one in 10173.

Continue reading ‘Hugh Ross - Iron Sharpens Iron 2007′