Hi, Cliff Goldstein here
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and welcome to
Contending for the Faith.
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This is the
beginning of an eight,
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nine part series on a
topic called "Faith in Science."
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Where we are looking
at some of the questions
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regarding two very powerful
forces in the 21st century,
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faith, particularly
religious faith and science.
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Now, I don't think any one
in recent years has predicted
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that science would
somehow go by the wayside.
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But there have been
prognosticators over the years,
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who have predicted
that religious faith
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would eventually just
vanish from civilization.
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Well, I don't think
there is any question
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that at some places in the west,
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religious faith and
that's often understood
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as traditional
organized religion has declined.
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But no way is in
danger of vanishing.
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Sure these things do ebb
and flow and there is no doubt,
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I think this gonna
happen in the future
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and with great force too.
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But I have no
doubt that religion
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is going to still be
around for a long time.
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Thus, we have two very
powerful forces in the world.
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Two very powerful forces
religious faith and science
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and at least from
my perspective today
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as a believer for the
most part these forces,
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I don't believe
these forces clash.
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From what I can tell,
science really at least for me
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has been a very powerful force
in terms of affirming my faith.
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If for no other reason
that science has greatly
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expanded our
understanding of the wonders
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and the majesty
of the created world
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that God has given us.
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[speaking in foreign language]
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I will praise you
because I am fearfully
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[speaking in foreign language]
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I will praise
because I am fearfully
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and wonderfully made.
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[speaking in foreign language]
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And wonderful are Your works
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and my soul
knows that very well.
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These are the words of
David in Psalms 139:14 said, "
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I will praise you, he said,
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for I'm fearfully
and wonderfully made,
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your works are wonderful,
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[speaking in foreign language]
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and I know that very well."
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Now, think about
this for a minute.
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He knew that very well back
then close to 3,000 years ago.
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What would David
say if he knew about
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what science has taught us
about the human body today?
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David wrote that
long before he knew
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what red blood cells were
and what they did in the body.
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Long before he knew
what white cells were
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and what they did.
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He knew that we were
fearfully and wonderfully made
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long before he knew anything
about the doubled, the doubled,
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the DNA double helix
or about how the body
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metabolizes protein or
the inner ear functions.
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David knew
nothing about cell walls
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or warts or corns or
synaptic clefts in the brain
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or neurotransmitters
or endocrine function
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or how bone marrow
makes red blood cells.
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David knew
nothing about these things
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and thousands more like them.
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Things revealed to us
by the power of science,
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things which
should, which should--
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which should help us
all shout out with David
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[speaking in foreign language]
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I will praise you
for I am fearfully
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and wonderfully made.
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You know, there's
so much more about
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the wonders of the natural world
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that science has revealed to us.
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That as I said in many
ways science has confirmed,
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confirmed my
faith in the word of God
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and the Bible.
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Another, let me give
you another quick example,
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very important.
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Look at what
science has revealed to us
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about the reality
of the unseen world.
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Think for a minute
right now about radio waves.
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About radio waves
is real as my voice,
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yet we can't see them,
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we can't hear
them, we can't feel them,
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we can't taste them
and yet they're here,
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they're real as anything
in this room right now, okay.
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Science says right now
we've also been bombarded
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by subatomic particles
that are going through us
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right now, one in
and out the other.
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And yet we don't sense some,
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we don't feel
them, we don't see them.
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Thanks to the world of science,
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we should be able to accept
the idea of an unseen world.
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The idea of a supernatural world
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not immediately
accessible to us.
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Now, please I am not saying
that the existence of radiation
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or cosmic rays or infrared light
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or other physical phenomenon
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that we can't see
proves the existence
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of an unseen supernatural world.
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I am not saying that.
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One does not lead to the other.
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All I am saying, all I am saying
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is that science has shown us
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about the existence
of unseen realities.
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So that should make the
concept of unseen reality
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such as supernatural realities,
angels, demons, whatever.
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That should be some
thing easier for us to grasp
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than it might have
been for the ancients.
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And there is more.
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There is the incredible
fine tuning in nature.
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The fine tuning
of what have been
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called the
fundamental constants.
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Constants is
another way that I believe
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science has
helped me believe in God
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and the God revealed in
the Bible more feasible.
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And also, there is one
last thought in this area,
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something to think about.
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Some argue that the
whole scientific enterprise
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demands a kind of
rationality in nature.
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A kind of set structure of order
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that the natural world,
that enables us to study it
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and they believe
that it exists only
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because it was
created by the kind of God
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revealed in the Bible.
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The kind of that
gave order and rationality
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to the
structure of the universe.
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Listen to this one
quote from a British science,
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British scientist, he said,
"Our science is God's science.
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He holds the responsibility
for the whole scientific story.
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The remarkable order,
consistency, reliability
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and fascinating complexity found
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in the scientific
description of the universe
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are reflections of the
order, consistency, reliability
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and complexity
of God's activity."
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Pretty
interesting thought I think.
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Alfred North
Whitehead, a philosopher
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and mathematician of
gigantic proportions,
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proportions once wrote this.
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"Modern science must come
from the medieval insistence
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on the rationality of God.
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My explanation is that the faith
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in the possibility of
science, generated antecedently
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to the development of
modern scientific theory,
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is an unconscious derivative
from medieval theology."
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C.S. Lewis
expressed the idea like this.
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"Men became scientific
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because they
expected law in nature
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and they expected law in nature
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because they
believed in a lawgiver."
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Wrote, John Lennox
about the whole idea of order
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coming from God even
making science possible.
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Listen to this.
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"It was this conviction
that led Francis Bacon regarded
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by many as the
father of modern science,
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to teach that God has
provided us with two books,
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the book of
Nature and the Bible,
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and that to be
really properly educated,
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one should give one's
mind to studying both."
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In other words, what
they're really saying here,
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what they're really
saying is that the whole reason
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that science can be done
is because there is an order
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to the created
world and sets of laws
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that one would
expect a creator to have,
00:09:08.39\00:09:12.28
in a creator and
the desire to have
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put in place to begin with.
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Yes, I can say, I
can say for the most part
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that from the
perspective of the Bible,
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science has greatly helped
increase my religious faith.
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Now, all that being
said on the other hand,
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on the other hand,
let me not be foolish
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and that's because there
is one area in particular,
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one crucial area where so much
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science has it is practiced now,
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and I can't overemphasize
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that phrase as
it is practiced now.
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There's one area where
science as practice now
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in a very strong way
contradicts the most,
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the clearest
teaching of the word of God.
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And that is in
the area of origins.
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To put in bluntly, let
me put this bluntly, okay.
00:10:09.77\00:10:13.52
Almost the whole
scientific community today
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has as so much of the world's
intellectually community.
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They have accepted the
neo-Darwinian synthesis,
00:10:21.42\00:10:26.48
in short evolution.
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And I can't think of
any teaching anywhere
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that in every single way
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contradicts the
Bible in such a fundamental
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and devastating
way as evolution.
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If evolution were
true, the Darwinian model,
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the neo-Darwinian synthesis,
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if that were true
the only honest thing,
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the only honest thing,
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I think anybody
could do would be to scrap
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the Bible as nothing
but a bunch of myths.
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That's have basic and
cruel these issues really are.
00:10:57.11\00:11:02.53
Now, before we proceed,
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let's get one
definition straight.
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Let's define our
word term so, I suppose
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if I want it to I can
do a whole program here
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and digress on
just how problematic
00:11:14.33\00:11:17.03
is this idea of
defining our terms,
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but I don't want to go there.
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Okay.
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Anyway when I talk evolution,
I'm not simply talking change.
00:11:22.72\00:11:27.47
I mean, if you simply
mean by evolution only change
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that species
adapt and things change.
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Well, then I think
everybody believes that.
00:11:34.93\00:11:39.55
Instead by evolution, I
am talking about the claim
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that life began billions
and billions of years ago
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as some kind of simple
form, though I don't know
00:11:47.06\00:11:49.77
if anybody can
even conceive today
00:11:49.80\00:11:52.21
of the idea of
life being simple.
00:11:52.24\00:11:54.03
So, let's say a
relatively primitive
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life form emerged
billions of years ago
00:11:56.48\00:11:59.93
and over these
billions of years ago,
00:11:59.96\00:12:02.49
billions of years, it
learn to replicate itself
00:12:02.52\00:12:05.60
through this
process of natural selection
00:12:05.63\00:12:08.22
and random mutation.
00:12:08.25\00:12:10.10
And this is how all
life forms on earth today
00:12:10.13\00:12:13.28
from the bacteria
to human beings exist.
00:12:13.31\00:12:17.01
That's what I mean by evolution,
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that all life
started with the common
00:12:19.78\00:12:21.95
natural primitive ancestor,
00:12:21.98\00:12:24.95
some life out of
which all other life arose
00:12:24.98\00:12:29.40
after billions and billions
of years of fits and starts.
00:12:29.43\00:12:35.45
Let me tell you something
too. This belief is everywhere.
00:12:35.48\00:12:39.27
It has become
part of the culture
00:12:39.30\00:12:41.76
and it forms the background
assumption of pretty much
00:12:41.79\00:12:44.57
all intellectual
and scientific thought.
00:12:44.60\00:12:47.42
Today, it's just
understood, it's accepted
00:12:47.45\00:12:50.88
and in so many places
it's not even questioned.
00:12:50.91\00:12:55.55
And as I said, as I
said it contradicts the Bible
00:12:55.58\00:13:01.73
or at least any reasonable
and honest interpretation
00:13:01.76\00:13:05.28
of the Bible in an
irreconcilable way.
00:13:05.31\00:13:08.94
Thus I ask the questioner.
00:13:08.97\00:13:11.94
How are we
believers to deal with this?
00:13:11.97\00:13:14.45
How are we to deal with?
00:13:14.48\00:13:15.51
The idea that evolution can be
00:13:15.54\00:13:17.34
either corporate
into Bibles out there.
00:13:17.37\00:13:19.84
And it's getting more acceptable
00:13:19.87\00:13:22.00
even to Christians
much to my astonish.
00:13:22.03\00:13:25.68
But this attempted synthesis
of evolution in Christianity
00:13:25.71\00:13:30.69
represents in my
view one of the greatest
00:13:30.72\00:13:33.55
and most tragic capitulations
of Christianity to culture
00:13:33.58\00:13:38.18
since, probably the
change of the Sabbath to Sunday.
00:13:38.21\00:13:43.18
But you see that's the power
00:13:43.21\00:13:45.89
that the name
science holds over people,
00:13:45.92\00:13:50.19
so that when something
comes with the label science,
00:13:50.22\00:13:54.37
even Christians capitulate,
even as something as bluntly
00:13:54.40\00:13:58.50
and openly
contradictory to the most
00:13:58.53\00:14:00.86
obviously readings of the Bible,
00:14:00.89\00:14:03.29
such as the crucial doctrine
00:14:03.32\00:14:05.82
and foundation
doctrine of creation.
00:14:05.85\00:14:10.69
Yeah, we don't have to
be poled into something
00:14:10.72\00:14:14.65
just because it comes
with the imprimatur science
00:14:14.68\00:14:18.66
written on it.
00:14:18.69\00:14:19.72
As if something
is labeled science,
00:14:19.75\00:14:22.06
it becomes
absolute terminal truth.
00:14:22.09\00:14:26.71
And that's something
I'd like to even share
00:14:26.74\00:14:28.77
a little bit
from my own experience
00:14:28.80\00:14:31.42
because I think this
could help us understand
00:14:31.45\00:14:34.54
some of the issues
regarding faith and science,
00:14:34.57\00:14:38.29
especially in this crucial area
of the question of evolution
00:14:38.32\00:14:43.46
and the Bible.
00:14:43.49\00:14:45.25
Now, I had been raised,
00:14:45.28\00:14:47.62
born and raised in
a secular environment
00:14:47.65\00:14:51.54
and I was
educated in secular school,
00:14:51.57\00:14:55.15
so I had been raised
on evolutionary theory
00:14:55.18\00:14:58.12
right from elementary
school through high school.
00:14:58.15\00:15:01.26
I mean, through college
00:15:01.29\00:15:02.66
I was taught the Darwinian model
00:15:02.69\00:15:05.15
as the basic
explanation for life.
00:15:05.18\00:15:08.58
I can remember far
back in the fifth grade
00:15:08.61\00:15:13.96
Mrs. Catholic's
class in the fifth grade,
00:15:13.99\00:15:17.36
reading a science text
book that thought us evolution
00:15:17.39\00:15:21.54
and two things
stand out in my mind.
00:15:21.57\00:15:23.42
Even after all these years,
00:15:23.45\00:15:25.14
I can remember these two things.
00:15:25.17\00:15:27.65
I remember and I don't know why,
00:15:27.68\00:15:28.71
I don't have a
particularly good memory,
00:15:28.74\00:15:30.72
but I can remember all the
way back from the fifth grade
00:15:30.75\00:15:34.22
having memorized the supposed
periods of the earth's history.
00:15:34.25\00:15:38.88
The Azoic,
Archeozoic, Proterozoic,
00:15:38.91\00:15:41.09
Paleozoic
Mesozoic, and Cenozoic eras.
00:15:41.12\00:15:44.62
With humans and
dinosaurs arriving
00:15:44.65\00:15:47.22
in the late Cenozoic era.
00:15:47.25\00:15:49.43
As I said I don't
have a great memory,
00:15:49.46\00:15:51.06
for some reason I
never forget that.
00:15:51.09\00:15:54.12
Stayed with me over
50 some, almost 50 years.
00:15:54.15\00:15:57.89
And the other
thing I remember too.
00:15:57.92\00:16:00.58
I remember they had a drawing.
00:16:00.61\00:16:02.87
It was like a shallow
pool and then there would be
00:16:02.90\00:16:07.01
next to it as like some
kind of single cell organism
00:16:07.04\00:16:11.56
and then
something like a jellyfish
00:16:11.59\00:16:14.10
and then some kind of
fish and then some amphibian
00:16:14.13\00:16:17.30
and then some kind
of Hominid or some thing
00:16:17.33\00:16:19.40
and then the Neanderthal
and then a human being
00:16:19.43\00:16:22.08
and they drew a life through it.
00:16:22.11\00:16:24.70
Showing that
how this whole thing
00:16:24.73\00:16:26.64
it started in the pool
00:16:26.67\00:16:28.04
and eventually it
evolved into human beings.
00:16:28.07\00:16:31.94
I can still remember it.
That was in the fifth grade.
00:16:31.97\00:16:36.60
Then jump ahead
now to about 1970.
00:16:36.63\00:16:40.78
I was in ninth
grade biology class
00:16:40.81\00:16:43.37
with Mrs. Ruben
from junior high.
00:16:43.40\00:16:48.22
And, you know, I
thought I was hot stuff
00:16:48.25\00:16:51.05
because I knew the
meaning of the real fancy term,
00:16:51.08\00:16:54.77
I bet you don't
know what that is,
00:16:54.80\00:16:57.08
[speaking in foreign language]
00:16:57.11\00:17:01.37
Well, that's pretty
impressive, I would now,
00:17:01.40\00:17:03.86
I thought I knew the term
00:17:03.89\00:17:05.39
and I thought
that was hot stuff.
00:17:05.42\00:17:07.46
And it was this
idea that in embryo,
00:17:07.49\00:17:11.37
if you look at in
embryo it goes through
00:17:11.40\00:17:14.51
the various stages of evolution.
00:17:14.54\00:17:19.09
You look at, you
could see the different,
00:17:19.12\00:17:20.61
like it has gills
and fins and so on.
00:17:20.64\00:17:23.36
And I was thought
that in the late 1960's
00:17:23.39\00:17:26.70
the only problem
was for about 50 years
00:17:26.73\00:17:30.53
it was already
proven to be a fraud.
00:17:30.56\00:17:33.38
It had been known for
decades that it was a fraud
00:17:33.41\00:17:35.99
and yet here I was all
the way in the late 1960s
00:17:36.02\00:17:40.25
being thought
that in a science class
00:17:40.28\00:17:46.37
in decades, decades later, okay.
00:17:46.40\00:17:49.39
Now, and I remember
even in college too,
00:17:49.42\00:17:53.72
I was an English major
but I've had some science
00:17:53.75\00:17:56.03
and I remember we were
just taught some evolution.
00:17:56.06\00:17:58.98
But here is the
issue I want to talk about.
00:17:59.01\00:18:02.98
I don't want to
talk about the fact
00:18:03.01\00:18:04.17
that I was taught evolution.
00:18:04.20\00:18:06.37
I mean, this was a secular
colleges, secular schools,
00:18:06.40\00:18:09.53
what else was I going
to be, going to be taught.
00:18:09.56\00:18:12.95
How else were they
gonna teach about origins?
00:18:12.98\00:18:15.93
Rather the issue, the
issue that I want to look at
00:18:15.96\00:18:19.34
'cause this is crucial
and just get this point
00:18:19.37\00:18:22.19
if you don't get anything
else about what I am saying.
00:18:22.22\00:18:25.78
The crucial issue here
was how I was taught it?
00:18:25.81\00:18:30.73
I was taught it in
this-- as an absolute fact
00:18:30.76\00:18:34.86
unconverted,
unquestioned, unchallenged.
00:18:34.89\00:18:37.88
I don't remember one time
ever hearing the possibility,
00:18:37.91\00:18:42.26
ever hearing the possibility
that it could be wrong.
00:18:42.29\00:18:45.32
I never one time heard
00:18:45.35\00:18:46.78
any other
explanation for it, never.
00:18:46.81\00:18:49.79
It was just how it was.
00:18:49.82\00:18:51.32
Everybody understood it
and you didn't questioned
00:18:51.35\00:18:54.02
that anymore than you question
00:18:54.05\00:18:55.22
that the earth
revolved on its axis.
00:18:55.25\00:18:59.28
After all, this
was science right.
00:18:59.31\00:19:02.65
In our day and age,
00:19:02.68\00:19:03.73
science has given a
special epistemic status.
00:19:03.76\00:19:08.27
It's viewed as a
certain kind of knowledge
00:19:08.30\00:19:11.90
that different than say
history or art and so on.
00:19:11.93\00:19:15.66
And I suppose to a degree it is.
00:19:15.69\00:19:18.21
And this whole ideas
00:19:18.24\00:19:19.45
when science
teaches us something,
00:19:19.48\00:19:22.14
well, then who what arrogant
fool dare to challenge it.
00:19:22.17\00:19:25.95
Science comes with this--
00:19:25.98\00:19:27.62
science just had
become sort of a high priest,
00:19:27.65\00:19:31.19
of a higher kind of knowledge,
00:19:31.22\00:19:32.91
sort of these bearers of
some kind of sacred fire.
00:19:32.94\00:19:37.35
Because in their labs,
00:19:37.38\00:19:38.74
in their rational
objective pursuit of truth,
00:19:38.77\00:19:42.04
they ideally get
closer to the truth
00:19:42.07\00:19:44.59
and the rest of us
are mere morals, right?
00:19:44.62\00:19:48.32
Well, that's what we're thought.
00:19:48.35\00:19:50.35
Well, then one day
00:19:50.38\00:19:53.14
I found myself in my yearly 20s,
00:19:53.17\00:19:55.67
I was a born
again believer in Jesus.
00:19:55.70\00:19:59.24
You see at that point I'll you,
I knew nothing about the Bible,
00:19:59.27\00:20:03.35
nothing about sin,
nothing about anything.
00:20:03.38\00:20:06.54
If somebody would have
told me I was a sinner,
00:20:06.57\00:20:08.35
then I would have looked
at them like they were crazy,
00:20:08.38\00:20:10.62
I don't know what
you are talking about.
00:20:10.65\00:20:12.41
But I had become a
born again believer.
00:20:12.44\00:20:16.13
And even though I
couldn't put my finger on it,
00:20:16.16\00:20:18.40
I sensed a kind of tension
00:20:18.43\00:20:22.12
between my new found
faith and this evolution
00:20:22.15\00:20:25.80
that I had been so
dogmatically taught.
00:20:25.83\00:20:28.86
I felt a discomfort there.
00:20:28.89\00:20:31.02
Okay, God had
just changed my life,
00:20:31.05\00:20:33.69
but I just couldn't
see how I can fit him in
00:20:33.72\00:20:36.87
with this theory of origins
00:20:36.90\00:20:38.82
that I had been
taught and that's all I knew.
00:20:38.85\00:20:42.22
Well, anyway,
00:20:42.25\00:20:43.71
early on some of my
friends seeing my struggle,
00:20:43.74\00:20:48.59
they gave me some
creationist literature.
00:20:48.62\00:20:51.64
Now, whether that was
well done or not, I don't know.
00:20:51.67\00:20:53.98
I mean, you can have
some pretty poorly done
00:20:54.01\00:20:56.69
creationist
literature out there,
00:20:56.72\00:20:58.37
think as you can
have some poorly done
00:20:58.40\00:20:59.85
evolutionary literature.
00:20:59.88\00:21:01.92
And anyway I started reading
through some of this staff
00:21:01.95\00:21:06.53
and let me tell
you it changed my life.
00:21:06.56\00:21:10.86
Why?
00:21:10.89\00:21:11.92
And again I don't even know
if the literature was any good.
00:21:11.95\00:21:14.48
It might had been,
it might had not been,
00:21:14.51\00:21:16.15
I wasn't in a position to tell.
00:21:16.18\00:21:18.95
But here's what happened.
00:21:18.98\00:21:20.57
This is what happened and
it was an eye opener to me
00:21:20.60\00:21:23.47
scales fell off my eyes.
00:21:23.50\00:21:26.18
Because it was the
first time in my life
00:21:26.21\00:21:29.49
that I was ever presented
00:21:29.52\00:21:32.15
with an alternate
explanation of the facts.
00:21:32.18\00:21:36.79
Yes, for the
first time in my life
00:21:36.82\00:21:38.68
I was sure there were other ways
00:21:38.71\00:21:41.07
of interpreting the evidence.
00:21:41.10\00:21:44.15
Look, no one's gonna deny
00:21:44.18\00:21:46.17
that the dinosaur
bones are in the ground.
00:21:46.20\00:21:48.55
I mean, I heard
the Satan created
00:21:48.58\00:21:50.35
the bones to confuse us.
00:21:50.38\00:21:51.42
Let's don't go there, we
make ourselves look like idiots
00:21:51.45\00:21:54.08
when we talk about that.
00:21:54.11\00:21:55.41
No question, the
bones are in the ground.
00:21:55.44\00:21:58.25
Of course, they are
there, no one's gonna deny that.
00:21:58.28\00:22:01.59
But what I was shown,
00:22:01.62\00:22:03.54
it was the first time
in my 23 years of life,
00:22:03.57\00:22:08.70
I was shown that
there was another way
00:22:08.73\00:22:11.24
other than the
Darwinian evolutionary model
00:22:11.27\00:22:15.20
that I had been
taught since childhood
00:22:15.23\00:22:17.42
there was another
way to look at it.
00:22:17.45\00:22:20.66
I mean, I was blown away, okay.
00:22:20.69\00:22:23.60
As if my life
already hadn't been shaken up
00:22:23.63\00:22:25.96
enough becoming
born again believer.
00:22:25.99\00:22:28.22
This was a
fascinating revelation to me.
00:22:28.25\00:22:31.11
It was something
that I had never,
00:22:31.14\00:22:33.10
never, never taken
in to consideration
00:22:33.13\00:22:36.28
before that there are other ways
00:22:36.31\00:22:38.41
of looking at the evidence.
00:22:38.44\00:22:39.91
Other ways to explain it
and to interpret the data
00:22:39.94\00:22:44.50
and this leads to a
crucial concept in science,
00:22:44.53\00:22:48.37
a crucial
concept, and many believe
00:22:48.40\00:22:50.40
it's a fundamental
weakness of science
00:22:50.43\00:22:53.52
that they still
haven't addressed
00:22:53.55\00:22:55.31
and we'll deal
with that later on.
00:22:55.34\00:22:58.27
But let's go back to
the bones in the ground.
00:22:58.30\00:23:01.35
Okay, I mean, and do they have
00:23:01.38\00:23:03.96
stamped on them
where there come from.
00:23:03.99\00:23:07.24
Did they say,
hey, we were created
00:23:07.27\00:23:09.13
in the late Cenozoic
era 250 million years ago.
00:23:09.16\00:23:13.04
Of course not, instead
someone had to look on them
00:23:13.07\00:23:16.75
and working
from presuppositions,
00:23:16.78\00:23:19.38
working from
ideas based on things
00:23:19.41\00:23:21.85
other than the bones themselves,
00:23:21.88\00:23:23.99
they had to give their own
interpretation of the bone.
00:23:24.02\00:23:29.46
So here's the
question I asked though.
00:23:29.49\00:23:32.65
What were those presuppositions
00:23:32.68\00:23:34.99
in which they based their
interpretation of the bones?
00:23:35.02\00:23:37.94
How valid were
those presuppositions,
00:23:37.97\00:23:40.52
and if they were valid,
00:23:40.55\00:23:41.59
how did they
know they were valid?
00:23:41.62\00:23:43.51
What criteria do you
use to judge their validity
00:23:43.54\00:23:46.99
and what is the reason
for trusting that criteria.
00:23:47.02\00:23:50.14
It might be fine and
dandy. But how do you know?
00:23:50.17\00:23:53.55
Maybe you fundamental
presuppositions are wrong
00:23:53.58\00:23:57.25
which means your interpretation
could be wrong as well.
00:23:57.28\00:24:00.25
Is that not possible?
00:24:00.28\00:24:01.96
And please, if you
look at the whole history
00:24:01.99\00:24:05.87
of science of presuppositions
00:24:05.90\00:24:09.20
that existed for centuries
that were later overturned,
00:24:09.23\00:24:13.59
you realize that the odds
00:24:13.62\00:24:15.08
in favor of
those presuppositions
00:24:15.11\00:24:18.44
or actually the odds in
favor of them being wrong.
00:24:18.47\00:24:22.31
Which means, you interpretation
00:24:22.34\00:24:24.20
could be wrong
as well, or may be
00:24:24.23\00:24:26.52
if your
presuppositions are right.
00:24:26.55\00:24:28.64
You may be, you
applied them in a wrong way
00:24:28.67\00:24:30.70
in your conclusions all wrong.
00:24:30.73\00:24:32.73
Yes, there's no question
the bones are in the ground.
00:24:32.76\00:24:37.98
But there could be
other ways of explaining
00:24:38.01\00:24:40.54
how they got there
other than the commonly held
00:24:40.57\00:24:43.71
Darwinian model of them.
00:24:43.74\00:24:46.45
And this was a
complete eye-opener to me
00:24:46.48\00:24:49.91
and it's not just with
the bones in the ground,
00:24:49.94\00:24:52.66
but it's a
issue that all science
00:24:52.69\00:24:54.66
has been grappling
with from the start.
00:24:54.69\00:24:57.35
How do you know
that your theory,
00:24:57.38\00:24:59.35
how do you know
that your interpretation,
00:24:59.38\00:25:01.81
your explanation
is the right one?
00:25:01.84\00:25:05.68
Indeed, scientists
bring their own rules
00:25:05.71\00:25:08.26
and assumptions and principles
to the bones in the grounds
00:25:08.29\00:25:11.80
that they get
from somewhere else
00:25:11.83\00:25:13.87
and maybe they
don't really properly fit.
00:25:13.90\00:25:16.40
Some argue, some
argue that scientists
00:25:16.43\00:25:18.75
were looking at the bones
can't even really look at them.
00:25:18.78\00:25:22.37
Don't even know what
there were looking at
00:25:22.40\00:25:23.93
without bringing
their own presuppositions
00:25:23.96\00:25:27.84
into their own
preconceived ideas.
00:25:27.87\00:25:31.35
Some people talk
about the fact they say
00:25:31.38\00:25:33.67
the idea that all
facts are theory-laden.
00:25:33.70\00:25:37.60
It means you can't determine
what a brute hard fact is
00:25:37.63\00:25:41.61
without already
having some ideas
00:25:41.64\00:25:43.76
before hand of
what you are looking at.
00:25:43.79\00:25:46.59
Anyway, I just
wanted to touch on this,
00:25:46.62\00:25:49.24
bring this up
because it's this idea
00:25:49.27\00:25:52.48
that scientists come in
with this pure objective
00:25:52.51\00:25:56.30
view of looking at things
and it doesn't work that way.
00:25:56.33\00:25:59.49
The bones are in the ground.
00:25:59.52\00:26:01.34
They are there, but
they have to be interpreted
00:26:01.37\00:26:04.78
and there is an incredible
amount of diverse opinion
00:26:04.81\00:26:08.08
in the scientific
community in regard to what
00:26:08.11\00:26:11.04
it means to even
interpret a fact in nature.
00:26:11.07\00:26:14.38
A lot of controversy
about what it means to have
00:26:14.41\00:26:16.74
scientific evidence
for something in nature.
00:26:16.77\00:26:19.47
What it even means to
make a theory or a hypothesis.
00:26:19.50\00:26:23.60
All these things
are highly contested
00:26:23.63\00:26:26.70
among those who study them.
00:26:26.73\00:26:28.50
And if you really get into this,
00:26:28.53\00:26:31.04
I think most
people would be amazed
00:26:31.07\00:26:32.89
in how these
fundamental issues of science.
00:26:32.92\00:26:35.93
There's so little agreement
00:26:35.96\00:26:38.00
among scientists
today about that.
00:26:38.03\00:26:41.50
And yes, folks, we
are talking science here
00:26:41.53\00:26:46.16
which is nowhere near
its objective and certain
00:26:46.19\00:26:49.94
and it's deductive as
we are led to believe.
00:26:49.97\00:26:53.96
And the point on all of these
is there's a lot more faith
00:26:53.99\00:26:57.19
in science than
most people realize.
00:26:57.22\00:27:00.53
And it takes a lot more faith
00:27:00.56\00:27:02.17
to believe in
some of these things
00:27:02.20\00:27:04.57
that scientists teach
than most people realize too.
00:27:04.60\00:27:08.60
And once you do
and start studying this
00:27:08.63\00:27:12.17
and realize this, it
become so much easier
00:27:12.20\00:27:16.64
not to surrender
clear biblical teachings
00:27:16.67\00:27:20.26
just because something comes
00:27:20.29\00:27:21.59
with the
imprimatur science on it.
00:27:21.62\00:27:25.10
And that's what I
want to talk about
00:27:25.13\00:27:27.04
in part of the series here.
00:27:27.07\00:27:29.30
There's no question,
00:27:29.33\00:27:31.17
science has done a
lot of good in the world.
00:27:31.20\00:27:33.82
It's a great way of
looking at the world.
00:27:33.85\00:27:36.24
And science too has done
a lot to increase my faith,
00:27:36.27\00:27:41.84
but there is a
flip side to all this.
00:27:41.87\00:27:45.96
And if science as it is now
practiced is right on origins.
00:27:45.99\00:27:51.74
If they are right with almost
all that-- will of them teach?
00:27:51.77\00:27:55.50
If they are
correct then my belief
00:27:55.53\00:27:58.32
in the Bible would be nullified.
00:27:58.35\00:28:01.04
That's how big I
believe the issues are.
00:28:01.07\00:28:03.69
Fortunately, once we realize
some of the issues involved
00:28:03.72\00:28:09.02
in the practice of science,
00:28:09.05\00:28:12.25
we realize we don't
have to surrender our faith
00:28:12.28\00:28:15.65
or anything crucial to.
00:28:15.68\00:28:18.55