Christian Apologetics – Part III Is belief in God and miracles irrational ?

1. Christian Apologetics – Part IIIIs belief in God and miracles irrational ? St. Mary & St. Mina Youth Meeting December 5, 2014

2. Introduction • People assume that there is a contradiction between science and faith, and between being a scientist and being a believer • The motto of Harvard for example is Veritasfor Christ and His church

3. The importance of religion • Even atheists acknowledge the critical role of religion: • “…in Europe, our educational system, our legal system, our human rights are all derived from the Judeo-Christian tradition. To this day, we have no other source. Everything else is post-modern chatter”. • The Philosophy Department at Harvard has the inscription “What is man that you are mindful of?”

4. 3 When I consider your heavens,    the work of your fingers,the moon and the stars,    which you have set in place,4 what is mankind that you are mindful of them,    human beings that you care for them?[c] • 5 You have made them[d] a little lower than the angels[e]    and crowned them[f] with glory and honor.6 You made them rulers over the works of your hands;    you put everything under their[g] feet:7 all flocks and herds,    and the animals of the wild,8 the birds in the sky,    and the fish in the sea,    all that swim the paths of the seas.

5. The Nature of Faith • Myth: Faith is a religious concept • Faith DOES NOT mean believing where there is no evidence • The key question: Is there a super-nature or is the material world all that exists • What evidence is there for the veritasof either of them • In what way does science point ?

6. The Nature of Faith • Faith means “trust” and we do not trust people unless there is evidence to do so • Christianity is the evidence-based faith. • “These things are written that you are might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing, you might have life in his name”.

7. The history of Science • Men became scientific because they expected law in nature, and they expected so because they believed in a law giver • Newton and Galileo were believers, and so were so many other scientists

8. Science and Faith • Science is NOT the only way to truth • The Nobel Prize winner Sir Peter Medawar, • “It is so easy to see the limits of science. It cannot answer the questions of a child: Where am I coming from? What is the meaning of life? Where am I going to?”

9. More confusion • The concept of the God of gaps • “I cannot explain it, therefore, God did it” • Our God is not a God of the gaps. He is the God of the whole show, both of the bits we do not understand and the bits we do”

10. More confusion • It is important to understand that understanding the mechanism does not exclude the agent who made the mechanism • The example of a Ford Galaxy Car

11. The role of faith in Science • Even in science, scientists exercise faith • Consider what Darwin wrote: • “With me, the horrid doubt always arises whether the convictions of man’s mind, “which (according to Darwin) has evolved from lower animals, are of any value or are to be trusted”

12. The possibility of miracles • It is sometimes wrongly assumed that people in primitive cultures believed in miracles because “they were not sophisticated like us in the 21st century • Nature is not a closed system • Say I have $2,000 in my room and then one day I found only $500 • That does not mean that the laws of math are violated

13. The possibility of miracles • God is not a prisoner to the laws of nature He created. He can choose to go beyond such laws when He sees fit • The resurrection of Christ as the utmost miracle