Where This Came From

This started years ago when I read The Creator And The Cosmos by Dr. Hugh Ross of Reasons To Believe.  Dr. Ross is a Christian astrophysicist and a big proponent of the concept that Genesis is an eyewitness account — and I’ve hopped onto that idea like a balding, overweight jockey. Rescuing Inerrancy and Designed To The Core were also used for this. The links go to the Reasons Website, but all of the books mentioned here are available in all of the usual places (as ebooks, too).

For a non-theistic point of view, Dr. Paul Davies has also been associated for decades with apparent design in our Cosmos. I’ve read several of his books (most recently, his 2007 Cosmic Jackpot). Even though new research has superseded some of his conclusions, they’re still good reads.

From 2016, A Fortunate Universe by Dr. Geraint Lewis and Dr. Luke Barnes gets the prize for explaining a “fine-tuned” universe with humor and clarity. They’re obviously good friends and the book is well-balanced: Geraint leans toward the Multiverse (more on this later) while Luke leans toward a Creator.

This was followed up a few years later with the Cosmic Revolutionary’s Handbook; anyone determined to “prove” that the Big Bang never happened will need to follow some strict guidelines. Just pointing to the few difficulties in the Big Bang (no theory is perfect!) isn’t going to change anything. You’ll need to learn the math and address all of the data that the Big Bang covers.

I’m not only going to try to be bend-over-backwards fair here, I’ll assure my skeptical and agnostic readers that I will not use emotional arguments. I won’t say things like, “do you realize that if everything hadn’t worked out perfectly, this precious little kitty wouldn’t be here??!?”

We Now Know More

We now have telescopes in space that can see back in time to only a few hundred thousand years after the Big Bang; instruments that can peer directly at (and even into!) molecular structures; and supercomputing clusters that can test and “what-if” different models of how All This Happened.

If you haven’t kept up with this stuff, what you “knew” a few years ago is likely out of date now. For example, as I’ll mention later, new research shows that our Earth is NOT just an “ordinary planet around an ordinary star in an ordinary galaxy.”

Some skeptics have asked, “if our universe is ‘fine tuned’ for life, why is it so dangerous?” In fact, most of the fine tuning in question is required just to get a Cosmos that works — with galaxies, stable stars, and planets. Since we can assume that this would be beneficial to our existence, it’s not wrong to simplify this to, “fine tuned for life.”

In the main, our Cosmos is insanely hostile: deadly radiation, temperatures ranging from near absolute zero to millions of degrees, gravitational disturbances and worse. Maybe Earth is an oasis for life because … it’s a special creation, in a special location, specially made by God as a home for us? (Heh.) Read on!

What I Believe

I am a conservative, Bible-believing Christian who adheres to all of the key tenets of our faith. In particular, I believe that

• • Adam and Eve were historical figures, specially created by Almighty God. I don’t dispute that there were once Neanderthals, Denisovans. and other members of the genus homo (and prior primate predecessors). But you and I are special creations of God.
  • Jesus is the Son of God, born of a virgin (yes, atheists, He was His own Father), who died for our sins and then rose from the dead.
  • the Bible is an authoritative, divinely-inspired book. It is the standard of faith and practice for the Christian.

I also have no trouble reconciling these beliefs with what science has discovered. I can accept that the Earth is approximately 4.6 billion years old and exists in a cosmos that recently celebrated its 13.8 billionth birthday.

It is frustrating that many of my fellow Believers think that this represents “modernism” or “compromise” on my part. Brethren, I assure you that I am aware of how badly Godless materialism and evolutionism (<- I chose that word with care) have harmed society. One key reason that I wrote all of this is to show that science and Christianity can co-exist … provided that each side obeys some simple rules and is willing to agree to disagree as necessary.

I believe that God used what life scientists call evolution to create the diversity of life on this planet, but created us specially for fellowship with Him … and that the Bible is in agreement with all of this.

(And as for the claims that some of our DNA seems to come directly from extinct members of homo, one last time: see Ross’s Rescuing Inerrancy for a detailed look. It’s also a shame that Dr. Ross is often pilloried by Young Earthers, when he’s doing yeoman’s work to defend the Scriptures.)

Further, I’m tired of being told by everyone from fundamentalists on the one hand, to radical non-theists on the other, that this can’t be. Can, too!

(There. I’ve settled the entire argument. You may stop reading now.)

Why This Matters

Poll after poll shows that a strong majority of Americans believe in some form of Creator or Supreme Being. Worldwide, that figure approaches 95%; it’s somewhat less in Western societies, and from what I’ve seen, seems to be markedly lower in certain regions (France, for example).

But overall and on average, there is no question that a strong majority of people believe in a Creator. In fact, at this writing, there appears to be a revival among younger Americans. (Of course, a quick Google says that this is disputed. YMMV.)

You’d never know this from watching television or browsing the Internet, though. If you are going to be Cool (or Hip or With It or Whatever The Term Is This Week), you will certainly be uncomfortable with the concept of God … and with Christianity in particular.

A thundering horde of popular figures, from scientists like Richard Dawkins to entertainers like Penn and Teller, actively promote the idea that there is no God and/or that religion is evil. As far as they’re concerned, you are simply clinging to the superstitions of your grandparents.

We Choose What We Believe

This small (but outspoken) minority has influence all out of proportion to their numbers. As a result, there is increasing peer pressure against the public expression of any belief in God nowadays. But I’m going to show you here that, based on the current scientific consensus that

• • there is as much evidence for a Creator as for any alternative, and
  • if you don’t believe in God, that’s your choice.

Simply put: if you don’t believe in God, you certainly have a right to that opinion. But that’s what it is: an opinion, and you do so because you choose to do so, not because of any evidence that compels that point of view. (The operative terms are “choose” and “compel.”)

If the Bible is correct, there is a God. Further, He created all of this — and you — for a reason. He wants to know you personally … and to give purpose and meaning to your life. Jesus is still the answer for the 21st Century. He hasn’t changed.

For My Fellow Believers

I’m writing for another reason: I want my Brethren to understand that we can coexist with a rational, secular view of nature. But we must also accept that science must be kept independent of religion and must be permitted to operate as it does, even if it sometimes engages in research that we might personally find objectionable.

Many Christians don’t understand science and the scientific method. This is unfortunate, because I believe that it helps our point of view as much as it does the opposition’s. I’ll cover this first on the very next page.

The bottom line for us is this: if there is a God who created this cosmos (and we certainly believe this), we have nothing to fear from science — provided it follows the rules fairly and honestly.

I do have a suggestion and I hope you won’t take it the wrong way. Don’t try to memorize what you read here and then seek out an argument with a committed skeptic. Send them to this Website instead, then pray for me.

(Seriously. This is my ministry. I’ve been doing it for decades.)

And If You Insist …

It’s hard to find most of this information online and in lay-readable form. Most of the really good, laycreature-level and readable stuff is in copyrighted books. Dr. Ross’s Creator And The Cosmos (already mentioned) is probably the best all-around choice.

But be aware that if you tell a skeptic to “read this book,” he’s not likely to do it. He’ll do a Web search for a review written by a fellow skeptic and then dismiss it out of hand. (We won’t call this confirmation bias, because that would annoy them and we’re all friends here.)

Second, understand the mindset that you’re dealing with. For many decades, skeptics felt that they held the intellectual high ground. Evolution had been accepted as scientific fact and the Genesis account was considered a myth at best.

When Big Bang Cosmology entered the picture, they were caught flatfooted at first. (I speak from experience. I Was There™.) Purely out of habit, they brought their existing paradigm to that discussion with all of the usual “Appeals.”

The evolution of life and the evolution of galaxies and stars are two completely different things. (Dr. Davies devotes a nice section to this in Cosmic Jackpot.) Biological evolution has feedback mechanisms that force life to adapt, regardless of whether you attribute it to a Creator or to Dawkin’s Blind Watchmaker.

At the gut level, skeptics believe that there must (drum roll!), MUST (shouting!), M-U-S-T (thunderbolts and lightning, very frightening …) be some equivalent principle at work in the Cosmos at large, that we just haven’t discovered it yet.

We’ll sidestep the obvious, that to believe in things that haven’t been observed and/or demonstrated is, by definition, faith. From the skeptic’s point of view, it’s just a matter of time. Christians used the God Of The Gaps against biological evolution, only to have each “gap” closed with new discoveries. Not surprisingly, skeptics feel that the track record is on their side.

You’re going to have a difficult time making the committed non-believer see that the clear trend in astrophysics is precisely the opposite. In a recent interview, Dr. Ross said that there are many Christian Believers in Cosmology now. A few years ago I read a survey that said the same, but that the least likely to Believe (note capital “B”) were paleontologists. (Heh.)

For My Atheist Friends

There are many amongst your group who honestly, sincerely think that any belief in God “taints” the mind. A quick Google search showed me hit after hit of skeptic, freethinker and atheistic Websites and forums that proclaimed — nay, trumpeted — that very thing.

(My very most favorite was the guy who yelled, “IF YOU BELIEVE IN GOD RATHER THAN SCIENCE YOU MIGHT AS WELL UNPLUG YOUR COMPUTER!!”)

We’ll ignore the fact that some of the greatest scientists in history have been Believers — from Isaac Newton to the late Allan Sandage, winner of the Crafoord Prize, considered by some to be equal to a Nobel in Astronomy. We’ll roll with it for a moment, because I want to make a point.

(I’m sure you’re shocked.)

Activist Atheism Can Thwart Scientific Progress, Too

The classic example from skeptics is that geologists were once constrained to describe rock layers as “pre-flood” or “post-flood.” Hey, the Bible taught that there was a Flood, so it had to be true, right? “So,” concludes the atheist ominously, “who knows how badly scientific progress was delayed by religious interference?!?”

Well … *cough* … the finger points both ways on that, my friend.

The late John Maddox, long-time editor at Nature magazine, is one example. A committed atheist, that man hated Big Bang Cosmology with a glowing passion. During his tenure, you rarely saw anything favorable to that theory in Nature. So much for scientific objectivity.

A better example is the late Fred Hoyle, also an outspoken atheist; in fact, t’was he who coined the derisive term, “Big Bang” and the name stuck. Hoyle hated it for the same reason as Maddox: because it implied a beginning and because Western theologians were latching onto it.

Hoyle hated the Big Bang so badly, he (and some friends) developed the Steady State Theory primarily for that reason. Even after his theory was falsified and abandoned, he and a few other diehards continued to argue for it.

Hoyle was a character and an oddball, but there’s no doubt he was a genius. Now for the big question:  how much would science have advanced if he and his fellows had been able to put aside their non-belief and work on improving the Big Bang?

Physician, heal thyself. Let’s just agree that all of us need to let science follow the facts where they lead … even if it supports my point of view instead of yours. (Heh.)

Some have asked, “why has God only recently allowed discoveries that point to a Designer?” It’s not “recent.” God has always done this. He provides testimony as needed for the people of each era.

Romans 1:18-20 says that what is known about God is “evident” within us, because “God has made it evident.” Verse 20 makes this clear:

For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse. (NASB)

We are blessed with more and better evidence because He decided that we needed it. It’s that simple.

Getting Your Mind Right

There’s a simple, logical procession to the questions that arise in any discussion of origins and a Creator. First, determine if there might be a transcendent creator. Arguing about whether he or she is the Flying Spaghetti Monster or the God of the Bible is pointless until you get that settled.

Second, you can decide what the nature of that God might be. I’ll warn you now what I’m going to show you here: given what we know about this Cosmos, the only good fit, of all the worlds major religions, is … Jesus the Christ.

The most common mistake made by non-believers is “inside the box” thinking — their minds are stuck inside this Cosmos, where, for example, it IS nonsense for someone to be both plural and singular at the same time (i.e., the Trinity). But God is outside of our spacetime. The rules “in here” don’t apply to Him.

And finally, you need to accept that there are fundamental, critical and life-changing differences between religions. The modern tendency to lump all together as “imperfect searches for God” is flat wrong. I am a Christian for solid reasons and I can defend my faith.

(Fellow Believers, the image below gives you an idea of how the Intelligentsia view you and me. To them, we’re no different from a medicine man wearing a weird outfit or a shaman beating on a drum to bring the rain.)

Clockwise from upper left: an Inuit
medicine man, John Wesley, an Imam
and a group of Tuvan Shamans.

And if you still disagree with me after having read this?

I hope that you will at least treat me (or the loved one who sent you here, if that’s the case) with a bit more respect.

My faith in God is not a blind suspension of reason. It isn’t “personal incredulity” or a desperate psychological need for a “God of the Gaps” or any other such nonsense.

Have the courtesy to at least acknowledge that I arrived at my beliefs after a long, thoughtful process.

The end result of decades of study is that I am now more convinced than ever that there is a God and that He loves us.

Use the menu to the left, or click here to proceed to “How Science Works.”