Starting Points

     Every idea and every world-view has a starting point. We like to think that we can be objective but in reality, that is just not possible. We bring our own assumptions and perspectives to every thing we think about and every discussion we have. Ultimately the only real objectivity we can have is to be aware of our bias and work with it, doing what we can to look at things in the best and most honest way possible. Our understanding of objectivity is especially important when discussing God and in particular His existence and relationship with modern “science.”

     It is important to remember that no one has or can disprove the existence of God. Since God is apart from nature -above and beyond it, really- nothing that you study 'in' nature can either totally prove or disprove His existence. Now the Bible does talk about seeing God in nature:

“...because what may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them. For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse,”

(Romans 1:19-20)

We see that nature does reveal some limited information about God, not the gospel to be sure, but enough so that men are “without excuse.” In our modern day people down-play this truth and a great deal of study is done really, just to come up with excuses as to how God wasn't involved in our beginnings. Yet still, after all that study and experimentation they can never 'prove' that what they say happened the way it happened nor does it preclude God's involvement, let alone to say whether He exists or not.

     The real heart of the matter is this, the Bible never tries to prove the existence of God. Seriously, read through it (which you should be doing anyway!). From beginning to end the Bible presupposes the existence of God.

“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.”

(Genesis 1:1)

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God.”

(John 1:1-2)

This is also important as it brings us (finally) to the main point today, everybody has presuppositions. Those who do not believe in God are not at that point because they have been convinced by some winning argument or eloquent speech, they have simply chosen to believe that God is not, they presuppose the non-existence of God.  Once that choice is made every idea that comes after is filtered through that perspective. All the 'evidence' and argument that might lead to a belief in Him becomes turned to the other direction.

     The point here today is not to bandy talking points back and forth. I am not here today to argue creation or the existence of a higher power. I am here to say that the atheist who puts down the Christian for “assuming” that God exists instead of using evidence is covering up the fact that they are just as biased. We don't kneed to prove God to people, they already know He's there.

“...because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools, and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man; and birds and four-footed animals and creeping things.”

(Romans 1:21-23)

     Whether or not they want to admit this is their issue to deal with. God has called us to tell the world of Him and let the Spirit work on their hearts. We are nothing more than paperboys on the corner of the world, calling out to those around us and hoping someone listens. Remember that no one but God is objective and everyone brings opinions to the debate; don't let anyone tell you otherwise.

The Missing Source

     Probably the biggest or at least the most public battle in the Christian world today is the debate over origin. Christians such as the well known Ken Ham of Asnwers in Genesis continue to propose the idea of Biblical creation and the naturalists such as Richard Dawkins continues to promote the belief in naturalistic evolution as the means by which we came to be. Both sides have spilled a lot of ink and used up a lot of bandwidth and a lot of screen time arguing over particulars and data points and yes's and no's. Oddly enough though, there's a few points that are rarely if ever brought up.

     First let's talk about eternity and nothing. This is the question: Was there ever a point when there was nothing? Does it matter? Actually it matters quite a bit because those who claim that the universe created itself from nothing are standing on, well, nothing. Look at the word 'nothing', it literally means “no” “thing.” If there is nothing there, than nothing can happen. You can't have chemical reactions without chemicals, you can't have friction without things to rub against each other, and you can't have even have time without something to 'pass through it.' Now some would argue that you can create something from nothing but don't listen to them. They're using logical dishonesty because energy is still a 'thing.' If there was ever a time when there was truly nothing, then there could never be anything. So ultimately even the evolutionist has to agree with the creationist on one point, there is something that has the power to exist within itself, ie. something that has always been. The naturalist will say it's matter and energy or just energy, while the creationist will say it is God. Others might try and propose an infinite regression of creators. That this was created by that, which was created by this other thing, which was in turn created by this other other thing, etc. This is of course preposterous and not worth even discussing.

     The second issue is a bit more odd to describe; where did information come from? Let me put it this way, matter is essentially stuff and energy is energy but where does data fit in? It's not made of matter nor energy and you can't hold information in a jar. You can store information in matter and in energy but neither one can make it. Here's anther way of looking about it: chemical reactions. When you put vinegar and baking soda together, what happens? It bubbles and swells out to a much larger size, right? Why? You can look into the science and understand what is happening in the reaction but why do those particular vinegar bits now how they should react to those baking soda bits? We don't find a long list or rules for the behavior of atoms written on their itty-bitty parts, and there's no explanation as to why they should react one way and not another. 

     Think of DNA, the life instructions. It's all find and dandy to say that it contains all the data needed to build a life form, but that arrangement of chemicals is only useful because the parts of cells know how to read that information. They know the language. If you took a bag full of scrabble tiles and had a group of people pull them at random, it's entirely possible that someone might eventually spell a word, like bat for example. That might sound amazing, but those three 'letters' are just ink on wood. The are completely without meaning and use without the knowledge of the specific English language! The reality is that matter has never been seen and simply cannot create information, only an intelligence can. So even if matter existed forever, there's still no way for it to interact because there would be no rules, no instructions for how the pieces should fit. Here's where it get's really interesting; even if that information did exist on it's own, there's no reason for it to stay that way. In the chaos and anarchy of a randomly generated world there is no authority, no power that makes things stay the same so the rules of matter that exist today could theoretically change tomorrow! When God runs things however, when an all powerful creator makes and keeps existence, everything dances to His drumbeat. He keeps matter in line, He adds data and information to dead matter, He makes life and order even possible!

     So there we go, a look at a couple of issues that don't get talked about much. Give 'em a turn or two around your mind and let me know what you think. Apart from all the information being used in the evolution/creation debate these are a couple of ideas that really make you pause and consider their implications, and getting people to think is something Christians should be doing all the time.