God and Science and the Bible Kings College

God and Science and the Bible King’s College, London 6/11/2014 John Oakes Ph. D

First…. . Post-Exile Prophets Saturdays 9: 00 -10: 30 Six consecutive Saturdays Beginning October 4 Light refreshements (aka Jan’s muffins)

Thomas Huxley, Darwin’s “bulldog” “We are as much the product of blind forces as is the falling of a stone to earth, or the ebb and flow of the tides. We have just happened, and man was made flesh by a series of singularly beneficial accidents. ”

RICHARD DAWKINS In the universe of blind physical forces and genetic replication, some people are going to get hurt and other people are going to get lucky: and you won’t find any rhyme or reason to it, nor any justice. The universe we observe has precisely the properties we should expect if there is at the bottom, no design, no purpose, no evil and no good. Nothing but blind, pitiless indifference. DNA neither knows nor cares. DNA just is, and we dance to its music.

Accident or Design? William Paley

The Teleological Argument Evidence for Design in Nature The Anthropic Principle Boeing 747 Design or Accident?

Water 1. Ideal solvent to support life (dissolves ions and molecules 2. Right boiling and melting points 3. High specific heat 4. Solid floats on liquid 5. Contracts from 0 to 4 degrees centigrade

Designed Elements?

Carbon: The Central Element of Life 3 -D molecules Large, complex yet flexible molecules

The Ozone Layer: Is oxygen a designed element?

NO URANIUM, NO PLATE TECTONICS

DNA a) b)

Protein

Nature creates order, but not information

A House of Cards: Order and Information. A much better analogy for living things.

Simplest life form: break it down E. coli: about 1 trillion bits of information. E. coli have 3000 -4000 different proteins. DNA and RNA to make and be made by these proteins. Lipids (membrane), Carbohydrates, etc. The simplest living cell is an unimaginably complex nano factory

“It is mere rubbish to think at this point of the origin of life. One might as well think of the origin of matter. ” Charles Darwin

Science before the 1950 s: The universe was NOT created. Hebrews 11: 3 “By faith we understand that the universe was created… so that what is seen has been made from things that are not visible. ” Genesis 1: 3 God said “Let there be light, ” and there was light. The Big Bang · 1929 Hubble. The Red Shift: The universe is expanding. · 1965 Penzias and Wilson, background microwave radiation. Physicists now: The universe was created.

Physics: The Finely Tuned Universe

. 000000000000000000 0000000001

Fine Tuning of the Universe Constant 1. Gravitational constant 2. Ratio of electrons to protons 3. Strong Nuclear Force 4. Weak Nuclear Force 5. Electric Force 6. Expansion rate of universe 7. Ratio of matter to antimatter and many more…. A Little Bigger A Little Smaller very short-lived stars no stars or galaxies no hydrogen, fusion only hydrogen all H 2 He at big bang no heavy elements no chemical bonding no galaxies universe collapses quickly too much radiation for life not enough matter for galaxies to form

A finely-tuned instrument built by humans. Good to one part in a billion?

Fred Hoyle on Fine-Tuning “… a super-intellect has monkeyed with physics, as well as with chemistry and biology. ”

Antony Flew Considers God. . . Flew is increasingly persuaded that some sort of Deity brought about this universe. He says he has in mind something like the God of Aristotle, a distant, impersonal "prime mover. " It might not even be conscious, but a mere force. In formal terms, he regards the existence of this minimal God as a hypothesis that, at present, is perhaps the best explanation for why a universe exists that can produce complex life

Spiral The Right Kind of Galaxy Irregular Eliptical

The Right Galaxy • Our galaxy is a spiral, which produces stars over much of its history. • Not an elliptical, where star formation ends before there are many heavy elements. • Not an irregular, where radiation events would have destroyed life.

The Right Star Location • Right distance from center of galaxy: - Closer: too much radiation, disruptive gravity - Further: too few heavy elements • Right relation to supernovae: - More or closer: exterminate life - Less or further: too few heavy elements • Right number of stars in system - Zero – pretty cold! - Two or more – unstable orbits if planets at all.

The Right Kind of Star The Goldilocks Star

The Right Kind of Planet Right distance Rocky planet with plenty of oxygen and water Thin, light planetary “crust” Huge moon for stable planetary rotation

Conclusion: “Since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse. ” Romans 1: 20 The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. Day after day they pour fourth speech. Night after night they display knowledge Psalms 19: 1 -2

Part II Science and the Bible Delos B. Mc. Kown: “Christianity is scientifically unsupported and probably insupportable, philosophically suspect at best and disreputable at worst, and historically fraudulent. ”

Papyrus Ebers

The Ebers Papyrus: “To prevent hair from turning gray, anoint it with the blood of a calf which has been boiled in oil or with the fat of a rattlesnake. ” “A mixture of six fats, namely those of the horse, the hippopotamus, the crocodile, the cat, the snake and the ibex. . to prevent hair loss. ”

Drugs of Choice in Papyrus Ebers: Lizards blood Swine’s teeth Putrid meat Moisture from Pigs’ ears Excreta from animals including human beings, donkeys, antelope, dogs, cats and flies

“I will not bring on you any of these diseases. . . ” Exodus 15: 26 “The pig. . . is unclean for you. . . those that walk on their paws. . . the weasel, the rat. . . are unclean for you. ” Leviticus 11

“The sting of a hornet is healed by the house-fly, crushed and applied to the wound. ” “The gnat, feeble creature, taking in food but never secreting it is a specific against the poison of the viper. ” An ancient Hebrew medical manuscript.

“Whoever touches the dead body of anyone will be unclean for seven days. He must purify himself with the water on the third and seventh day. . . take some hyssop, dip it in the water and sprinkle the tent and furnishings and the people who were there. ” Numbers 19

Semelweiss

Vienna, 1847 In maternity wards one out of every six women dies. Obstetricians ascribe deaths to constipation, fear and poisonous air.

Death Rate falls from 18% to 0. 5%

Thymol: A Powerful Disinfectant

Leviticus 13: 46 “As long as he has the infection he remains unclean. He must live alone; he must live outside the camp. ” Quarantine for infectious disease

LEPROSY Killed millions of people in Europe and around the world for thousands of years. “Fear of all other diseases taken together can hardly be compared to the terror spread by leprosy. ” —Dr. George Rosen

Leprosy

MEDICAL COMMUNITY HAD NO ANSWERS They taught that it was brought on by eating hot food, pepper, garlic and the meat of diseased hogs. Other physicians said it was caused by a malign conjunction of the planets. Leviticus 13: 46 “As long as he has the infection he remains unclean. He must live alone; he must live outside the camp. ”

The life is in the blood Leviticus 17: 14 “… the life of every creature is in its blood. That is why I have said to the Israelites, ‘You must not eat the blood of any creature, because the life of every creature is its blood; anyone who eats it must be cut off. ’ ”

Bloodletting The most common medical practice in 1700 s and 1800 s

Bloodletting Instruments from 1800 s 1693). George Tiemann & Co. American armamentarium

“For the generations to come, every male among you who is eight days old must be circumcised. . . ” Genesis 17: 12 Vitamin K Prothrombin: a clotting protein.

Clotting Protein Peaks on Day Eight Available Prothrombin

How Did Abraham Pick the Eighth Day? Day Circumcised Number of Hebrew Boys Number of Deaths 1 823 4 3 759 6 5 693 8 7 855 3 9 770 2 11 698 4

Other reasons I believe the Bible is inspired by God Fulfilled messianic prophecies Fufilled types, prefigures and foreshadows Historical accuracy Consistency of message and lack of contradiction 2 Tim 3: 16 All scripture is inspired by God….