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This summer, Oakland presented a sermon series that explored intelligent faith. Are we here because of Darwinian evolution or Intelligent Design? Is the earth very young or very old? Is Star Trek really superior to Star Wars? Is assimilation by the Borg the greatest danger facing Earth? (oops… I digress!)
Are science and faith on a collision course or working together for the truth?
It’s been in the news. Now it’s front and center at Oakland. This series about a Creator God will examine the science, challenge your presuppositions, and engage your gray matter!
In “Much More Than Gray Matter”, we look at the two basic philosophical interpretations of the mind-body problem. We show how biblical teaching and scientific findings point to our being both physical matter and mind/spirit/consciousness rather than the physicalist view that says we are basically just physical gray matter!
“What a Difference A Day Makes!” takes a look at Genesis 1 and shows how with an appropriate point-of-view the Genesis account mirrors what science says is the order of creation. We make a case for the more accurate literal meaning of the days of Creation being day-age rather than 24 hour days.
“Does Irreducible Complexity Point to God?” examines the evidence from biochemistry and the irreducible complexity of the very smallest parts of God’s creation within the human cell. When Psalm 139 says that we are fearfully and wonderfully made, scientists are now seeing just that through their electron microscopes at a level no one dreamed possible.
In “What in the World is Anthropic Fine-tuning?” we talk about a Goldilock’s universe that is so finely tuned that it is just right for life, and an earth that is located just right for observation and study. This Anthropic fine-tuning is becoming a witness to scientists as they study the universe, just as Romans 1 said it would be
In “What do the Cosmos Tell Us About the Creator?” we discuss the big bang beginning to the universe and also what in Christian apologetics is called the Cosmological argument for the existence of God. Simply stated it says that
• Anything that begins to exist has a cause.
• The universe (including matter, energy, space, and time) began to exist.
• Therefore, the universe has a cause.
In “How do Science and Christianity Fit Together?” we look at several models for relating science and Christianity: the conflict model, compartmentalization model and the convergence models. Based on the Romans 1 claim that nature reveals God’s character, the appropriate model for the Christian is convergence. Science and Christianity are not in conflict and we shouldn’t compartmentalize them either—viewing the world scientifically at work and through the eyes of faith on Sunday morning. The convergence view sees them as having distinctive purposes but agreeing in the things they both address.
In “Developing An Intelligent Faith”, we point out that Jesus said you are to love the Father with your mind. Faith and reason work very nicely together and we must not relegate reason and intellectual knowledge to the secular world and faith to the religious community. This series seeks to look at the knowledge gained through the natural sciences and the faith of the Bible and demonstrate the convergence of the two.
If you have missed this series, don't dispair. They are all available on our Audio/Video Downloads page.
Science and Christianity is a big topic, too big to cover all of it in six messages.
For this reason, we have provided downloadable articles:
The Cosmological Argument for the Existence of God, by Joshua Alexander
The Convergence of Science & Christianity, by Joshua Alexander
Below, you will find a list of books that we highly recommendfor further research on this facinating subject.
Worship Services: 9:00 am & 10:45 am
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