Doubting God - Faith and Science

 

We are in a series called Doubting God where we have looked at different reasons why people doubt the existence of God.  Today we are going to talk about science, and I am going to tell you right now that I am not a scientist.  In fact, science was my least favorite class in school.  I took what I had to in High School to graduate, but all I remember of science class was when we had to dissect frogs and sheep eyes. 

Science has just never been my thing, so for me there is no conflict between science and faith.  When I see the amazing pictures from the Hubble telescope, I don’t worry about how all those galaxies formed, I just stand in awe of God’s vast creation and think of Psalm 19:1-2.  The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands.  Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they reveal knowledge.

For many people, however, science and faith just don’t go together, you have to pick one or the other.  People see science and faith as competing with each other instead of working in cooperation with each other.  That science can cause people to doubt the existence of God is nothing new.  

In the 3rd century, Augustine of Hippo, also known as St. Augustine was concerned that the educated people of his day would see a conflict between faith and science and would also reject their faith.  In his writings, Augustine said that any conflict between science and faith was because people either misunderstood science or they were misinterpreting the Bible. What Augustine talked about 1700 years ago still is true today.  When we see science and faith in conflict, it might be because we are misunderstanding science or misinterpreting the Bible.  

While I am not a scientist, what I do know about science is that things changes.  The definition of science is: the systematic study of the structure and behavior of the physical and natural world through observation, experimentation, and the testing of theories against the evidence obtained.

It only makes sense that as we learn more about our world, theories about how things work will change.  For example, at one point in time science told us that the earth was the center of the universe and the sun, moon, stars and planets all revolve around us.  That is what we observed so that is what science told us.  But as we learned more about the world, things changed.  In the 16th century Copernicus came along and proposed a theory that the sun was the center of the solar system.  Scientific ideas changed.  The more we learn about things, the more our theories and ideas about what we know to be true will change.  

We saw this play out in front of our eyes these past few years as we learned more about covid-19.  At first, we believed covid could be spread through surface contact.  We wiped down all our groceries and you couldn’t find any clorox wipes in the stores.  As we learned more about covid, we realized that it wasn’t surface transmission we needed to worry about but respiratory droplets, so masks were suggested, then mandated.  And there is lots of science about the effectiveness of masks but I am smart enough to not go there.    

Just as science changes as we learn more facts, so does what we know about our faith and the Bible.  For example, if we don’t know that the Bible is full of poetry, we might think that the Lord is an actual shepherd tending a flock of sheep.  And if we don’t know how to interpret the symbolic meaning of words we might think Jesus was an actual lamb who was slain.  

The Bible contains several different types of literature and we can’t read them all the same.  We read the prophets differently than the psalms, and the gospels differently from the letters Paul wrote to the churches.  The more we learn about the Bible the more we understand about our faith and at times see things differently.  

So if today’s science and faith seem to be competing with each other, maybe we don’t know enough about science, or maybe we have misconceptions or misunderstandings about our faith.  Either way, we don’t need to throw out our faith when things don’t add up.  Just because we don’t understand everything doesn’t mean we can’t believe in something.  We don’t do that with science.  I don’t know how a car works but I still drive.  I don’t have any idea how a 700,000 pound airplane can get off the ground but I still fly - I just try not to think about it as the plane lifts off the ground.  Just because we don’t understand everything in science doesn’t mean we toss it all out, and the same needs to be true with our faith.  

Just because we don’t have an answer to every question we have about God doesn’t mean we can’t believe in God.  Not understanding everything we read in the gospels doesn’t mean we can’t believe in Jesus.  Just because we don’t understand everything doesn’t mean we can’t believe in something.  When we struggle to see how faith and science can work together, we don’t throw out the faith and we don’t throw out the science.  What we need to do is dig deeper into both.  

For many people, the conflict between faith and science starts at the beginning, literally, the beginning of creation and the beginning of the Bible.  Many people look at the creation story in Genesis 1 and say that this is a great example of how faith and science can’t be reconciled.  Either you have to believe that God created the world in 7 days, or you have to  believe that the world came into being over millions of years.  Many say faith and science can’t work together in creation, but what if they can.  

In Genesis 1, it says that in the beginning there was nothing but God.  Then God spoke, and at that word the world came into being.  This sounds very close to what science calls the big bang theory.  Nasa explains the Big Bang Theory as the idea that the universe began as just a single point, then expanded and stretched to grow as large as it is right now—and it is still stretching!

300 years ago the authors of Genesis said the same thing.  There was nothing, just a formless void, and then God spoke and bang - the world came into being.  Science says that the world continued to grow and expand and that is what Genesis says too.  Each day of creation, the world expanded.  First there was water, then dry ground, then seed bearing plants.  Notice they were seed bearing plants so that more plants could grow and sustain creation. All that had to take place before there could be sea creatures, land animals and then finally human beings.  From a single word, a big bang, a world came into being.  If we look at the big picture, science and faith go hand in hand.  

What we get hung up on in the creation story is the word day.  Was it 24 hours?  Was it a thousand years?  Was it ten million years?  Does it matter?  The larger biblical story of creation goes along with what science seems to say about creation.  It’s just that for us it wasn’t a big bang but a powerful word.  For us there is an intelligent and loving being behind what took place and many scientists are also beginning to believe that there had to be some kind of intelligent being behind creation.  

As we look at the detail and precision of creation, more and more scientists are beginning to think that there has to be some kind of intelligence involved in our world.  For example, there are more than 150 astronomical constants that are needed for there to be life on earth.  Astronomical constants are things like how fast the earth rotates, how close we are to the sun, and the exact tilt of the earth’s axis.  If any of these 150 things are off just a fraction of a percent, there would be no life on earth.  

The likelihood of all these things randomly taking place was calculated by the atheist scientist, Sir Roger Penrose.  He said that the odds of the earth accidentally forming the way it did to sustain life is 10 billion to the 123rd power.  That number is so large that if you put a zero on every particle in the universe, you still would not be able to write it out because there would not be enough particles.  You would have much better odds winning the lottery every day for 10,000 years.  The late Christopher Hitchens, one of the most influential atheists of the 20th century called this the most compelling argument for the existence of God.  

Instead of the creation story and the science of creation competing with each other, maybe they actually complement each other.  We don’t have to give up our intellect to believe that God created the world.  Many scientists have concluded that there not only was a single moment when the world began but that an intelligent being set it all into motion, or as we might say, spoke it all into being.   

Another place where faith and science often collide is when we look at Jesus.  Can we trust that there actually was a man named Jesus who lived and died in the first century?  And is there evidence that this same Jesus physically rose from the dead?  If there was not a Jesus who lived, died, and rose again,  then truly, our faith means nothing.  The Apostle Paul said, if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith.  1 Corinthians 15:14

If Jesus has not been raised from the dead and if there never was a man named Jesus then truly there is no faith, but there is evidence for Jesus and His resurrection.  From sources outside of the Bible and early Christian writings we know that there was a man named Jesus who lived in the first century.  The Roman historian Josephus tells us this and that He was known to be a wise man who had a following of both Jews and Gentiles, and was put to death by Pontius Pilate.  

These are solid facts we know about Jesus.  Very few people dispute that Jesus is an actual historical figure, but what about his resurrection?  Are there any facts to back it up?  There are.  We need to remember that the story of Jesus rising from the dead was not welcomed by either the Jewish leaders or the Roman authorities.  These were the people who controlled everything throughout Israel.  The easiest way for them to put an end to the Jesus movement would have been to produce the body of Jesus - but they never did.  The Romans were the ones to execute Him and the Jewish leaders were the ones who wanted to silence Him so if His body could have been produced to stop the movement, they would have been eager to do it.  But they didn’t.  They couldn’t.  

Some people say that the tomb was empty because Jesus didn’t really die on the cross, He just passed out.  After a few days of rest in the coolness of the tomb, Jesus got up and simply walked away.  This swoon theory, however, doesn’t hold up with what we know about Roman crucifixions.  

The Romans were experts at crucifixions.  The soldiers knew when someone was dead and they made sure there were no mistakes.  A mistake might cost them their lives.  The gospels tell us that the soldiers were surprised Jesus had died so quickly so they pierced  His side and water and blood flowed out.  They were making sure He was dead.  There is no way Roman soldiers would have risked their lives and not checked to make sure that Jesus was dead.

Some people say that Jesus' body couldn't be produced by the Romans or religious leaders because the disciples stole it.  Pastor David shared with us last week that the disciples wouldn’t have taken Jesus’ body, hidden it, and then died for what they knew to be a lie.  If you knew that Jesus’ body was hiding in another tomb, you wouldn’t put yourself through some of the pain the disciples endured before their death.  The disciples didn’t die of old age believing in the risen Jesus, they died because they believed in the risen Jesus.  

While we don’t know exactly how every disciple died, tradition tells us that several of them were crucified, some were beheaded and one may have been flayed.  We do know how the disciple James died.  In Acts 12:1-2 it says

King Herod arrested some who belonged to the church, intending to persecute them. He had James, the brother of John, put to death with the sword.

It doesn’t make sense that the disciples of Jesus would suffer such intense persecution if they had not seen the risen Jesus.  

But the greatest evidence for the resurrection of Jesus is the radically changed lives of the disciples and the Apostle Paul.  Peter had been so afraid of the Jewish leaders that he denied even knowing Jesus, but 40 days later he was standing in the Temple courts in Jerusalem telling people that the risen Jesus was the son of God.  That doesn’t happen without 100% believing what you are saying.    

The Apostle Paul persecuted the early followers of Jesus and even stood by when Stephen was stoned to death.  Stephen refused to give up his faith in the resurrection of Jesus and became the first martyr of the church.  Paul was right there cheering it on and yet not long after that he had an encounter with the risen Jesus that changed his life.  Paul went from persecuting the followers of Jesus to preaching that the risen Jesus was Savior and Lord.  That doesn’t happen without having an encounter with the risen Jesus.  

Part of the reason I believe in God and follow Jesus as my Savior and Lord, is because of the evidence I see.  I look at creation and am convinced that it was not a random accident.  I was listening to a lecture this week on Darwin’s Origin of Species and scientists who were not believers in Jesus  said that the more we learn about how we are made, the more implausible his theory becomes.  I believe in a creator God who made us in His image because as the Bible says, we are fearfully and wonderfully made.  Those words are backed up by science.  

I follow Jesus because of the evidence that He was a real man who lived and died in the first century, and after looking at the evidence, I believe He rose again.  I believe His words are true because the Jesus movement, first called The Way, began in the days after His death and resurrection.  People who know Jesus and heard him preach shared his message and wrote down his words and that truth continues to this day.  

I also believe because I have heard the voice of God.  I heard God say to me that with Him there is life and without Him there is death.  I trust Jesus because after I accepted Christ as my Savior and Lord, my life changed.  Sorrow was turned to joy, doubt became a new and living faith, and fear was replaced by hope and love.  My life changed, and while I wasn’t made perfect in those moments, and while I still struggle with sin and failure in my life, I trust the words of Jesus who said, Father forgive them, for they don’t know what they are doing.  

Science and faith might not always line up perfectly but don’t turn away from either faith or science, dig deeper into both and allow the truth, God’s truth, to set you free.  

One final word to those who are looking for science to prove the existence of God and the reality of Jesus’ death and resurrection.  Don’t ask for more clarity and answers and proof, ask for the ability to trust.  Trust the One who not only created the world with purpose but who created you for a purpose.  Trust the one who has worked to reveal Himself to us in different ways.  More answers and more proof will only lead to more questions and more doubt.  Ask for the ability to trust.  Ask the living God, the one you are searching for in science to speak to your heart and allow you trust the evidence God provides all around us.  At some point faith in God is just that, faith.  The conviction of things hoped for and the assurance of things unseen.  

Next Steps

Doubting God - Science and Faith

What scientific “fact” has challenged what you believe about God, Jesus, or the Bible?  How have you resolved this?  

Why do you think we have to believe either in science or our faith (the Bible)?  Is it possible to believe in science AND faith? Where do see cooperation and where do you see conflict?   

Science and Creation

Genesis 1. Read the creation story. 

How might this story and what science tells us about creation go together?  

Science and the Resurrection of Jesus

Can we trust that Jesus actually rose from the dead?  We can, by exploring the alternative theories of Jesus' empty tomb and how “science” might disprove them.

How might science disprove these theories:

● Swoon Theory

● Wrong Tomb Theory

● Hallucination Theory

● Theft Theory

Why do you believe in the resurrection of Jesus?

How has the risen Jesus changed your life?

To learn more about how to study the Bible, join Jeff Martin on Thursday nights at 7:30 during June & July.  

Doubting Others

 

The pictures and stories of a mission trip inspire our faith.  The testimonies of how God provided what was needed at just the right moment and watching followers of Jesus put their faith into action  to help others can draw people to God and it helps all of us grow deeper in our faith.  What we say and do makes a difference and can help people believe and trust in Jesus, but the opposite is also true.  People can be turned off and doubt the very existence of God because of what they see and hear from people who say they are a Christian but then fail to look anything like Jesus 

We are in a series called Doubting God and one of the big reasons people doubt God and turn away from Jesus has nothing to do with what they believe about God or Jesus, it has to do with what they see in people who claim to believe in God and follow Jesus but then don’t look anything like Jesus Himself.  When we see people posting Bible verses on social media but then hear or see them doing things that go against those very verses - we not only doubt the authenticity of their faith but it can turn people off from wanting to follow God at all.  It’s like getting flipped off by a driver on the highway only to have them pull in front of you and you see a bumper sticker that says “I love Jesus”.  When the world sees people who say they follow Jesus act in ways that don’t reflect Jesus, it has the power to turn them away from Jesus.  

And let’s not forget that the scandals, abuse, corruption, and hate that has come from different churches for hundreds of years doesn’t only turn people away from the church, but from the One the church says they love and follow - Jesus.  

Author Brennan Manning said: The greatest single cause of atheism in the world today is Christians: who acknowledge Jesus with their lips, walk out the door, and deny Him by their lifestyle. That is what an unbelieving world simply finds unbelievable.  

For many people, this is why they don’t want to be part of any church or seek to develop any kind of a relationship with God.  

As a new pastor, I had the son of a church member, a man about my age who didn’t attend worship and was not active in his faith, make an appointment to come and see me.  As we talked, he shared with me that when he was a youth, a youth leader at the church had touched him and some other boys inappropriately.  This was years before all the abuse and scandals of the church were making the news and he didn’t want me to do anything about it, he just wanted me to know.  The deep hurt and disillusionment of this teenager caused him to leave the church as an adult and have deep doubts about God.  If God is so good and loving, how could His people do this and how could God let it happen?    

Not long after that, a colleague of mine, a pastor who had become a friend and mentor, admitted to having an affair with a young woman in his church.  I was devastated and hurt by his actions.  The depth of hypocrisy I saw in him was hard to process.  It was a difficult time for me personally and for his congregation.  I ended up listening to several people from his church who were having a hard time believing and trusting God because of his actions.  

I remember sitting in one of my first seminary classes and the professor said, as a pastor, you have the power to….  He paused.  I thought he was going to say help people or change the world.  He said… hurt people.  We can hurt people physically and emotionally but also spiritually.  Our actions can cause people to doubt and turn away from God.  

If you have been hurt by someone who claimed to have loved God and followed Jesus but whose actions caused you pain or harm, I’m sorry.  I’m sorry that you had to go through what you did.  I’m sorry the church didn’t do more to protect and care for you.  If you have been hurt, I pray you will find healing and hope and that if you need guidance in how to find this in Jesus that you will give us a chance to offer you help.  I also pray that you would not let the actions of those who have hurt you keep you from the love God has for you and from the healing and new life that can be found in Jesus.  God won’t let you down and Jesus will not fail you.    

If this kind of hypocrisy disturbs and angers you, you are not alone.  It disturbed and angered Jesus.  While we know Jesus was full of love and grace, He also had very harsh and critical words for those who said one thing about their faith and yet did something else.  

Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of the bones of the dead and everything unclean. In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness.  Matthew 23:27-28

What’s interesting is that Jesus is not calling out their sinful behaviors, He is calling out their show.  They are making themselves look good and righteous, but they know that they are not living the life of faith that God has laid out for His people.  They are wearing a mask and acting a part and that is the original meaning of the word hypocrite.

The word hypocrite comes from the Greek word hypokrites which means an actor, or a stage player.  In the ancient Greek theater, actors would wear a mask to portray different characters.  One actor could take on different roles because they could wear different masks.  Up until the time of Jesus, the word hypocrite was only used in the context of the theater.  Jesus is the one who began to use the word to mean something different.  

17 times the word hypocrite is found in the Bible and each time it comes from the mouth of Jesus, and each time He uses it, Jesus is calling out the behavior of people who are showing the world that they are living faithfully for God, but who are actually living a very different life.  They are whitewashed tombs - they look beautiful on the outside, they appear loving and faithful, but inside they are filled with decaying corpses. They are filled with sin and pride and greed and they don’t want to change.  

While there is no excuse for this kind of hypocrisy and we need to guard against it in our lives, it’s also helpful for us to think about why people act this way.  It might help us have compassion for those who do say one thing but do something else, but it also might help us not turn from God when we see this kind of hypocrisy around us.  Here are three reasons people might say one thing about their faith and yet do something very different.  

1. Some claim to be Christian, but they don’t belong to Jesus.    

This is nothing new.  The Apostle Paul wrote to his companion Titus who was leading a new church.  This is what he said about people INSIDE the church.  They claim to know God, but by their actions they deny him. They are detestable, disobedient and unfit for doing anything good.  Titus 1:16

While it’s not our place to judge the heart of anyone, we need to remember that just because someone goes to church doesn’t make them a true follower of Jesus.  Believing in God doesn’t make someone a follower of Jesus.  Some people will let us down because while they say they follow Jesus, they simply have not acknowledged and repented of their sin.  They have not asked Jesus to forgive them.  They have not asked the power of God to change them or the Holy Spirit to lead them into a new life.  They claim to be Christian, but they don’t really belong to Jesus.    

2. Some are Christians but they are not mature.  

The author of Hebrews said, Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil.  Hebrews 5:13-14

When we first become followers of Jesus we are not perfected in a moment.  At the beginning of our faith, we don’t know all the teachings that lead us to a righteous life.  We don’t know how to act or what to say so that we are honoring God and being a reflection of Jesus. Even when we learn them, it takes a while for us to make these new ways of living a part of our life. So we often see actions that don’t reflect Jesus when people are new in their faith.   

Again, when I was a pastor in Altoona there was a family that started attending our worship.  They had never been part of a church before and let’s just say that their actions reflected it.  They were very rough around the edges, but they were learning about Jesus and what it means to follow Him.  One day someone told me that they saw this family at a gas station and waved to them, the mother waved back but with just one finger raised.  

The person who shared this with me wasn’t offended and we talked about how following Jesus was new for them and they were still maturing and growing.  While it’s hard to not be offended when we see hypocrisy like this, it’s also important to be patient and gracious like Jesus was in dealing with people.  My hope is that we all see our own need to grow and mature which will give us patience when we see it in others.  

The third reason we see hypocrisy in the church is this:

3. Some are Christians, and maturing, and still mess up.  

Just because we follow Jesus doesn’t mean we won’t sin.  We can love Jesus and still find ourselves caught up in our own lies.  We can love Jesus and still find ourselves short tempered and critical.  We can love Jesus and still find ourselves giving in to temptation, being filled with pride and longing for all the things of this world.  This is not an excuse to keep on sinning.  We can’t say, well I’m always going to be a sinner so there is nothing I can do.  No, we need to constantly grow and mature in our relationship with God and daily we need to ask Jesus to be part of our lives by the power of the Holy Spirit so that we might encourage people to believe instead of causing them to doubt. 

The reality is we are and always will be sinners.  We may deeply love Jesus but will still miss the mark.  If you think you are not prone to this kind of sin and hypocrisy, if you think you are above temptation, then let me tell you that you are one of the most vulnerable.  The Bible says that pride comes before a fall and pride is one of the easiest ways for us to miss the mark and it is often the pride of Christians that drives people away from God.  

For those of us in the church, we need to recognize that how we live out our faith impacts the faith of others.  Our hypocrisy can cause others to doubt.  Our failures can cause others to leave the church and turn away from their faith.  While we can’t be perfect, when we make mistakes, miss the mark, and do things that don’t line up with the example of Jesus, we need to admit our mistakes, take ownership of our failures, and ask for forgiveness from those we have hurt.  Living this way in itself makes a difference.  When the world around us says, never admit to a mistake and never tell people you are wrong, when we own up to our failures and ask for forgiveness, we show the world what faith and trust in Jesus really looks like.  

We need to remember that while Jesus had zero tolerance for hypocrisy, He had unlimited grace for sinners in need of forgiveness.  There might be times God will call out our hypocrisy, or point out the ways that our attitudes, words, and actions might be driving others away from God - in those moments we need to seek forgiveness and commit to learning how to change with the help of the Holy Spirit.  We can’t be perfect, we will make mistakes, we just need to be honest and humble and ask God for His help and mercy.  

Now to those who have been let down, disappointed, and even deeply hurt by people who claim to follow Jesus but whose words and actions don’t reflect it, again, let me say I’m sorry.  Please don’t let a few people keep you from knowing the love of God and the healing power of Jesus.  While our faith is often shaped by the people around us, our faith can never be in those people. People will let us down, people will get it wrong, but Jesus won’t.  Jesus won’t let us down so instead of looking to people, let us look to Jesus.  

The author of Hebrews gives us a list of people who were amazing examples of faith.  He talks about Noah, Abraham and Sarah, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph.  He mentions Rahab the prostitute, Samuel and David and all the prophets.  He talks about all the amazing people who help us believe in God but then he says this…

Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith.  Hebrews 12:1-2

While he points out amazing people of faith, he doesn’t tell us to fix our eyes on them.  He tells us to look to Jesus.  Jesus alone is the pioneer and perfecter of our faith.  Jesus alone is the one who will lead us deeper into a relationship with God.  While people can be a support and witness, there will be a time when they will fail and disappoint us.  Each person listed in Hebrews failed and let others down - but Jesus did not.  If we lose faith in God because of people, then maybe our faith was never in God but only in people.  If that has happened, then fix your eyes on Jesus and allow Him to give new life to your faith.  

One final word, if you have been hurt or disappointed by people here at Faith Church - I’m sorry.  We don’t always get it right.  I don’t always get it right.  We often miss the mark of what it means to follow Jesus and at times we end up doing things that let people down and saying things that might end up turning people away from God.  We have, and will mess up, and I’m sorry.  While we strive to be a reflection of Jesus in our love, our words and actions might betray that love.  Please don’t put your faith and trust in us - if you do, you will be disappointed.  Put your faith in Jesus.  Fix your eyes on Him.  Let the living God reveal to you who He is and how His love and grace can change your life.  Fix your eyes on Jesus and let Him be the author of your faith.  

Next Steps 

Doubting God - Doubting Others

When has a follower of Jesus disappointed you and caused you to struggle in your faith?  When have you been hurt by other Christians or the church?  

● If you need to talk about this with someone, seek out a trusted friend or counselor to find help and healing.  

● How can you learn to forgive and find a renewal of your faith and trust in God?  

When have you failed to live out your faith and perhaps caused people to doubt the goodness and love of God?  

● Have you asked God, and others, to forgive you?  

● Is that something you need to do this week?  

The word hypocrite comes from the Greek theater and means an actor or stage performer.  How did Jesus change the meaning of this world?  

Read Matthew 23:1-36.  What are the 7 woes listed here?

Why do you think Jesus spoke so harshly against religious leaders that He saw as hypocrites?  

Three reasons we often see people say one thing and yet do something else in their faith.

● Some claim to be Christian, but they don’t belong to Jesus.  See Titus 1:16

● Some are Christians but they are not mature.  See Hebrews 5:13-14

● Some are Christians, and maturing, and still mess up. See Romans 7:21-25

How can you make sure you are continuing to grow in your faith?  Consider joining a small group, learning how to read the Bible, or attend the Design class that starts tonight.