Using science to share the beauty and majesty of God's creation. Lecture by Ed LaBelle.

1. Ed LaBelle
7:00 PM, November 28, 2017
HCBC Apologetics Ministry
“The Heavens Declare the Glory of God”
- PART 1
- Psalm 19:1a
Using Science to Share the Beauty and Majesty
of God’s Creation

2. Outline
PART 1:
• How the “conflict” between Science and Faith is impacting
young Christians
• What does the Bible say about the Creation of the heavens and
earth?
• Review Bible verses related to creation and the heavens.
• How can we use cosmology/astronomy to talk about the God
who created the heavens and earth and each one of us?
PART 2:
• The Psalm 19 Astronomy journey
• Discuss the Psalm 19 educational focus

3. Look to the Heavens and See the
Glory of God!
“Christianity does not start with
“Jesus saves you from your sins”
Instead it starts with “In the
beginning, God created the
heavens and the earth.”
- Francis Schaffer

4. “No philosophical theory which I have
yet come across is a radical
improvement on the words of
Genesis, that ‘In the beginning God
made Heaven and Earth’.”
C.S. Lewis

5. Apollo 8 astronauts Jim Lovell, Frank Borman, and Bill Anders read Genesis 1:1-10 to a
worldwide audience during the first ever Earthrise seen by humans as they orbited the Moon.

6. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_8_Genesis_reading

7. http://www.pewforum.org/2015/05/12/americas-changing-religious-landscape/

8. Pew Research Study – 2015
About half of current religious “nones” who were raised in a
religion (49%) indicate that a lack of belief led them to move
away from religion. This includes many respondents who
mention “science” as the reason they do not believe in
religious teachings, including one who said “I’m a scientist
now, and I don’t believe in miracles.” Others reference
“common sense,” “logic” or a “lack of evidence” – or simply
say they do not believe in God.
http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2016/08/24/why-americas-nones-left-religion-behind/

9. Pew Research Study – 2015
http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2016/08/24/why-americas-nones-left-religion-behind/
Generational replacement is plunging!
Generational Replacement Helping Drive Growth of
Unaffiliated, Decline of Mainline Protestantism and
Catholicism
Silent
Generation
Baby
Boomers
Generation X
Older
Millennials
Younger
Millennials
(born 1928-1945) (born 1946-1964) (born 1965-1980) (born 1981-1989) (born 1990-1996)
Christian 85% 78% 70% 57% 56%
Unaffiliated 11% 17% 23% 34% 36%

10. Top 5 Reasons the Religiously Unaffiliated
Ranks Are Growing (2015)
1. Hypocrisy
2. Intolerance
3. Science
4. Suffering
5. Sacrifice
https://americanpastorsnetwork.net/resource/stumbling-blocks-to-faith/

11. 3. Science
• One of the raging debates as of today is about the
relative merits of science and faith.
• Was man created by God in his own image…or did
man evolve from a cosmic blast?
• How old is the earth?
• Is there life beyond our world?
https://americanpastorsnetwork.net/resource/stumbling-blocks-to-faith/

12. Barna Survey - 2011
https://www.barna.com/research/six-reasons-young-christians-leave-church/
Why Young Christians Leave the Church

13. Why Millennials Are Leaving the
Church
Furthermore, the research shows that many
science-minded young Christians are
struggling to find ways of staying faithful to
their beliefs and to their professional calling
in science-related industries.
https://www.barna.com/research/six-reasons-young-christians-leave-church/ - September 27, 2011

14. What Can We Do About It?
• Use science to show the beauty and majesty of
God’s creation
• Emphasize that the same God who created
everything from subatomic particles to galaxies also
created them
• Show them that there is harmony between scripture
and science i.e. dual revelation

15. “God is Truth. There is no incompatibility between science and religion.
Both are seeking the same truth. Science shows that God exists.”
Derek Barton, Nobel Prize in Chemistry, 1969
Photo: Daniel Schumacher

16. Dual Revelation – God’s Two Books
GENERAL
REVELATION
Romans 1:19-20
John 1:3
https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/galex/pia15416.htmlhttp://www.healingscripture.org/the-bible-inspired-of-god/
GOD’S
TRUTH Theology
involves
interpretation
Science
involves
interpretation
BIBLENATURE
SPECIAL
REVELATION
2 Tim 3:16-17
Since God is the author of
both His World and His Word,
they will ultimately be in
agreement when each is
properly interpreted

17. “Confessio Belgica”
Belgic Confession (1561)
We know God by two means:
• First, by the creation, preservation, and government
of the universe, since that universe is before our eyes
like a beautiful book…
• Second, God makes himself known to us more clearly
by his holy and divine Word

18. Psalm 19:1-4a
• 1The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the
work of his hands. 2 Day after day they pour forth speech; night
after night they reveal knowledge. 3 They have no speech, they
use no words; no sound is heard from them. 4 Yet their
voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the
world. https://www.nasa.gov/topics/earth/features/2012-alignment.html

19. Dual Revelation
• Young people and millennials today are very
scientifically savvy
• We can use dual revelation as a way to start
conversations with them about God
• We can show that His heavens can be used for
evangelism by using His World and His Word to
produce an interpretation (or model) that is consistent
and non-contradictory.

20. A Brief Explanation of the
Big Bang Theory

21. The Static Eternal Universe
https://www.aip.org/commentary/aip-launches-centennial-exhibit-theory-general-relativity
Einstein called his two theories General Relativity and Special Relativity.

22. http://www.universetoday.com/90862/the-expanding-universe-credit-to-hubble-or-lemaitre/
https://www.decodedscience.org/georges-lemaitre-discovered-the-expansion-of-the-universe/5588
Edwin Hubble
(1889-1953)
Georges Lemaître
(1894-1966)
LeMaitre & Hubble’s Discovery: the universe is expanding!
(The Big Bang Theory)
The Expanding Finite Universe
Cosmic expansion is proven by science!

23. Scripture Looks to the
Heavens

24. http://iamthewordthecomforter.blogspot.com/2013/08/god-father-jesus-son-and-holy-spirit.html
God Created The Visible World
Hebrews 11:3
By faith we understand that
the universe was formed at
God’s command, so that
what is seen was not made
out of what was visible.

25. The Creation of the World
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/spaceimages/details.php?id=PIA08617
1 In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. 2 The
earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of
the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the
waters. 3 And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light.
(Genesis 1:1-2)
The Bible’s first lines reveal the cause of the Big Bang!

26. The Creation of the World
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/spaceimages/details.php?id=PIA12259 2017
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with
God, and the Word was God. 2 He was with God in the
beginning. 3 Through him all things were made; without
him nothing was made that has been made. 4 In him was
life, and that life was the light of all mankind. 5 The light
shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not
overcome it. John 1:1-5

27. The Creation of the World
4 And God saw that the light was good.
And God separated the light from the
darkness. 5 God called the light Day, and
the darkness he called Night. And there
was evening and there was morning, the
first day. (Genesis 1:4-5)
https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/hubble/science/fomalhaut.html
Roughly 68% of the universe is dark energy. Dark matter makes
up about 27%. The rest - everything on Earth, everything ever
observed with all of our instruments, all normal matter - adds
up to less than 5% of the universe.

28. Psalm 139:11-12
11 If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me,”
12 even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for
darkness is as light to you.
The Creation of the World
https://www.bing.com/images/search?view=detailV2&ccid=1L40Hzgr&id=1176FE9BFB5F04B2CA11247AE7CE1C662CC6D918&thid=OIP.1L40HzgrnSCCNfk27NdA3QEsDz&mediaurl=http%
3a%2f%2fwww.nasa.gov%2fsites%2fdefault%2ffiles%2fthumbnails%2fimage%2fpia20176_main.jpg&exph=2506&expw=3090&q=nasa+dark+matter&simid=608041416794377776&selectedI
ndex=0&ajaxhist=0
A new study
publishing this week
in the Astrophysical
Journal by Gary
Prézeau of NASA's
Jet Propulsion
Laboratory,
Pasadena, California,
proposes the
existence of long
filaments of dark
matter, or "hairs."

29. Stretching Out The Heavens
Thus says the LORD, your Redeemer, and the one who formed you from
the womb, “I, the LORD, am the maker of all things, Stretching out the
heavens by Myself. And spreading out the earth all alone…
Doesn’t that sound a lot like cosmic expansion?
Isaiah 44:24

30. Job 9:7-8 7 Who commands the sun, and it does not rise; who seals
up the stars; 8 who alone stretched out the heavens and trampled the
waves of the sea;
https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/10128
Stretching Out The Heavens

31. The Physical Laws Are Fixed
Jeremiah 33:35
“Thus says the LORD: If I have
not established my covenant
with day and night and the
fixed order of heaven and
earth”
The four fundamental forces
are gravity, electromagnetism,
the weak nuclear force and the
strong nuclear force.
The “physical laws” are fixed – what scientist call
uniformitarianism
http://the-mysterious-universe.blogspot.com/2011/10/4-fundamental-forces.html

32. God Sustains The Universe
Hebrews 1:3
3 He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact
imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the
word of his power.
God sustains the universe by the power of His word
https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/from-a-million-miles-away-nasa-camera-shows-moon-crossing-face-of-earth

33. Earth Is In The Goldilocks Zone
Hebrews 1:10
“You, Lord, laid the
foundation of the earth in the
beginning, and the heavens
are the work of your hands;
Earth’s orbit around the Sun
resides in what is called “the
Goldilocks zone.” It’s in the
just right location for water to
exist in all 3 phases and for
life to take hold.
God placed the Earth in a “just right” solar system
https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/from-a-million-miles-away-nasa-camera-shows-moon-crossing-face-of-earth

34. The Planets “Sing”
• Job 38:7 “On what were its (the Earth’s) footings set,
• or who laid its cornerstone - while the morning stars
sang together and all the angels shouted for joy?”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IQL53eQ0cNA
NASA has discovered that the Sun and each planet has it’s own unique sound.
They sing!

35. Science and the Bible Agreement
• Things that are seen are made of things that are unseen -
Hebrews 11:3
• The universe had a beginning – the Big Bang Theory and
Genesis 1/ John 1
• Darkness is a substance – Genesis 1:4-5
• God sees everything including darkness – Psalm 139:11-12
• The universe is expanding –LeMaitre’s and Hubble’s
Discovery and Job 9:8, Isaiah 44:24

36. Science and the Bible Agreement
• The fundamental constants are unchanged from the
beginning of the universe – uniformitarianism and Jeremiah
33:25
• God sustains the universe by the power of His word –
Hebrews 1:3
• Earth exists in a “Goldilocks zone” – Hebrews 1:10
• The Sun and planets make unique sounds – Job 38:7

37. Having a Conversation
Where to start the conversation?
In the beginning!
• Start with the question “Why is there something rather
than nothing?”
• “Would you agree that if something exists now, then
something must have always existed?”
• “Have you ever heard of the Big Bang Theory?

38. Having a Conversation
• According to the Big Bang Theory, the universe has not
always existed therefore something else must have
always existed.
• Look for agreement, “Would you agree that something
else existed before the Big Bang?”
• That something else must exist outside the
space/time/matter limitations of the universe to cause it
to come into existence – The First Cause
• That something else must have always existed

39. Having a Conversation
• That something else must be extremely powerful to
bring the material world into existence out of
nothing
• That something else must be all-knowing
• That something else must be really big (in an
immaterial spiritual sense)
• Christians believe that something else isn’t a thing
but a being, a some-One: the GOD of the Bible

40. Having a Conversation
John Darms having a discussion at a Psalm 19 Astronomy event.

41. “Everyone who is seriously engaged in the pursuit of science becomes
convinced that the laws of nature manifest the existence of a spirit
vastly superior to that of men.”
Albert Einstein

42. Reasons to Believe
“Where Science and Faith Converge”
• Founder by astrophysicist Dr. Hugh Ross in 1986. RTB’s
staff includes scholars in astronomy, biochemistry,
molecular biology, philosophy & theology who bring
scientific evidence for Christianity to light
http://www.reasons.org/about/

43. SixDay Science
FAITH IN SCIENCE | SCIENCE IN FAITH
• Founded by astrophysicist Dr. Sarah Salviander to
present the harmony between science and the
Christian faith.
https://sixdayscience.com/about-us/

44. Conclusion of Part 1

45. Conflict? What Conflict?
• "The perceived conflict between religion and
science belongs much more to the current
millennium than any time in the past"
• Dr. Denis Alexander, Emeritus Director of the
Faraday Institute for Science and Religion at St
Edmund's College, the University of Cambridge
• Dr. Alexander is an evangelical Christian who
works as molecular biologist and an author on
science and religion
• He is also an editor of Science and Christian Belief

46. Conflict? What Conflict?
I believe that the “conflict” between faith and science
is artificial and is perpetuated by two groups of
people:
– Christians with a nominal understanding of Science and
how Science can be used to explain how God performed
his creative works
– Secularists/Naturalists who have a dislike for religion
and who believe that Science has superior explanative
power to religious belief. Scientists study how the
universe works and they believe that Science will
eventually explain everything

47. “I have concluded that we are in a world made by rules created by an intelligence.
Believe me, everything that we call chance today won’t make sense anymore. To me
it is clear that we exist in a plan which is governed by rules that were created,
shaped by a universal intelligence and not by chance.”
Michio Kaku, physicist
https://www.facebook.com/ModernRationalChristianity/

48. “They [science and religion] can be in harmony, but only if rational
people on both sides engage in honest debate.”
Michio Kaku, physicist
https://www.facebook.com/ModernRationalChristianity/

49. “Christianity and Atheism are alternative grand unified theories for reality. Over the course of my
life, I have discovered that Christianity has more explanatory power than its rival account. Where
do the laws and regularities of nature come from? My secular colleagues tell me that they just are.
It is a radically unsatisfying answer! We would never accept that answer for any other question
that ...we ask in science, and yet for the most fundamental question we can ask, atheism asks us
to surrender our reason to nothingness.
Father Nicanor Austriaco
https://www.facebook.com/ModernRationalChristianity/

50. Conflict? What Conflict?
Christians who are scientists and Christians in
science-related fields should use their knowledge as
an evangelical tool to show the glory of God
– Physics
– Chemistry
– Medicine
– Biology
– Genetics
– Zoology
– Etc.
Christ is counting on you!