Conflict Coherence

7/28/2019 Conflict Coherence

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Science & Faith :

Conf l ic t or

Coherence?


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Science and religion cannot be

reconciled ... Religion has failed, and its

failures should be exposed. Science,

with its currently successful pursuit of

universal competence should be

acknowledged the king

--Prof Peter Atkins, Oxford U, in 1995


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Our world

is

shaped byscience

ScienceA foremostinfluence


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Science as it isdeveloping

today

GeneticsGenome mappingCloningStem cell research

Cosmology/cosmogonyOrigins and operations of the universe

Information technologycommunication revolutionmedia

Biotechnology


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Cloning..


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Stem cell

research
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:The_God_Delusion_UK.jpg


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TIME: Professor Dawkins, if one truly

understands science, is God then a delusion,as your book title suggests?

DAWKINS: The question of whether there

exists a supernatural creator, a God, is one ofthe most important that we have to answer. I

think that it is a scientific question. My answer

is no.

Professor for the Public

Understanding of

Science at Oxford
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:The_God_Delusion_UK.jpghttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Francis_Collins.jpg


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TIME: Dr. Collins, you believe that science is

compatible with Christian faith.

COLLINS: Yes. God's existence is either true or

not. But calling it a scientific question implies that

the tools of science can provide the answer. Frommy perspective, God cannot be completely

contained within nature, and therefore God's

existence is outside of science's ability to really

weigh in.

Geneticist, Leader,

Human Genome

Project
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Francis_Collins.jpg


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Only that which can

be proved orverified scientifically

is true.

But this claim itself cannot be

verified scientifically!
http://images.google.co.in/imgres?imgurl=http://www.ramdac.org/images/falling_in_love.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.ramdac.org/2004/04/page/2/&h=480&w=450&sz=59&tbnid=DnckBiOFJjsszM:&tbnh=129&tbnw=121&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dfalling%2Bin%2Blove%2B%252B%2Bpictures%26um%3D1&start=1&sa=X&oi=images&ct=image&cd=1


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"Gravitation can not be held

responsible

for people falling in love"

-Albert Einstein
http://images.google.co.in/imgres?imgurl=http://www.ramdac.org/images/falling_in_love.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.ramdac.org/2004/04/page/2/&h=480&w=450&sz=59&tbnid=DnckBiOFJjsszM:&tbnh=129&tbnw=121&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dfalling%2Bin%2Blove%2B%252B%2Bpictures%26um%3D1&start=1&sa=X&oi=images&ct=image&cd=1


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Apr. 8, 1966
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/0,9263,7601660408,00.htmlhttp://www.time.com/time/covers/0,16641,20061113,00.html


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http://www.time.com/time/covers/0,16641,19921228,00.htmlhttp://www.time.com/time/covers/0,16641,20050815,00.htmlhttp://www.time.com/time/covers/0,16641,20061113,00.html


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Great leaps in Genetics& Cosmology
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/0,9263,7601950306,00.htmlhttp://www.time.com/time/magazine/0,9263,7601990111,00.html


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http://www.time.com/time/covers/0,16641,19691226,00.html


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TheTwo Booksmetaphor: Nature &Scripture

First, by the creation, preservation, and government ofthe universe, since that universe is before our eyeslike a beautiful book in which all creatures, greatand small, are as letters to make us ponder theinvisible things of God: his eternal power and hisdivinity

Second, he makes himself known to us more openlyby his holy and divine Word, as much as we need inthis life, for his glory and for the salvation of his

own.


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Nature

Science &

Philosophy

Theology,

Philosophy &

Hermenuetics

Scripture

God

Necessary

Agreement :

No Final

Conflict

Potential

Conflict

The Two Books metaphor: Nature & Scripture


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Were you aware of the factthatScienceiscompatible

withChristianity?

What is the Evidence?

The Universe had a beginning

Life is too complex to be explained by pure

naturalistic causes

The Anthropic principle


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The Universe had a Beginning

li f id


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Two lines of evidence

Second Law ofthermodynamics

Evidence of Big Bang

Expanding universe

Background radiation echo
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Sunita_Williams.jpg


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Second Law of Thermodynamics


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evidences

Second law of thermodynamics

Big Bang Theory

Fine-tuning of universe to support life


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Second law of thermodynamics

First law : actual amount of energy inthe physical universe remains constant (

law of conservation of energy)

Second law : usable amount of that

fixed energy is constantly decreasing.


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This law states that the amount ofusableenergyruns down

Hea

tLoss(

entropy)Second Law of

Thermodynamics

75%

25%Work OutEnergy In


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Unusableenergy

Usable energy

Second law : universe is running out

of usable energy

A Closed System


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The Universe is like a dying

flashlight


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The Big Bang

Evidence suggests that the big bang wasan orchestrated cosmic detonation.


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Expanding Universe


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Hot Big Bang cosmological model
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Universe_expansion.pnghttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Universe_expansion.png


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Evidences for Beginning

1965 : Microwave background radiation

Arno Penzias (1933-) & Robert Wilson

(1936-) of Bell Telephone laboratories.Received the Nobel prize for physics in1978

April 24, 1992 : Big-Bang RipplesObservation by (Cosmic BackgroundExplorer)COBE satellite of NASA.


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Evidence from cosmology

Big Bang


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Expanding universe
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Raisinbread.gif


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Cosmic microwave radiation


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A television set with a picture

tube glows after being turned

off, due to the residual

radiation. I t is an effect of the

electrons that bombarded the

tube while the set was turned

on.


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Ripples from the big bang, seen here oneither side of the plane of the Milky Way,which is the bright horizontal band along

centre. This microwave map is a 'snapshot' ofthe creation event, showing radiation whichhas been traveling for more than fourteenbillion years. Picture : COBE Satellite NASA


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In the beginning, there was no time, no matter,not even space. Then in some unfathomable way,a universe emerged from a dimensionless point of

pure energyThis theory of an expanding universeemanating from a primordial big bang is theexplanation of creation held by nearly all scientist,for it best fits what they can actually observe.

U.S. News and World Report, March 26, 1990, 54

The Universe had a beginning


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Evidence that un iverse had a beginn ing?

THE UNIVERSE IS:

Expanding

A l l Direct ion s

Cosmic Map ofBackground Radiation

COBE SATELLITE

Background

Radiation

Running

Down

UNUSABLEENERGY

AClosedSystem


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Moment of creationFIVE INDEPENDENT lines of evidence - the

motions of galaxies, the primordial fireball,

the laws of thermodynamics, the abundance

of helium in the Universe and the life storyof the stars pointed to one conclusion; all

indicate that the universe

had a beginning. . . . Science has proven

that the Universe exploded into being at acertain moment. . . . The scientists

pursuit of the past ends in the moment of

creation. . . .RobertJastrow, afamousastrophysicist


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The universe is finite.

It had a beginning and the

primary cause must beinfinite (unlimited).


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Life is too

complex to be

explained by

natural causes


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MOLECULAR BIOLOGY : What Caused

The Firs t Liv ing Cel l?

Darwins

Black Box

The CellFromDead Matter

To The First Living Cell

To TheOrigin of Species

Complexity of a single


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Complexity of a singlecell


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=1,000 Volumesof an Encyclopedia


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Evidence from microbiology


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The DNA is information-rich


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Where did the information come

from?Information on the DNA is specified and

complex

Many of the biochemical systems in ourbody is very complex (eg: Bloodclotting)


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Information that is specified

and complex


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Fred Hoyle suggested for life tohappened by chance would be similar to

hoping that somehow a tornado in ajunkyard would somehow manufacturefor us a Boeing 747.

Fred Hoyle, The Intelligent Universe(London: Michael Joseph, 1983), p. 19.

Life is too complex (information)

Can a Tornado really assemble


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Can a Tornado really assemblean airplane?


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The likelihood of the formation of life frominanimate matter is one to a number with 40thousand zeros after it. It is enough to bury Darwin

and the whole theory of evolution. There was noprimeval soup, neither on this planet or on any other,and if the beginnings of life were not random theymust therefore have been the product of purposefulintelligence.

Non-creationist Fred Hoyle cited in Nature, Nov.12, 1981, p. 105

An Astronomers Conclusion


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Is the belief that the Universe isbalanced on a razors edge in a

way to sustain life.

The universe is life-permitting and

life-supporting

3. The Anthropic Principle

D i f O


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Design of OurSolar System

Life Zone


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Our Galaxy


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Anthropic Principle

1. Oxygen comprises21% of theatmosphere. If itwere 25%, fireswould erupt; if itwere 15% humans

would suffocate.


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2. If the universe wasexpanding at a rate onemillionth more slowly than itis, the temperatures onearth would be 10,000

degrees!

The Anthropic Principle


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3. If the gravitational

force were altered by 1part in 1040, the sunwould not exist, and

the moon would crashinto the earth or sheeroff into space.



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4. If the centrifugal

force of planetarymovement did notprecisely balance the

gravitational forces,nothing could beheld in orbit aroundthe sun.



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Scientist Stephen HawkingIf the rate of the

expansion one secondafter the big bang hadbeen smaller by even

one part in a hundredthousand million million,the universe wouldhave re-collapsed

before it even reachedits present size.

Quoted in How It All Began in

Christianity Today, August 1988,p. 32

B l ki t th id th


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By looking at the evidence, there areonly two possible conclusion:

Either

Nothing created something intelligentout of nothing

ORAn intelligent Creator createdsomething out of nothing.

If there is no Creator, why is theresomething rather than nothing at all?

Astronomy leads us to ai t i hi h


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unique event, a universe whichwas created out of nothing,and delicately balanced to

provide exactly the conditionsrequired to support life . . . theobservations of modernscience seem to suggest an

underlying (one might saysupernatural) plan.

Arno A. Penzias,

Nobel Prize winner in physics (1978):
http://www.phys-astro.sonoma.edu/BruceMedalists/Hoyle/hoyle.jpg


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A common sense interpretation of the

facts suggests that a superintellect hasmonkeyed with physics, as well as withchemistry and biology, and that there

are no blind forces worth speakingabout in nature. The numbers onecalculates from the facts seem to me sooverwhelming as to put this conclusion

almost beyond question. (Fred Hoyle)

Fred Hoyle : British

Astronomer

Stephen
http://www.phys-astro.sonoma.edu/BruceMedalists/Hoyle/hoyle.jpghttp://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0553052438/psyclops


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StephenHawking

"It is difficult to discuss thebeginning of the universewithout mentioning the concept ofGod ."

Stephen Hawking, Downs Interview, 20/20 program

on the ABC New Channel, July 21, 1989.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0553052438/psyclops


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Putting the pieces together

THE MARVEL OUTSIDE


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THEMARVELOUTSIDE


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THEWONDERINSIDE

All roads lead to First


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All roads lead to.First

Cause!!!

Telescope : First cause should beinfiniteand powerful (nothingcannot Produce something)

Microscope : First cause must beintelligent andpersonal

(personality cannot Come fromnon-personality)


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A universe charged with thegrandeur of God


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Science and faith

conflict or coherence?


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The choice is ours!

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Conflict Coherence