Science Points to God

Galileo Galilei was an astronomer living in Italy during the 16th and 17th centuries he was also a passionate advocate for heliocentrism in other words Galileo believed correctly that the Earth orbited around the Sun however the Catholic Church leadership at the time held a different opinion Pope Urban VII for example accepted the prior geocentric view of the solar system with the Earth at the center as a result Galileo and Pope Urban VIII found themselves holding conflicting views during the Roman Inquisition in 1615 Galileo is labeled a heretic for his heliocentric claims and spent the rest of his life under house arrest that story and what little I knew about it shaped how I used to think about Christianity and science but as I began researching Christianity's relationship with science and my investigation of the Jesus Fallout I learned the truth about Galileo and Pope Urban VII is much more nuanced than I originally was led to believe Pope Urban at Galileo actually had been friends earlier in life the pope even gave Galileo permission to write about heliocentrism if he agreed to treat it as a hypothesis but Galileo eventually published his work as more than that and to make matters worse he mocked and insulted the Pope in the process Galileo found himself judged as much for his delivery as his content it's important to note here that the Catholic Church wasn't opposed to scientific inquiry and inference in fact in the centuries leading up to Galileo and Pope Urban VII the church provided more financial and social support to the study of astronomy than any and probably all other institutions Jesus followers weren't science deniers instead they were innovators and were in many ways responsible for the Scientific Revolution let me show you what I mean I'll start by charting scientific developments at a significant scientists using their portraits from the 2020s BCE to the 2020 CE science Advanced slowly in the first two thousand years of our timeline here as the Ancients laid the foundation for mathematics and natural philosophy but in the next 2000 years scientific developments progressed at an exponential rate with several key bursts of activity including the Scientific Revolution of the 16th and 17th centuries hmm where does Jesus fall in this timeline interestingly he appears right before the growth curve was this a coincidence or was Jesus somehow a catalyst the n incremental steps along the way may provide us with a few Clues the first small increase in scientific activity began after the Roman Empire ended its persecution of Christians followed by another around when monasteries and Cathedral schools were being established the next bump in the chart didn't actually have anything to do with the development of Christianity but was instead fueled at least in part by Muslim thinkers and scientists who led the Sciences during much of the Middle Ages Islamic leadership in The Sciences waned however and the next increase in scientific activity coincided with the Christian founding of the first Universities at bologna Oxford and Paris another increase in scientific activity occurred at about the same time a Jesus follower Johan goodberg invented the printing press the last impressive explosion of scientific activity occurred at the Scientific Revolution this burst of activity in which modern science emerged was dominated by juice followers Christian Scientists dramatically outnumbered all other contributors combined why was it a coincidence or was there something about the worldview established by Jesus that served as a catalyst for this historic contribution the latter seems to have been the case what about Jesus's world you served as the Catalyst for science this is ignite a scientific uprising first Christ followers believe that matter was good and worthy of study as simple as that might seem today ancient thinkers didn't always hold the material world in a high regard by contrast Jesus expressed a worldview that invited the study of the material world even as an approach to studying the nature of God Psalm 190 1 says 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 igniter number two is that Christ's followers believe their world was the product of a singular orderly and rational God ancient polytheistic cultures worshiped a Pantheon of erratic prideful and chaotic Gods if our world is ruled by God such as these lacking order discipline and rationality why try to explain natural phenomena by a way of orderly laws Jesus followers on the other hand believed one God ruled the university in an orderly rational Manner and created us as rational beings in His image third Christ followers believed God was distinct from his creation Jesus taught that God transcended the material world rather than simply acting on emotions or proclivities like gods in the Greek pantheon for example the God Jesus described was greater than and distinct from his creation because the Christian God worked through predictable natural processes the environment could be studied the fourth reason Jesus ignited the exploration of science was that Christ's followers were motivated by their desire to worship the god of the universe most secular scientists today are driven by their sincere love of Science and Discovery and while that's a noble motivation it pales when compared to the view held by Jesus followers who believe that scientific Pursuits are an act of divine devotion and holy worship Johannes Kepler mathematician astronomer Theologian and a key figure in the Scientific Revolution described his work this way I was merely thinking God's thoughts after him igniter number five Christ followers believe they could better understand God by observing his activity in the book of nature Galileo once wrote the intention of the Holy Ghost is to teach us how one goes to heaven not how Heaven goes the first part of the statement describes special Revelation for example the book of scripture the second part of Galileo's statement describes the natural Revelation observed in our world the book of nature so to speak Christ following scientists throughout history held both books in high regard igniter number six Christ's followers pursued physical and intellectual investigations of their environment much of Science and Antiquity was intellectual rather than physical however in the earliest Christian educational institutions scientists began using Empirical research involving physical experiments getting their hands dirty in Empirical research was an extension of their Divine Duty finally igniter number seven Christ followers created a place to advance The Sciences scientific experimentation and Discovery blossomed when like-minded Scholars and students gathered in the context of modern universities when Christians established modern universities they ignited the progress of science these seven attributes Point toward an obvious truth Jesus followers had had an oversized impact on the Sciences when we look at the history of scientific discovery and the Brilliant Minds that made it all possible the leadership impact of Jesus followers simply cannot be denied from the ancient world [Music] through the Dark Ages in the Middle Ages to their Renaissance the Scientific Revolution and even the modern era every major area of science has been profoundly impacted by Christians and these Christians represent a disproportionate amount of the scientific Community take a look for a moment at all the disciplines founded by Christians know the diversity and significance of the disciplines listed here Jesus Matters To The Sciences the history of scientific exploration was forever changed as Jesus followers studied the book of nature Christians are the fathers and founders of these disciplines as the founders and fathers of the Sciences many were Award winners Christians have been awarded more Nobel prizes in science than any other group of scientific contributors as I researched all these scientists science fathers and award letters I realized that these Christ followers wrote about more than their scientific discoveries they also wrote about their savior they described their faith extensively and wrote about the man that inspired their work believe it or not all the central claims of Christianity related to Jesus can be reconstructed from the work of these eminent scientists of all the evidential summaries I've offered so far from the writings of the church bothers the claims of the gnostics and the ancient non-christians who didn't like Jesus from the artists and hymn writers or the university campuses and Charters this list from scientists is the most robust summary of Jesus in every significant claim related to Jesus the science fathers agree with the church fathers I was absolutely shocked at some point I found myself asking if I trust scientists as much as I claim why am I unwilling to take seriously what they say about Jesus but as I pondered this other questions came to mind if Jesus is truly history's Person of Interest why are there so many other religions in alternative claims about God why wouldn't the other world religions recognize him in this way what did these other faiths Claim about Jesus this last set of questions led me to a powerful

Channel: Cold-Case Christianity - J. Warner & Jimmy Wallace

Views: 33,305

Keywords: moral argument for god, what is moral truth, objective moral truth, evidence god, proof for god, apologetics god, proof of god, god's existence, is god real, does god exist, willian lane craig, god morality, christian apologetics, Ethics, science points to god, math points to god, science and the bible, science and math, science and faith, science and the bible agree, science and religion, math and science, religion and science, philosophy, human origins, Proof of God

Id: yNcWikkCZvw

Length: 11min 5sec (665 seconds)

Published: Fri May 05 2023