Download - Life`s Big Questions

Has Science Disproved the
Bible?
Part 1
1
Simple Answer
No !
2
Trust in the Bible
• For many, trust in the Bible has
been diminished because:• Theologians have undermined its
authority
• It is believed that science has
disproved its teachings
3
Scientists of the Past
• Important to recognise that
most great scientists of the
past were believers
• Some of them
accomplished Bible
students
• e.g. Sir Isaac Newton
4
Scientific Believers
• Many eminent scientists are
believers
• These include
– Current & past fellows of the
Royal Society
– Nobel Prize winners
• 1997 Survey in Nature
– 40% of all scientists in America
believe in God
5
Scientific Believers
“To postulate that the development and survival
of the fittest is entirely a consequence of
chance mutations seems to me a hypothesis
based on no evidence and irreconcilable with
the facts”
Sir Ernest Chain, 1945 Nobel Prize
“I just cannot believe that everything developed
by random mutations”
Dennis Gabor, 1971 Nobel Prize
The burden of proof is on those who don't
believe that "Genesis" was right, and there was
a creation, and that Creator is still involved.
Richard Smalley 1996 Nobel Prize
6
Scientific Believers
“Unless at least half my colleagues are dunces,
there can be – on the most raw and empirical
grounds – no conflict between science and
religion.”
Stephen Jay
Gould
The Bible is not a science text book –
it deals with the why and not the how
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Common Beliefs . . .
Scientists have proved that
• Universe started with a big
bang
• Life developed by evolution
If true, the Bible must be wrong talking about creation
These are some of the things we
shall look at
8
Overview
Important to distinguish between facts
and theories
• We will find that:
– Both Bible & Science suggest the universe
had a beginning
– Both Bible & Science indicate that life
appeared in a complete form
There is no conflict between scientific
facts and what the Bible says
9
Overview
We shall look at:
• Facts and theories
• The origin of the
universe
• The fossil record
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Facts and Theories in Science
Facts
• Science works with them
• A far-away nebula
• A rock formation
• A fossil in that rock
formation
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Observable Facts
• Something that can be
proved beyond doubt
– Tangible
– Measurable
– Repeatable
Can be felt through our senses &
experienced first hand
12
Gravity
We all experience gravity
• Drop something & it always
falls
• Scientific experiments
– Gravity well understood
– Rockets launched into
space
– Satellites put into orbit
• Gravity is real
– Can be experienced &
measured
Gravity is an observable fact
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Fact and Theories
Developing a Scientific theory
• Scientist makes observations
• Assumptions made
• Assumptions tested
• Proven “assumption”
becomes a theory
• Confidence gained by testing
A theory is developed from extensive
testing to gain confidence
14
Fact and Theories
Developing a Scientific
theory
• Theory only trusted
when confidence
gained
• Engineers can only use
tested theories
We only trust theories that have been tested
15
Theories
• Sometimes no way of knowing
assumptions used in a theory
are right
– Often the case for the distant
past
• We can’t use experiments to
prove it
Important to know what can be proved &
what is a theory that can’t be proved
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Trusting Unproven Theories
Mid 19th Century
• “Miasma” theory
– Disease caused by a
poisonous vapour
-“miasma”
• “Dyscrasia” theory
– Disease caused by
imbalance in body’s
temperament
What were the consequences?
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Trusting Unproven Theories
Mid 19th Century
• No problem in drinking water
contaminated with sewage
– Thousands died in 4 cholera
epidemics between 1831 & 1854
• No problem in doctor or nurse
moving from a dead body to a
living one without washing
– 1 in 3 women died in hospital
giving birth to children
All the facts needed to form correct theory
Some facts may be unknown
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“Big Bang” Observable Facts
1. Light from distant galaxies
is “red shifted”
2. Cosmic microwave
background radiation
3. Universe contains mainly
light weight elements
– Hydrogen & helium are
most common elements
4. Galaxies seem evenly
spread through space
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“Big Bang” Theory
1. “Red shift” suggests galaxies are
moving away
– Universe expanding
2. Background radiation
– Remains of “Big Bang”explosion
3. Light elements
– “Big Bang” predicts the lightest
elements produced first
4. Galaxies evenly spread
– Will be the case if universe is
expanding in all directions
following a “Big Bang”
20
“Big Bang” Assumptions
1. Physical laws that we
know today are
unchanged
2. The laws are constant
throughout universe
3. Red shift is caused by light
source moving away from
us
If universe is expanding & we roll back time,
everything goes back to a point in space time
from which it all started - The “Big Bang”
21
“Big Bang” Assumptions
•
•
•
What information would
modern telescopes have given
millions of years ago?
Can’t do experiments to prove
laws remain unchanged
Facts we have support the
theory if we accept the
assumptions that we cannot
prove
“Big Bang” must remain an interesting theory,
and should not be regarded as a fact
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Theory of Evolution
• Gradual change over many
millions of years
• Fossil record should show
– Continuous progression
– All sorts of stages of
development
• E.g. wings in different stages
Trilobite fossil
The theory of evolution should fit the
observed facts in the fossil record
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The Fossil Record
A
Time
Number of
Phyla
A. According to Darwin’s
theory the number of
animal phyla
gradually increase
over time
B. Fossil record shows
that almost all animal
phyla appear at same
geological time
Number of
Phyla
Phyla in the Fossil record
B
Time
Theory does not fit the observed
facts in fossil record
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The Fossil Record
Testing the theory of
evolution
• All fossils are well
defined
• No intermediate fossils
But what about Archaeopteryx?
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Archaeopteryx
Fully formed features
• Toothed jaw like a reptile
• Feathers like a modern bird
• Braincase similar to modern
bird
Everything needed for flight is
present
Not a missing link for origin of birds
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Lack of Transitional Forms
“As by this theory, innumerable
transitional forms must have existed.
Why do we not find them embedded in
the crust of the earth? Why is all nature
not in confusion instead of being as we
see them, well-defined species? … The
explanation lies, however, in the
extreme imperfection of the
geological record”
Charles Darwin in “The Origin of Species”
27
The fossil record
“There is no need to apologize any
longer for the poverty of the fossil
record. In some ways it has
become almost unmanageably
rich, and discovery is outpacing
integration … The fossil record
nevertheless continues to be
composed mostly of gaps”
G. T. Neville in Science Progress
28
The fossil record
“The extreme rarity of transitional
forms in the fossil record … (is)
the trade secret of palaeontology
Steven Jay Gould
“The fossil material is now so complete that the lack of
transitional series cannot be explained by the scarcity of
the material. The deficiencies are real, they will never
be filled”
Prof N. Heribert-Nilsson Lund, Sweden
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Lack of Transitional Forms
“The fossil record - in defiance of Darwin's whole idea of
gradual change - often makes great leaps from one form to
the next. Far from the display of intermediates to be expected
from slow advance through natural selection many species
appear without warning, persist in fixed form and disappear,
leaving no descendants. Geology assuredly does not reveal
any finely graduated organic chain, and this is the most
obvious and gravest objection which can be urged against
the theory of evolution.”
Steve Jones’ preface to Darwin’s Origin of Species 1999
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The Fossil Record
• Fossils give an
important fact
• Fossil record does not
contain partly
developed animals that
theory of evolution
predicts
31
Classification of animals
Another argument used to support
evolution
• Comparative studies of
animals
– “Cladistics”
• Animals that look alike are
classified as similar
• Similarities used as
evidence to say they are
‘related’ by evolution
32
Classification
• Horses, donkeys, zebras
– All look alike
• Evolutionist say they had
common ancestor
• Can’t so any experiments to
prove this
Classification of animals
tells us nothing about how
they came into existence
33
Variations within species
• Small variations seen
within species
• Over relatively short
timescale different
breeds of dogs produced
• “Given enough time,
these variations can
produce new species”
• But dogs are still dogs
not new species
Different breeds are as a result of human
interference – not natural selection
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Variations within species
• Small variations seen
within species
• Big assumption that
same mechanisms
caused appearance of
–
–
–
–
–
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The heart
Bone
Feathers
Warm-blooded creatures
A backbone
Variations within species
• Big changes never
been observed
• Not good to extrapolate
beyond what has been
seen
Not sensible to use very minor changes as
evidence to support the great changes
required by the theory of evolution
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Summary
• Fossil record contains only
fully formed animals
• Classification of animals
tells us nothing about how
they came into existence
• Minor changes are not
scientific evidence of large
changes
37
Has science disproved the
Bible?
• Scientists suggest evidence
points to beginning of the
universe
– “Big Bang”
About 3,500 years ago the Bible stated
that the universe had a beginning:
38
Has science disproved the
Bible?
In the beginning God
created the heavens and
the earth
Genesis 1:1
Science and the Bible are in agreement
39
Has science disproved the
Bible?
• Fossils are facts
• Progression of life is
opinion
• Fossils provide no
evidence to suggest
progression
• Creation also explains
the facts
40
“The fossil record furnishes irrefutable
proof that life on earth has changed
through the ages … Fossils prove not
only that life has changed but also that it
has progressed from simplicity to
complexity with the passage of time.
These are the facts. To those who take
an unbiased view of the matter, there is
only one conclusion – that all past and
present life has descended from simple
beings”
William Strokes and William Lee in the
book “Essentials of Earth History”
Does science support
the Bible?
• No Bible comment on how
our world and life began
In the beginning God
• There was a Creator
created the heavens
• Organisation of living
and the earth.
things
Genesis 1 v 1
• Points to a Creator
• Here science supports the
Bible
41
Summary
Important to distinguish between facts
and theories
• We have seen that
– Both Bible & Science suggest the universe had
a beginning
– The scientific facts used to support evolution
could also be used to support creation
There is no conflict between scientific facts
and what the Bible says
42