God and Science at UConn

God and Science

Science and the Bible

King’s College, London

6/11/2014John Oakes PhD

Thomas Huxley, Darwin’s “bulldog”

“We are as much the product of blind forces as is the falling of a stone to earth, or the ebb and flow of the tides. We have just happened, and man was made flesh by a series of singularly beneficial accidents.”

In the universe of blind physical forces and genetic replication, some people are going to get hurt and other people are going to get lucky: and you won’t find any rhyme or reason to it, nor any justice. The universe we observe has precisely the properties we should expect if there is at the bottom, no design, no purpose, no evil and no good. Nothing but blind, pitiless indifference. DNA neither knows nor cares. DNA just is, and we dance to its music.

Accident or Design?

William Paley

The Teleological Argument

Evidence for Design in Nature

The Anthropic Principle

Boeing 747Design or Accident?

1. Ideal solvent to support life (dissolves ions and molecules

2. Right boiling and melting points3. High specific heat4. Solid floats on liquid5. Contracts from 0 to 4 degrees centigrade

Water

Designed Elements?

Carbon: The Central Element of Life

3-D molecules

Large, complex yet flexible molecules

The Ozone Layer:Is oxygen a designed element?

a) b)

DNA

Protein

Nature creates order, but not information

A House of Cards: Order and Information.

A much better analogy for living things.

Simplest life form: break it down

• E. coli: about 1 trillion bits of information.• E. coli have 3000-4000 different proteins.• DNA and RNA to make and be made by

these proteins.• Lipids (membrane), Carbohydrates, etc.• The simplest living cell is an unimaginably

complex nano factory

Charles Darwin

“It is mere rubbish to think at this point of the origin of life. One might as well think of the origin of matter.”

Science before the 1950s:The universe was NOT created.

Hebrews 11:3“By faith we understand that the universe

was created… so that what is seen has been made from things that are not visible.”Genesis 1:3

God said “Let there be light,” and there was light.The Big Bang

· 1929 Hubble. The Red Shift: The universe is expanding.

· 1965 Penzias and Wilson, background microwave radiation.

Physicists now:

The universe was created.

Physics:

The Finely Tuned Universe

.00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000001

Fine Tuning of the Universe 

Constant A Little Bigger A Little Smaller  1. Gravitational constant very short-lived stars no stars

2. Ratio of electrons to protons no stars or galaxies no stars or galaxies  3. Strong Nuclear Force no hydrogen, fusion only hydrogen  4. Weak Nuclear Force all H2 He at big bang no He at big bang

no heavy elements  5. Electric Force no chemical bonding no chemical bonding  6. Expansion rate of universe no galaxies universe collapses quickly

7. Ratio of matter to antimatter too much radiation for life not enough matterfor galaxies to form

  and many more….

A finely-tuned instrument built by humans. Good to one part in a billion?

Fred Hoyle on Fine-TuningFred Hoyle on Fine-Tuning

“… a super-intellect has monkeyed with physics, as well as with chemistry and

biology.”

Antony Flew Considers God...Antony Flew Considers God...

Flew is increasingly Flew is increasingly persuaded that some sort persuaded that some sort of Deity brought about of Deity brought about this universe. He says he this universe. He says he has in mind something has in mind something like the God of Aristotle, a like the God of Aristotle, a distant, impersonal distant, impersonal "prime mover." It might "prime mover." It might not even be conscious, not even be conscious, but a mere force. In but a mere force. In formal terms, he regards formal terms, he regards the existence of this the existence of this minimal God as a minimal God as a hypothesis that, at hypothesis that, at present, is perhaps the present, is perhaps the best explanation for why best explanation for why a universe exists that can a universe exists that can produce complex lifeproduce complex life

The Right Kind of GalaxySpiral Irregular

Eliptical

The Right GalaxyThe Right Galaxy

• Our galaxy is a spiral, which produces Our galaxy is a spiral, which produces stars over much of its history.stars over much of its history.

• Not an elliptical, where star formation Not an elliptical, where star formation endsends before there are many heavy before there are many heavy elements.elements.

• Not an irregular, where radiation Not an irregular, where radiation eventsevents would have destroyed life.would have destroyed life.

The Right Star LocationThe Right Star Location

• Right distance from center of galaxy: Right distance from center of galaxy: - Closer: too much radiation, disruptive gravity- Closer: too much radiation, disruptive gravity - Further: too few heavy elements- Further: too few heavy elements

• Right relation to supernovae:Right relation to supernovae: - More or closer: exterminate life- More or closer: exterminate life - Less or further: too few heavy elements- Less or further: too few heavy elements

• Right number of stars in systemRight number of stars in system - Zero – pretty cold!- Zero – pretty cold! - Two or more – unstable orbits if planets at all.- Two or more – unstable orbits if planets at all.

The Right Kind of Star

The Goldilocks Star

The Right Kind of Planet

Right distance

Rocky planet with plenty of oxygen and water

Thin, light planetary “crust”

Huge moon for stable planetary rotation

Conclusion:“Since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.” Romans 1:20The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. Day after day they pour fourth speech. Night after night they display knowledge Psalms 19:1-2

Part IIScience and the Bible

Delos B. McKown:“Christianity is scientifically

unsupported and probably insupportable, philosophically suspect at best and disreputable at worst, and historically fraudulent.”

Papyrus Ebers

The Ebers Papyrus:

“To prevent hair from turning gray, anoint it with the blood of a calf which has been boiled in oil or with the fat of a rattlesnake.”

“A mixture of six fats, namely those of the horse, the hippopotamus, the crocodile, the cat, the snake and the ibex.... to prevent hair loss.”

Drugs of Choice in Papyrus Ebers:

• Lizards blood• Swine’s teeth• Putrid meat• Moisture from Pigs’ ears• Excreta from animals including human

beings, donkeys, antelope, dogs, cats and flies

“I will not bring on you any of these diseases...”

Exodus 15:26

“The pig... is unclean for you...those that walk on their paws...the weasel, the rat...are unclean for you.”

Leviticus 11

“The sting of a hornet is healed by the house-fly, crushed and applied to the wound.”

“The gnat, feeble creature, taking in food but never secreting it is a specific against the poison of the viper.”

An ancient Hebrew medical manuscript.

“Whoever touches the dead body of anyone will be unclean for seven days. He must purify himself with the water on the third and seventh day...take some hyssop, dip it in the water and sprinkle the tent and furnishings and the people who were there.”

Numbers 19

Semelweiss

Vienna, 1847

• In maternity wards one out of every six women dies.

• Obstetricians ascribe deaths to constipation, fear and poisonous air.

Death Rate falls from 18% to 0.5%

Thymol: A Powerful Disinfectant

“As long as he has the infection he remains unclean. He must live alone; he must live outside the

camp.”

Quarantine for infectious disease

Leviticus 13:46

LEPROSY• Killed millions of people in Europe and

around the world for thousands of years.

• “Fear of all other diseases taken together can hardly be compared to the terror spread by leprosy.”

—Dr. George Rosen

Leprosy

MEDICAL COMMUNITY HAD NO ANSWERS

They taught that it was brought on by eating hot food, pepper, garlic and the meat of diseased hogs. Other physicians said it was caused by a

malign conjunction of the planets.

Leviticus 13:46“As long as he has the infection he remains

unclean. He must live alone; he must live outside the camp.”

The life is in the bloodLeviticus 17:14 “… the life of every creature is in its blood. That is why I have said to the Israelites, ‘You must not eat the blood of any creature, because the life of every creature is its blood; anyone who eats it must be cut off.’ ”

Bloodletting

The most common medical practice in 1700s and 1800s

1693).

George Tiemann & Co. American armamentarium

Bloodletting Instruments from 1800s

“For the generations to come, every male among you who is eight days old must be circumcised...”

Genesis 17:12

Vitamin K

Prothrombin: a clotting protein.

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Clotting Protein Peaks on Day Eight

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Day Day CircumcisedCircumcised

Number of Hebrew Number of Hebrew BoysBoys

Number of DeathsNumber of Deaths

11 823823 44

33 759759 66

55 693693 88

77 855855 33

99 770770 22

1111 698698 44

How Did Abraham Pick the Eighth Day?

Other reasons I believe the Bible is Other reasons I believe the Bible is inspired by Godinspired by God

Fulfilled messianic propheciesFulfilled messianic prophecies

Fufilled types, prefigures and foreshadowsFufilled types, prefigures and foreshadows

Historical accuracyHistorical accuracy

Consistency of message and lack of Consistency of message and lack of contradictioncontradiction

2 Tim 3:16 2 Tim 3:16 All scripture is inspired by God….All scripture is inspired by God….