According to the Genesis account (Genesis 2:20–21), God created Adam first and then Eve: “But for Adam no suitable helper was found. So the LORD God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep; and while he was sleeping, he took one of the man’s ribs and then closed up the place with flesh.” The fact that God created Eve from material taken from Adam’s side emphasizes the intimate connection and “one flesh” relationship God designed for them.

As we look into the story of Adam and Eve and the origins and purpose of humanity, we find ourselves at an intriguing intersection of faith and science. What can the Adam and Eve story teach us today? How does it align with modern understanding and scientific facts? What insights can we take away from this ancient account that defines mankind’s origin?

Join us as we explore the Adam and Eve story through the lens of biblical reflection and scientific discovery.

Who Were Adam and Eve?

Adam and Eve were the first human beings and the original ancestors of the human race—created by God in his own image (Genesis 1:27). They were the first man, Adam, and first woman, Eve.

This distinction of being made in God’s image bestows a one-of-a-kind role in creation, setting the stage for humanity’s journey through the ages of history.

According to Genesis, they were not only the first human beings but the exclusive and definitive ancestors from whom all humanity are descendants. “Adam named his wife Eve, because she would become the mother of all the living” (Genesis 3:20).

The Adam and Eve story is a testament to the complexity of human nature (as God’s image bearers) and the divine intention behind our existence. At the same time, it offers fertile ground for both theological reflection and scientific inquiry.

How Did God Create Adam and Eve?

In Genesis 2, we’re given a vivid account of how God created the first humans. “Then the Lord God formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being” (Genesis 2:7).

Adam was shaped from the dust of the earth by the hand of God. The Hebrew word, yatzar, describes God’s creative work, which forms the image of a potter shaping or molding the ground or soil (afar) into the first human. From a human perspective, it was a humble beginning, and yet one that was transformed when God breathed life into him. In the Hebrew, the word used to describe God imparting his breath to Adam (vayyippach) connotes intimacy. This divine breath set him apart from all other creatures.

This act of divine respiration signified more than just the animation of a body. It was the infusion of a spirit—making Adam, and all humankind, singularly unique in creation. We were created with distinction and purpose.

Eve was then created. The Hebrew word that describes her creation (banah) indicates that she was Adam rebuilt. She was made from Adam’s side emphasizing the intimate connection and equality of God’s design between man and woman.

Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden

The Bible explains that God placed Adam in the Garden of Eden to care for it, marking the start of his journey. “The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it” (Genesis 2:15). Adam was created, at least in part, for the purpose of caring for God’s creation.

Adam was tasked with naming the animals and yet, as busy as that assignment was, God recognized Adam’s need for companionship. God then created Eve, bone of his bones and flesh of his flesh (Genesis 2:23). Together, they were to cultivate the garden and establish authority and dominion over the earth while living in harmony with all that had been entrusted to them.

In Eden, there existed two trees that God had created. God permitted Adam and Eve to partake of everything except the fruit of these two trees: the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

It’s here that a pivotal event occurred that altered the course of human history forever.

The Fall: What Did Adam and Eve Do?

Adam and Eve rebelled against God’s command and ate the fruit from the forbidden tree: the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

“When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it” (Genesis 3:6).  

Their disobedience, sparked by the serpent, often identified as Satan, was driven by a desire to be like God. Through subtle persuasion, the serpent sowed seeds of doubt and ambition within Eve, painting a picture of enlightenment and power that lay beyond the forbidden fruit.

This act introduced sin and human death into mankind’s experience, forever changing the relationship between God and the humans he created. Because of Eve and Adam’s sin, all of humanity is born into a sinful state. This condition is known as original sin.

Who Ate the Apple: Adam or Eve?

In the story of Adam and Eve, there’s a common misconception that adds an extra twist to the narrative: the infamous apple as the forbidden fruit. 

But was it really an apple?

People often represent the forbidden fruit as an apple, but the Bible doesn’t say what the fruit was—only that it was the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. This little detail tends to get lost in translation (quite literally), as the image of a tempting apple has become ingrained in our cultural mind.

The biblical story says that Eve ate of the forbidden fruit and shared it with Adam. “When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it” (Genesis 3:6). What’s noteworthy here is that Adam was not deceived or persuaded by Eve. Instead, Adam made a conscious choice.

Despite being given a direct command from God not to eat from the tree, Adam accepted the fruit from Eve. He ate from the forbidden fruit and disobeyed God. Adam’s sin was the same as Eve’s.

So, who ate the “apple”? They both did. And though their sin incurred God’s righteous judgment, a second Adam would come to Earth to redeem sinners from their sinful state and to be reconciled with their Creator forever. We’ll explore that part of the story later. 

Scientific Facts About the Story of Adam and Eve

The Adam and Eve story and the Genesis creation account sit at the crossroads of faith and science. Skeptics of the Christian faith say that the story lacks credibility, but Christian scholars offer a fascinating parallel between the biblical and scientific accounts of human origins.

According to the Bible, Adam and Eve were made directly by God. This depiction leaves little room for combining God’s creative process with evolutionary views that believe humans evolved from ancestral apelike beings over millions of years.

Mainstream science affirms a gradual evolutionary process where humans share a common ancestry with great apes, tracing back over six million years. This model is supported by three primary lines of evidence. But each can be refuted or reframed when looked at from a biblical perspective:

• The first line of evidence is the observation that humans continue to evolve today. Supporters argue that microevolutionary changes—minor adaptations and variations within species—imply that evolutionary leaps, or macroevolution, happened historically. However, from a biblical perspective, these small changes reflect adaptability within God’s dynamic creation rather than proof of an evolutionary chain.
• The second line of evidence lies in the physical and genetic similarities between humans and great apes. While the theory of evolution holds that these similarities are evidence of common descent, a biblical view suggests they reflect a common design where God used similar blueprints across different forms of life.
• The third line of evidence comes from the hominin (humanlike) fossil record. While often cited as tangible proof of human evolution, the fossils can also be viewed through a creation model. A biblical perspective suggests hominin diversity may represent God’s deliberate introduction of various life-forms at different times.

When Did Adam and Eve Live?

The question of when Adam and Eve lived remains a topic of interest and debate, particularly because the Bible doesn’t provide a specific timeline on when creation occurred. However, science gives us several tools to estimate their time period by exploring genetics and archaeology through an old-earth creationist perspective.

One of those tools comes from genetics, where the concepts of mitochondrial Eve and Y-chromosomal Adam serve as anchors in time for dating our earliest ancestors.

According to some population genetics studies, these genetic lineages suggest that mitochondrial Eve and Y-chromosomal Adam lived approximately 130,000 to 140,000 years ago.

Second, the fossil record builds on this idea. Around 130,000 years ago, we see the unique globular human skull, a hallmark of modern humans, emerging. This key developmental feature appears suddenly in fossil evidence.

Third, archaeology reveals the presence of distinctly human behavior, that is, symbolic thought and expression, appearing more than 100,000 years ago. These behaviors mark a sudden and significant leap in cognitive and cultural development that further aligns with the genetic timeline.

The coinciding of these dates is both impressive and thought-provoking as it paints a potential picture of human origins that aligns with both the biblical account of Adam and Eve and scientific evidence.

(For more on this topic, consider supporting Reasons to Believe and purchasing Old-Earth or Evolutionary Creation?)

Where Did Adam and Eve Live?

According to the Bible, Adam was made even before the beauty of Eden took form. Once the garden was established, God placed Adam there to tend and nurture it (Genesis 2:15), and then Eve was created and also lived there.

The Garden of Eden is described as a specific location on Earth, and not the entirety of the planet. This view differs with some interpretations by young-earth creationists who see Eden as covering the whole Earth. The garden’s precise location remains a mystery: its exact boundaries have been lost to time.

Nevertheless, the biblical text and modern science can help us make estimates. The Garden of Eden was most likely located around the modern Persian Gulf. Genesis 2 specifically mentions the Tigris, Euphrates, Pishon, and Gihon rivers.

Only the first two of these four rivers still flow, but, prior to the last ice age, all four waterways flowed into the Persian Gulf. As such, we estimate that the Garden of Eden was located somewhere within this region. It should be noted that the Garden of Eden may well have extended into parts of east Africa. The text describes the Gihon River as winding through the land of Cush, which corresponds to modern day Ethiopia.

What Language Did Adam and Eve Speak?

Some suggest Adam and Eve may have spoken Hebrew, as it is the language of the first five books of the Old Testament.

However, this idea lacks scientific backing. No concrete evidence supports the idea that Hebrew was the first human language. Indeed, humanity’s earliest form of communication remains a mystery.

Interestingly, one of the oldest known people groups, the Khoisan in Africa, use a unique method to communicate through clicking sounds. This ancient form of language offers a glimpse into the many ways humans have communicated across the ages.

In a playful nod to this thought, one might say that Adam and Eve “really clicked.”

What Did Adam and Eve Look Like?

The Bible is silent on the specific appearance of Adam and Eve, thereby leaving room for some interpretation and speculation. While they’re considered real, historical figures in the biblical narrative, Adam and Eve also serve as the theological everyman and everywoman that represent all of humanity.

This concept allows people from different heritages to envision the primordial pair in a way that reflects their own identities.

Science suggests that Adam and Eve:

• were physically and behaviorally modern humans 
• likely had heavily pigmented, dark skin
• likely had brown eyes
• likely had broad, flat noses
• likely had black or brown, tightly curled hair

(For a deeper dive into this topic, be sure to check out our dedicated post on Adam and Eve’s appearance where we explore this topic in greater detail.)

Adam and Eve History, Family Tree

While the story of Adam and Eve is often referred to as just that—“a story”—there’s reasonable evidence to affirm the pair as historical figures with a documented family tree. According to the Bible, they were created on the sixth day of creation as the culmination of God’s work. They represented God’s crowning achievement of creatures made in his image. We find further description of this work beautifully captured in Psalm 8:4–6.

The Bible (Genesis 4:1, 25) introduces us to their children—Cain, Abel, and Seth—and Genesis 5:4 reveals that Adam and Eve had many more sons and daughters, suggesting a larger family tree.

There’s even a possibility they may have had children before the Fall. This is speculative and inferred from Eve’s childbirth experiences. After the Fall, God told Eve her childbirth pain would increase, perhaps implying she had a beforehand understanding of childbirth.

Regarding the end of their lives, Adam lived for 930 years, with his long life eventually ending due to the time constraints brought on by the fall. The Bible doesn’t specify how long Eve lived.

In a broad sense, all humanity can trace its roots back to this first couple, making us all descendants of Adam and Eve. For Adam’s family tree, see Genesis 5. For a family tree from Jesus Christ all the way back to Adam, see Matthew 1.

The Second Adam: Jesus Christ

Obviously, the tragedy of the Adam and Eve story is that they rebelled against their Creator and plunged themselves and their posterity into a state of sin. But the story doesn’t end there.

In Christian theology, Jesus is seen as the “second Adam.” This idea comes from the apostle Paul in Romans 5:12–21 and 1 Corinthians 15.

Through Adam, sin and death entered the world and spread to all people. But through Jesus Christ came hope, redemption, and the gift of eternal life. His life, death, and resurrection offer a path to a restored relationship with God by counteracting the fall and providing a new beginning for humans who believe in his promise to save.

1 Corinthians 15 shines the light on Jesus’s resurrection, which not only affirms his divinity but highlights the hope of salvation. Jesus’s conquest over death nullified the consequences of sin introduced by the first Adam.

This theological reality highlights the transformation—from lost to redeemed—available to all persons who call on the name of the second Adam. It’s God’s great promise of salvation. Jesus as the second Adam is not just a theological idea but a beacon of hope, signifying the ultimate triumph of life over death and the enduring assurance of a restored creation.

Conclusion

As we contemplate the legacy of Adam and Eve and the promise embodied by Jesus Christ, we embrace the enduring themes of creation, fall, redemption, and, finally, consummation that continue to resonate across time and cultures. The Adam and Eve story is our story, and it will continue forever.

This exploration of the Adam and Eve story weaves together history, theology, and science. Reflecting on these themes, we’re reminded of the timeless nature of fall and redemption, identity, and connection that define our shared experience.

• For a deeper exploration into this topic, consider supporting Reasons to Believe by purchasing Who Was Adam?

The post Adam and Eve Story: <em class="algolia-search-highlight">Faith</em> and Facts appeared first on Reasons to Believe.

Just five little letters, yet they bridge the gap between the visible and the understood.

For some, the concept of faith conjures notions of a blind leap into the unknown (“blind faith”) or belief without sufficient evidence (“wishful thinking”). Sometimes, it’s seen as fragile, subjective—a crutch for the uncertain.

The Bible offers a much richer, more transformative understanding of faith.

In short, biblical faith is confident trust in a credible or reliable source.

Hebrews 11:1 says it simply: “Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.” These words don’t speak of wishful thinking or vague optimism. Biblical faith is grounded in something far greater—a confident, complete trust in a credible source.

And who is that source? None other than God himself—unchanging, faithful, and true. The only true, divine authority. The author of all truth and eternal life.

Faith and reason go hand in hand. Faith in him isn’t arbitrary; it’s a reasonable response to his proven character and works.

But what exactly is faith as a Christian belief? How does it find its foundation in Scripture, and how does it transform the way we live, trust, and hope? Let’s dive deeper to uncover the meaning and power of living faith.

Definition of Faith

The English Definition

To understand faith, we must first untangle its meaning. The dictionary definition of faith is a “firm belief in something for which there is no proof.”

At first glance, that sounds unwise, maybe even naive—like stepping off a cliff with no bridge in sight.

Yet, faith, as described in the Bible, is neither irrational nor blind trust.

The Biblical Definition

The Christian faith rests on a solid foundation: the character of God, who has proven himself faithful time and time again.

Creation whispers his name in the rustling of leaves and the crashing of waves. History bears witness to his hand, weaving through generations. And his Word stands as a declaration of his promises.

Faith is not a hollow hope but a heartfelt response to a God who has gone to great lengths to reveal himself. It’s the bridge between the seen and the unseen, holding firm because of the One who built it.

The Bible is not a collection of abstract ideas or mythical stories. It’s a tapestry of real people, places, and events that affirm its credibility.

Take the resurrection of Jesus, for instance. This defining moment isn’t just a theological concept—it’s a historical event supported by eyewitness testimony and the remarkable transformation of his followers. The disciples didn’t give their lives for a symbolic idea; they sacrificed everything for the truth they had witnessed firsthand.

So, what is Christian faith? It’s more than trust in what we cannot see; it’s firm belief in the One who has made himself known. And that faith, when anchored in him, becomes the foundation for a life of hope, purpose, and unshakable confidence.

Biblical faith is confident trust in a credible or reliable source.

The Meaning of Faith

Faith is the heartbeat of the Christian life. It’s more than an abstract idea or a fleeting feeling—it’s the driving force behind how we live and respond to the world around us.

The meaning of faith encompasses both belief and trust. True faith moves beyond just acknowledgment of truth; it compels us to trust so deeply that it transforms our decisions and actions.

An Example of Faith: Abraham’s Story

Abraham exemplifies this trust. When God promised him descendants as numerous as the stars, Abraham “believed the Lord, and he credited it to him as righteousness” (Genesis 15:6).

He trusted God’s promise of a son. He trusted even as his wife was well past her childbearing years and his hair had turned gray. His circumstances seemed impossible—but still, he trusted. His faith didn’t depend on his understanding of how God would fulfill his promise; it rested entirely on the credibility of the One who made the promise.

Faith works like that, even in science. We trust the process—not because we know every outcome, but because we’ve seen the reliability time and again.

Sir Isaac Newton experienced this firsthand as one quiet moment under an apple tree sparked years of exploration, experimentation, and proof.

If one apple dropped straight to the ground, how could Newton be sure every apple would fall similarly? What if, just once, an apple decided to float, hover, or soar into space? Experience suggested it would fall, but a hunch isn’t proof.

So Newton observed, tested, and documented the same pattern time and again. Apples fell. Objects returned to the earth. Gravity revealed itself as a force at work—dependable, consistent, invisible, universal—yet undeniably present.

What is Religious Faith?

Whether in science or God, faith involves trusting what is unseen yet demonstrable. Just as gravity holds the universe together, God’s faithfulness holds our hearts steady.

Religious faith is not a leap into the dark; it’s a step toward the light—grounded in the proven faithfulness of God. It’s not based on a wish but on evidence.

Historical and experiential, God’s faithfulness is written in history and etched in the lives of his people.

And nowhere is faith more clearly defined than in the pages of Scripture. The Scriptures define faith, illuminate its purpose, and provide real-life examples of faithful men and women who trusted God in extraordinary ways. To understand religious faith fully, we can turn to the pages of Scripture, where the object of our faith—God himself—is revealed.

What is Faith in the Bible?

What does the Bible say about faith? It’s far more than acknowledgement. It’s a dynamic force that transforms lives. Faith doesn’t stop with knowing that God exists—it responds with trust and surrender.

Faith is not content to sit quietly in the heart; it moves into our hands and feet, urging us to respond to God’s goodness and grace.

Scripture is filled with examples of faith in motion, showing us that true belief always leads to response. Noah didn’t just hear God’s command to build an ark—he acted on it, trusting God’s promise of deliverance. Every nail hammered into the wood declared belief in a God who saves.

Faith also empowered David to step onto the battlefield with Goliath. Armed with nothing but a sling and an unshakable assurance that the battle belonged to the Lord, David faced the giant with courage born of trust.

Faith in the Bible is alive, vibrant, and daring.

It says yes to God’s promises even when circumstances scream no. It doesn’t demand that every question be answered or every detail explained—it trusts the One who holds the answers and sees the details.

Trusting in God

At its core, faith is about trusting in God—believing in his existence and his character. As Hebrews 11:6 explains: “Without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.”

Faith in God isn’t passive. It’s a relationship built on trust, rooted in his love, and sustained by his faithfulness. Faith begins with the assurance that God is real but deepens as we seek him. This seeking isn’t casual; it’s earnest and wholehearted.

What Does God Say About Faith?

Hebrews 11:1 extols, “faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.” It’s not a vague wish; it’s a confident trust in God’s promises.

The Bible is filled with stories of ordinary people who trusted God in extraordinary ways:

• Abraham obeyed God’s call to leave his homeland, trusting in a promise he couldn’t yet see.

• Sarah believed in God’s promise of a child, even when her body seemed incapable.

• Moses chose faith over fear, leading the Israelites out of Egypt and across the Red Sea.

• David spared Saul’s life twice, declaring that God anointed King Saul and trusting God’s timing for David’s reign.

• Paul turned from persecuting the early church to becoming one of its most vocal supporters, even when it landed him in prison.

These stories remind us that faith isn’t about perfect people—it’s about trusting a perfect God.

Faith, according to God, isn’t static. It moves us, shapes us, and enables us to persevere. It’s a gift we receive and a calling we embrace, one step at a time.

What Does Jesus Say About Faith?

During his time on earth, Jesus often spoke about faith, weaving it into his teachings and miracles. Over and over, he pointed to faith as the key to experiencing God’s power and presence.

• When healing the woman who touched the hem of his garment, Jesus said, “Your faith has healed you” (Luke 8:48). Her faith reached out in trust, believing in Jesus’s ability to heal.

• To his disciples, he explained, “If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you” (Matthew 17:20).

• When calming the storm, Jesus gently rebuked his disciples for their lack of faith, asking, “Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?” (Mark 4:40).

Jesus’s words show us that faith isn’t about its size but its object. It’s not the strength of our faith but the greatness of the One in whom we place it.

Faith trusts that Jesus is who he says he is—the Savior, the healer, the storm-calmer, and the Redeemer.

Faith vs. Religion

Faith and religion are two words often spoken in the same breath. But they are not the same. Interdependent? Certainly. But identical? Not quite.

Faith is the trust. The living, breathing confidence that transcends intellect and seeps into the soul. It’s the assurance that God is who he says he is and will do what he has promised. Faith shapes us—it transforms how we think, act, and, ultimately, who we are. At its heart, faith is a connection, a divine tether binding us to our Creator. It’s not a contract; it’s an ever-changing relationship that calls us into a life marked by trust and intimacy with God.

Religion, however, can be thought of as a system. It’s the framework, the scaffolding, that helps us express and live out our faith. Religion offers the rhythms and routines that keep us rooted—going to church, reading Scripture, praying, fasting, and giving. These disciplines are vital, yet on their own, they can become hollow motions, checklists we dutifully complete without much thought.

Through faith, the habits of religion take on new meaning. Church services become sacred gatherings, spaces where we experience God’s presence. Prayer shifts from a chore to a lifeline, connecting us directly to the heart of the Father. Reading Scripture becomes less about checking off chapters and more about conversing with the Author of life. Even giving becomes a joyful surrender, an act of trust in God’s provision.

Faith reminds us that our hope doesn’t lie in what we do for God but in what he has already done for us. It calls us deeper, beyond duty and obligation, into the loving presence of the One who sees us, knows us, and loves us unconditionally.

Faith Explained in Practical Terms

Faith is not just a concept to understand; it’s a truth to live out. It touches every part of our daily lives, shaping how we think, act, and respond to challenges.

How can we describe faith? At its core, faith is a profound trust in the God who never fails.

Having faith means surrendering control and trusting God to keep his promises even when circumstances seem uncertain. It’s the assurance that his plans are good, his timing perfect, and his love unwavering.

Think of Abraham as he stood under a star-filled sky, hearing God’s promise of descendants as numerous as the stars. Did he know how God would fulfill that promise? No.

But he trusted who made the promise. Faith doesn’t demand all the answers; it rests in the character of the One who holds them.

Where Does Faith Come From?

Faith comes from God himself. It’s not something we manufacture or muster up.

As Paul declares in Ephesians 2:8, “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God.”

This gift grows as we nurture it. Like a seed planted in good soil, faith flourishes when we spend time in God’s Word, commune with him in prayer, live in fellowship with other believers, and follow God’s directions. Faith grows in the fertile ground of his presence.

How Does Faith Work in Your Life?

When life throws curveballs, faith is the steady hand on our shoulders, reminding us that God is in control. It allows us to echo David’s words: “The Lord is my shepherd; I lack nothing” (Psalm 23:1). Faith assures us that even in the valley of the shadow of death, we are not alone.

Faith doesn’t just help us survive difficulties—it helps us thrive through them. It empowers us to forgive when it’s hard, to love when it’s undeserved, and to give when it’s sacrificial.

It’s the thread that ties our daily actions to God’s eternal purposes.

The Evidence of Faith in Your Life

Faith is not invisible. There’s tangible evidence of faith in life.

Paul calls this evidence the fruit of the Spirit: “love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control” (Galatians 5:22–23). A life of faith reflects the character of Christ, pointing others to God’s transforming power.

The early church in Acts reflected a vision of faith. Their faith was evident in how they lived—sharing their possessions, breaking bread together, and praising God in the face of persecution. Their faith wasn’t just something they believed in; it was something they lived, and the world around them took notice.

Faith lived out speaks louder than any sermon. It’s seen in the parent who prays over their child, the friend who forgives a deep hurt, and the neighbor who extends kindness without expecting anything in return. A life of faith is a beacon, pointing others to the God who changes lives.

What Faith is Not

Faith is not blind optimism or a sunny denial of life’s struggles. It’s not about pretending everything is fine when it’s not, nor is it a ticket out of hardship or a guarantee of a pain-free existence.

Faith is courage. It’s the steady trust in God’s promises, even when life feels unbearable.

Picture Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, standing before the fiery furnace. Their words echo through time: “If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to deliver us . . . But even if he does not, we want you to know, Your Majesty, that we will not serve your gods” (Daniel 3:17–18).

Faith doesn’t bargain with God for deliverance; it rests in his goodness, no matter the outcome.

Faith is not just something you hold onto—it’s something you live out. And when you do, it shines. It pierces the darkness, reflecting the faithfulness of the God who never fails.

God is Faithful

We see faith best as reflected by God himself. God is faithful. His love never wavers.

Jeremiah paints this truth in vibrant, hope-filled words: “Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness” (Lamentations 3:22–23). These are promises to grip tightly, lifelines to steady us when the ground beneath our feet feels like shifting sand.

Faith is a confident trust in a credible source. And in Christ, we have all the evidence we could ever need. His life, death, and resurrection echo through history as declarations of God’s unrelenting faithfulness.

Whether we are basking in the sunlight of life’s mountaintops or walking through the shadowy valleys, his love never changes. His mercies never run out. We can trust him, lean on him, and let his faithfulness carry us through.

Because he who promised is faithful, and he will never let us go.

The post What Is <em class="algolia-search-highlight">Faith</em>? appeared first on Reasons to Believe.

Both then and now, John’s words are an ageless call for personal reflection. Yet it would seem that the message of eternal life and deliverance from a perishing world is not vital today. Priority for a seemingly distant God has fallen well below the “urgencies” of daily living. And who would honestly place themselves in spiritual peril? For some, their unpracticed faith has gone cold. Others stress that they have no need for religion, or for God. Spiritually tone-deaf, they may find a refuge in Nietzsche’s lament: “God is dead.”

Science and Secularism
Philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche was one of several powerful voices in the nineteenth century responsible for the cultural shift. His oft-quoted mantra was hardly a boast. It was a statement of despair, rooted in his observation that a world reduced and compartmentalized through empirical science, enlightened thinking, and modern philosophy had eliminated the need for a sovereign transcendent creator. He also predicted the consequential emergence of a nihilistic worldview absent of meaning or purpose—trending to social and civic tyranny.² Does this seem prophetic?

How did we get here? Is there a counter to a godless worldview: a path to refresh lost faith? It appears Nietzsche had it right. The march of science and increasingly secular ideas from the mid-nineteenth century forward has framed a mainstream worldview absent of God, where religious belief has been marginalized to myth.

Adding to Nietzsche’s views, it’s been said that Charles Darwin gifted atheism with a scientific foundation. If natural, random processes can account for the diversity of life and all speciation, then what intellectual space remains for a creator?

Soon after Darwin’s ideas went public, astronomers³ discovered a breathtaking, expansive universe, with countless galaxies far beyond our Milky Way. Did these findings reinvigorate belief in supernatural creation? No. Intellectuals characterized Earth as an insignificant, accidental dust speck in the immensity of space. With these presumptions it is understandable that twentieth-century writers and philosophers would consider humanity as just another species thrown into an uncaring, godless universe with no hope beyond the grave.

In a complimentary vein, renowned scientists such as Carl Sagan, Stephen Hawking, and Richard Dawkins leveraged their platforms to argue that the universe is all there is, all there ever was, and all we need to know. It appears that secular science—“all there is to know”—has displaced theology. God has been deemed unnecessary; John 3:16 is irrelevant.

These subjective, lingering narratives are pervasive in our culture, and one could argue that they have fostered religious doubt and apathy, cast a shadow over individual meaning and purpose, spawned nihilism, seeded agnosticism, and promoted atheism. The normalization of secular science within our education systems may well account for the lack of self worth expressed by many young people.

Perhaps the “death” or irrelevance of God (to man) has been an off-ramp to our polarized culture. Instead of a God human beings will answer to, it seems that a godless universe and behavior without ultimate consequences are reflected in spiking crime rates, disrespect for tradition, silencing of opposing beliefs, shaming, bullying, runaway drug-related deaths, human trafficking, gender confusion, corrupt and weak leadership, increased depression, escalating suicide rates, and school massacres. It’s all evidence of a deeply fallen and menacing world.

Science in Transformation
I believe we have reached a major turning point. In recent decades, discoveries in both the life and physical sciences have radically transformed our understanding of the universe’s origin and its purpose: a world designed for advanced civilization. The implications of these discoveries counter the atheistic premises of scientists, philosophers, and intellectuals bounded within a naturalist worldview. In a kind of scientific coup, Darwinism has been neutered and Sagan dethroned.

Biological Complexity
Darwin’s core theories, built on random natural mechanisms and extensive time, struggle to account for:

• The (geologically) sudden appearance of new, complex fossils exhibiting advanced body structures in the Cambrian geological era.⁴
• Examples of extreme biological complexity; for example, biological coding and information processing.

In DNA replication, an ensemble of proteins unwinds DNA strands (lengthy, four-bit coded sequences), then reads, replicates, error checks, corrects, and generates new DNA code and winds up a copy strand.⁵ In a Darwinian world, the codependence of the DNA strands and the protein ensembles would require their independent, concurrent evolution, including their mutual functionality—hardly the signature of an unguided process.

Cosmic Singularity
General relativity (1915) predicted the hot big bang origin of matter, energy, space and time, and the physical laws governing the universe.⁶ This prediction was validated empirically by cosmic microwave background measurements in the mid 1960s. Soon after, physicists Stephen Hawking and Roger Penrose published theorems that affirmed the notion that the universe had an origin.⁷ Though some people retain doubt due to the lack of a quantum theory of gravity, that singular moment in which everything natural came into existence from nothing is, by definition, a transcendent event, implying a cause apart from our universe.

Other discoveries have revealed that advanced human life depends on hundreds of extremely fined-tuned physical properties of the cosmos. Examples include the detailed external and internal structures of the universe, such as (1) its size, mass, and age; (2) the size, shape, and stability of the Milky Way Galaxy (MWG); (3) the location of our solar system in the MWG; (4) a multitude of unique solar system features such as our sun’s structure, material content, stability; and (5) the precise number, types, and orbits of the planets.⁸

This growing aggregation of staggeringly precise, life-critical, physical properties strongly points to this: the universe appears to be singularly intended for human habitation.⁹

Science and Belief
I contend that 170-plus years of atheistic bias built on a limited understanding of the cosmos and the life sciences has lost its rational foundation. Moreover, the evidence of pervasive intentional design suggests a designer apart from this universe. In our time, scientific rigor is providing reasons to believe in a transcendent Creator of all that is and all that ever was.

Over 3,000 years ago, before telescopes, spectroscopes, interferometers, and other advanced technology, when cloudless nights would reveal a breathtaking panoply of stars and galaxies, David, the Jewish king and psalmist, wrote these inspired words:¹⁰

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.

Yet for many today, the cloud of secular science has been an intimidating barrier, and a source of doubt to belief in God. But now, we can confidently push aside its spiritually suffocating tenets. A search for spiritual meaning and purpose in a deeply fallen world can start with understanding that the natural world we depend on has supernatural meaning and purpose. That knowledge can open a fresh perspective and provide a solid foundation on which to build personal faith in a loving Creator who grants everlasting life to all who trust in him.

Endnotes

1. Patrick Pinak, “Relive Tim Tebow’s John 3:16 ‘Coincidence’ That Creeped Everyone Out,” Fanbuzz, August 12, 2022.
2. Jordan B. Peterson, Beyond Order (New York: Penguin Portfolio, 2021), Rule VI, 162.
3. For example, Edwin Hubble, Henrietta Leavit, Georges LeMaître, and Vespo Sipher, circa 1910–1927.
4. Stephen C. Meyer, Darwin’s Doubt (San Francisco: HarperOne, 2013), Kindle Edition. During this explosion of fauna, representatives of about 20 of the roughly 26 total phyla present in the known fossil record made their first appearance on Earth. 
5. Fazale R. Rana with Kenneth R. Samples, Humans 2.0 (Covina, CA: RTB Press, 2019).
6. Jeff Zweerink, “Did the Universe Have a Beginning?”, RTB publication, July 1, 2016.
7. Jeff Zweerink, “Hawking’s Final Word on the Beginning,” Impact Events (blog), Reasons to Believe, May 11, 2018.
8. Hugh Ross, Designed to the Core (Covina, CA: RTB Press, 2022).
9. Ross, Designed to the Core.
10. Psalm 19:1–4.

The post Current Science: A Counter to Atheism and a Basis for <em class="algolia-search-highlight">Faith</em> appeared first on Reasons to Believe.

Today I continue to answer questions, but now many come online and on social media. Answering questions about the Christian faith is necessary. The Bible encourages inquiry and Christians are called to answer people’s questions (1 Peter 3:15–16).

What follows are 10 more selected questions I was asked online over the last couple of years. Again, my answers are intentionally concise, which reflects how I respond online. Much more could be said on these important topics; please see the resource section for further information. I hope these brief answers will help you in your engagements with people who ask similar questions.

Q1: Why wasn’t Jesus sent to die for the world’s sin before the Flood of Noah? Why wasn’t the Law given to Adam and Eve after they sinned? Why are the two vehicles of salvation delayed by God? Is this proof of man’s evolution about salvation?

A: Both “lowercase” law and gospel were given right after Adam and Eve’s sinful rebellion (called protoevangelion: Genesis 3:15). According to the biblical doctrine of original sin, Adam and Eve represented humanity (Romans 5) and thus all people sinned in their rebellious acts, experiencing moral corruption, guilt, and separation from God. The Flood is part of God’s just judgment that will come in its fullness on Judgment Day. The people who lived before Christ’s atoning sacrifice were saved prospectively (accepting the promise of a future Savior). People who live after the coming of the Savior are saved retrospectively (looking back on a historical Savior). Thus, historic Christianity sees a continuity in salvation.

Q2: Since the Bible is all-sufficient it is not in need of any man’s interpretation, right?

A: When evangelicals say the Bible is sufficient they typically mean it is all that’s needed to convey salvation and how a follower of Christ is to live. Yet the Bible is a written text and thus has to be interpreted. It seems the real issue is whether we have interpreted the Bible responsibly. We seek to lead out the text’s intended meaning (exegesis) rather than read into the text our own meaning (eisegesis).

Q3: We are finite and God is infinite. Why then is God described as a male? Isn’t such a distinction limiting God from his infinite persona? He’s a king, a father, a he. Are we putting infinity in human-shaped boxes in order to understand God?

The triune God of historic Christianity is a purely spiritual being without a physical body and therefore without a sex or gender as we humans have. Some of God’s characteristics are ones we traditionally associate with a male or a father. Other characteristics are ones we traditionally associate with a female or mother. Yet Jesus Christ, who is both fully God and fully human, was a male and he taught us to call God “father.” It might be helpful to think of “father” as an analogy. That is, God is both like a human father (providing for his children) and unlike a human father (doesn’t have a wife and isn’t married). Thus the term “father” isn’t meant to be used univocally (the same exact meaning) nor equivocally (a completely different meaning) but analogically (both like and unlike).

Q4: You don’t actually interpret the Bible. You accept Christ and allow the Holy Spirit to explain it to you by continuing to read more and more of God’s Word, at which point it will all come together and make perfect sense—knowing there can be no contradictions. Correct?

A: Reading a text is interpreting a text. A reader tries to discover the author’s intended meaning. Readers do that by understanding the genre, the language, and the context. Even Jesus interpreted the Hebrew Bible (sometimes differently than his religious community did). All Christians read the Bible but sometimes they interpret or understand it differently. As God’s inspired Word we believe there will be no contradictions, but that doesn’t guarantee we have read and interpreted it correctly.

Q5: I find the Christian discussion of end times to be a difficult and confusing topic. Am I alone?

A: You are not alone.

In my small book Christian Endgame (82 pages), I offer what I think is a clear, careful, and objective primer that emphasizes prudent biblical thinking about a controversial and challenging topic.

Without telling you what I personally believe, I simply (1) discuss the ground rules of the Bible’s apocalyptic literature, (2) identify and explain the major views of historic Christian eschatology, and (3) note their major strengths and weaknesses. I then allow you to form your own critical judgment and interpretation.

In other words, I work hard to report carefully, but you ultimately decide.

Q6: Does God gives us pain in order that we would seek him?

A: Discovering that temporal realities cannot provide ultimate fulfillment in life is often deeply disappointing (existentially painful). But in that disappointment comes a severe mercy (a painful gift) from God who will not allow us to find ultimate fulfillment in anything other than himself. Thus, existential dissatisfaction is severe but it directs us to God, which is a great mercy. For believers in Christ, pain and life’s disappointments keep us tethered to the Lord. This is, in my view, the central message of St. Augustine’s classic book Confessions. 

Q7: What do you think of the Jesus depicted in the gospel narratives?

A: Having read through the four gospels again recently, I offer three reflections that struck me afresh:

(1) Jesus is an extraordinary miracle worker and healer right from the get-go. He seems especially drawn to people with extreme needs who express a sincere faith.

(2) Jesus is highly critical of religious hypocrisy but reaches out liberally to sinners who repent.

(3) The ones who are most confident about Jesus’s true identity are the demons Jesus encounters. As they are driven out the demons refer to Jesus in divine terms (the Son of God, the holy one of God).

Q8: Why aren’t people more persuaded by arguments?

A: In my view there’s a difference between argument on one hand and persuasion on the other. People are persuaded based on rational, irrational, or nonrational considerations. So successful persuasion isn’t a guarantee that the argument is sound or cogent.

Q9: Aren’t all Christians simpletons?

A: All of them? Athanasius, Augustine, Anselm, Aquinas, Ockham, Pascal, Galilei, Copernicus, Kepler, Descartes, Boyle, Leibniz, Newton, Maxwell, Mendel, Kelvin, Lemaître, Gödel, Jaki, Lewis, Sandage, Polkinghorne, Plantinga, Wolterstorff, Swinburne, Craig, McGrath, Wright, Ratzinger, Adler . . .

Q10: What do you do when you encounter a clash of ideas and opinions on social media and you strongly suspect a genuine respectful exchange of ideas isn’t going to happen?

A: I try to make sure my reasoning is careful and my delivery is respectful. Then I end the exchange and allow others who may read my comments to form their own judgments on the matter. By the way, I crashed and burned a few times before I learned this strategy.

I hope these questions and my brief answers will motivate you to think carefully about the historic Christian faith.

Reflections: Your Turn 
Which question are you most interested in? 

Resources

Here are five books I’ve written to address various questions about the Christian faith:

• Christianity Cross-Examined: Is It Rational, Relevant, and Good? In this book I answer twelve questions about historic Christianity’s truth, relevance, and goodness.
• Without a Doubt: Answering the 20 Toughest Faith Questions In this book I answer 20 common questions and objections about God, Christ, and Christianity.
• A World of Difference: Putting Christian Truth-Claims to the Worldview Test In this book I address issues pertaining to the Christian worldview and its relationship to competing worldviews.
• Classic Christian Thinkers: An Introduction In this book I address topics relating to church history and historical theology.
• God among Sages: Why Jesus Is Not Just Another Religious Leader In this book I address issues relating to Jesus and Christianity in comparison with the world’s religions and their leaders. 

The post Answering 10 More Questions about the Christian <em class="algolia-search-highlight">Faith</em> appeared first on Reasons to Believe.

My answer: I would first explain how the two-books doctrine of God’s faithful and true revelation through the book of nature and the book of Scripture is a core tenet of Christianity. It appears in article 2 of the Belgic Confession. It is taught in Psalm 19:1–4 and Romans 1:18–20. Next, I would show how—with an Earth surface frame of reference (Genesis 1:2)—the chronology of the six creation days in Genesis 1 is a perfect fit with the established scientific record. Third, I would ask if there are any questions about other perceived conflicts between science and biblical faith, and then seek to resolve them. So far, I have written 23 books demonstrating that science is the ally, not the enemy, of the Bible and Christian faith. I hope to write several more.

The post Is There a War between Science and <em class="algolia-search-highlight">Faith</em>? appeared first on Reasons to Believe.

No doubt, many of us have felt the same way and perhaps we wanted to turn away from God. As someone who thinks about these issues deeply, I believe that everyone—regardless of what they believe—must offer a reasonable response to the problem of pain and suffering. In other words, every worldview under the Sun must deal with the problem of pain and suffering.

As a believer in God, I’m persuaded that the problem of pain and suffering, terrible as it is, does not negate God’s existence. On the contrary, I believe that having God in the equation is humanity’s last best hope of making sense of this issue. The Bible tells us that God does not merely exist, but he is also all-good and all-powerful. The Bible also recognizes the reality of evil (moral and natural) and proposes a reality where God will one day end evil and all sufferings.² 

However, I agree that humans may not fully know God’s specific purpose or design and the reasons for his permitting pain and suffering to exist in this world. But to a certain extent, human beings can gain some wisdom from different sources, such as our personal experiences with pain or the experiences of others, and from Holy Scripture. However, this article will offer a scientific view on the purpose of pain.

Pain: Foe or Friend?
In our modern world, pain is often viewed as the enemy that must be done away with or defeated at all costs. At the individual level, just a slight signal of pain such as a severe headache or a body ache is enough reason for us to gulp down an analgesic or pain killer. Readily available medication perhaps explains the hope and growing interest that people place in science and its perceived potential to eradicate pain and suffering.³ Even limiting or managing pain is welcomed. However, while the intention may be good, this goal is sadly shortsighted. This kind of hope in science is misplaced because it ignores the vital role that pain and suffering play in our lives.  

For instance, consider the medical condition seen among patients with diseases such as “leprosy, congenital painlessness, diabetic neuropathy, and other nerve disorders” where their inability to experience pain causes greater harm to them than the disease itself.⁴ People in such cases end up injuring themselves simply because the pain signal in their body is not functioning. In other words, from a scientific point of view, some pain serves as a warning of danger ahead.

The Gift of Pain, a book jointly authored by world-renowned hand surgeon Dr. Paul Brand and award-winning writer Philip Yancey tells the story of Tanya, a four-year-old girl who was brought to the hospital with a “swollen left ankle.” On further investigation, Brand found out that the “foot rotated freely, the sign of a fully dislocated ankle” and yet to the doctor’s utter shock Tanya was not the least bothered. She did not even exhibit any pain!⁵

Tanya was later diagnosed with a very rare genetic disease informally referred to as congenital indifference to pain. According to the experts, her overall health was fine except in one area: she did not feel pain! When she injured herself by any accident, all she felt was “a kind of tingling—but these carried no hint of unpleasantness.” It was evident that Tanya “lacked any mental construct of pain.” In other words, she did not have a “built-in warning system” to warn her of any further injuries.⁶ This case and others led Brand to say:

Tanya and others like her dramatically reinforced what we had already learned from leprosy patients: pain is not the enemy, but the loyal scout announcing the enemy. And yet—here is the central paradox of my life—after spending a lifetime among people who destroy themselves for lack of pain, I still find it difficult to communicate an appreciation for pain to people who have no such defect. Pain truly is the gift nobody wants. I can think of nothing more precious for those who suffer from congenital painlessness, leprosy, diabetes, and other nerve disorders. But people who already own this gift rarely value it. Usually, they resent it.⁷

This fact made me reevaluate my own painful visits to the dentist. Though the immediate pain of having my decaying tooth rectified was unbearable, the pain nevertheless served a better outcome. My dentist’s good intention kept me from suffering even greater pain in the future. Having come to this point, I could not help but agree with Brand’s conviction that pain truly is one of God’s greatest gifts to us, a gift that perhaps none of us want yet none of us can do without! 

Endnotes

1. Arun Shourie, Does He Know a Mother’s Heart?: How Suffering Refutes Religion (India: HarperCollins, 2017), Kindle Version.
2. Revelation 21:3–4.
3. Fazale R. Rana with Kenneth R. Samples, Humans 2.0: Scientific, Philosophical, and Theological Perspective on Transhumanism (Covina, CA: RTB Press, 2019), 20.
4. Paul Brand and Philip Yancey, The Gift of Pain: Why We Hurt and What We Can Do about It (Secunderabad, India: OM Books, 1999), 192.
5. Brand and Yancey, Gift of Pain, 3.
6. Brand and Yancey, 5.
7. Brand and Yancey, 187.

The post Science, <em class="algolia-search-highlight">Faith</em>, and the Problem of Pain appeared first on Reasons to Believe.

My answer: If you live your life as a faithful son or daughter of God, it will increase your odds of living a long life. However, as both my father and father-in-law reminded me in their latter years, old age is not for cowards. The older we become the more we will suffer from the consequences of the laws of physics.

I have lived long enough to have the experience you describe occur many times. It is always a tragic loss to see a passionate Christian, strong in their faith and radiating Christlike character, die at a young age. At such times we should and must ask questions like the ones you posed.

As I wrote in Why the Universe Is the Way It Is,¹ God subjects all of us to laws of thermodynamics, gravity, and electromagnetism as tools to discourage us from committing sin and evil acts and to encourage us to come to him for redemption. Because of these laws of physics, we all experience decay, suffering, declining health, and eventual physical death. In John 16:33 Jesus states that in this world we will have tribulation, but we are to be of good cheer since he has overcome the world.    

On rare occasions God does miraculously intervene to deliver someone temporarily from the consequences of the laws of physics, but only when that deliverance brings about a stronger response to his offer of redemption than allowing the laws of physics to run their course. Isaiah 57:1–2 may apply to the singer you admire: God knowing the impending trials, suffering, and trauma for him and knowing that he had achieved all the purposes on Earth for which God had assigned to him decided to allow him to graduate early. Another possibility is that God used the death of this singer in a similar way he used the stoning of Stephen (Acts 7): to help bring faith in Christ the Redeemer to others—in Stephen’s case to Saul of Tarsus. There are many other possible biblical reasons. We have an online list of Scripture passages, God’s Mercy in Death, that might encourage you.

Endnote

Hugh Ross, Why the Universe Is the Way It Is (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 2008), 165–181.

The post Why Do Some <em class="algolia-search-highlight">Faith</em>ful Christians Die Young? appeared first on Reasons to Believe.

I am thankful for having spent my career in AI, initially as a graduate student, and subsequently as a research scientist, professor, and entrepreneur. I am also grateful to have stimulating discussions today with the youngest generation of researchers and engineers about their coolest AI. There are no doubts in my mind that AI will continue to improve, and I look forward to hearing about more breakthroughs that will improve our lives.    

However, some imaginations about the future of AI are troubling, especially those raising theological questions. Does AI prove the nonexistence of God? Will AI empower humans to become gods? Can God survive AI? According to Professor Michael Keas, who specializes in the history of science, AI has become a futuristic myth to add fuel to the alleged warfare between science and religion.¹ This short article responds to these theological AI claims from a research perspective. It discusses how this future-oriented myth relates to a bigger framework of past-oriented myths on the so-called conflict between science and faith. First, let’s look at some theological AI claims.

ET-Enlightenment

Supporters of the ET-Enlightenment speculation claim that extraterrestrial life (ET) will be equipped with super-AI. Their idea is based on these assumptions: 

1. Life on Earth emerged through Darwinian unguided evolutionary processes.
2. Advanced life must have emerged in the universe through some similar evolutionary process.
3. Since human technology is too primitive to detect ET, we will be found by ET with superior AI. 

Assuming that unproven Darwinian evolution is true, nontheists extrapolate that superintelligent ET will come to Earth one day, bringing a superior spirituality from the heavens without God.

Artificial General Intelligence

With the recent AI successes, there is optimism that a general form of AI, or AGI, will soon surpass human intelligence. These optimists speculate that robots will replace humans, a new form of life will be birthed, and science will destroy religions. Some even imagine that AGI will function as gods.

Upgrading Humans

Extreme AGI optimism propels imaginations even further. Such optimists think that physical death has been reduced to a mere technical problem waiting for a technical solution. Some even imagine that AGI will upgrade humans into gods or that transhumanism will merge humans with machines, thus remaking humans in the image of their own higher ideals.

Realistic View of AI

As a teenager, I was inspired by science fiction, which led me to AI. From my perspective, science fiction (or sci-fi) is stimulating and inspiring. It may even shape the future of scientific research. However, some of these theological AI scenarios are not in the genre of sci-fi, or are perhaps hidden under the guise of sci-fi. There seems to be a common objective of putting science in direct conflict with religion.

How much scientific evidence is there behind these speculations? Renowned hands-on researchers call these speculations absurd and science fiction. Professor John Lennox observes that the amount of unjustified speculation claimed for AI is inversely proportional to the amount of actual hands-on work in AI that the claimant has done.² I tend to agree. An experienced hands-on scientist would know that AI today is merely extracting salient patterns from a huge dataset. 

While Darwinian evolution from a common ancestor is still an unproven concept, the idea that future superintelligent ET bringing superior spirituality appears to be purely speculative. The passion for developing AGI to surpass human intelligence has been in existence since the birth of AI over a half-century ago. However, scientists today still have no idea how to define some of the basic features of human intelligence, such as self-consciousness, humor, and love. There is still a major chasm between today’s AI and a primitive form of AGI, let alone of replacing humans, conquering death, or becoming gods. Ironically, in the process of denouncing theology, these scientific ideas are becoming a theology themselves.

Six Science-Faith Warfare Myths

Historians of science explain that there was little or no conflict between science and faith for many centuries since antiquity.^3,4 Yet this futuristic AI myth that portrays conflict is not exactly new. Over the last several centuries, the proliferation of past-oriented science myths has obscured and distorted the facts, resulting in a complex relationship between science and faith. Here are six major science-faith myths that have made their way into textbooks and popular culture.

Big Myth

The big myth describes a premodern belief that the universe was small. Modern science displaced this church-sanctioned belief with a vast cosmos. However, this description is false because premodern people believed that the universe was very big. Ptolemy taught two thousand years ago that the earth had the ratio of a point to the heavens. Biblical authors used the greatness of the universe to illustrate the glory of the almighty God (Psalm 19:1, 103:11).

Dark Myth

The dark myth describes the church suppressing the growth of science, causing Europe to descend into the Dark Ages between 500 AD and 1500 AD. However, this story is false. Beginning in the fourth or fifth century, church leaders encouraged the integration of science and faith and wrote that the study of science was a form of worship. Furthermore, the church financially and socially supported the invention of the university, thus stimulating the growth of science. Beginning in Bologna in 1088, over 50 universities were established in Europe by 1450. About 30% of the liberal arts curriculum was on science-related subjects.⁵

Flat Myth

The flat myth is a subset of the dark myth, specifically used to demonstrate: (a) the ignorance of the church, and (b) its suppression of intellectuals who challenged belief in a flat earth until Christopher Columbus proved Earth’s roundness in 1492. However, this story is untrue. Ancient and medieval scholars had many evidence-based reasons to believe in Earth’s roundness.

Bruno Myth

This myth posits that Bruno was burned alive as a martyr of science in Rome in 1600. While this form of punishment in history was cruel, historians clarify that: (a) Bruno was a philosopher with a very faulty understanding of science at the time, (b) his trial was much more philosophy versus religion than science versus religion,⁶ and (c) he was executed almost entirely for theological reasons, not scientific ones. About a third of astronomy textbooks today tell this highly misleading myth.⁷

Galileo Myth

This myth holds that the church tortured and imprisoned Galileo in 1633 for constructing his telescope and for his idea of Earth going around the Sun. However, according to historians, Galileo received great honor and respect from the church before and during his trial. Nevertheless, Galileo betrayed the pope, denied receiving a special injunction, and even lied about the aim of his book. Though the church finally disclosed documents to the public in the nineteenth century, this myth has been in textbooks for centuries.

Copernican Demotion Myth

As canonized in the Catholic Church, Copernicus agreed that God formed the cosmos for humanity’s sake, affirming the harmony of the Bible with astronomy. Published in 1543, his book argued for Earth going around the Sun, thereby providing the basis for Newton’s work a century later. However, beginning in the seventeenth century as part of an anti-Christian effort, Copernicus’s astronomy was falsely portrayed as demoting humans. According to Keas’s survey, over 70% of astronomy textbooks today continue with this Copernican demotion myth.

Toward a Science-Faith Harmony

Science and Christianity ought to be in harmony with each other. However, myths fabricated over the past several centuries depict them as being perpetually at odds. These myths are still being used today to position Christianity as irrational and at odds with science. Having spent my entire career on AI mostly as a non-Christian, I am shocked that AI is being hijacked to become the seventh warfare myth between science and faith.

Our creativity in making AI work so amazingly reflects that we are made in God’s image. We should thank God for giving us the wisdom to develop AI to improve our lives.

Endnotes

1. Michael Newton Keas, Unbelievable: 7 Myths about the History and Future of Science and Religion (Wilmington, DE: Intercollegiate Studies Institute, 2019).
2. John Lennox, 2084: Artificial Intelligence and the Future of Humanity (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Reflective, 2020).
3. Keas, Unbelievable.
4. Gary B. Ferngren, Science and Religion: A Historical Introduction, 2nd ed. (Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2017).
5. Keas, Unbelievable.
6. Maurice A. Finocchiaro, “Philosophy Versus Religion and Science Versus Religion: The Trials of Bruno and Galileo,” in Giordano Bruno: Philosopher of the Renaissance, 1st ed., edited by Hilary Gatti (New York, NY: Routledge, 2017).
7. Keas, Unbelievable.

The post Artificial Intelligence: The Seventh Warfare Myth about Science and <em class="algolia-search-highlight">Faith</em>? appeared first on Reasons to Believe.

Today I answer questions online and on social media. I appreciate receiving a variety of questions from people of all backgrounds and stages of life. What follows are ten selected questions I was asked online over the last couple of years. My answers are intentionally concise, which reflects how I respond online. Much more could be said on each of these topics, so please see the resource section for further information. I hope these brief answers will help you in your engagements with people who ask similar questions.

Question #1 If God exists, why doesn’t the universe unambiguously point to any kind of Creator God?

I think it is fair to say that a large majority of people throughout history have believed in God and that many of them thought God’s existence was just a matter of common sense (in other words, they thought life unambiguously pointed to God).

Concerning the origin of the cosmos, of fine-tuning, and of consciousness, I think atheistic naturalism’s explanatory power is quite limited. But Christian theism seems to provide the best explanation for these profound mysteries.


Question #2 How does Jesus’s incarnation relate to his atonement on the cross?

Jesus Christ could only do what he did soteriologically (in terms of salvation) because he was who he was ontologically (in terms of being). Representing both God and man in his two natures as the God-man, Jesus could reconcile God and man. Thus, the incarnation grounds the atonement.

Question #3 Is RTB’s statement of faith based on a Reformed theology similar to what John Calvin advocated?

RTB’s statement of faith, which I helped write, reflects a Protestant evangelical viewpoint. Theologically conservative Christians who are Baptist, Lutheran, Wesleyan, Pentecostal, Anglican, or nondenominational could affirm and have affirmed the statement. Many denominations within Christendom are represented among RTB’s staff scholars and scholar community.


Question #4 Isn’t Protestantism’s major flaw that it leads to constant splintering and dividing? What do we do about it?

Protestantism as a branch of Christendom has its challenges like all other ecclesiastical bodies do. But the common ground on doctrine, values, and worldview shared by the three branches of Christendom (Catholic, Orthodox, Protestant) is robust. I encourage all Christians to contend for truth, promote unity, and always strive to practice charity among their fellow believers.


Question #5 Aren’t all religions the same, just calling the same god by different names?

All religions are not the same. Consider their disagreement about the existence of God or gods as just one of many examples demonstrating that fact:

• Islam affirms one God.
• Popular Hinduism affirms 330 million gods.
• Philosophical Hinduism affirms all as god.
• Original Buddhism affirms no god.

So the world’s religions collectively can’t agree on whether there is a god or how many there are.


Question #6 How can Jesus be God when the Gospels say he was born, was tempted, and died? None of these limitations are true of God.

The historic Christian doctrine of the incarnation teaches that Jesus was both God and man (a single person with both a divine and human nature). Thus, Jesus encountered limitations and challenges through his human nature, not his divine nature.


Question #7 Which branch of Christendom is the right one?

I don’t think any specific branch or tradition within Christendom has a lock on all Christian truth. They all share the truths revealed in the Apostles’ and Nicene Creeds. Therefore, I try to learn and discern from Christendom’s wealth of theological resources. Personally, I attend a Reformed Anglican church.


Question #8 What forms of logical reasoning do scientists employ in their work?

Scientists use deductive, inductive, and abductive forms of reasoning. Abductive reasoning (inference to the best explanation) is often used in hypothesis formation. But the enterprise of science (that is, the scientific method) is an inductive process involving observation and testing (empiricism) and generally weighing probabilities.

There is a difference between the method of science (induction) and the forms of reasoning or arguments used in applying the data (deductive, inductive, abductive).

Question #9 Could beauty be explained as an evolutionary survival advantage?

Beauty seems a major compulsion for humankind. Any possible survival advantages seem inconsistent with the amount of beauty in the world and humankind’s profound obsession with it.

Even if beauty has some survival advantages, beauty as a whole is still best explained in a world with God rather than in a world without him.

I hope these questions and my brief answers will motivate you to think carefully about the historic Christian faith.

Reflections: Your Turn
Which question are you most interested in? Visit Reflections on WordPress to comment.

Resources

Here are five books I’ve written to address various questions about the Christian faith:

• Christianity Cross-Examined (Covina, CA: RTB Press, 2021). In this book I answer twelve questions about historic Christianity’s truth, relevance, and goodness.
• Without a Doubt: Answering the 20 Toughest Faith Questions (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 2004). In this book I answer twenty common questions and objections about God, Christ, and Christianity.
• A World of Difference (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 2007). In this book I address issues pertaining to the Christian worldview and its relationship to other competing worldviews.
• Classic Christian Thinkers: An Introduction (Covina, CA: RTB Press, 2019). In this book I address topics relating to church history and historical theology.
•  God among Sages: Why Jesus Is Not Just Another Religious Leader (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker, 2017). In this book I address issues relating to Jesus and Christianity in comparison with the world’s religions and their leaders.

The post Answering 10 Questions about the Christian <em class="algolia-search-highlight">Faith</em> appeared first on Reasons to Believe.

The post Is <em class="algolia-search-highlight">Faith</em> in Progress Warranted? appeared first on Reasons to Believe.