Volume II, Issue 11
Volume II, Issue 11
www.midwestapologetics.org
Welcome to the monthly Midwest Apologetics newsletter. Each issue is designed to keep you informed on the latest news concerning the ministry and provide timely articles to help strengthen your faith. Be sure to check out our website for articles, book reviews, and answers to some of the tough questions concerning the Christian faith.
Christianity, Science, and Scientism
There is a lot of confusion in our society over some extremely important concepts. Many people have been led to believe that science has shown that God does not exist, or if He does exist, He is irrelevant. But what exactly is the nature of science? Can science show us that God does not exist?
First, science is based upon testable and repeatable phenomena in our material world. By its very definition, science does not and cannot observe and test the spiritual realm – if it exists. The first Russian cosmonaut mistakenly believed that he proved God did not exist because he did not see God when he left earth’s atmosphere.
The problem for this man was that he had a materialistic worldview. He would have likely agreed with the late Carl Sagan’s comment that “The cosmos is all that is or ever was or ever will be.” This statement is clearly not a scientific statement. Sagan would have needed to be omniscient in order to make such a statement, which of course, he was not.
What these men call science is actually better defined as scientism. Scientism is an “ideology based on an anti-religious bias which presumes, without proof, that human rationality and the empirical method of science are the sole means for determining what is true about reality.”[1] One should notice that there is no way to empirically test this statement so, according to their rules of the game, it is impossible to know whether or not their view is true. In short, scientism is an anti-God religion.
Many of the claims made by modern scientists actually betray their religious beliefs. When a scientist claims that God does not exist he is making a religious statement. The religion of scientism is vehemently opposed to Christianity. This is why so many evolutionists are dead set against any critique of the evolutionary theory.
True scientists welcome any and all challenges to an hypothesis or theory. This is not true with most evolutionists. They threaten and/or file lawsuits if a teacher attempts to mention some of the difficulties with evolution – even if the teacher makes no comments about creation or intelligent design. Any critique of evolution is an attack on their religious convictions.
How sad it is that so many Christian leaders have bought the lie that evolution and its billions of years have been proven scientifically. They do not understand that these claims are based on numerous unverifiable assumptions. Those who zealously promote these beliefs as true are following the religion of scientism. As a result, when Christianity was kicked out of public schools the schools were not suddenly free of religion. Instead, Christianity was replaced with scientism and it has free reign in our public schools today.
Christians need to understand that the best way to understand what happened in the past is to ask someone who was there. The Bible claims to be a record of the One who has always existed. He told us how and when He made all things. In other words, God was the eyewitness of creation and He told us all about it in Genesis. It is sheer folly to accept the words of fallible men who were not there over the words of the One who is responsible for the creation.
Tim had another bone marrow biopsy on November 21. Once again, the results of the test were negative, meaning that no cancer was found. God has been so wonderful and has done some amazing things in the past few months. We are so grateful that Tim has been restored to full health. We also are grateful for Tim’s doctors and nurses who deserve a huge “thank you” for their efforts in saving Tim’s life. He wouldn’t be here without them. Certainly God placed Tim in the proper hands during this time and we can’t say “thank you” enough times.
Tim has been invited to present several talks during a conference at Bethel Baptist Church in Green Bay, WI in February (2nd – 4th). Duane Gish from The Institute for Creation Research is scheduled to headline the event. Tim will speak on the following topics:
- Why do Bible Difficulties Exist?
- How Should a Person Deal with Bible Difficulties?
- The Uniqueness of Christianity (as compared to the world’s religions)
- Leukemia and the Lord (Tim’s testimony)
- The Futility of Old Earth Arguments – Part 1: The Age of the Earth
- The Futility of Old Earth Arguments – Part 2: The Extent of the Flood
If you would be interested to have Tim speak at your church, school, youth group, etc. please email us for more information.
Please pray for the following items this month:
- Cari G. – Three months ago she received a bone marrow transplant and her health continues to improve. She is nearing the end of the 100 day window (Dec. 14). If she continues to improve until that date then she has a great chance of getting through. Thanks for your prayers on Cari’s behalf.
- Gayla S. – the niece of a close friend of Midwest Apologetics has recently been intellectually convinced of the Christian faith but needs to take that step of faith to place her life in Christ’s hands. Please pray that she will take that next step.
As always, if you have any questions, comment, concerns, corrections, ideas, prayer requests, etc., please email us and let us know. Also, thank you for your prayers. Please continue to keep us in your prayers throughout this month.
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[1] Barry L. Whitney, “Has Science Disproved God?” in John Ashton and Michael Westacott, The Big Argument: Does God Exist? p. 15.