Total Truth

 In his book The Origin of Species (1859) Darwin proposed the Theory of Evolution and rewrote mankind's biological past as the undirected happen stance of natural selection. Materialists used this as a focal point to banish God as the Creator. Darwin’s Pre-Civil War science needs to be re-evaluated. Many Christians who have attempted to debate or refute Darwin’s Theory of Evolution have lost the debate with the opening argument. 

      The word “Evolution” has more than one meaning and therein lies a massive problem. Evolution, in its simplest usage means change over time. As an example, a couple decides to build a house. They want a simple two bedroom cottage. Joe however decides that he needs a larger garage to house his boat. After thinking it over Jane lobbies for a country kitchen. The resulting McMansion was built from a house plan that evolved, after much discussion.

     The second definition for the word evolution is what Darwin called the Specific Theory and is currently known as microevolution. Microevolution is variation within a species or kind. Microevolution is Biblical. In Genesis (1:24) God said “Let the earth bring forth living creatures according to its own kind.” Humans are a good example. I may have inherited my mother’s eyes and my father’s height, but I am neither just like either of my parents but a variation. However there are limits to variation. I may insist that my dog “eats like a horse” but it’s never going to run in the Kentucky Derby. With great effort and special breeding programs humans have bred miniature dogs, long-haired dogs, non-shedding dogs, and most everything in between. However, any breeder will tell you that there are limits. 

       Humans over the last 150 years have gotten taller. Research has found that humans in industrialized countries are at least 10 centimeters (4 inches) taller and if you watch basketball there are seven foot tall athletes wrecking havoc in the post position. However 12 foot tall humans would require a major redesign with a second heart and additional lung capacity to pump the increased blood and oxygen needed. Marfan's syndrome clearly points to the rupturing of the design. 

       The third definition of evolution is Darwin’s General Theory. What is now called macroevolution. This is Darwin’s belief that all life forms emerged and developed gradually from a single celled organism (Universal Common Descent). Darwin took the variation that naturally occurs within every species and expanded it to create everything across time. The Theory of Evolution states that natural selection acting on random mutation is capable of creating new life forms. One species changes into another through a non-directed random process. This of course eliminates God as Creator. It should also be noted that 2 micros do NOT make a macro. This triple play on the word evolution is where many Christians loose the verbal battle and public discussion becomes distorted. 

     There are no longer trilobites in the seas of earth. However the fact that there has been a change in the animals that inhabit the planet only proves level 1 evolution (change over time). This change over time does NOT verify nor provide proof of macroevolution (Level 3).    A litter of puppies will have a white puppy, a brown one, a white one with a brown spot over his right eye and other color variations depending on the parents. Variation within all species is naturally occurring and does lead to diversity within species (i.e., microevolution- Level 2 ). This variation is NOT proof that a single organism begat a spiral of life that "evolved” into the vast diversity of life we currently see. Natural selection functions as an editor and not a creator. 

       America did not come to grips with the Theory of Evolution until the Trial of the Century in 1925. The Scopes trial, known as the “Monkey Trial” was aptly named. In The Descent of Man (1871) Darwin wrote the following description of man’s roots:

[A} naturalist would undoubtedly have ranked as an ape or monkey, an ancient form which possessed many characters common to the Old World and New World monkey … . There can, consequently hardly be a doubt that man is an off-shot from the Old World simian stem (Descent of Man; p. 521). 

       While I wasn't alive for the actual proceedings I did see the movie “Inherit the Wind.” So I know all about the Monkey Trial. Or so I thought. The movie is a Hollywood drama that distorts just about every aspect of the trial. In the movie the brave teacher, Scopes, makes a stand against bigotry and ignorance while fighting to bring the light of science to a benighted backwater. William Jennings Bryan was depicted as a religious zealot who had come to stamp out the light of science and progress. Clarence Darrow, the defense attorney, was the champion of tolerance, understanding and reason. The town of Dayton, Tennessee was portrayed with every negative stereotype of a small Southern Town Hollywood could fabricate. In the film, Scopes is arrested while teaching evolution by a grim posse of morally offended citizens. He is later shown in jail suffering in fear as the irate citizens burn his effigy. As an emotional subplot the daughter of a fire breathing preacher was in love with Scopes. The intolerant anger of this fundamentalist preacher kept the lovers apart until the very end when the daughter’s eyes are opened and she leaves town on the train with Scopes. The film is wrong on so many levels. 

 Reality:

     The ACLU advertised for someone to challenge the Butler Act and Scopes was asked by several of Dayton’s citizens if he would volunteer. A group of people in Dayton sought to gain national attention for their town. Although the so-called "Drugstore Conspiracy" hoped for a more positive outlook. Scopes was a Math teacher and athletic coach who occasionally acted as a substitute teacher of Biology. He traveled to New York to meet with the ACLU executive Board and then returned to Dayton to live in his boarding house. He was NEVER imprisoned nor burned in effigy. Scopes was treated as an honored citizen. He attended a dinner given by the Dayton Progressive Club that honored Bryan’s arrival. He also attended another dinner by the same club for Clarence Darrow. Darrow was meet by a friendly crowd that was just as large as the one that met Bryan. Sorry to burst any romantic bubble you might have had. There was no loving couple riding off into the southern sunset. 

      The Butler Act was passed in 1925 and did not prohibit the teaching of evolution as it related to geology. The single prohibition was that it was not lawful for schools to teach that humanity was not created by God. Children were not to be taught that they evolved from lower animals. We are nearly a hundred years after the trial and the images of that event have been colored by both a play and a very powerful movie depiction. At the time a firestorm of newspaper coverage, feasted on the concept of the Bible vs. scientific progress. There was even a live radio broadcast of the trial, which was a first. H. L. Mencken, the editor of the Baltimore Sun and an ardent atheist, helped pay for the defense team. 

      The climax of the movie Inherit the Wind is Darrow's withering cross-examining of Bryan on a literal interpretation of the Bible. Clarence Darrow is shown as humiliating Bryan as he repeatedly boxed him into untenable statements which reached a climax as Bryan collapsed in court. What is not portrayed is that Bryan was much more informed about Darwin and evolution than Darrow. It was in fact one of the reasons that Bryan had agreed to defend the Butler Law. His belief in God strengthened and under-girded his view of American Democracy as founded on a "virtuous citizen".  Bryan had heard stories of increasing numbers of young people loosing their faith in God after being subjected to the lectures of atheist professors. 

     The power of education should have been strongly imprinted on the defense counsel Clarence Darrow.  A year before, Darrow had defended two college students who had killed a man as an intellectual exercise, perpetrating the perfect crime. During the Scopes trial Bryan read Darrow's excuse for the college students. "Is there any blame attached because somebody took Nietzsche's philosophy seriously and fashioned his life on it ? . . . Your honor, it is hardly fair to hang a nineteen-year-old boy for the philosophy that was taught him at the university." Bryan clearly saw the inconsistency in Darrow's defense. If Nietzsche's teaching could influence young men to commit murder wasn't the doctrine of evolution capable of significant influence, by separating mankind from his Creator? 

Civic Biology: 

     Civic Biology was the true focus of the trial.  Dr. Hunter, the author, believed that Darwin’s Theory of Evolution was proven. Having accepted evolution Dr. Hunter used his text as a means to spread the concepts of Social Darwinism and eugenics to students. The subtitle of The Origin of Species is The Preservation of the Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life.    

    The eugenics tree (shown below) clearly illustrates the philosophy that mankind is now in charge of the direction of human evolution. Darwin’s Theory of Evolution and the mantra of survival of the fittest gave scientific legitimacy to a nationwide eugenics effort in America, England and Germany. Eugenics was seen as a worthy and necessary effort to protect and purify the gene pool and governments aided this by legislating forced sterilization.  Eugenics, the science of being well born, saw a clear connection between the selective breeding of plants and domestic animals and its application to mankind (Civic Biology p. 261). The text discusses the “5 races” of man and assures students that the highest type of all, was the Caucasians as represented by the civilized white inhabitants of Europe and America (p.196). The book also discusses the inheritability of crime and immorality which resulted in these people becoming parasites. Dr. Hunter proposed a “remedy” for such parasites.

If such people were lower animals, we would probably kill them off to prevent them from spreading. Humanity will not allow this, but we do have the remedy of separating the sexes in asylums or other places and in various ways; preventing intermarriage and; the possibilities of perpetuating such a low and degenerate race. Remedies of this sort have been tried successfully in Europe and are meeting with success in this country  (Civic Biology pg. 263. )

      Ernest Haeckel declared that the various races may be defined as separate species. Other scientists rallied to the cause.  Adolf Jost, author of the book The Right to Death (1895), stated that the final solution to the population problem was to give control of human reproduction to the government. Building on this premise Law Professor Karl Binding of the University of Leipzig and Alfred Hoche, Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Freiburg stressed the therapeutic value of destroying “life unworthy of life.” The destruction of such life is “purely a healing treatment.” 

      Eugenics strips mankind of its status as a special creation of God. Mankind is no longer a little lower than the angels but an animal. An animal that could be sculpted by man and the enforcement of sterilization laws. Remember the definition of eugenics is the self-direction of human evolution.   In 1907, Indiana became the first state to adopt legislation that provided for the compulsory sterilization of certain individuals. Thirty states in the United States followed with similar legislation. Eugenics was not limited to one region of the United States. Eugenics clinics, exhibits and Better Baby contests occurred in every state with the full backing of the medical profession. It was believed that science provided a means to control mankind’s evolution by determining who should be allowed to have children.

     Eugenicists used a flawed interpretation of Mendel's laws on heredity to argue that criminality, intelligence and pauperism were passed down in families as dominant and recessive traits. Mainline eugenicists (those who were explicitly preoccupied with issues of race) believed that some individuals and entire groups of people (e.g., Southern Europeans, Jews, Africans, and Latinos) were predisposed to defective genes. Charles Davenport, a leader in American eugenics, argued for laws to control the spread of "inferior blood" into the general population. He told an international gathering of scholars "that the biological basis for such laws is doubtless an appreciation of the fact that Negroes and other races carry traits that do not go well with our social organizations."

     Eugenicists used information gathered from prisons and hospitals to convince the House Committee on Immigration that America's germ plasm was being weakened. This led to the passage of the Johnson-Reed Act of 1924 which restricted the immigration from Southern and Eastern Europe, the Balkans and Russia. Over 35 states followed suit and passed eugenic sterilization laws. People in state institutions were forcibly sterilized if they were judged to be genetically defective. It wasn't until the 1960's that these laws were repealed. More than 60,000 people in the United States were sterilized for eugenic purposes. A culture that considered itself progressive and informed allowed itself to be led. They based their actions on science and the foundation of Darwin's evolutionary principles.

     The Eugenics movement was part of a changing worldview that unleashed a holocaust. In Germany, the National Socialists used the eugenics model as a basis for sweeping legislation in 1933. These laws ultimately led to the sterilization of over 400,000 people. When Hitler and the Nazis' began their final solution they were working with the firm conviction that for the sake of the German people and the future of mankind they were purifying and cleansing the human gene pool. The translation of the German under the poster is “if inferior people have 4 children- while higher- quality people have two this is what will happen.”

 As the German tanks rolled through Paris and pushed the last of the British off the continent concentration camps and the extermination of those labeled “unworthy of life” was being accelerated. The Nazis were not insane. They were highly efficient in pursuing the extension of Social Darwinism. Nazis' were taking charge of the tree of life and pruning it of any branch that did not fulfill their vision of Aryan supremacy. Six million Jews were killed in the Holocaust, plus millions of the physically and mentally handicapped or anyone who stood in the path of Aryan supremacy. Science in the service of a man-made vision can be apocalyptic.    

The clip below is an excerpt from the movie Expelled: No intelligence allowed.  Ben Stein begins by exposing the censorship that is rampant in academia, the media and governmental policy making. The clip focuses on  Hitler and the Nazis' effort to fulfill Social Darwinism and create a Master Race. The section begins with a conversation with the philosopher  and mathematician Dr. David Berlinski.

      Since we won that war we tend to look at movies of WWII and gloss over how close we came to loosing. All of Europe was conquered by the Nazi War machine. Britain barely escaped with the remnants of its army at Dunkirk. America was not in the war and England stood alone. Hindsight is always perfect and we love to point our finger and say that we would never be party to such terrible atrocities.

     Social Darwinism however is alive and virulent. It may have a different name but nearly a million babies are aborted each year in America or perhaps the politically correct term is “fetal mass.” Abortion is now discussed as a personal option, based on the wrong gender, inconvenience or timing. Planned Parenthood was founded in an effort to further eugenics. The present furor over selling fetal body parts from abortions is unspeakable. Medical decisions concerning health care for seniors, long term disability and end of life issues are frequently couched in terms of cost effectiveness and cost/benefit ratios. Cost cutting measures are frequently cited as overriding quality of care issues or even the availability of services.

     Science has been granted the role of sole arbiter of Truth. Humanity is no longer recognized as the creation of God. Religious faith is isolated in the church for an hour or two on Sunday. In the last 80-100 years we have become anemic Christians with Christianity no longer considered the bedrock of society. Faith that was once woven into our national fabric is scoffed at as an archaic concept. By failing to see our belief in God and the Bible as an essential part of both our public and private lives we have allowed a materialistic culture to overwhelm us. Too often what most of the world sees of America is a greedy lifestyle based on a materialistic philosophy.

Christianity and Science:      

     We seem to have forgotten our own history. Puritans fled England and risked everything in a search for a new world in which to build a “city on a hill.” These brave settlers set foot in America in 1620, as families. Most pioneering efforts sent only young men into the perilous hazards of an unknown world. The Puritans risked everything they owned and valued. They brought their wives and children and during that first bitter winter nearly half of them died. The first book that was published in America was the Bay Psalm Book, a translation of the Book of Psalms into English. Children learned to read by using a horn book that quoted the Bible. Harvard University was founded in 1636, for the primary purpose of educating pastors. Barely 16 years after they landed a struggling bunch of settlers, huddled on the coastline, spent a significant part of their wealth to educate their children as pastors.

     America was not settled by Buddhists, Muslims or Hindu. Yet the government that these Christians set up protects freedom of religion for everyone. A freedom they had paid dearly to secure. The right to worship God is embedded in the Constitution. We are guaranteed the freedom of religion not freedom from religion. No country however is static and nearly a 100 years after the American Revolution America faced a terrible time of turmoil. In the Civil War brother fought brother and the country spilled more blood than in any other war, including WWII. The battle ravaged America as it tore apart families, devastated towns and burned the conscious of the nation. Lincoln’s speeches shared a cultural fiber built on quotes from the Bible.

Sir, my concern is not whether God is on our side; my greatest concern is to be on God's side, for God is always right.  

God loves us the way we are, but too much to leave us that way. 

The only assurance of our nation's safety is to lay our foundation in morality and religion. 

America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves.

The last quote is particularly prophetic. Lincoln and most Americans from the turn of the Twentieth Century would be scandalized by our current sexual excesses and the poverty of moral standards. Media's fascination with violence, rampant greed and sexual promiscuity has banished traditional family groupings and values.  Movies are filled with graphic scenes of violence.  Media streams 24 hours of desperate housewives, alien invaders and homicidal neighbors. The lifestyle of the rich, risque and raunchy is paraded before our children as normal and desirable behavior.  Media packages America as built on a greedy, excessive lifestyle and spews it to the world as American Know How. 

     Given such a strong religious foundation how have American Christians lost their way? One of the reasons is that Christians have accepted a two-tiered worldview. On Sunday we go to church, study the Bible, visit with other Christians and sing our hymns. Then on Monday we put on our other mindset and let the material world control our decisions. 

     We have succumbed to a belief that life is lived in bits and pieces. Our conversations are based on the duality of life. We talk about a mind / body dichotomy; public/private lifestyle choices are rational or emotional.   Our existence is carved into neatly divided spheres. Nancy Pearcey wrote a very powerful book entitled Total Truth : Liberating Christianity from its Cultural Captivity. It is a thorough explication of the shift to the dichotomized worldview illustrated in the diagram below.

PRIVATE SPHERE

HEART – VALUES – RELIGION 

(PERSONAL PREFERENCES) 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

PUBLIC SPHERE 

SCIENCE – FACTS –NEUTRAL DATA 

(BINDING ON EVERYONE)

      The upper tier or private sphere contains our personal preferences. Those things which are most deeply held. The bottom tier, the public sphere is filled with the reality of our existence. The public sphere is where our thoughts are fulfilled as action. Notice in the two-tiered worldview science is placed in the foundational position. Science is heralded as a neutral activity that is devoid of ulterior motives. Data is impersonal, culture free and therefore binding on everyone. Science presents just the facts ma’am. In this system science has assumed the mantle of Truth. Scientific “facts " are considered proven. Data based on neutral science is binding on everyone while religion and the belief in God is considered a personal preference. Religion, values, morality and faith are preferences that we select from a continuum that makes no claim to absolute Truth.

     This dichotomy is powerfully illustrated with the issue of values. When Christians talk about values an absolute standard is assumed. The two-tiered worldview however places “values” in the private sphere. Which sounds like a positive statement. My faith is personal. I don’t want the government to legislate my faith. As Christians we are taught that we need to make a personal decision and accept Jesus as our savior and have a personal relationship with God. However, what has been created by this materialistic worldview is an isolation of faith and values.  Values, faith and religion are now defined as personal choices,  personal preferences that are not based on Truth. In this system individuals can assess morals and values in their own unique manner. Which means that no one can tell another person that he or she has made morally wrong choices. What is appropriate for one person, “morally" , depends on the sliding scale of personal preference. Moral values in this two-tiered worldview are not binding on everyone. Moral values are private preferences that are no more important than whether I choose a blue rug or a red one.  Individuals are not responsible for making right or wrong moral decisions. They are freed to pick from among a full spectrum of personal options.

     This sliding scale of moral values allows the President of the United States to smile and state with the full backing of the media that what he did in the Oval Office with an intern was of a personal and private nature. It wasn’t illegal and his personal frame of reference found no difficulty with his behavior. Once justice is uprooted from an absolute moral standard and placed on a relativistic sliding scale it becomes logical to blame the victim for a crime. Mrs. Smith, an eighty-five-year old grandmother, should not have purchased food in front of an unemployed 18-year-old. He was overwhelmed by the sight of her placing her groceries in her car and was justified in pistol whipping her to get a sack of oranges. It is further logical to drag the victims name and character through the mud. Mr. and Mrs. Jones were killed by their son who claims he was abused. People who can no longer defend themselves are portrayed as abusive because they paid for their son’s college education. Parents are cruel because they required a child to perform menial labor (i.e., feeding his pet).

     The two-tiered division reinforces the belief that Science is anti-Christian and Christians, in large measure, have yielded the field to the naturalistic scenario. Even strong evangelical churches have retreated behind walls of faith. Our culture places a strong emphasis on data, technology and a cultural mantra that says “show me the numbers.” The weight of scientific evidence is said to prove the Theory of Evolution and since faith is hard to quantify many Christians don’t even try.

       There is also that nagging doubt that no one mentions. Parts of the Theory of Evolution make sense, at least visually. There are lots of different dog breeds and museums have displays that show how dogs “evolved” from some ancient wolf-like creature. PBS has specials with scientists who speak of evolution as a proven fact and they point to fossils that are millions of years old. Overwhelmed by the insistent drumbeat that proclaims science knows best many have decided not to inquire further. We’ll just keep things separate. We’ll keep our faith safe and untainted by separating it from the real world where “data rules”.

      To further reinforce the dichotomy the materialistic worldview has skillfully presented a benign agenda that offers a backdoor. They tell Christians that it is “okay” to practice their religion. It is however not appropriate to voice anything about God or religion in the public forum. Stephen Jay Gould, Eugenia Scott and other Darwinists claim that they are not denying religion or even the existence of God. They are only requiring separation. What Gould calls magisterial domains (i.e., NOMA non-overlapping magisteria). Religion and science are two separate domains which have no overlap. While stating that they are not denying God they require that the Creator of the universe is to be given no function within reality. God might exist according to the secular humanists however He is to have no place in the real world. Science, and specifically science as defined by the materialist philosophy, is the final arbiter of any and all truth. 

        Although there is no requirement to wear a lab coat to church it is essential to emphasize that Christianity is not anti-science. Galileo is thrust at the Catholic church as a continual reminder of their mistake about the geocentric solar system. Protestants are pilloried with visions of Inherit the Wind. Truth is twisted and perverted as a relativistic scale replaces absolute Truth. However at some point every society must draw a line. Two plus two is four and murder must be punishable or anarchy is the result. Even evolutionists have begun the arduous process of figuring out how ethics and morality “evolved.” Any set of ideas if pressed far enough is based on something that is taken as self existent. Some aspect is absolutized and accepted as an article of faith. In religion it is called the Divine; in pantheism it is the ‘”Cosmic Force” and in Materialism it is “Matter.”

     Secular Humanists, materialists, have redefined science and the means for the study of science as methodological naturalism. Science is a method of explaining the natural world. The methodology of science emphasizes the logical testing of alternate explanations of natural phenomena against empirical data. Because science is limited to explaining the natural world by means of natural processes, it cannot use supernatural causation in its explanations. (National Science Teachers Association)

     This statement defines the only means of conducting science as limited to the study of material objects. Nothing involving the supernatural is to be considered as an answer or part of the study of science. The term “supernatural” has been so abused that it is necessary to define it. In this particular usage it does not refer to vampires, fairies, or pixies. Supernatural means anything beyond or above material existence. The definition of methodological naturalism requires that all evidence is limited to empirical data – meaning only what can be seen, felt, touched and/or enumerated. The corollary is that since God does not fit under a microscope and cannot be seen He is banished from science. Eugenia Scott wrote that there is no theometer ( Theo = God).

     No one wants science used as a “football” to prove personal preferences. Two plus two should equal four whether you are Baptist, Buddhists or agnostic. So why is it important to argue over whether the supernatural can or should be a part of science? The educational system and in particular Higher Education, has absorbed the materialistic philosophy. Evolution and materialism are now taught in classrooms and lecture halls as truth and required as a litmus test for graduation. The greatest cultural sin is no longer to be a “racist” but to be insensitive to cultural diversity. Which are the code words for personal preference. Because values, religion, morality and ethics have all been defined as a personal option there are no limiting factors such as moral absolutes that can be applied to personal living habits or personal behaviors. If it is legal it is acceptable. The only arbiter of Truth is science and the numerical bias of methodological materialism. The movie Expelled, No Intelligence Allowed presented several case studies of faculty members who lost their jobs because they dared to question tenets of the materialistic philosophy or to repeat the fact that evolution is only a theory.  It is more than a little ironic that Galileo faced similar cries of heresy when he questioned the Aristotelian geocentric worldview.   I would encourage you to view the movie, Expelled in its entirety. 

     The materialistic worldview dominates much of our culture. Business is ruled by cost accounting and the bottom line demands of profit at any cost. Pension funds and people’s lives are evaluated on whether there is money to be made. These principles are being applied in health care as people’s lives are valued on a numerical basis. The Dutch have already passed laws permitting euthanasia and it is being considered in several American states. Having bought into the two-tiered system Christians have been lured into thinking that if we keep our faith strong on Sunday we are absolved to do whatever it takes on Monday to build a better bottom line for the company. This lobotomized Christian culture is our own worst enemy. Muslim radicals who declared war on America called us Godless Infidels. The original definition of the word “infidel” is one who has no religious faith. While we talk about our faith and living in a Christian country the images that pervade our society are diametrically opposite. Movies and media images spew a potent brew of greedy, godless Americans to the world.

     Amongst ourselves our conversation is strong and vigorous however our faith is rarely lived out in what we buy, watch (via TV, movies, internet) and how we spend our time. By abdicating the field to the materialistic philosophy we have allowed it to control and dictate the culture. Christianity has always been involved in a battle whether from Judaizers, Gnostics or pagans. Today the battleground is materialism. We need to clearly understand the problem before we can engage in a conversation. When we use the term “materialism” most people think we are describing a modern culture obsessed with material possessions and greedy excess.   

     However materialism is in fact a worldview. It states that there is only matter. It is an atheistic proposition that denies the existence of God, the Creator. Darwin waited 20 years before publishing The Origin of Species because he knew exactly what he was rejecting. His Theory of Evolution was a biological progression that worked through only material processes to “evolve” animal species without the need for the Divine Creator. The Descent of Man completed his break with the Christian Worldview by declaring that mankind was an animal that evolved from a primitive Old World monkey.

     Once mankind is viewed as an animal, a product of survival of the fittest, that can be sculpted by man’s efforts the science of eugenics becomes plausible. The materialistic worldview denies the Supernatural and states there is nothing beyond what we can see, feel, or touch. It is the denial of the soul, the “mind,” consciousness, as well as God. It states that Supernatural forces are irrelevant to science. It states that natural processes are adequate to explain everything in existence. Which constitutes a worldview – a philosophical statement.

     The question is which worldview provides the best foundation for humanity. Christianity is diametrically opposed to the materialistic philosophy. Jesus said “I am the way, the truth, and the life (John 14:6). When Jesus, God incarnate, was asked what was the greatest commandment He responded “You shall Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your mind (Matthew 22:37). We are commanded to seek God and pursue Him with every fiber of our heart, mind and soul. God is Truth. Jesus taught that what we do, what we think and how we respond are all interwoven. God did not say that we were to have just a warm and fuzzy feeling about Him. Our relationship with God is a spiritual experience based on a rational, intellectual basis.

    Christians have to come out from behind our walls of faith. Since God is the Creator of All things there is nothing in nature that He did not create nor will into existence. There is nothing in nature that will contradict His will or Truth. God will be known. Christianity is not a series of truths or true statements, it is TRUTH. A daring statement in current American Society but it is one that I believe we have data and the Good Book to support.

RECOMMENDED RESOURCES:

From Darwin to Hitler: Evolutionary Ethics, Eugenic and Racism in Germany, Richard Weikart, Palgrave MacMillan, 2004.

The Soul of Science, Nancy R. Pearcey and Charles B. Thaxton; Crossway Books, Wheaton Illinois, 1994.

For years we have been told that Christianity was anti- science (ex. Galileo). This clearly and articulately demonstrates how the flowering of modern science is rooted in the Judeo-Christian worldview.

Total Truth, Liberating Christianity From Its Cultural Captivity, Nancy Pearcey Crossway Books, Wheaton Illinois, 2004.

This book has powerful information and insightful analysis. Nancy Pearcey combines apologetics, worldview analysis, social commentary with a historical perspective. Its not a quick read but it is well worth the effort.

When a Nation Forgets God, : 7 Lessons we must learn from Nazi Germany, Erwin W. Lutzer. Moody Publishers, Chicago,2010.

A powerful if chilling look at what and how Hitler was able to turn a Christian nation into a killing machine. "The political solutions that we thought would rescue our nation from its moral and spiritual free fall have had scant effect." Dr. Lutzer is writing to the people of God. " . . . we as individuals and the church at large must bear a credible witness to the saving grace of God in Christ."

Icons of Evolution Science or Myth? Jonathan Wells, Regnery Publishing, Washington D.C. 2000.

A very telling book which debunks frauds, bad science, and makes the process readable. The Miller-Urey Experiment, Haeckel’s Embryo’s, Peppered moths and Darwin’s finches are just some of the Icons that are examined.

WEBSITES:

www.Reasons.org - Main website for Reasons to Believe: Dr. Hugh Ross – founder “Where Faith and Science converge” Easy to navigate – Explore by topic (e.g.,Astronomy, Human Origins, Fossil record, Geology etc.) The Remarkable Design of the Solar System – 6 part series of articles extremely valuable

www.firstthings.com A full presentation of the Scopes trial and the movie Inherit the Wind can be found under articles: The Truth about Inherit the Wind.

www.Discovery.org - Main website for Intelligent Design Click on Science and Culture - try the Latest News and Views

www.4Truth.net A reasoned approach to Christianity hosted by the Southern Baptist Convention -Numerous articles on Evolution, Intelligent Design, and religious faith.

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