Why I Believe - Why I Believe in Creation, Part 2

Hi Chip here. I'm jumping in right here before we actually get started to let you know that I'm really excited about our new small group study.

It's called why I believe you know one of the most significant problems believers have is not being able to articulate in a winsome and confident way.

What we actually believe. I mean, will people ask us about God, the Bible, Jesus creation life after death. Candidly, a lot of us really get stuck, but these are the basics we have a brand-new series is been completely updated.

We are so committed to the study that if you will lead a high school or college group will literally give it to you for free and if you'll do it in a group we've cut our cost to the bare minimum to get this to as many people as possible. We've got a lot more information coming to you about this later in the program right now. Let's get started. Creation versus evolution, the never ending debate right so many both scientists and theologians want us to believe that science and faith are incompatible with their mutually exclusive. Well, what if they're not part of science actually supports what they actually inform something today going to take a fascinating look at some of the latest findings don't want to miss statement. Thanks for joining us for this Wednesday. Addition of Living on the Edge with Chip Ingram Living on the Edges and international discipleship ministry featuring the Bible teaching of Chip Ingram today.

Chip continues our series why I believe you missed any of the messages in this series you can hear them online anytime Living on the Edge.just click the broadcasts after the teaching Chip will be with us to talk more about today's subject, so be sure to stay with us for that lower airstrip with part two of his message.

Why I believe in creation.

It was CS Lewis talked about this ought or should that every human being has in your heart. It's the sense that this is right and this is wrong. That makes us different than all the other animals. In fact, his book mere Christianity is what Francis Collins was reading he was making his rounds and he had all this intellect get a PhD over here.

He's now a medical doctor he's making his rounds and as he was making all of his rounds. He met people that were dying in a Meeting people of faith that had this piece and the certainty and the way they responded and he said there was one particular patient who was dying and he kept pressing me what you believe what you believe is a basically had rejected religion and I thought of his people just asking God and it was a crutch. I just couldn't get away from this man's life and he gave me a copy of mere Christianity. As I read mere Christianity. Despite all of this intellect. He said it made sense.

I realize there was something more than just random chance. And then he talks about the power of creation spaces. I remember one morning wrestling with all of this and I was out in the meadow and it was breathtakingly beautiful right this is Romans chapter 1, the creation screams of the character of God, his invisible attributes are screaming about his power. Is he terminology his love's purpose, and Francis Collins. As I knelt down in the grass and that do and I receive Jesus as my Savior.

He would go on after that to discover the genes that cause cystic fibrosis and then become a leading scientist in the course right that classic book the language of God. What I want you to see is that this is so much more than just facts and figures it's about what you believe. What is your faith proposition. Why do you believe what you believe or have you unconsciously as many of us have.

I think in Christian circles basically had a sort of a compartment over here of science and compartment of religion and and pretended that they don't connect the fact of the matter is your morals, your values, your purpose, what you teach your kids how you live your life is fundamentally goes back to you believe in a Creator that has a purpose where there is meaning or do you believe that your product of random chance and those two worldviews in the multiple worldviews that flow out of each. I mean they're at war there at war in the world. Question number three is how did the various plants and animals develop according to classic evolution. One simple cell slowly evolved into more complex plants and animals through a process of time chance. Natural selection, mutation and survival of the fittest. That was the what Darwin right in origin. The species and he believed in spontaneous generation.

What I mean by that is, at that time, Darman believe that just life could happen that chemical soup will a year later 1860 Louis Pasteur proved that spontaneous regeneration was absolutely impossible. The Scripture, by contrast, says, where did they come from. For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities, his eternal power's divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood from that which he made so that people are without excuse. God made plants and animals, and species, and stars and he made them all to reflect his glory and his character long before there were these amazing telescopes and before we put that humble out there and we could see into galaxies. The Scripture declares 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. They have no speech. They use no words, no sound is heard from them yet their voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the earth. You have to ask yourself what is the best explanation for all the things that we see in one of the things I like to do. Actually I do it nearly every morning. I'm actually very disappointed when they're not there. I guess there really there. I get up early. I get a cup of coffee and feed the dog that's my assignment for my wife and then I walk outside and every morning I look up at the stars. And there's just something about remembering how small and how finite we are, and how big God is and you have done enough research that I know that I'm just with my eye looking at a tiny part of the Milky Way in the Milky Way has somewhere between 100 to 200 billion stars and what I know is outside the Milky Way.

There's another 100 to 200 billion galaxies and what God's word says. He says that I spoke that and I hold it by the word of my power and that God also says Chip and to every human being I've placed my affection on you. You matter. I love you. I'm for you. And when I look up at the stars that passage from Psalm 19 comes to mind you what I think. I think that's a big God. And he can handle all my problems. That's a big God that is sovereign over all the issues that were facing politically and racially and things are happening around the world. That's a God that I can put my trust in, and as I've claimed his promises a faith statement. I watched him deliver, and you have to.

But what I want to ask you is are you communicating that kind of faith and what those stars mean to your kids is that making it into the world view of education of how your teaching your kids or your grandkids or your nephews. This message is not so much about our we can understand everything about evolution and creation.

It's much more about what are you going to do with the fact that if you and do believe that God created you.

What are the implications for your life for your worldview for how you live. For where your kids are educated for what you teach them.

I hope you're getting that when you compare and contrast these basic questions. It's pretty amazing. Now I want to jump into those aspects that are a bit technical and very enlightening. When Darwin looked into a microscope because he only had one that would multiply what he see it's all by maybe two or 300 X today we have microscopes that multiply them electron microscopes, way, way more so when he looked into this center of them of the cell he saw just the membrane and he thought it was very simple fact that's what he called it, and there wasn't much in their in his whole philosophy was that unit is very simple to ghost complex and what has been the core behind especially non-Christian scientist challenging Darwin is they now can look inside that cell.

It's anything but simple. We now have microscopes that are super complex. Some cells are you ready are so small that you can fit 150,000 cells just on the tip of a strand of hair.

I mean it's unbelievable molecular scientist describe a single cell. Are you ready is a high-tech factory there complex with artificial languages and decoding systems. They have a central memory bank that store and retrieve impressive amounts of information that approved precise control systems that regulate automatically and assembling in components and parts.

I mean what's happening inside of the cell is what led the Michael B.

He's of the world and the Michael Denton's of the world to say this simply can't happen by random chance cells also have a system that replicate you understand it's not just the size of the cell and the complexity of the cell. It's the actual DNA in the cell it if I had a spoon appear I could take a spoon and if I could fill just a tablespoon with DNA, there's enough information there for all the information and all the species for all the planet that has ever lived with room left over if I could take when you were little dot in your mother's womb one single cell. If we can take that cell and pull your DNA and uncoil it. It would be 6 feet long.

In fact, expert in DNA world-class Dr. Robert Shapiro was asked what he thought the chances were that DNA could have been formed by a random process is answer none is absolute nonsense, the genius and the complexity of a single cell in DNA challenge the very core and the presuppositions of classic evolutionary thought.

In fact, so much so we heard earlier about member Anthony flew he was the most famous atheists at 84 years old, near the time of his death. He did something that you almost never hear.

He renounced his atheism not to be fair because I think sometimes we Christians want to read into things and make it sound a little bit better to support our position. He did not become a Christian. But what he said was after 50 years of looking at the science, especially DNA. He could not believe any longer that life occurred without intelligent designer. Now he didn't come to believe that Jesus was at intelligent designer but think of what the facts are doing, even among agnostics and atheists. Now let's turn our attention from what's amazingly small to what's amazingly big. Albert Einstein published his equation on general relativity in 1915 and a Dutch astronomer Wilhelm this sister discovered a solution that predicted in expanding universe. The importance of these discoveries show that the world and the universe was expanding.

Here's the deal. If galaxies were moving farther and farther apart. The implication was they were once closer together from this realization.

Hubbell went one step farther and he laid the foundation for The Big Bang Theory providing evidence that the universe exploded into existence with a furious burst of energy and has been expanding ever since it was a shattering blow to centuries old notion of a static universe. The theory of an expanding universe was consistent with Einstein's theory, but it wasn't accepted early by scientist and they were very honest about it that they just said we understand if we actually believe there was a beginning. We could be in trouble in terms of our faith assumptions about random chance and there is no God. Robert just drove an American astronomer and a planetary physicist, argued that the reason that scientist were slow to accept the Big Bang because if it was true, it would imply a moment of creation. In an interview with Christianity today. This scientist said astronomers now find themselves painted into a corner because they've proven by their own methods that the world began abruptly in an act of creation to which they can trace the seeds of every star every planet every living thing in the cosmos and on earth, and they found that this all happened is a product of forces they can't hope to discover that there are what I and anyone would have to say is a supernatural force at work and I think a scientifically proven fact and then hit his book God in the astronomer Jester says for the scientist who is lived by his faith in the power of reason, the story ends like a bad dream. He is scaled the mountains of ignorance is about to conquer the highest peak and as he pulls himself over the final rock he is greeted by a band of theologians who being sitting there for centuries. To be fair, the Big Bang does not disprove classic evolution, but it strongly argues for a specific moment in time.

What I want to know is that we could go on and on with more and more scientific discoveries we could look at Darwinian evolution and ask ourselves some basic questions like what were the social implications I alluded to Nazi Germany Huxley would say that. Actually, I'm so thankful for Darwin because whether I believe it or not, it gave me moral license to live any way I want. Apart from God. Another great scientist said Darwinian evolution is the engine of atheism is what you need understand your worldview really matters.

You have two great options with the few that are developing on either side, but your options are this. Do you believe that life is a result of a single cell, random chance, no plan that you in fact in all the world is the product of billions of years of chemical reactions and all of the logical implications or do you believe that there is a personal God that made you and made everyone but every single person. Those that you disagree with those that are different. Those who believe different there made in the image of God. God created them and he loves them and he calls you and he calls me to treat them with dignity that there's no room for prejudice. There's no room for all the kind of things that mankind is done for one another because the infinite personal God has made all of us and he's created us for himself and here's my question. Do you honestly believe with your life, not just in your head that God created all that there is an are you teaching your children and your grandchildren. The worldview that by faith flows out of that. Are you willing to spend some time and say you know science is great. There's no dichotomy.

God created all would you introduce them to some great Christian scientists.

Would you be willing to have a dialogue and talk about evolution not like you're afraid or intimidated what I can tell you is brilliant people, Christian and non-Christian are not buying evolution.

So you're not a minority. And you not anti-intellectual.

What I want you to know is that I have confidence and I believe that God is spoken, and I believe when I look at all the questions that my intellect is intact. I'm not throwing my brains in the trash.

If you want to get more specific information and dig in a little bit deeper. I have all this in my book. Why I believe father I pray now that we would grasp the implications of what it means that you made us that you are the creator that there is purpose and meaning that there is life eternal, that every single person matters that the sunsets that we see that when we hold a new baby in her arms. When we look in the eyes of some that were weak someone that we love that it's not some chemical reaction. It is the reality of being made in the image of God and having the capacity to love and to be loved. Lord I pray that my brothers and sisters, I prayed it would be bold and we would enter the public square, when suddenly, kindly and completely not afraid Jesus will chip will be right back with some additional thoughts about what you just heard.

But if you're just joining us here listening to Living on the Edge with Chip Ingram chips message today why I believe in creation is from his series why I believe as a Christian we sometimes feel ill-equipped to answer honest questions about our faith, but Scripture says we should have an answer ready and while we may not have all the answers. Being able to articulate truth in a thoughtful way is a great way to engage people, which is why chip taught these messages and why we hope you'll get the series for yourself, your kids, your grandkids, your church and your friends. We want to equip you with the truth so you can answer with conviction and confidence to help you do that the group study resources for why I believe are currently discounted, including free resources. If you commit to taking your high school or college group through the study. For more information or to order your copies of why I believe.

Just visit us online at http://livingontheedge.org or give us a call at 1-888-333-6003 will chip I don't know that I've ever seen you as excited and passionate about a series one is about this one matter so much to.

Here's the deal.

Dave, many Christians have been in church all their life and they love God even read their Bible go to church but they really have never stopped to answer some of these tough questions and be able to articulate not just what they believe, but why they believe it and the world is changing all around them and are finding themselves with friends or kids or grandkids are saying hey you not know that I believe the stuff that you believe and they really need to know why they believe and have a resource that will really help them and that is exactly what we've done Living on the Edge we want to give them straightforward, clear, winsome and can I say kind of warm answers to answer some of these very tough questions.

In fact, we got a letter recently from Michelle and she talked about her experience. It was so encouraging. She goes while I'm in the middle of watching the why I believe series. I'm doing this study on my own right now to better articulate what I believe, for myself and get this did teach my nine-month-old when the time comes and share with others. I absolutely do not have that there my brains in the trash. To believe in Jesus Christ as my Savior. I been raised in church and I've been a growing Christian since middle school. I've attended church my whole life but I've never seen a study like this. I love the facts intelligent information, especially when it supports my beliefs. Yes, our beliefs require faith, but it's so interesting to me to have so much factual scientific information that God is given us no let me tell you this. Here's the principle behind Michelle's comments as a parent is your job to teach answers to these kind of questions to your children. Now, I'll admit Michelle is really planning pretty far ahead, but I also want you to know that it's never too late to start to step in as a grandparent and take this series.

It's simple, it's clear I just got a email this morning from a man in Florida who's become a believer in the last few months is gone to the why. I believe series and he's given the book to his 12-year-old granddaughter and as they were talking. She said to him, I'm an atheist, but she really didn't know what the word meant, and he gave her that book and they're going through it together grandparents. This is the kind of thing that we need to do and this is why we created this resource.

The book in the small group series to help you answer these kind of questions to your kids, your grandkids and your close friends. So in order to do that. There's two critical things were doing to get this into as many hands as possible. Number one, we want to help the next generation in the way to do that is to get this to as many people as possible at the best prices possible. If you're teaching or pass this onto a high school or university students. We will literally give it to you for free.

Yes, you heard me right.

If you're going to teach a high school or college group will give it to you for free. Unless something happens with the next generation were going to be in big trouble in the church and in America. Second, this is best done in groups we want dialogue we want you to to debate dinner in a good and healthy way dig in the Scriptures. A look at the scientific facts and that happens best in a group and so what we've done is we've taken our group price.

So five of these books are more regional lower that cost so we get it to as many people as possible. The moral and spiritual health of America does not look promising, but the difference will be the church and the church will only be strong if we know what we believe and why we believe it and pass it on to the next generation so Dave will tell you exactly how you can get in on this exciting new series why I believe Frank's trip while it's simple either. Visit us online at http://livingontheedge.org or give us a call at 1-888-333-6003 group bundles of study guides are discounted as you get ready for groups this fall. And if you make the commitment to take a high school or college group.

Through this study will send it to you absolutely free were doing everything we know how to get this resource in the hands of as many people as possible not only to fortify your own convictions, but to pass them on to the next generation of young believers to get your copies of this completely revised study why I believe just go to LivingontheEdge.org or give us a call at 1-888-333-6003 will now here's trip with his application for today as we wrap up today's program.

We've covered a lot of ground and I need to tell you that if you have real significant issues about the fossil record door developments in molecular biology or things like Francis Collins is done with the genetic coding I want you to know in the book why I believe I not only cover all those things and I kinda synthesize them in a way that is brief and clear, but I have those footnotes that you can go and look at the first-hand references yourself as we close today's program again. I wish we could have a couple coffee and I could just lean back in and say you know there's all these details and all these people debating and we got Christian scientist and non-Christian scientists really challenging the whole issue of evolution but I think here's the one biggest most important point I would lean back, take a sip of my coffee and look at you and say do you realize that Christianity and evolution are both faith based systems. No one was there at the beginning whether God use the Big Bang whether there was a Big Bang whether there is a God or is in a God, here's the deal. We all by faith choose to believe what we believe is so the question is, what's the basis for our faith. I mean on what evidence are you basing what you believe and why. And am I going to be sort of this religious narrow bigot who looks at the Bible through a narrow lens and any new scientific discovery that might challenge it.

I throw it out because I'm afraid or will IBF a narrow, bigoted evolution is that anything I learned in science or in the Bible that shakes what my professor told me in an might upset my mental applecart and so I can't listen to it or am I willing with open hands to say you know something there is life there is meaning there's purpose. I'm gonna look at the evidence of the fossil record. I would look at the evidence that what is been the product of evolution, socially and morally. I'm gonna look at the lives of people and even the testimonies of non-Christian scientists who say I wanted to stamp out religion and I want to believe in evolution. All I want you to do is have an open mind and an open heart and I want for those of you that have kids and grandkids, or maybe a good friend and you said yourself I really care about them, but when we get to this topic. I just feel at a total loss of how to explain anything to them. This book in the small group series we've provided to help people just like you be able to articulate what the Bible says what the best and newest evidence in science says and to do it with your arm around her friend and love so that you do it saying hey let's look at this, together with open minds and open hearts. Science isn't against faith and faith isn't against science.

But at the end of the day. Jesus said, let's love one another and then let's love God with all of our heart or soul or mind in her strength. This is a tool to help you do that will just before we close. I like to say that Living on the Edge depends on friends like you to provide the necessary funding to continue broadcasting right here in your area. Would you prayerfully consider partnering with us on a monthly basis so people in your area can continue to benefit from the ministry of Chip and Living on the Edge. No set up a recurring donation, call us at 1-888-333-6003, or if you prefer to give online you can donate securely@livingontheedge.org. Thank you in advance for doing whatever God leads you to do well tomorrow Chip continues his series why I believe so be sure to make plans to join us that for all of us here, this is Dave really saying thanks for listening to this Edition of Living on the Edge