Faith and Reason

Why is math so malleable?  At its most basic, math is inarguable.  Add, subtract, multiply, divide.  Taken to a higher level, the position of any planet, moon or star can be calculated at any point in time.  And math is poetic.  For instance, if you square any number of single digits of ones, the answer is palindromic, with the number of ones as the high point: 111,111 x 111,111 = 12,345,654,321.  And yet, in my business, in insurance, if you ask a dozen actuaries to review the same data and make predictions, you’ll get a dozen different answers, all of them wrong.

Similarly, if you look at the mathematics that describe the universe, they are elegant.  They speak to the sheer miracle of existence.  As Stephen Hawking wrote, the only reason to believe life exists elsewhere in the universe is that it exists here.  I’ll say that again.  The only reason to believe life exists on other planets is that it exists here.  And yet when he looked at the same mathematical and scientific evidence that Christian scientists like John Lennox see, he concluded that the simplest explanation for existence is that it all happened randomly, naturally, with no God.  

I am not smart enough to understand the formulas and quantum physics that form Hawking’s theories.  I am content that scientists like Lennox have looked at the same evidence and drawn the opposite conclusion.  With matter and energy emerging from nothingness, life emerging from inanimate matter, DNA being a complex information system the like of which has occurred nowhere in the universe without a designer, the evolution of one species into another, the incredible fine-tuning of the forces that make up the universe, it is an incredible leap of faith to say it all occurred “naturally”.  

I am also sure that Hawking did not examine God’s Word the way I have.  That the Biblical Creation Account can be so amazingly accurate in its description of the formation of the universe from nothing, the earth, the atmosphere, dry land, plants, animals and mankind, all in the proper order, and that that description was written over 3500 years ago, thousands of years before telescopes and microscopes, cosmology or even physics and gravity were known about, leaves, in my mind, only one logical explanation: God told Moses to write this down so he did.  My sense from reading both Hawking and Lennox is that scientists have let Biblical scholars interpret the Bible.  Few, if any Biblical scholars have undertaken the effort to compare it to modern scientific theories.  

As well, I don’t believe Hawking or other atheist scientists consider love and forgiveness.  

Julia Schwab, a psychologist, writes, “...the experience of being engaged in romantic love is rooted in chemistry and biology. When we feel attracted to someone, it’s because their pheromones have triggered the release of dopamine and other neurotransmitters in our brains.”  Harvard’s studies on the brain has this to say: “Biological anthropologist Helen Fisher studied 166 societies and found evidence of romantic love in 147 of them. This ubiquity, said Schwartz, an HMS associate professor of psychiatry at McLean Hospital in Belmont, MA., indicates that “there’s good reason to suspect that romantic love is… basic to our biological nature.”

While romantic love may be basic to our nature, if we are the result of a random evolutionary process, love must be an illusion.  

While romantic love, Eros in Ancient Greek, may be explainable by chemistry, Agape love has a more elusive explanation.  The American Psychological Association writes:

“Agape love is a moral virtue in which a person willingly and unconditionally offers goodness, at a cost to the giver, to another or others in need. Because this under-researched ancient concept has implications for harmonious relationships and for good mental health, accurate measures of agape are needed to assess the degree to which a person understands and practices it.”

Then there is forgiveness.  A Johns Hopkins study finds, “Whether it’s a simple spat with your spouse or long-held resentment toward a family member or friend, unresolved conflict… may be affecting your physical health. The good news: Studies have found that… forgiveness can reap huge rewards for your health, lowering the risk of heart attack; improving cholesterol levels and sleep; and reducing pain, blood pressure, and levels of anxiety, depression and stress.”

Our Faith and Reason Conference this October 3-5 will explore both the historical / scientific evidence that Biblical stories are true, and the theological truths of love and forgiveness.  And while I have found my exploration of these topics extremely edifying, in the end, these truths pale in comparison to the importance of daily walking in the transformational love and forgiveness of God’s Holy Spirit.  I believe these three Truths, History, Theology and Experience, make a case for Faith in Jesus that is difficult to dispute.  I hope you will join us at Silver Bay this Fall and explore these topics with us!

2025 Faith and Reason Conference