Still Convinced After All These Years (Part Two)

Here’s how I began Part One of this new series:

I became a Christian in 1971 after spending five months attempting to disprove the existence of God, the reliability of the Bible, and the reality of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth. I was a journalist and an atheist at the time I conducted the investigation. I interviewed a scientist who was a Christian and he challenged me to prove his claims to be wrong. I accepted the challenge and began the investigation. You can read the details of my investigation in a series of reports titled ‘Convince Me There’s A God.’ You can read the series here.

My investigative report was based on evidence available to me in 1971. I promised that after I finished detailing my investigation I would do a follow-up report about what evidence I had found since May of 1971. Did I discover anything in the months and years that followed that changed my mind about my decision to leave atheism for Christian theism? That’s what I will address in this new series, ‘Still Convinced After All These Years.’

Science

I began my investigation by looking into the scientific arguments that Dr. Henry Morris shared with me as I interviewed him in 1971. I thought it would be easy to put a lid on his arguments, but it accomplished just the opposite. It threw the lid wide open as I researched a variety of scientific magazine articles and books.

[Here’s a link to an article I wrote years ago about my interview with Dr. Morris.]

Dr. Henry Morris – God’s Scientist

I studied everything I could find about the arguments Dr. Morris used in the interview including:

The Cosmological Argument
The Teleological Argument
The Law of Causality
The Laws of Thermodynamics
Geology
Flood Hydrology
Archaeology
Among Many Others

We also talked about The Moral Law Argument, though some would argue that doesn’t belong in a discussion about science. They would say it belongs in the arena of philosophy and theology. However, since the word ‘science’ comes from the Greek word γνωσεως, which is usually translated as ‘knowledge,’ we might argue that any area of knowledge could be viewed as ‘science.’ Even the English word ‘science’ is viewed similarly:

The state of knowing: knowledge as distinguished from ignorance or misunderstanding (Merriam-Webster)
The study of the nature and behavior of natural things and the knowledge that we obtain about them (Collins Dictionary)
The intellectual and practical activity encompassing the systematic study of the structure and behaviour of the physical and natural world through observation and experiment (Oxford Dictionary)

For the purpose of this follow-up report I’ll use the term ‘science’ in a similar way to how I viewed it during my original investigation in 1971. I’d prefer comparing ‘apples to apples’ in this series so no one thinks I’m trying to use a ‘bait and switch’ in what I’m going to report. I’ll follow a similar investigative path to 55 years ago to be fair to all parties involved.

Did ‘sciences’ like chemistry, biochemistry, biology, microbiology, botany, zoology, physics, astronomy, astrophysics, geology, meteorology, oceanography, genetics, etc., support the possibility of the existence of God? My initial finding was that many of the sciences I was able to study did support the possibility of God’s existence, though I didn’t become a Christian theist until I completed my investigation. The one thing my investigation into ‘sciences’ did was to keep me searching. I didn’t find anything in 1971 that stopped me from looking further because the existence of God seemed impossible.

The Last 55 Years

AI Generated

So, what about the last 55 years? Did I stop studying various ‘sciences’ to see if I might find something that would cause me to doubt my earlier findings? No. In fact, I did just the opposite. I kept searching. That’s what a true investigative journalist does. It’s what a true investigative scientist would do as well. I believe the search for truth should continue, so that’s what I’ve done for the last 55 years and will continue to do.

What I have found during the last 55 years has only strengthened my earlier findings about the existence of the Christian God. That’s what I’d like to share with you now.

Like most people my age I’ve lived a busy life during the last 55 years. Living a life filled with family, career, and community service between your early 20’s and late 70’s doesn’t leave a lot of time for extra reading and thinking. However, a subject like the existence of God is so important that you must find the time. Another reason I’ve continued researching the topic is because of questions non-theists have asked me about God. It’s important that Christians know ‘why’ they believe ‘what’ they believe, so I kept searching and studying. That led to my deep interest in Christian apologetics.

I read every article and book I could find through the years about various subjects of science to see what new things might throw light on my previous investigation into the existence of God. Might I have missed something important when I was an atheist? Atheists who talked with me believed I had missed a lot of things, so the challenge became finding information that might help them. That’s one of the primary reasons I spent more than a decade detailing my earlier investigation. As the years rolled on and new technologies developed, resources like the Internet became available. That made research faster than the days of checking out books and magazines from the library. I still bought a lot of books and magazine subscriptions, but the Internet gave me even more access to scientific research.

Fortunately, many scientists were rethinking some of the old ways of looking at God and science. I found their expertise helpful in my own search for the most recent discoveries. Technology like super-powerful telescopes and microscopes, and advanced DNA and genetic investigation, allowed scientists to look farther into inner and outer spaces than ever before. Might they find something that would be important in my continuing search for truth? Here’s one example.

Cosmology

Let’s begin where I began my investigation: Cosmology. What is ‘Cosmology?’ Here are several definitions:

“a branch of astronomy that deals with the origin, structure, and space-time relationships of the universe.” Merriam-Webster

“the study of the nature and origin of the universe” Cambridge Dictionary

“Cosmology is a branch of astronomy involving the science of the universe’s origin.” Space

“Cosmology is the study of the large-scale structure of the Universe, where ‘the Universe′ means all that exists in a physical sense [Harrison, 2000].” Science Direct

“Cosmology is the study of the nature of the universe as a whole entity.” Swinburne Centre for Astrophysics and Supercomputing

“Historically rooted in philosophy, modern cosmology emerged with advancements in astrophysics and has since focused on understanding the origins and dynamics of energy and matter throughout the cosmos.” Ebsco

“Cosmology is the study of the origin, development, structure, history, and future of the entire universe.” U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Science

“Cosmology is the study of our universe with scientific approaches, including its origin, structure, and evolution. It is a field that combines principles from physics, astronomy, mathematics, and philosophy to understand the fundamental nature of the cosmos.” Medium

[Notice the word ‘evolution‘ in the last definition. I’ll address that a bit later since it’s played a big role in my investigations before and since becoming a Christian.]

Cosmology combines principles from a variety of sciences – including astronomy, physics, mathematics, and philosophy. Cosmologists are scientists who study the universe. How did it begin? How will it end? Cosmologists are interested in things like ‘dark matter’ and ‘dark energy.’ They study ‘string theory’ and the possibility of ‘multiverses.’ Most cosmologists today believe in the theory of a ‘big bang.’

“Almost everyone now believes that the universe, and time itself, had a beginning at the Big Bang.” Stephen W. Hawking and Roger Penrose, The Nature of Space and Time (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1996), 20.

If the ‘Big Bang’ is true, was there a ‘Big Banger?’ In other words, was there someone or something outside of time and space who/that ‘started’ what became the ‘Universe?’ While many people think of the Big Bang as a theory of ‘something from nothing,’ many scientists disagree on that terminology. I read about ‘quantum fluctuations’ in the vacuum of space. The theory is that ’empty space’ is a something rather than a nothing. Stephen Hawking proposed that time began at the Big Bang, so the idea of anything existing before time was meaningless. Interesting, but still doesn’t address the problem of something coming from nothing other than to say there was ‘something’ before there was ‘something.’

In 1983 Stephen Hawking and James Hartle presented a theory known as the ‘No Boundary Proposal.’

“The “no-boundary proposal,” which Hawking and his frequent collaborator, James Hartle, fully formulated in a 1983 paper, envisions the cosmos having the shape of a shuttlecock. Just as a shuttlecock has a diameter of zero at its bottommost point and gradually widens on the way up, the universe, according to the no-boundary proposal, smoothly expanded from a point of zero size. Hartle and Hawking derived a formula describing the whole shuttlecock — the so-called “wave function of the universe” that encompasses the entire past, present and future at once — making moot all contemplation of seeds of creation, a creator, or any transition from a time before.” Quanta Magazine

Okay, another theory – a proposal to consider and compare with other theories I would find.

A couple of other recent theories I read were about ‘cosmic inflation’ and ‘conformal cyclic cosmology.’ Cosmic inflation, proposed by Alan Harvey Guth in 1980, comes from the idea of a pre-existing vacuum state that could have led to a ‘big bang.’ The ‘conformal cyclic cosmology’ comes from the idea that our universe came from a cold, empty, infinite future state of a prior universe that led to the ‘big bang.’ Roger Penrose developed that theory.

“The Conformal Cyclic Cosmology (CCC) proposes that the universe undergoes repeated cycles of (accelerated) expansion, named “aeons”, where the maximal (or infinite) extension of the previous cycle goes to coincide with the Big Bang stage of the successive cycle. No contraction (big crunch) is required in this model. This is made possible through the conformal structure that dominates space-time at the beginning and at the end of each aeon. The CCC solves the paradox of the super-special initial conditions required by Second Law at the Big Bang, and among its observational consequences, predicts the presence of “circular rings” in the temperature fluctuations of the Cosmic Microwave Background spectrum.” De Gruyter Brill

More theories to consider include the ‘oscillating universe,’ the ‘chaotic inflationary universe,’ and the ‘cyclic ekpyrotic model.’ I read and considered them, but was not convinced. It wasn’t because many of the scientists behind the theories were known to be atheists or agnostics. It was because their theories didn’t convince me from a scientific perspective. It looked like they were making stuff up to cover for their lack of knowledge (science) about what really happened at the ‘beginning’ of our Universe. They couldn’t support the idea of anything existing prior to the ‘big bang,’ so they invented theories for their own purposes. You might like to look at their theories to see what you think about them.

What Christians Believe

What about Christians? Do they all believe what Genesis chapters one and two claim about God creating the heavens and the earth in a brief period of time (e.g. thousands of years, not billions)? No, they don’t. While some believe God created the heavens and the earth just as Moses wrote in Genesis (known as ‘special creation’), other Christians interpret the Genesis account ‘symbolically.’ They view God as getting things started, then using ‘evolution’ or a similar process during a period of billions of years to bring the heavens and earth (and the life form in them) to what we know today (known as ‘theistic evolution).

I might also add that Deists believe God created the universe, then left and didn’t intervene in what happened to the universe. Deists are not Christians, but some people confuse them with us because they believe in a ‘god’ who created the universe. The god of Deism is not the same God of Christianity.

The man God used to challenge me as an atheist, Dr. Henry Morris, was known as the ‘father of modern creationism.’ I’ve read his writings through the years, along with other scientists who are known as ‘creationists.’ I’ve also read many of the books and articles written by scientists in the ‘Intelligent Design’ (ID) community. ID is a theory that the best explanation for the universe is an ‘intelligent cause.’ They often argue from scientific points like ‘irreducible complexity’ and ‘specified complexity.’ Though ID scientists don’t identify the ‘designer’ as God, many people think most of them are Christians who believe that God is the ‘Designer’ of the universe.

Creationism and Intelligent Design are generally not accepted within the broader scientific community, and haven’t been during my investigations the last 55 years. The question I’ve asked is ‘why not’? Creation and ID scientists use scientific processes to reach their conclusions; processes often similar to those with whom they disagree. Creationists and Intelligent Design scientists often debate with scientists who have different views (e.g. atheistic evolutionists, agnostic evolutionists, theistic evolutionists). I think it’s good to hear from all sides of these arguments. We can make up our own minds based on the evidence presented.

A couple of examples of what ID scientists have presented recently are: Stephen Meyer, Return of the God Hypothesis: Three Scientific Discoveries that Reveal the Mind Behind the Universe (San Francisco: Harper One, 2019), and Stephen Meyer, Scientific Evidence for the Existence of God, Novum Series (Lafayette, IN: Ratio Christi Press, 2023).

If you’re interested, you can find publications by ICR scientists here and ID scientists here.

What Does Jesus Christ Believe?

Jesus Christ died on a Roman cross and rose from the dead. He is the reason I am a Christian. Because of what Jesus Christ accomplished in dying for people’s sins and rising from the dead following His brutal killing, something no one else has ever done, I look with great interest to what He believes to be true. I learned that I can discover what He believes by reading the New Testament of the Bible.

Jesus quoted from Genesis 1 when addressing the Pharisees about marriage and divorce. He did not speak in a ‘symbolic’ or ‘allegorical’ manner.

“But from the beginning of the creation, God ‘made them male and female.’” Mark 10:6

When Jesus answered His disciples’ questions about the end of the age, He referred to God’s ‘creation:’

“For in those days there will be tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the creation which God created until this time, nor ever shall be.” Mark 13:19

Again, nothing symbolic or allegorical in His answer. He was presenting past and future events in an historical manner.

Jesus referred to Himself as ‘the Beginning of the creation of God’ in His letter to the Laodiceans (Revelation 3:14).

Christ’s apostles referred to Jesus as being the God of creation:

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made.” John 1:1-3

“He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him.” Colossians 1:15-16

“God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds.” Hebrews 1:1-2

“You, Lord, in the beginning laid the foundation of the earth, And the heavens are the work of Your hands.” Hebrews 1:10

The Apostle Paul paraphrased Genesis 2 when he wrote: “Nor was man created for the woman, but woman for the man.” 1 Corinthians 11:9

Paul also wrote concerning God creating ‘all things’ through Jesus Christ:

“To me, who am less than the least of all the saints, this grace was given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, and to make all see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the ages has been hidden in God who created all things through Jesus Christ.” Ephesians 3:8-9

Jesus Christ and His apostles quoted from and about creation as being the direct work of God. Jesus Christ is the ‘Maker’ of all things.

Next Time

I’ll look at more examples of scientific arguments as my series continues, Still Convinced After All These Years.

Faith & Self Defense

Building Confidence Through Evidence

Still Convinced After All These Years (Part Two)