Can Science and Faith Coexist

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Can Science and Faith Coexist?

• October 24, 2008
• UT Austin Koinonia

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A little about me

• Graduated from UC Berkeley in 2005, B.A. in
  Molecular Cellular Biology
• Currently a PhD candidate in Chemical Biology at
  UC San Francisco
• Studying the biochemical mechanisms of mRNA decay
• Christian

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The Foundation of Western Science

• 1. Systematic approach to understanding nature
  based on the Judeo-Christian worldview that
  un-deified nature and placed it as a creation of
  God, not the embodiment nor manifestation of God
  (Genesis 1, 4, )
• a. Nature is a creation of God
• b. God is a rational God
• c. His creation is therefore rational and can be
  understood
• 2. The prime motivation of science is the desire
  to understand the physical world
• 3. Theology shares this role with science in this
  quest for intelligibility both search for truth.

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Seeking Truth The Judeo-Christian Perspective

• The universe that God created is both physical
  and spiritual
• We must seek both physical and spiritual truth in
  order to properly understand the world that we
  live in
• The two are not mutually exclusive
• What we learn from science can inform our
  understanding about the existence and nature of
  God

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Naturalism When Science Trumps Faith (but does
it really?)

• The basic belief of naturalism is that scientific
  knowledge is the only kind of knowledge, or is at
  least vastly superior to other kinds of
  knowledge.
• This is self-refuting! How can it be tested
  scientifically?
• The physical world is all there is and is
  responsible for all that we see and experience.
• This is a faith-based statement!

Our worldview informs how we interpret
both scientific truth and spiritual truth. We can
weigh the veracity of a worldview based on how
well it conforms to reality.
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Proof vs. Evidence

• Proof means we know something beyond reasonable
  doubt.
• However, we believe and act mostly on evidence
• We weigh the evidence and make a decision even
  though we dont know the outcome with absolute
  certainty we act in faith.
• Examples from real life
• Flying
• Scientific research

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Lets start at the very beginning
The Big Bang

• Based on satellite measurements of background
• radiation, the universe had a definite
• beginning about 14 billion years ago.
• Before this, there was no time, space
• or change of any kind.
• The event happened, therefore it must
• be caused.
• What caused it to happen?

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What caused the Big Bang?

• Two possible causes
• Cause 1 Impersonal (the laws
• of physics)
• In a hypothetical game of billiards,
• ball A strikes ball B and sets it in motion.
• The momentum gained by ball B exactly
• equals the momentum lost by ball A.
• However, the physical law itself cant set the
  ball into motion. You need an outside actor the
  man with the cue.

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What caused the Big Bang?

• Two possible causes
• Cause 2 Personal (an
• intentional act of creation)
• All events following the Big bang
• simply obey the laws of physics
• The only way for the first event to
• arise spontaneously from a timeless,
• changeless state of affairs, and at the same
  time be caused, is this the event resulted from
  the free act of a person or agent
• In order to get something natural when nothing
  natural exists requires a supernatural event

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Fine-tuning in Physics

• Universal Physical Constants
• Boltzmans Constant k 1.38 X 10-23 J/K
• Plancks Constant h 6.63 X 10-34 J/s
• Speed of light c 3.00 X 108 m/s
• Gravitational Constant G 6.67 X 10-11 Nm2/kg2
• Electron rest mass me 9.11 X 10-31 kg/0.511 MeV
• Proton rest mass mp 1.673 X 10-27 kg/98.3 MeV
• and many more over 50, in fact!

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Is this precision needed?

• The rate of expansion of the universe
• If larger, no galaxy formation
• If smaller, universe collapses before star
  formation
• Its precise to a factor of 1017
• The golden age universe
• A universe 1/10th as old would not have generated
  enough carbon to support life
• But 10 times older, and the universe would have
  passed its golden age of main sequence stars
  necessary to support planetary systems.

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Precision, precision

• The gravitational constant
• Precision to a factor of 10100
• If larger, stars would have been much hotter and
  burned very quickly after the Big Bang.
• If smaller, the universe would be too cool and
  there would be no nuclear fusion (no heavy
  elements, no life)

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The Anthropic Principle

• There exists one possible universe designed with
  the goal of generating and sustaining observers.
• There seems to be a divine purpose behind this
  fruitful universe.

Astronomy leads us to a unique event, a universe
which was created out of nothing, one with the
very delicate balance needed to provide
conditions required for life, and one which has
an underlying (one might say supernatural)
plan. -Arno Penzias, Nobel Laureate
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Chemistry Biology DNA

• A genetic code consisting of 4 individual bases
  A, G, T, C
• Stores all the information necessary to produce
  life.
• Similar to computer code, but much, MUCH more
  complex.
• An intelligent source is generally required to
  generate information.

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Whats in a gene?
ATGACCGGAGCAGCAACTGCAGCAGAAAACTCTGCCACACAGTTAGAATT
CTATAGAAAA GCTTTGAATTTCAACGTTATTGGGAGATACGATCCAAAA
ATAAAGCAACTACTTTTTCAC ACACCACATGCGTCACTGTATAAATGGG
ACTTCAAGAAGGACGAATGGAATAAACTAGAA
TATCAAGGTGTTTTGGCCATATATTTGAGAGACGTCTCGCAAAATACAAA
TCTTCTACCC GTCTCCCCACAAGAAGTAGATATTTTTGATTCACAAAAT
GGTAGTAATAACATTCAAGTA AACAATGGTTCTGACAATAGCAACAGGA
ATAGCAGTGGAAATGGGAACTCTTATAAAAGT
AATGATTCGCTAACATATAATTGCGGCAAAACTTTAAGTGGAAAGGACAT
ATACAATTAT GGATTGATCATATTAAACCGAATTAATCCTGACAATTTT
TCTATGGGCATTGTTCCCAAT AGTGTCGTAAATAAAAGAAAAGTATTTA
ATGCAGAAGAGGATACACTTAACCCACTAGAG
TGCATGGGGGTAGAGGTGAAAGATGAATTGGTCATTATTAAGAACTTGAA
GCATGAGGTC TATGGTATATGGATTCATACAGTTAGTGATAGACAAAAT
ATCTACGAACTAATAAAATAT CTTCTGGAAAATGAGCCAAAAGATTCTT
TTGCTTGA
MTGAATAAEN SATQLEFYRK ALNFNVIGRY DPKIKQLLFH
TPHASLYKWD FKKDEWNKLE YQGVLAIYLR DVSQNTNLLP
VSPQEVDIFD SQNGSNNIQV NNGSDNSNRN SSGNGNSYKS
NDSLTYNCGK TLSGKDIYNY GLIILNRINP DNFSMGIVPN
SVVNKRKVFN AEEDTLNPLE CMGVEVKDEL
VIIKNLKHEV YGIWIHTVSD RQNIYELIKY LLENEPKDSF A
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Chemistry Biology Biogenesis

• For the first 500 million years, earths
  environment was inhospitable to life
• But life arose within a 150 million year span
  afterward
• Living things are, by definition,
  self-replicating DNA is required
• Even the simplest bacteria require several
  hundred genes to function hundreds of thousands
  if not millions of bases!

The probability that life could have arisen in
this time span by simple random chemical events
seems very low indeed!
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The Inner Life of the CellVideo

• http//aimediaserver4.com/studiodaily/videoplayer/
  ?srcai4/harvard/harvard.swfwidth640height520

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Bibliography

• Cosmology and Physics
• The Creator and the Cosmos, by Hugh Ross
• The Privileged Planet, by Guillermo Gonzales
  Jay Richards
• Biology
• The Language of God, by Francis Collins
• Philosophy/Worldview
• Kingdom Triangle, by J.P. Moreland
• Mere Christianity, by C.S. Lewis