K E R R Y K U E H N D A N I E L E B E L I N G

R O B E R T B A L Z A

S A I N T J O H N ’ S L U T H E R A N . C H U R C H ,

W A U W AT O S A , W I

J U LY 2 3 - A U G U S T 2 7 , 2 0 1 7

L E T T H E R E B E L I G H T !

A B I B L E C L A S S O N S C I E N C E A N D S C R I P T U R E

S I X - W E E K O V E R V I E W

• July 23—Christian and non-christian views on the origin of the world. (Kerry Kuehn)

• July 30—Did Adam have a belly button? Does it matter? (Daniel Ebeling)

• Aug. 6 —Bye week (Professors at Lutheran College Conference)

• Aug. 13 —Biology, Evolution, and the Bible (Robert Balza)

• Aug. 20—Follow up discussion on previous weeks

• Aug. 27—…and more follow up discussion

C O S M O G O N Y A N D A P O L O G E T I C S

C H R I S T I A N A N D N O N - C H R I S T I A N V I E W S O N T H E O R I G I N O F T H E W O R L D

– P H I L L I P M E L A N C H T H O N , O N T H E R O L E O F S C H O O L S

( U N I V E R S I T Y O F W I T T E N B E R G , 1 5 4 3 )

The Gospel is both long and short. The general sense can be communicated in brief, but the knowledge of divine things must become clearer little by little, through meditation on, and comparison of, the words of the Prophets and the Apostles, for all the pious, whether they have erudition or not. This cannot be done without reading and interpretation and, as I have said above, extensive and varied teaching is necessary for interpretation.

– P H I L L I P M E L A N C H T H O N , O N T H E R O L E O F S C H O O L S ,

( U N I V E R S I T Y O F W I T T E N B E R G , 1 5 4 3 )

If God wanted the prophetic and apostolic book to exist forever in the Church, and our minds to be guided by that document, and the understanding of Himself to be intensified, then it is always necessary for schools to be attached to the churches…

It is sufficiently clear from this historical recollection both that the schools were always joined to the churches, and that the light of the Gospel is extinguished without erudition.

– P H I L L I P M E L A N C H T H O N , O N T H E R O L E O F S C H O O L S

( U N I V E R S I T Y O F W I T T E N B E R G , 1 5 4 3 ) .

You must not think that these groups of priests were idle, or occupied only with sacrifices. An altogether greater responsibility and a greater burden were imposed on them, namely to be the keepers and interpreters of doctrine, and the judges of the most serious disputes. Their profession comprised education, divine law, history, the classification of time periods, the pattern of the year, by establishing the turning-points from the observation of the movement of the heavens, the investigation of nature, the medical art, and finally music…What then was that assembly of priests other than a school or an academy, set up in an excellent way?

D AY S 1 - 3 : D I V I D I N G A N D A R R A N G I N G

1. L I G H T F R O M D A R K N E S S 2. H E AV E N S F R O M W AT E R S 3. L A N D F R O M S E A S

D AY S 4 - 6 : F I L L I N G A N D A D O R N I N G

4. H E AV E N S 5. S E A S A N D S K Y 6. L A N D

B I B L I C A L C O S M O G O N Y

P I C T O G R A M S T O R E M E M B E R T H E S I X D AY S O F C R E AT I O N !

P S A L M 1 0 4 — A M E D I TAT I O N O N T H E S I X D AY S O F C R E AT I O N

1 Praise the Lord, my soul.

Lord my God, you are very great;     you are clothed with splendor and majesty.

DAY 1:

2 The Lord wraps himself in light as with a garment;

DAY 2:

he stretches out the heavens like a tent

3  and lays the beams of his upper chambers on their waters.

He makes the clouds his chariot    and rides on the wings of the wind.

4 He makes winds his messengers,    flames of fire his servants.

5 He set the earth on its foundations;    it can never be moved.

DAY 3:

5 He set the earth on its foundations; it can never be moved. 6 You covered it with the watery depths as with a garment; the waters stood above the mountains.7 But at your rebuke the waters fled, at the sound of your thunder they took to flight; 8 they flowed over the mountains, they went down into the valleys, to the place you assigned for them.9 You set a boundary they cannot cross; never again will they cover the earth.

10 He makes springs pour water into the ravines;     it flows between the mountains.

11 They give water to all the beasts of the field; the wild donkeys quench their thirst. 12 The birds of the sky nest by the waters;    they sing among the branches.13 He waters the mountains from his upper chambers;    the land is satisfied by the fruit of his work. 14 He makes grass grow for the cattle,     and plants for people to cultivate—     bringing forth food from the earth: 15 wine that gladdens human hearts,    oil to make their faces shine,    and bread that sustains their hearts.16 The trees of the Lord are well watered,    the cedars of Lebanon that he planted.17 There the birds make their nests;    the stork has its home in the junipers.18 The high mountains belong to the wild goats;    the crags are a refuge for the hyrax.

P S A L M 1 0 4 — A M E D I TAT I O N O N T H E S I X D AY S O F C R E AT I O N

DAY 4:

19 He made the moon to mark the seasons, and the sun knows when to go down. 20 You bring darkness, it becomes night, and all the beasts of the forest prowl.21 The lions roar for their prey and seek their food from God.22 The sun rises, and they steal away; they return and lie down in their dens.23 Then people go out to their work, to their labor until evening.

24 How many are your works, Lord!In wisdom you made them all; the earth is full of your creatures.

DAY 5:

25 There is the sea, vast and spacious, teeming with creatures beyond number—living things both large and small.26 There the ships go to and fro, and Leviathan, which you formed to frolic there.

P S A L M 1 0 4 — A M E D I TAT I O N O N T H E S I X D AY S O F C R E AT I O N

DAY 6:

27 All creatures look to you    to give them their food at the proper time. 28 When you give it to them,     they gather it up; when you open your hand,     they are satisfied with good things. 29 When you hide your face,     they are terrified; when you take away their breath,     they die and return to the dust. 30 When you send your Spirit,     they are created,     and you renew the face of the ground.31 May the glory of the Lord endure forever;     may the Lord rejoice in his works— 32 he who looks at the earth, and it trembles,     who touches the mountains, and they smoke.

DAY 7:

33 I will sing to the Lord all my life;     I will sing praise to my God as long as I live.34 May my meditation be pleasing to him,     as I rejoice in the Lord. 35 But may sinners vanish from the earth     and the wicked be no more.

Praise the Lord, my soul.

Praise the Lord.

P S A L M 1 0 4 — A M E D I TAT I O N O N T H E S I X D AY S O F C R E AT I O N

• A l l l i v i n g o r g a n i s m s t a k e p a r t i n n a t u r a l c y c l e s o f b i r t h a n d r e p r o d u c t i o n

• N o n - l i v i n g s y s t e m s a l s o t a k e p a r t i n n a t u r a l c y c l e s ( w a t e r c y c l e , f o r e s t s , m o u n t a i n s )

• O n e c a n n o t i d e n t i f y a s t a r t i n g p o i n t i n a p u r e l y c y c l i c p r o c e s s .

• T h e w o r l d l o o k s e t e r n a l !

• B e l i e v e d b y a n c i e n t s ( A r i s t o t l e ) a n d m o d e r n s ( u n t i l B i g B a n g i n 1 9 3 0 ’s )

T H E E T E R N A L U N I V E R S E A T R A D I T I O N A L N O N - S C R I P T U R A L V I E W O N C O S M O G O N Y

P R O B L E M S W I T H T H E E T E R N A L V I E W

O F T H E W O R L D

1. T h e w o r l d l o o k s l i k e i t w a s d e s i g n e d ( e v e n t o m a n y n o n - C h r i s t i a n s ) . O n l y a n i n t e l l i g e n t a g e n t c a n d e s i g n T h i s i s t h e A r g u m e n t f r o m d e s i g n .

2. I f t h e r e a r e n o n - c y c l i c p r o c e s s e s ( o n e s t h a t h a v e a b e g i n n i n g ) , t h e n t h e s e m u s t h a v e a c a u s e . T h i s i s t h e C o s m o l o g i c a l a r g u m e n t .

Nature looks like it was designed, so it is.

Opponents: nature looks like it was designed, but it wasn’t.

Design is apparent not just in biological systems:

”The laws of science, as we know them at present, contain many fundamental numbers, like the size of the electric charge of the electron and the ratio of the masses of the proton and the electron….The remarkable fact is that the values of these numbers seem to have been very finely adjusted to make possible the development of life.” —Stephen Hawking, A Brief History of Time

T H E A R G U M E N T F R O M D E S I G N

P R O S A N D C O N S O F T H E A R G U M E N T F R O M D E S I G N :

15

P r o :

• I t a p p e a l s t o c o m m o n s e n s e a n d i n t u i t i o n .

• T h e f i n e - t u n i n g p r o b l e m p r e s e n t s a d i f f i c u l t p r o b l e m f o r a t h e i s t s .

C o n :

• I t i s n o t a u n i q u e l y C h r i s t i a n a p o l o g e t i c

• T h e d e s i g n e r c o u l d b e a n y g o d : V i s h n u , M a r d u k , A l l a h , e t c .

An 11th century Islamic philosopher named Al-Ghazali wrote a book called ilm al-Kalam (The science of discourse).

In it, he presented the following argument:

1. Whatever begins to exist has a cause

2. The universe began to exist. Therefore:

3. The universe has a cause.

T H E ( K A L A M ) C O S M O L O G I C A L A R G U M E N T

1. If the universe has a cause, that cause must lie outside the universe. That is:

2. the cause of the universe is a timeless, spaceless, immaterial agent.

3. A timeless, spaceless immaterial agent must exist.

4. This agent is what all refer to as God.

T H E K A L A M C O S M O L O G I C A L A R G U M E N T L E A D S T O T H E I S M

P r o :

• I t p r e s e n t s a d i f f i c u l t c h a l l e n g e f o r t h e a t h e i s t .

C o n :

• I t i s o n l y a p p l i e s i f t h e u n i v e r s e h a d a b e g i n n i n g , w h i c h m o s t c o s m o l o g i s t s h a v e b e l i e v e d s i n c e t h e 1 9 3 0 ’s .

• I t m a y i m p l y t h e a c c e p t a n c e o f B i g B a n g t h e o r y, w h i c h c o n t r a d i c t s t h e s p e c i f i c a c c o u n t o f c r e a t i o n g i v e n i n G e n e s i s .

• I t i s n o t a u n i q u e l y C h r i s t i a n a p o l o g e t i c .

P R O S A N D C O N S O F T H E K A L A M C O S M O L O G I C A L A R G U M E N T

T H E A R G U M E N T F R O M T H E R E L I A B I L I T Y O F T H E G O S P E L S

• The study of History presumes that human testimony is, at least in some cases, reliable.

• The life, death and resurrection of Jesus is presented as a historical event witnessed by hundreds of people.

• The testimony is presented in historical documents: the Gospels.

• From a textual perspective, the Gospel records are very reliable compared to most ancient manuscripts.

• The witnesses died defending their testimony.

• If the Gospel accounts are true, then Jesus’ claims of divinity deserve serious consideration.

P R O S A N D C O N S O F T H E A R G U M E N T F R O M T H E R E L I A B I L I T Y O F T H E G O S P E L S

P r o s :

• I t i s a u n i q u e l y C h r i s t i a n a p o l o g e t i c

• D u r i n g t h e p r e s e n t a t i o n o f t h i s a r g u m e n t , t h e G o s p e l i t s e l f i s p r e s e n t e d .

• T h e H o l y S p i r i t w o r k s t h r o u g h t h e G o s p e l t o c r e a t e f a i t h i n t h e h e a r e r.

C o n s :

• ?

– P H I L L I P M E L A N C H T H O N , P R E FA C E T O O N T H E S P H E R E

( U N I V E R S I T Y O F W I T T E N B E R G , 1 5 3 1 )

Who is so hard-hearted and so without feeling that he does not sometimes, looking up at the sky and beholding the most beautiful stars in it, marvel at these varied alternations which are produced by their motions, or desire to know the traces, so to speak, of their motions, that is, the fixed computation shown by divine providence?

R E F E R E N C E S

• Barker, Peter, “Astronomy, Providence, and the Lutheran Contribution to Science” in Reading God’s World, edited by Angus J. L. Menuge. St. Louis: Concordia, 2004. 157-187.

• Menuge, Angus, “Interpreters of the Book of Nature” in Reading God’s World, edited by Angus J. L. Menuge. St. Louis: Concordia, 2004. 85-115.

• Steven Weinberg. The First Three Minutes. Basic Books (1977). (A Nobel-prize winning physicist’s speculation on the origin of the universe.)

• Lemaitre, George, “The Primeval atom” in A Student’s Guide through the Great Physics Texts, Volume I: The Heavens and the Earth, edited by Kerry K. Kuehn. Springer (2015).

• Kepler, Johannes. Selections from Kepler’s Astronomia Nova, edited by William H. Donaue. Green Lion Press (2004). 18-24.