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Science, Faith,
and Reason Four Fundamental Features of the World
Dr. Ken Boa and Bill Ibsen
www.KenBoa.org
Science, Faith,
and Reason Four Fundamental Features of the World
Dr. Ken Boa and Bill Ibsen
1. Worldviews and Paradigms
2. Four Fundamental Features of the World
3. Implications
Overview
Worldviews and Paradigms
Science Faith
the universe is rational and can be studied...
the universe is an illusion...
The Logos...an ordering mind
Progenitors of
Science
Nicolaus
Copernicus
1473-1543
Isaac
Newton
1642-1727
Galileo
Galilei
1564-1642
William
Harvey
1578-1657
Michael
Faraday
1791-1867
Gregor
Mendel
1822-1884
Blaise
Pascal
1623-1662
Joseph
Priestly
1733-1804
Louis
Pasteur
1822-1895
Science Faith
Joe Atheist
Science Faith
Joe Atheist
Science Redefined
Scientific Method Scientific Method
+
Naturalism
Ultimate reality = matter, energy, time, space
Ultimate reality ≠ God or anything spiritual
Science Correctly
Defined
Scientific Method
Inference to the best explanation
“Go where the evidence leads” - Socrates
Kinds of Knowledge
1. Scientific
2. Historical
3. Personal
4. Moral
5. Philosophical
6. Aesthetic
7. Religious
...none are exhaustive
Design Theory
“The quest for design will kill science”
Thomas Nagel,
Atheist, Professor
even if science cannot tell you
the identity of the designer, or
what is going on in the
designer’s mind.”
It potentially can be scientific to
argue that the data of DNA and
life points to an intelligent
designer
“
Design Theorists
Young-earth
Creationism
Theistic
Evolution
Old-earth
Creationism
Deistic
Evolution
Design
Albert
Einstein
1879-1955
Antony
Flew
1923-2010
Guilt by Association
Sciences Distinguishing
Design from Accident
Design =
Creationism 2.0?
Go where
the evidence leads
Momentum of Evidence
Complexity
Elegance
Information
Feature 1: Evidence for the
Universe’s Beginning
or
“If anything now exists, something must be eternal,
something not eternal must have emerged from nothing.”
If Proposition
1. The universe is an illusion
2. The universe is eternal
3. The universe emerged from nothing
4. The universe was created by an eternal
being
If Proposition
1. The Universe Is an
Illusion
2. The Universe Is
Eternal
• Steady-state theory
• Matter and energy always existed
• Fred Hoyle: continuous creation
• Faith propositions
Astronomer
Fred Hoyle
2. The Universe Is
Eternal
• Big Bang theory
• Matter and energy had a starting point
Astronomer
Edwin Hubble
Scientists
Robert Wilson & Arno Penzias
73% = Dark Energy
23% = Dark Matter 4% = Ordinary Matter
“Curiouser
and curiouser!”
The Second Law of
Thermodynamics
The Second Law of
Thermodynamics
Useful
Energy
Time
The Universe Had a
Beginning
Feature 2:
Fine-Tuning of the Cosmos
Just Right:
• Particles
• Atoms
• Molecules
Just Right:
• Galaxy
• Star masses
• Expansion rate
Just Right: • Star
• Planet
• Moon
Carl
Sagan
A common sense
interpretation of the facts
suggests that a superintellect
has monkeyed with physics,
as well as with chemistry and
biology, and that there are no
blind forces worth speaking
about in nature.”
“
Strong Nuclear Force
The Neutron
0.1% +/-
1 in 1037
Expansion Rate of
the Universe
+/-1 in 1055
x 1 million
Stellar Mass
1 in 1040
Electromagnetic Force :: Gravitational Force
Our Just-Right Galaxy
Elliptical
Q uic k Tim e™ and aTI FF ( Unc om pr es s ed) dec om pr es s or
ar e needed t o s ee t h is p ic t ur e.
Spiral
Only spiral galaxies provide any “safe zone” for
life-sustaining planets
Irregular 20% 60% 20%
Our Just-Right Sun
• Right mass: Yellow dwarf
• Right light: Emits a balance of red & blue
allowing photosynthesis
• Right composition: High metallicity for creating
terrestrial planets
• Right orbit: Nearly circular for temperature
stability
180
+/- 5%
Circumstellar
Habitable Zone
(not to scale)
1 in 10215
1022
1 in 10193
A Multiverse?
Inference to the Best Explanation
Natural Causes
Designed
Designer Gutzon
Borglum, ca 1930
Feature 3:
Biogenesis
The Exquisitely
Complex Cell Biochemist/Author
Michael Denton
“…[chemical evolution] is no more or
no less than the great cosmogenic
myth.”
memory banks for information storage and retrieval,
elegant control systems regulating
the automated assembly of parts and components,
error fail-safe and proof-reading devices utilized for quality control,
artificial languages and their decoding systems, “
[and] a capacity not equaled in
any
of our own most advanced
machines,
assembly processes involving the principle of
prefabrication and modular construction . . .
for it would be capable of replicating
its entire structure within a matter of a few hours”
Simple?
Design Theory
Thomas Nagel,
Atheist, Professor
For a long time I have been
skeptical of the claims of
traditional evolutional theory to
be the whole story about the
history of life.”
“
Design Theory
Thomas Nagel,
Atheist, Professor
even if science cannot tell you
the identity of the designer, or
what is going on in the
designer’s mind.”
It potentially can be scientific to
argue that the data of DNA and
life points to an intelligent
designer
“
What Would it Take to
Get One Living Cell?
Cell Complexity
and Elegance
Proteins
Amino Group
NH₂
H C COOH
R
Amino Acids
Phe
Leu
Ser
Cys
Left and Right-Handed
Amino Acids
Protein of 400 Amino Acids
400x
Directed
Panspermia
Feature 4:
Information Theory
Beautiful Natural
Patterns
010010001001100111100000001111111101010100110
011
Pattern ≠ Design
Your DNA is the most exquisitely engineered
communication protocol in existence.
Q uic k Tim e™ and aTI FF ( LZW ) dec om pr es s or
ar e needed t o s ee t h is p ic t ur e.
Letters
4- Letter Alphabet
Chapte
r
Book
Word
Senten
ce
One cell carries
more data than
this:
Where Does Information
Come From?
Where Does Information
Come From?
He didn’t steal that car
He didn’t steal that car
He didn’t steal that car
The lower cannot account
for the higher
M.I.T. Mathematician
Norbert Wiener
Any materialism that fails to take account
of this will not survive one day.”
Information is information;
neither matter nor energy. “
Information Transcends
Matter & Energy
Atheistic Riddle
Show me a message
that doesn’t come from a mind.
Promissory
Materialism
Science Fait
h
Other Features of the
World
• Human consciousness
• Rationality
• Moral values and obligations
Other Features of the
World
• Beauty
• Human dignity, value, and purpose
• Human rights
• Universal religious experience
Implications
Inescapable Conclusions
of Naturalism
1. No transcendence
2. No life after death
3. No absolute foundation for right
and wrong
Inescapable Conclusions
of Naturalism
4. No ultimate meaning for life
5. No free will
DESIGN > DESIGNER
The End
Reflections Ministries
Resources Reflections - A free
monthly teaching letter
KenBoa.org website - Daily
Growth email and free text
and audio resources
www.KenBoa.org