Day 1
The Natural and the Supernatural
I had just returned from my first year in college. It was a frustrating time for me. I could not defend my faith against the challenges of some of my professors. Now I was uncomfortable returning to my church. My pastor greeted me at the door. “It’s good to see you back,” he said as he squeezed my shoulder.
My parents were active members of the church. I was home for the summer. It would be a great disappointment to them if I wasn’t there.
The pastor began his sermon with facts I’d never heard in my science classes. He identified scientific insights that took up to three and a half millenniums for science to discover. “The earth is a circle.1 The earth hangs on nothing.2 God created the visible from the invisible.3 The universe is expanding.4 Some of the claims were not confirmed by modern science until late in the twentieth century.”
Ranging from astronomy to medical science, he emphasized how long it took science to discover what the Bible had revealed. Then he said, “Only the Creator could have known these things millenniums in advance of modern science.”
I couldn’t recall hearing biblical truth and scientific truth discussed together. At one point, he made a direct comparison. “Experimental science has achieved great respect by predicting the future of nature’s events, from engineering and medicine to travel to increase knowledge (Daniel 12:4). Good science proves its worth with repeated, accurate predictions. Biblical prophecies have predicted specific human events centuries and millenniums in advance, from themes of history to international events, major wars, and human events of all types. No man can predict future human events. The variables of human events are too complex. Biblical truths exceed scientific discoveries. Their evidence is supernatural. Only God can reveal a biblical science of history!
After the service, the pastor was standing at the door. “I’d really like to hear about your first year at college,” he said. “Could we get together to talk?”
He had been my Sunday school teacher and had always been friendly. We agreed to meet.
For this is what the LORD says—he who created the heavens,
he is God; he who fashioned and made the earth, he founded it;…
— he says: “I am the LORD, and there is no other.
—Isaiah 45:18
Day 2
Following the Evidence
We met in the park. It was a day in the late spring, and the sun was trying to break through. We sat and chatted as my pastor asked me about my classes, what dorm life was like, the friends I’d made, and how I liked college life. Then he changed the conversation.
“Your professors have a level of knowledge that gives them a huge advantage in forming the way students think. Have you heard a professor say, ‘Everything has a natural explanation?’”
“Yes, I’ve heard that before.”
“There are two reasons why they make that claim. Science builds on the laws of nature. If natural laws are the only path to truth that can be tested, then they conclude that ‘everything has a natural explanation.’ The second reason is their worldview. If the majority of the scientific community believes that God doesn’t exist, then they can be very comfortable with the position that there is no evidence for the supernatural—no measurable scientific evidence that God exists.”
“So if they say all things have a natural explanation, they are saying that God doesn’t exist.” I responded.
“Or they are saying that God takes no part in the universe or our lives.”
“Who is right? Is there any evidence for either view?”
“Yes, there is a great amount of evidence that God has suspended natural laws for very profound reasons. I’ll give you an example.” The pastor took a DVD out of his jacket pocket. “This is a recent scientific discovery. You remember the story of the Red Sea crossing? The Israelite nation was escaping from slavery in Egypt. The Bible claims that God divided the Red Sea, brought his people through on dry ground, then drowned the pursuing Egyptian Army. There is scientific evidence. The Bible describes the event. But science does not count the Bible as reliable evidence. I want you to see the physical evidence so we can talk about it.”5
“I’ll watch the DVD this ...