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The case for a CreatorScience is on our sideTHE CASE FOR A CREATOR Like many young men coming through school, Lee Strobel was led to believe that science had dispensed with the deity, that Darwinism left no room for a Creator. Then his wife got saved and as a professional journalist he thought he ought to investigate the claims of Christianity for himself. This is the third book to come out of that investigation, and it makes fascinating reading. It is based on interviews with contemporary scientists, and the resounding message is that science has moved on profoundly, and rather than sidelining God, modern discoveries point emphatically to the universe being the product of intelligent design. The book begins with interviews with Stephen C. Meyer and Jonathan Wells who point out not only the fake science which was originally used to get Darwinism off the ground, but also the huge problems which contemporary data is accumulating against the theory. Not least among these is the lack of 'intermediate' species and the so-called 'Cambrian explosion' of highly complex animals in the fossil record. Many different scientific disciplines are then looked into. There is evidence marshalled from cosmology, physics, astronomy, biochemistry, biological information and the study of the phenomenon of consciousness. The interview with astronomer Guillermo Gonzalez of Iowa State University is awe-inspiring. The idea that earth is some kind of fairly average pla-net is completely blown away. Facing the questionsThere are quite a few things to smile at too. Michael Behe's (famous for his book Darwin's Black Box) enlightenment from a purely evolutionary view of life is described like this: 'One day while doing post-doctoral research on DNA at the National Institutes of Health, he and a colleague were pondering what it would take for life to begin by naturalistic processes. As they enumerated the components that would be needed - proteins, a genetic code, a membrane, and so on - they looked at each other and said, "Naaaaahhhhhhh!" They knew there was no way life could have sprung into existence unaided. Seeds of scepticism were planted.' One of the great strengths of the book is that journalist Strobel is well-informed enough and blunt enough to ask all the difficult questions which unbelieving scientists would raise. These are for the most part dealt with very honestly and thoroughly answered. However, at one point there is a questionable use of the mathematics of infinity to try to prove a point. If there is a real weakness in the book it comes from Strobel's refusal to get involved in the debate over the age of the earth. This means that we have cosmologists and astronomers who believe the Big Bang is the initial creation, still talking in terms of needing certain kinds of stars to produce heavier chemical elements which are essential to life, as if life evolved. But on the other hand you have the biochemists and cell biologists, telling us there is no way life could have evolved by chance, even if all the necessary elements were brought together. There is obviously still a lot of work to do on getting a complete story sorted out. However, this should not detract from the overall excellence of the book. It is probably best read by people with degrees or at least A-levels in science. But it cannot but encourage the faith of Christians. The book ends with a clear challenge to consider the claims of Christ with an open mind. If we are going to get men converted to Christ we need these kinds of books. I hope I am not being sexist, but men in particular seem to put a lot of store by science. This book shows that today's science points to God and faith in God is actually totally reasonable. JEBJohn Benton© Evangelicals Now - October 2004 |