The obstacles and forces opposing Christianity. An introductory lecture for the HCBC apologetics lecture series. Presentation by Dr. Dennis Wilson.

1. Obstacles and
Opposing Forces
to Christianity
Dennis Wilson
Module 1: Introduction
Michelangelo’s Creation of Adam

2. Outline
1. Introduction
2. Obstacles to Christianity
3. Opposing Forces to Christianity
4. Summary

3. Overall Goals of Series
• Premise: God’s word (special revelation) and God’s
world (general revelation) must be in harmony.
• Goals:
– Provide evidence for our Christian faith
– Expose flaws in other worldviews
– Defend Christian faith from
attacks
• 1 Peter 3:15 .. Always be
prepared to give an answer
to everyone who asks you to
give the reason for the hope
that you have.

4. Context for Discussion
Representative Quotes
• “An unexamined life is not worth living”
– Socrates
• “An unexamined faith is not worth
believing”
– Norm Geisler and Tim Hawks
• “Religion requires faith but facts are
central to all religions because all
religious worldviews - including atheism -
make truth claims and many truth claims
can be evaluated through the scientific
method”
– Norman Geisler & Frank Turek

5. Truth Claims
• Truth claims are absolute, narrow
and exclusive
– According to , Norm Giesler and Frank
Turek: truth claims are discovered –
not invented; trans-cultural; and
unchanging.
• Example of a self-defeating
statements: “All truth is relative” –
this is an absolute truth
– This sounds a lot like Postmodernism’s
basic principle
Discussion Questions:
1. Why do people demand truth in every area (e.g. safety,
money, health and relationships) except morality & religion?
2. Do truth claims evolve with time?

6. The Christian
Worldview
asserts that
God is the
author of
universal and
immutable
ideas of: truth,
logic, and the
laws of nature.
Since we are created in the
image of God (Genesis
1:28 - 29), we are uniquely
gifted to discover these
universal ideas using
rational thought and
evidence-based reasoning.
Christian Worldview
…we have the mind of Christ
1 Corinthians 2:16

7. Naturalistic Worldview
Random, undirected evolution would seem
to imply there is “no reason for reason”

8. Outline
1. Introduction
2. Obstacles to Christianity
3. Opposing Forces to Christianity
4. Summary

9. Obstacles to Christianity
• Emotional
– Hypocrisy of the Church
• Volitional
– Christian morality seems to restrict our choices in life – we
must yield our freedom to an unseen higher power – The
God of the Bible
• Intellectual/Philosophical/Scientific
1. How to reconcile evil with that of a deity
• How can this (apparent) paradox be explained?
2. Christianity is only one of many religions
• Religious “pluralism” is a major problem today’s PC culture
3. Science has the answer to (fill in the blank)
• Origin of the universe, humans, life in general…

10. 1. Problem of Evil
• Major Philosophical Obstacle
– Problem of Evil: "the fact of suffering
undoubtedly constitutes the single
greatest challenge to the Christian faith.”
John Stott
• There are basically two kinds of evil
– Moral evil results from the actions of free
creatures, such as murder, theft, …
– Natural evil results from natural
processes such as earthquakes and
floods.
Dr. Sam Harris is a philosopher, and
neuroscientist. He is the co-founder of
Project Reason

11. 2. Religious Pluralism
• Religious tolerance generally means acceptance of other
religions. It does not mean believing that other religions are
equally valid and true.
• Recently, religious pluralism has generally been defined as the
notion that all religions as equally valid and true.
– The obvious problem is that if diverse beliefs are all true, then absolute
truth does not exist.
John 14:6 “Jesus said to him, “I am the
way, and the truth, and the life. No one
comes to the Father except through me.”

12. 3. Domain of Science and Religion
• Religion tackles the big issues
– Origin – where did we come from?
– Identity - who are we?
– Purpose – why are we here?
– Destiny – where are we going?
– Morality – How should we live?
• Science
– Science is designed to discover information
about the natural world and organize that
information into testable laws and theories.
– Transcendent or supernatural phenomenon are
rejected
Religion Science
Method: Faith (unseen) Theories (observable)
Reason: Why How

13. • “Philosophy has not kept up with modern developments in
science, particularly physics. Scientists have become the bearers
of the torch of discovery in our quest for knowledge.”
(Hawking 2010, p. 5)
• At a recent Google Zeitgeist conference, Stephen Hawking boldly
pronounced that “philosophy is dead.”
Some Extreme Views on Science
Hawking’s comment generated a lot of controversy from Philosophers…

14. Some Extreme Views (Cont’d)
… but not from the engineering community

15. Outline
1. Introduction
2. Obstacles to Christianity
3. Opposing Forces to Christianity
– Isms: Scientism, Postmodernism, Secular
Humanism
– Educational System, Ruling Class, Entertainment
4. Summary

16. Scientism
• Scientism: A major opposing force
1. The “belief” (Worldview) that investigative
methods of the physical sciences are
applicable or justifiable in all fields of inquiry.
2. The belief that physical reality, as made
available to the natural sciences, is all that
truly exists.
– Thus, by definition, scientism rejects
explanations that rely upon the supernatural.
• “Deep down, creationists realize they will never
win factual arguments with science.”
NY Times 10/17/2010 Morals without God?

17. Scientism and Science
are Different
• Science looks for natural causes and
rejects supernatural causes – by definition
– and that’s OK
• Science is not a worldview – but scientism
is.
• The scientific method rests on the
foundational belief that there is an order
and universality in the Universe.
• Physicist Paul C. Davies: "...to be a scientist,
you had to have faith that the universe is
governed by dependable, immutable,
absolute, universal, mathematical laws of
an unspecified origin.

18. Science & Scientists are (Obviously) Different
• Science - by definition - is worldview neutral but scientists are
not worldview neutral.
“Atheism is so senseless. When I look at the solar system, I
see the earth at the right distance from the sun to receive
the proper amounts of heat and light. This did not happen
by chance”
Isaac Newton: Inventor of Calculus, Founder of Classical
Physics (1643 to 1727)
Neil Degrasse Tyson, host of NOVA & Cosmos
commenting on the 15% of people on the National
Academy of Sciences that believe in a personal God:
“That’s a problem that needs to be addressed. How
come the number isn't zero? That should be the
subject of …investigation.”

19. Scientific Theories (Truth Claims) Evolve
• Static/Infinite Universe: Universe is infinite and always existed
– View held by scientists for centuries until middle of 20th century
• Big Bang: The universe had a beginning about 13.7 billion years
ago that marks the creation of space and time.
Example: Origin of the Universe
– Widely accepted theory with
significant scientific evidence
– Prof Richard Feynman (Nobel
Laureate): “If you thought that
science was certain - well that is
just an error on your part.”

20. Christian Truth Claims are Constant
God speaks through Scripture: In the beginning, God
created (Baraʹ) the heavens and the earth (Genesis 1:1)
• Hebrew word definition: Baraʹ
– To supernaturally create something that is totally new or extraordinary
(not fashioned from something else)
• God brought the universe into existence from nothing
• This sounds a lot like the Big Bang
– Properly interpreted, there is agreement or
harmony between science (cosmology and
astrophysics) and scripture.

21. Christian Verses about Space-Time
1. God existed before the beginning of time and created the
universe
– Genesis 1:1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth…
– Colossians 1:16 - 17 For in him all things were created: things in
heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers
or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and
for him. 17He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.
2. God created the universe from things unseen by our senses
– Hebrews 11:3 By faith we understand that the universe was formed
at God’s command, so that what is seen was not made out of what
was visible.
3. God existed before the beginning of time
– 2 Timothy 1:9 …this grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the
beginning of time.

22. Postmodernism
• Postmodernism: A major opposing force
– Postmodernism followed modernism in the mid-20th century
• Modernism affirmed the power of humans to create and improve their
environment with practical, scientific knowledge or technology.
– Today, some academics reject Christianity because it claims to
be true. They regard anyone claiming to know any objective or
universal truth as intolerant and arrogant
• Nietzsche and Sartre prepared the way for postmodernism

23. Postmodernism
• Postmodernism
– George Barna: “Over 80% of Americans today are basically
relativistic, and the evangelical church is not far behind.”
– Christianity Today, Andy Couch: “The attention to the
marginalized has led many postmodernists into a profound
skepticism toward modernity's assumptions about knowledge,
truth, and reason.”

24. Secular Humanism
• Secular Humanism
– Worldview based on atheism, naturalism,
random evolution and ethical relativism
– Embraces reason, ethics and justice and
rejects religion and supernatural
– “Beginning about eighty years ago, we
began to move from a Judeo-Christian
consensus in this country to a humanist
consensus, and it has come to a special
climax in the last forty years… And today…
the consensus in our country and the western
world, is no longer Judeo-Christian, but the
general consensus is humanist.”
Francis Schaeffer, 1982
The Secular Humanistic World View
versus the Christian World View

25. Secular Humanism
• Secular Humanism can be very hostile to Christianity
– A national multimedia ad campaign – the largest, most
extensive ever by a godless organization – launches today
and will include a spot on NBC Dateline on Friday, November
12, 2010 as well as other television ads, that directly
challenge biblical morality and fundamentalist Christianity.
• Confronting secular humanism is a major challenge

26. Educational Systems
• Educational Systems
– Public Schools: U.S. Supreme Court has interpreted the 1st
amendment to mean that religion and government must
stay separate … (In principle this is not a bad thing)
– Universities: Academics have a pre-disposition to be
dismissive and derisive of a Christian worldview because it is
unscientific and consequently, untrue.
• Effect: 70% of evangelical young people will abandon their
Christian worldview after four years at a secular university -
George Barna Research
• Secular university or Christian University?
– Preparing our youth to defend their faith at a secular
university is the proper course of action and Christian
Apologetics is essential.

27. Higher Education
Academic Disciplines with Naturalistic Agenda
• Big Three: Evolutionary Genetics, Evolutionary Biology
and Paleoanthropology
• Others…
– Anatomy, Anthropology, Astrobiology
– Biochemistry, Biology, Biophysics, Botany
– Ecology, Entomology, Epidemiology, Evolutionary Taxonomy
– Genetics, Geology, Geophysics
– Molecular Biology, Microbiology, Paleontology, Physiology,
Virology or Zoology
Academic Disciplines with Christian Agenda
• ??

28. The Ruling Class
• The “Ruling Class”
– “Today's ruling class, was formed by an educational system that exposed
them to the same ideas and gave them remarkably uniform guidance, as
well as tastes and habits. These amount to a social canon of judgments
about good and evil, complete with secular sacred history, sins, and
saints…” American Spectator July-August, 2010
– This idea in not new…

29. Entertainment
• Hollywood
– Hollywood is aggressively secular and materialistic, and it does
stereotype Christians…
Time magazine March 1, 2007
– Sixty-one percent say Hollywood has too much influence on American
politics and social values, while 26 percent think it has the right amount,
and 9 percent think it has too little.
CBS News March 2, 2014

30. Outline
1. Introduction
2. Obstacles to Christianity
3. Opposing Forces to Christianity
4. Summary

31. Christian Worldview
• The Christian worldview asserts that God is the author
of universal ideas of truth, logic, and the laws of nature.
– Since humans are created in the image of God (Genesis 1:28 -
29), we are uniquely gifted to discover these universal ideas.
– The apostle John describes Jesus as “the true light that gives
light to every man” (John 1:9).
• The mind of God provides a framework for rational
human thought (whether believer or nonbeliever).
• The naturalistic perspective asserts that life, death,
decay, and evil serve no real purpose. They are the
consequence of a random set of cosmic coincidences…
– Nobel Laureate, Prof Richard Feynman: “I believe that a
scientist looking at nonscientific problems is just as dumb as
the next guy.”

32. Non-Christians see the Hand of a Creator
• Paul Davies’s bestseller The Mind of
God (1992) tackles the big questions.
– Davies comes to the subject as an
unbeliever.
– His conclusion is that the universe is "no
minor byproduct of mindless, purposeless
forces. We are truly meant to be here. By
the means of science, we can truly see into
the mind of God.”
“…it becomes sensible to think that the favorable properties of
physics on which life depends are in every respect deliberate ...
It is therefore almost inevitable that our own measure of
intelligence must reflect ... higher intelligences ... even to the
limit of God ... such a theory is so obvious that one wonders
why it is not widely accepted as being self-evident. The reasons
are psychological rather than scientific.”
Evolution from Space, Fred Hoyle 1984
Sir Prof Fred
Hoyle was an
atheists

33. Summary: Scholars Disagree
Astronomer, PhD
& Theologian
Physician, Dir
NIH & Geneticist
Physicist, PhD &
Studied Theology
Legal Journalists
Physicist, PhD atheists Evolutionary Biologists, DSc atheists

34. Let’s be Rational
• Science, reason, and logic are ways we interact with
and learn about the universe.
• Thus, let’s use science to support our position
– Look at the evidence of God’s fingerprint in the world that
support and complement statements in the Holy Bible.
• Don’t take positions that are indefensible
– For example, It is illogical to reject Redshift (Doppler effect) that
supports the age of the universe at 13.7B yr – but rely on
Doppler radar for weather warnings
Red Shift

35. Naturalism and Scientism