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Christians believe that Jesus was not merely just a great moral teacher or even a prophet (as Muslims believe), but that he was genuinely the second member of the Holy Trinity, the Son of God, God Incarnate or more simply the ‘God-man’. The resurrection of Jesus has always been (to Christians) one of the major proofs that he was indeed the Son of God.

As Dr. Tim Keller points out in his book Reason for God “If Jesus rose from the dead, you have to accept all he said; if he didn’t rise from the dead why worry about any of what he said? The issue on which everything hangs is not whether or not you like his teaching but whether he rose from the dead or not.”

The apostle Paul would seem to agree when writing to the church in Corinth, that if there was no physical resurrection we may as well all pack up and go home.

‘And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith. (1 Cor 15:14)’

It really doesn’t get any more black or white on this issue, does it?

As this is an incredibly large topic I have decided to break it down into 5 separate articles, which you will see added over the coming weeks.

I want to encourage you as you read this set of articles to really think like you have never done about anything else in your life! If Jesus really died on that disgusting bloody cross, and rose again; the implications could not be greater than any fact in human history, it reveals whether God exists, who he is, what he is like and if he gives a monkeys’ about who you are. We will look at this in greater detail in the articles that follow.

Being Sceptical about Naturalism

Many people in western society believe in a philosophical position known as naturalism, which posits that everything that we see is explainable in terms of natural causes and laws. When this is applied to the resurrection of Jesus Christ we end up in a total cul-de-sac; as this is a completely circular argument which works out something like this:

‘The resurrection of Jesus can’t have happened because it would be a miracle, and miracles don’t happen’

The reality is as a sceptic, you can’t know that miracles don’t exist, you just might not have experienced one. This means the position that you should approach this critical subject on is being agnostic (not sure).

If you feel you’re not at this point yet then you may find it helpful to read the article below: go to:

Why can’t I be an Atheist?

My main point of this introduction to the subject is that we need to leave our pre-suppositions at the door. We need to allow history to speak for itself and follow the evidence where it leads, whatever that means for us.  If you think you are ready for this then you are ready for the next article, which will follow shortly.

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In the 19th century atheist philosophers would argue that the universe had always existed, but the discovery of the ‘big bang’ by the Roman Catholic priest and scientist Georges Lemaitre in 1927 (popularised by Hubble in 1929) put an end to this way of arguing, and atheists were now forced to admit that there was a beginning to the universe, which brought in a new line of questioning.

Argument from infinite regress

One way that we can end up at this question is through what philosophers of science call the ‘argument from infinite regress’. What this means is that if we ask the question on the origins of our universe, we may well come to the conclusion that the big bang started it. ‘Very well’ you may say, ‘but where did all the energy come from which led to the big bang?’ You may then get into various topics of discussion about different types of positive and negative matter, which again leads us to the question ‘Where did that come from?’

In the end, you logically end up at the position that something unknown created this beginning. As we have looked at in other articles the universe is extremely fine-tuned for us to exist (* See article listed below) it would seem that there are clear reasons to believe that whatever or whoever created the universe was probably quite intelligent; as a Christian I would suggest this is strong evidence for the God of the bible.

Objection, your honour

Some people object to this line of reasoning because they insist that for us to be consistent this leads us to the question ‘Who made God?’ However, although this may sound a plausible argument it is actually a fallacious one described in philosophy circles as a ‘category mistake’.

If Christians believed in a God that was created then this would be a superb argument destroying Christianity in a micro-second. However, Christians believe that God is eternal (Isaiah 26:4, Romans 16:26) and so to ask the question ‘Who made God?’ is the same as asking ‘Who made the unmade?’ This is a category mistake because it is logically impossible, in the same way that the question ‘Where is the bachelor’s wife?’ leads us to an impossible conclusion. In other words, just like the bachelor is single, the God of the Bible is eternal.

The limitations of naturalism

As humans we find it very difficult to conceive of something eternal (we live within space & time) but that does not mean that it can’t exist. God is described in the Bible as holy, which means he is ‘other’ or fundamentally different to us. He is not finite, and therefore we should not expect science (which enables us to measure the natural world) to be able to fully measure something infinite (though it does give us many clues).

Think very carefully when someone says to you, ‘You can only believe in things that are proven by science’. This statement fails to live up to its own claim as Science can’t prove the statement to be true in the first place. This is a faith assertion and is an example of the blind faith that religious people are often criticised for, whereas the idea of an eternal God remains philosophically consistent.

*http://reason.cck.org.uk/how-does-modern-science-show-that-there-is-a-god/

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The Bible promises that anyone who searches for God will find him

You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart. (Jeremiah 29:13)

Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. (Matthew 7:7)

This includes the search through scientific investigation, indeed there are many areas of modern science that point to the existence of the God of the Bible (some of which will be discussed below).

Can science see, detect or measure God?

Despite its great successes there is a limit as to how much science can tell us. Science is the study of the material world around us, its aim is to provide an explanation for the way the physical world works. God does not fit into the realm that science is able to directly study: for God to have created space and time, He must exist somewhat outside of it. A study of God is largely spiritual, and an exercise in faith – faith is the assurance of things hoped for, a conviction of things not seen. Belief in God and what he has done for us requires faith and trust in Him. This does not have to be “blind faith” with no intelligent thought involved, however, there is still a necessary step of faith. If a person has rejected God and hardened their heart to Him it would be difficult to change their mind based on the scientific evidence alone, but for those who are willing to look, God has left his fingerprints all over creation for us to find:

The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork. (Psalm 19:1)

.. his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. (Romans 1:20)

In fact there are many scientists who have sought to find God through studying the world around them and come to faith in Jesus as a result (e.g. Dr Hugh Ross (Co-founder of Reasons-to-Believe)).

The discussion of science and God is such a vast one that many books continue to be written on the topic, and I’d encourage Christians and  non-Christians alike to investigate the subject. Many people have objections to faith based on the common mis-conception that science and Christianity are at odds with each other. This is not the case, areas of contention are often resolved by new scientific data or in some cases by people re-examining a poor interpretation of a passage of scripture.  

Science can give us an insight into the way God has created.

Scientific studies to date have revealed a little of just how amazingly beautiful and complex the world around us is, all of this points to an amazing God who is all the more amazing to have created it in a way that we are able to study it, and enjoy it. 

An Example from Astrophysics:

An obvious place where religion and science do overlap, is the question of creation itself: “Where did the universe come from?”. Until the mid 1900’s much of the scientific community believed that the universe was static and eternal, clearly in disagreement with the account in Genesis. In 1916 Einsteins theory of General Relativity highlighted the theoretical difficulties with this view of the  universe, and indicated an expanding universe with a beginning. In 1929 Hubble provided observational support for this new model. Measurements of distant galaxies show that they are receding from us with increasing speed the further away they are. If everything is moving apart, things must have been closer together in the past. Taking this idea back far enough leads to a very dense and energetic beginning to the expansion- An event now known as the Big Bang.
 
Many independent observations of the Cosmic Microwave Background, and chemical abundances in the universe have resulted in the Big Bang model being almost universally accepted. The model very successfully describes the history of the universe back as far as the first 10-43 seconds, but as far as the absolute beginning goes, modern science can say nothing. It appears to be creation from nothing, with a cause that may be outside the view of scientific study. A Nobel Prize winning physicist Arno Penzias said of the Big Bang: “The best data we have are exactly what I would have predicted had I nothing to go on but the first five books of Moses, the Psalms and the Bible as a whole.”    

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. (Genesis 1:1)

It also appears that the universe we live in is incredibly fine tuned in order to exist for any length of time let alone to support life (known as “The Fine Tuning Problem”). There are a vast number of physical parameters (the speed of light, the strength of gravity and various aspects of electromagnetism to name a few) that all have to be precisely the value they are, or else we would not exist. There is no reason to suggest that these values should all arise naturally, in fact it is highly unlikely, many people see this as very strong evidence for design, and therefore an intelligent creator.

Suggested books to start with:

The case for a Creator -   Lee Stroble
The Language of God: A scientist presents evidence for belief -   Francis Collins
God’s Undertaker: Has science buried God? -  John C. Lennox

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