THE SCIENCE OF LIFE
AND THE GOD OF LIFE
BIOLOGY
GOD AND SCIENCE
• In Biology we see all sorts of amazing things, as well
as a lot of disease, death, and suffering
• Why?
DEFINITION OF SCIENCE
• Science
• Nothing more than a tool, used by people
• We can gain knowledge on how the physical world around
us works.
• Faith
• Heb 11:1 now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the
evidence of things not seen
• Science requires a degree of faith
• Scientism
• Religious belief behind the theory that the earth evolved
from a molten mass of rock to it’s present form
WHAT IS TRUTH?
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Is it what everyone believes? The Majority?
Is it a hunch that works?
Is it whatever is repeated by observations?
Is it that which is logical?
• Deductive reasoning
• Proceeds from generalized premises to a specific conclusion
• If p then q, p therefore q
• Inductive reasoning
• Proceeds from specific examples to general conclusions
• If p then possibly q, p so more than likely q is true
WHAT IS TRUTH
• Is it that which is accepted by faith?
• Truth is the Word of God
• A worldview based on the Bible as the ultimate
standard leads to knowledge of the Truth
• Remember – we cannot know anything apart from
the Biblical God
GOD’S TRUTH AND SCIENCE
• Revealed truth
• Truth expressed in Scripture
• Theory
• Thought to be true, is not revealed truth, but may be a part
of unrevealed truth
• Fallacy
• Any statement not a part of revealed or unrevealed truth
• Truth by Definition
• True because man has defined it, mathematics, grammar,
spelling, and the meaning of words
THE SCIENTIFIC METHOD
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Observe
Collect
Classify
Analyze
Choose
Verify
Predict
• What if I told you that the Scientific Method is a
Logical Fallacy?
FOR EXAMPLE
• Hypothesis
• If ice is added to a glass of water than the temperature will
decrease
• observation
• Conclusion
• I added ice to a glass of water and the temperature
decreased
AFFIRMING THE CONSEQUENT
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If p
Then q
p
Therefore q
In Formal Logic, Affirming the Consequent
is a Logical Fallacy
WELL WHAT HAPPENS IF IT TURNS OUT
FALSE?
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If P
Then q
Not q
Therefore not p
This is called Denying the Antecedent in
Formal Logic
EITHER WAY YOU SLICE IT
The Scientific Method itself is a Logical Fallacy
• This leads to some big questions:
• If it’s a Logical Fallacy, why does it work so well?
• How do Secular Scientists explain this?
• Why is the Scientific Method treated with such high
esteem in our classrooms?
KARL POPPER – SECULAR
PHILOSOPHER OF SCIENCE
• “Without waiting passively, for repetitions to impress
or impose regularities upon us, we actively try to
impose regularities on the world. We try to discover
similarities in it, and to interpret it in terms of laws
invented by us. Without waiting for premises, we
jump to conclusions”
WHAT DOES A BIBLICAL WORLDVIEW
SAY OF THIS?
• Genesis 8:22 As long as the earth endures, seedtime
in harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, and
day and night will not cease.
• God is the Creator of Logic, it is a reflection of His
mind.
• We have been created in His image, so we are
able to use His Logic. He created patterns in the
universe, so we expect to see patterns.
CONTROLLED EXPERIMENTS
• Control group vs. experimental group
• Independent variable
• The difference between the group
• Control group
• Not exposed to independent variable
• Experimental group
• Exposed to independent variable
• Dependent variable
• Factor measured in both control and experimental group
LIMITS OF SCIENCE
• Must deal with observable, repeatable, and
measurable phenomena
• Can only describe not explain
• No experiment can be completely controlled
• Observations can be faulty
• Cannot establish truth
• People
• Bias – what someone wants to believe, in order to gain
something
SCIENCE AND THE CHRISTIAN
• Scriptures Scientific Challenge
• God created Man in His image
• God gave stewardship over the earth
• God expects Man to use Science
• God told us to subdue and have dominion over the
Earth
• Improper attitudes of Christians towards Science
• Science is anti-God, therefore to be rejected
• Proper attitudes of Christians towards Science
• The heavens Declare Gods’ Glory
• Worship
BIOLOGY THE STUDY OF LIFE
• What are the attributes of life?
• Exhibits movement
• Internal or external
• Assimilation
• Intake of food, breakdown and assembling to make up part
of it’s living system
• Reproduction
• Comes from preexisting life
• Law of biogenesis
• Composed of cells
THE STUDY OF LIFE
• The Microscope
uses light rays
• The Electron Microscope
• Uses electrons
• Can see much smaller organisms because electrons are
smaller than light rays
VARIABLES IN BIOLOGICAL STUDY
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Harder to identify
Harder to control
Examples
Age
Gender
Health
Size
VALIDITY OF BIOLOGICAL STUDY
• Because there are far too many errors…
• Errors can be made in observations
• Errors can result if the specimen is atypical
• Errors can be made when techniques are crude
• Biologists must repeat many times with a high
percentage of results
MODELS
• Representation of a concept, or thing
• Heliocentric model of the universe
• Plant cell
• Based on Workability
• What might work now, might not work given new
information