Choosing Jesus And Science


Book Description

"a must-read for students and scientists unfamiliar with recent advances in cellular molecular biology." -Tom Breuer, Ph.D., Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Making the right choice. With almost fifty years working in medical and biochemical sciences, publishing more than 140 articles in peer-reviewed journals, and currently serving as director of 25 reference and research laboratories, Jim Pirkle certainly understands and advances science. He also has faith in God-a belief bolstered by scientific findings. "The more we know from science, the more God is revealed especially as we examine the complexity and interdependencies of creation at the molecular level." Though some believe that faith in Jesus and science can conflict, Dr. Pirkle contends that the opposite is the case-scientific findings consistently reveal God's handiwork. This revelation of God at the molecular level keeps expanding as we see more and more complexity and interdependency in protein function, the roles of nucleic acids, gene interactions, glycobiology, lipidomics, protein interactions (the Interactome) and molecular feedback and control loops. He reviews two important areas of current discussion: Neo-Darwinism and the fine-tuning of the universe for life on Earth. His weight-of-evidence evaluation of Neo-Darwinism includes: life originating from non-life, within-kind adaptation (microevolution), and between-kind adaptation (macroevolution). His review of the fine-tuning of the universe examines multiple extreme requirements for the nature of matter, galaxy clusters, the Milky Way, our solar system, the sun, and the Earth in order for life to exist on Earth. Further, Dr. Pirkle explains how we are the best evidence for God. God explains what our lives will be like if we choose to follow Him or if we do not. Pirkle maintains that we can look at our own lives and find a close match to what God says. Jim Pirkle MD, PhD, received his medical degree with a specialty in clinical pathology and his PhD in physical chemistry from Emory University and has spent 47 post-collegiate years working on hundreds of studies in medical and biochemical sciences. He is currently director of 25 reference and research laboratories addressing disease and harmful exposures in populations. During his career in public health, Pirkle has authored or coauthored more than 140 publications in peer-reviewed, scientific journals focusing on the diagnosis and prevention of disease and harmful exposures in populations. "Anyone struggling with the reasons for human life as portrayed by science and a belief in a Creator God will find this a remarkable volume which builds faith in God and purpose for life." -Donald G. Patterson Jr, PhD Organic Chemistry Arizona State University; PhD Environmental Science "honoris cavsa" Stockholm University




He is Alive


Book Description

When science set forth to explain the historical evidence and miraculous events attributed to the existence of Jesus, it expected to find hoaxes, a lack of evidence, and nothing substantial to support a supernatural belief in God. What skeptical scientists did discover actually validates the beliefs of Christians. And what they could not explain also added even more support for Christian faith. The historical accounts, eyewitness testimonies, and miraculous artifacts provide overwhelming proof t




Can a Scientist Believe in Miracles?


Book Description

Plasma physicist Ian Hutchinson has been asked hundreds of questions about faith and science. Is God’s existence a scientific question? Is the Bible consistent with the modern scientific understanding of the universe? Are there scientific reasons to believe in God? In this comprehensive volume, Hutchinson answers a full range of inquiries with sound scientific insights and measured Christian perspective.




God: The Failed Hypothesis


Book Description

Throughout history, arguments for and against the existence of God have been largely confined to philosophy and theology, while science has sat on the sidelines. Despite the fact that science has revolutionized every aspect of human life and greatly clarified our understanding of the world, somehow the notion has arisen that it has nothing to say about the possibility of a supreme being, which much of humanity worships as the source of all reality. This book contends that, if God exists, some evidence for this existence should be detectable by scientific means, especially considering the central role that God is alleged to play in the operation of the universe and the lives of humans. Treating the traditional God concept, as conventionally presented in the Judeo-Christian and Islamic traditions, like any other scientific hypothesis, physicist Stenger examines all of the claims made for God's existence. He considers the latest Intelligent Design arguments as evidence of God's influence in biology. He looks at human behavior for evidence of immaterial souls and the possible effects of prayer. He discusses the findings of physics and astronomy in weighing the suggestions that the universe is the work of a creator and that humans are God's special creation. After evaluating all the scientific evidence, Stenger concludes that beyond a reasonable doubt the universe and life appear exactly as we might expect if there were no God. This paperback edition of the New York Times bestselling hardcover edition contains a new foreword by Christopher Hitchens and a postscript by the author in which he responds to reviewers' criticisms of the original edition.




Return of the God Hypothesis


Book Description

The New York Times bestselling author of Darwin’s Doubt presents groundbreaking scientific evidence of the existence of God, based on breakthroughs in physics, cosmology, and biology. Beginning in the late 19th century, many intellectuals began to insist that scientific knowledge conflicts with traditional theistic belief—that science and belief in God are “at war.” Philosopher of science Stephen Meyer challenges this view by examining three scientific discoveries with decidedly theistic implications. Building on the case for the intelligent design of life that he developed in Signature in the Cell and Darwin’s Doubt, Meyer demonstrates how discoveries in cosmology and physics coupled with those in biology help to establish the identity of the designing intelligence behind life and the universe. Meyer argues that theism—with its affirmation of a transcendent, intelligent and active creator—best explains the evidence we have concerning biological and cosmological origins. Previously Meyer refrained from attempting to answer questions about “who” might have designed life. Now he provides an evidence-based answer to perhaps the ultimate mystery of the universe. In so doing, he reveals a stunning conclusion: the data support not just the existence of an intelligent designer of some kind—but the existence of a personal God.




Science and Christianity


Book Description

In Science and Christianity: CONFLICT OR COHERENCE? Dr. Henry F. Schaefer's university lectures have been expanded to full-length essays. Thus we have a first-hand account of the lively current science/Christianity discussions by one of the major participants. Science and Christianity describes why and how Dr. Schaefer became a Christian as a young professor of Chemistry at the University of California at Berkeley. Throughout, the book retains the highly personal character of the university lectures, general respect for those with whom the author disagrees, and a delightful sense of humor.




Where God and Science Meet


Book Description

Spiritual practices, or awakenings, have an impact on brain, mind and personality. These changes are being scientifically predicted and proven. For example, studies show Buddhist priests and Franciscan nuns at the peak of religious feelings show a functional change in the lobes of their brain. Similar processes have been found in people with epilepsy, which Hippocrates called the sacred disease. New research is showing that not only does a person's brain activity change in particular areas while that person is experiencing religious epiphany, but such events can be created for some people, even self-professed atheists, by stimulating various parts of the brain. In this far-reaching and novel set, experts from across the nation and around the world present evolutionary, neuroscientific, and psychological approaches to explaining and exploring religion, including the newest findings and evidence that have spurred the fledgling field of neurotheology. It is not the goal of neurotheology to prove or disprove the existence of God, but to understand the biology of spiritual experiences. Such experiences seem to exist outside time and space - caused by the brain for some reason losing its perception of a boundary between physical body and outside world - and could help explain other intangible events, such as altered states of consciousness, possessions, alien visitations, near-death experiences and out-of-body events. Understanding them - as well as how and why these abilities evolved in the brain - could also help us understand how religion contributes to survival of the human race. Eminent contributors to this set help us answer questions including: How does religion better our brain function? What is the difference between a religious person and a terrorist who kills in the name of religion? Is there one site or function in the brain necessary for religious experience?




Why Science Does Not Disprove God


Book Description

The renowned science writer, mathematician, and bestselling author of Fermat's Last Theorem masterfully refutes the overreaching claims the "New Atheists," providing millions of educated believers with a clear, engaging explanation of what science really says, how there's still much space for the Divine in the universe, and why faith in both God and empirical science are not mutually exclusive. A highly publicized coterie of scientists and thinkers, including Richard Dawkins, the late Christopher Hitchens, and Lawrence Krauss, have vehemently contended that breakthroughs in modern science have disproven the existence of God, asserting that we must accept that the creation of the universe came out of nothing, that religion is evil, that evolution fully explains the dazzling complexity of life, and more. In this much-needed book, science journalist Amir Aczel profoundly disagrees and conclusively demonstrates that science has not, as yet, provided any definitive proof refuting the existence of God. Why Science Does Not Disprove God is his brilliant and incisive analyses of the theories and findings of such titans as Albert Einstein, Roger Penrose, Alan Guth, and Charles Darwin, all of whose major breakthroughs leave open the possibility— and even the strong likelihood—of a Creator. Bolstering his argument, Aczel lucidly discourses on arcane aspects of physics to reveal how quantum theory, the anthropic principle, the fine-tuned dance of protons and quarks, the existence of anti-matter and the theory of parallel universes, also fail to disprove God.




Belief in God in an Age of Science


Book Description

John Polkinghorne is a major figure in today’s debates over the compatibility of science and religion. Internationally known as both a theoretical physicist and a theologian—the only ordained member of the Royal Society—Polkinghorne brings unique qualifications to his inquiry into the possibilities of believing in God in an age of science. In this thought-provoking book, the author focuses on the collegiality between science and theology, contending that these "intellectual cousins" are both concerned with interpreted experience and with the quest for truth about reality. He argues eloquently that scientific and theological inquiries are parallel. The book begins with a discussion of what belief in God can mean in our times. Polkinghorne explores a new natural theology and emphasizes the importance of moral and aesthetic experience and the human intuition of value and hope. In other chapters, he compares science’s struggle to understand the nature of light with Christian theology’s struggle to understand the nature of Christ. He addresses the question, Does God act in the physical world? And he extends his ideas about the role of chaos theory, surveys the prospects for future dialogue between scientific and theological thinkers, and defends a critical realist understanding of the activities of both disciplines. Polkinghorne concludes with a consideration of the nature of mathematical truths and the links between the complementary realities of physical and mental experience.




Finding God in Science


Book Description

A NASA rocket scientist uses quantum physics to find God in science. This is the story of one rocket scientist's quest to know the Creator of the universe, in the face of postmodern thought and atheistic claims. It follows the peaks and valleys of his aerospace career and his spiritual journey, in a novel defense of Christianity. Finding God in Science is written for anyone who struggles with doubts over atheistic claims about truth, God and science.Finding God in Science begins by reconciling the creation accounts of Genesis and science. Biblical and scientific evidence shows that the days of Genesis 1 were long periods of time, rather than 24 hour days. Ancient interpretations of the Genesis order of creation are also shown to match modern science. Finding God clarifies the nature of Adam's race, original sin, and the real extent of Noah's flood, with biblical interpretations that are faithful to the original texts. Finding God in Science continues by exploring the implications of quantum mechanics, which have a deep and unexpected relevance to Christianity. This is the first book to demonstrate that Jesus Christ's earthly message and mission parallel the natural laws of the universe, revealing a Divine premeditation. Finding God in Science shows how Jesus Christ could be both God and man, and what it means to really know God and to communicate with Him. Finding God sheds new light on the mystery of why Christ had to die to save us from our sins, and why we have to die to finally realize eternal life. The indwelling of the Holy Spirit and the security of our salvation are described using quantum analogies. Quantum mechanics is shown to form the physical basis of human consciousness, and underlie the core tenets of Christianity.As incredible as it may sound, these claims are based on the key features of quantum mechanics, the Heisenberg uncertainty principle, non locality and quantum entanglement. The gospel is presented in a new language using the fundamental principles of physics. Finding God in Science will challenge your thinking, touch your soul, and deepen your faith.