Life.Church with Craig Groeschel - Can I Believe in God and Science? | Doubting God: Part 6

Episode Date: May 22, 2022

Do you ever wonder why it seems like the Bible and science conflict with one another? Is it possible to believe in both? We’ll find the answers together in this message. ABOUT THIS MESSAGEIt’s easy to think of doubt as a sign of weak faith. But it’s not. God isn’t afraid of our doubts, so we don’t have to be either. In our new series, Doubting God, we’re creating a space for the questions we’ve been afraid to ask. Together, let's discover how doubt can actually build our faith. WE’RE OPENWe’re continuing to monitor guidelines and best practices for gathering in a safe way. Learn more about everything we're doing to keep you safe and how you can help by using hand sanitizer, washing your hands often, and more: https://www.life.church/updatesFind a time and attend a service with us: http://www.life.church/locationsNEXT STEPSHave you made a decision to follow Jesus? You may be wondering what’s next on your journey. We want to help! Let us guide you to your next steps in your walk with Christ: https://www.life.church/nextABOUT LIFE.CHURCHWherever you are in life, you have a purpose. Life.Church wants to help you find your next step. Our hope is that your journey will include joining us at a Life.Church location throughout the United States or globally online at https://www.live.life.church. Find locations, videos, and more info about us at https://www.life.church or download the Life.Church app at https://www.life.church/app. FIND US ON SOCIAL MEDIAFacebook: http://www.facebook.com/life.churchInstagram: http://www.instagram.com/life.churchTwitter: http://www.twitter.com/lifechurchTikTok:https://www.tiktok.com/@lifechurchCONNECT WITH PASTOR CRAIGYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCIId...Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/craiggroeschelInstagram: http://www.instagram.com/craiggroeschelTwitter: http://www.twitter.com/craiggroeschelTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@craiggroeschel#lifechurch #craiggroeschel #scienceandthebible Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Do you ever wonder why it seems like the Bible and science seem to be in conflict with each other? Do you ever wonder why some Christians claim, God created the world in seven days? And then other people say, but what about the Big Bang Theory and evolution? Sometimes when you look at the claims of Christianity, and then you look at those who study science, there are some people who simply conclude there is no way that any educated, rational thinking person

could look at all the scientific evidence and believe all that Christianity stuff. It happened for me, my freshman year of college, in a Biblit class. Who knows what Biblit is? You might have Biblit. Biblet is short for biblical literature. I went to a small liberal arts Christian school. And my freshman year, I had an 8 a.m. Biblic class. And yes, I was not a Christian, so therefore I was hung over at every 8 a.m.

Biblical class. And my professor, I don't know what he said, but it was something about some verse in the Old Testament that I didn't even know. And he showed us how it couldn't be true. And I remember my very little, very immature, limited faith seemed to crumble at the moment there was something that I didn't understand. What little faith I was trying to build at one challenge just crumbled before me. And I thought, oh my gosh, I always thought this was true, but maybe it's not true at all.

It's a little bit like the little girl in her fifth grade class. her teacher was telling her how it was impossible that Jonah could have been swallowed by a whale. His throat would have been too small. It would have been physically impossible for a whale to swallow a man. And the little girl had learned it in Sunday school, so she stood her ground. She said, I know it happened. It's in the Bible, and I know what happened. And the teacher said, it's impossible.

It could never happen. And the little girl said, yes, it did. And the teacher said, no, it did. And the little girl started crying and said, then when I get to heaven, I'll ask Jonah, and he'll tell me it did happen. And the teacher looked on and said, well, what if Jonah's in hell? And the little girl said, wouldn't you die? You ask them.

And that's how she rolls. What happens is a lot of people say, I want to be a follower of Jesus. And they believe some things about God. And then one day they read an article that apparently contradicts what they thought about God. Or they attend a class where a professor, says something that seems to contradict what they thought about God.

Or they watch a video on YouTube, or they have friends or family members that say, well, you can't believe this because of this. And suddenly their faith starts to crumble where they hear anything that goes contrary to what they thought they believe. If one part of their belief system is shaken, their limited faith starts to crumble. And that may have happened to you. or to someone that you know, and that's why the title of today's message is this, a question, can I believe in God and science?

Father, we ask that by the power of your word, and even as we study your creation, that your Holy Spirit would do a work to build our faith, God, in your goodness, your power, your grace, and your love. We pray this in Jesus' name, and everybody said, amen, amen, amen. Hey, quick shout out to James Meehan. I want to say thank you for your research to help me put this together. And thank you for being a good husband to my daughter, Mandy, just keep on doing that. He's my son-in-law, and I appreciate your help. I want to try to answer the question, why does science seem to be in conflict with the Bible?

Why do some people think that science is in conflict with the Bible? And I would answer to the question this way, because some see the relationship between science and the Bible as competitive instead of cooperative. Some see the relationship as an either-or instead of something that God created both that can actually work together to help us grow closer to God. And I'll try to explain.

If you go way back to around 400 years or so after the birth of Christ, there's a guy named St. Augustine of Hippo, who believed that science in the Bible were actually complementary, instead of competitive in nature. And he would have said something like this to summarize his teaching. He believed that the conflict between science and faith

comes from either misunderstanding science or misinterpreting the Bible. If there's a problem, if there's a conflict, he would have taught either. You don't really know the truth about the scientific study yet. There's a misunderstanding or you're misinterpreting God. And this, believe or not, was the dominant view throughout history for about 1,500 years or so, until what was known as the Age of Enlightenment or the Scientific boom in the 1800s, when much like

we're in the technological boom, at that point, there was scientific discovery after discovery, after discovery, and people started to think that science explains everything. And some Christians got nervous, thinking, oh my gosh, science is. is an attack on our faith. The problem, anytime there's a competition, is you have winners and you have losers. If science wins in this competition, the Bible loses. If the Bible wins, science loses.

I would ask you this. What if the relationship between science and the Bible isn't meant to be competitive? What if instead, by a good God who created all, it actually can be cooperative? What if instead of an either or, we could actually choose a both and study what God created and allow God's word to illuminate the very goodness and glory of his creation? What if it doesn't have to be in either or, but it can be a both and?

And the reality is you do this all the time, I promise you. Your kid has a birthday and you don't say, do I need chocolate cake or vanilla ice cream? You say if it's a cheat day, I'm going to do both and. Come on, somebody. You don't just have a peanut butter jelly, peanut butter sandwich. You're going to have peanut butter and what? Peanut butter and jelly. You have salt and pepper.

You have eggs and? You watch Batman and Robin. And if you're married, you don't just watch Netflix because you can watch Netflix and chill. Come on somebody in that house. Oh, but Craig, do you know what that means? I know exactly what that means. for the glory of God. Somebody said amen.

Amen. As Christians, we should embrace the both and more than anyone else. Because our faith in many ways is defined by a lot of both ands. Think about it. Our faith has all sorts of both ends. Jesus said this. He didn't say, I am the alpha or the omega, but he said, I'm both end. I am the alpha and the omega.

I am the first and the last. I am the beginning and the end. Who was Jesus? He was all God and, at the very same time, he was all man. And he came from the Father full of both grace and truth. The authors of the Hebrew said, looking unto Jesus, what is he? He's both the author and the finisher of our faith. Instead of looking at these as competitors,

why can't we look and say God created all and we can learn from both and let them draw us closer to God? In so many ways, both science and the Bible, there are really two different tools that help us understand the truth. We use different tools every day. Different tools have different purposes. For example, if you've ever seen someone on a beach with a metal detector, what are they doing? What are they looking for?

They're looking for diamond rings. They're looking for quarters. What else? What are you looking for? I have no idea. I've always wondered what are they looking for? But they're looking for something. The metal detector does not detect everything, does it?

The metal detector does not detect the sand, but the metal detector detects the what? Help me out. This is not a trick question. It detects the... The metal. The metal detector. It's a tool that has a designated purpose, but the purpose isn't everything. We could say this about science. It's a tool. Science seeks the truth about our natural world. And scripture, another tool, reveals the truth about our supernatural God. They both work together. In fact, I love the story of John Kavanaugh, who was a very famous ethicist, and John Kavanaugh

was really searching for purpose in life. Some of you right now, you may be saying, what am I supposed to do with my life? Where am I supposed to go? I've got all these gifts and these passions. What's next for me? What can I do that will really matter in life? And so he packed up his bags, moved all the way to Calcutta to serve the poor with Mother Teresa. And Mother Teresa is a very small woman who came up to him and they had a very powerful conversation. He wrote about in his book. And Mother Teresa asked him, how can I pray for you? And he said, oh, this is my moment. What I need is clarity. Will you pray for me for clarity? He said. And Mother Teresa, according to his book, said, clarity is the last thing you're clinging to and must let go of.

I wonder who here is still clinging to your need for clarity, and it may be something that you need to release. She said, I'm not going to pray for you, but he looked on and said, but you seem to have clarity. You seem to have purpose in everything you do. You have clarity. Why won't you pray for me for clarity? And Mother Teresa said this.

She said, I've never had clarity. What I've always had is trust. So that's what I'm going to pray for. I'm going to pray that you trust God. Some of you, you've been asking questions for your whole life, searching clarity. And I encourage you to keep asking questions. But at some point, what you may need may not be clarity.

What you may need is trust, is faith. You see, the challenge is whenever we think that Christianity is more, about having all of the answers, every single answer, when we think it's more about all of the answers, rather than faith in Jesus, we're actually building our faith on a house of cards. And if one of our ideas about God is challenged, our entire faith system comes crumbling down. And that's what happened to me at an 8 a.m. hungover biblical class. My little little faith couldn't handle one simple hurdle. So I would suggest to you, faith people, that we may need to learn to think more scientifically about our faith. Think about this. How many of you studied

the scientific method in junior high? Anybody remember? Yeah, this is really fun. I'm about to use something that I learned in school. And for the the record, I just want you to know that every day of every class, I said, I'll never use this. This is stupid. Geometry. Stupid. Trigonometry. Stupid.

History. Stupid. I'll never use this. Well, I stand corrected. So for those of you who think it's stupid, you never know one day you might need a sermon illustration and go all the way back to the fifth grade for the scientific. study. In science, there's basically four things that you're going to look for if you're trying to determine an answer to some question. What are the four things? The first thing you have is you have a

question. I need to try to solve this question. The next thing you do is you draw up your hypothesis. Here's my theory about what I think will happen. If we try this, then I think that this is going to be the result, but I'm not sure it's just a hypothesis. You have a question. You have a hypothesis, and then you put your hypothesis to the test, and after the test comes back, you get the results, and therefore you draw your conclusions. What I love about science is this, that in science, if your hypothesis is disproven,

you don't give up on science. You just continue to take another test and another hypothesis. Why don't we do this as Christians? If we see a challenge to our ideas about God, don't give up on God. This is an opportunity to ask more questions to pursue a deeper understanding of who God really is. You don't walk away from God just because something doesn't go the way you thought it was supposed to go. In reality, if you want to be sure about anything, it's going to be tough. it's incredibly rare that we can be 100% certain about anything at all.

In fact, the people who did the scientific research were certain that the earth was the center of the world and the earth was flat until scientifically it was proven that it wasn't. Unless for some of you it still is, because you've been watching YouTube and you're convinced it's still flat. and I don't even know what to say. Prayer lines, anointing with oil, whatever, as you deal. When Amy and I first started having babies, we had six of them. Every time she looked at me, she got pregnant. It's amazing. Why did you have so many kids?

She wouldn't keep her hands off me. It got old. I'd tell her to stop, but no. I just want to hold you tonight. Just want to cuddle. We had six kids. When we started having babies, the doctors told us they had this, I can't even remember which it was, they had to sleep on their belly.

That was the best way. And then it was their back. Now it might be their side. Then you have to nurse them. Then you didn't nurse them. And smoking was bad now, but when my parents were growing up smoking was good, just like vaping wasn't bad when it came out. But now it's bad. You'll rarely be 100% certain.

And what I want to promise you is you will never have all the answers to anything. At some point, especially spiritually, it's going to take faith. And I want to remind you that you don't have to know every answer to every question to trust in Jesus. It will always take faith. Without faith, it is impossible to please God. it always will take faith. So, just for fun, what I'm going to do is I want to look at three qualities of both science and scripture that I believe will help build our faith.

The first thing I want to look at is the beginning of everything. In fact, the best place to see Bible and science work together is in the very first verse of God's word. Genesis 1-1. In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. Why is this so powerful? Because more than 3,000 years ago, Scripture declared what science confirmed in the last 100 years.

What did science confirm in the last 100 years that Scripture declared over 3,000 years ago? that the universe had a beginning. And why is this so important? Because prior to the Big Bang theory, most atheist scientists claimed that the universe was eternal. Why does this matter? Because if the universe had a beginning,

it demanded a beginner. A cause outside of itself had to cause the world to exist. As Christians, we believe, that God said, let there be, and he caused the creation of the world. Look at the beginning, because this is a powerful example of science supporting what Scripture said three thousand years ago that in the beginning God spoke and created the heavens and the earth. Look at the beginning. The second thing I want to encourage you to do is to look at the design of the universe. You talk about beautiful and complex and practical and self-sustaining. Verse 2 says this. Now, the earth was

formless and empty, and darkness was all over the surface of the deep, and the spirit of God was hovering over the waters. And then God watched that Netflix show with Marie Kondo and got organized. Some of you saw that show or not, but he started he started organizing. So you saw it. You started organizing everything, and everything was beautiful, and it all had a purpose. And it all works together. Someone puts a seed in the ground, and God sends rain from heaven. And the rain falls onto the ground, and the water seeps down into the soil, and the little seed takes root.

And before long, the seed pushes it way through the dirt and sprouts up, and it grows into a plant. And then one day with more rain and the right amount of sun, it buzzes. And then there's fruit. And then some of the animals might eat some of the fruit. And then some of the people might eat some of the animals unless you watch a documentary that told you not to eat animals. And then you just eat the leaves from the tree. Whatever it is. And then you grow.

And then things end up dying and going back to the ground and they fertilize. And there are seasons. And the world changes. And the world continues to go on. And you look at all this insane. it's impossible that this is the result of some random chance. Boom! I'm attracted to Amy, she's attracted to me. We have six kids and the world goes on.

It's got to be the result of a divine designer. And scientific studies, even from atheists, are fascinating about this subject, that they prove that there are about 150 different astronomical constants that are perfectly designed for life to exist. 150 astronomical constants. And essentially, what they prove is a billion things like this, that if the Earth tilted the axis a little bit more or a little bit less, we all die.

If the Earth spins just 10% faster than it currently spends. the world floods, and we all die. If the average distance from the earth to the sun is three-tenths of 1% closer at its closest point, we all die. And that's why the atheist scientist, Sir Roger Penrose, calculated the likelihood of the universe having this precise of a design. And what he came to conclude, are you ready for this, that the odds of this, happening by accident would literally be 10 billion or so to the 123rd power. What that means is, that means 10 billion times a one with 123 zeros behind it. It is an incalculable number. It's impossible to put down. If you took all of the zeros and made them this big and

stretched them across the world, they would stretch up across the end. entire galaxy and continue. The odds are that you're more likely to win the lottery 10,000 times in a row and get struck by lightning every time you cast that little ticket in, then you are for this to happen. And that's why, again, an atheist, the late Christopher Higgins, called this the most compelling argument for the existence of God. And it was the psalmist in Scripture that said, the heavens proclaim the glory of God. The skies display his craftsmanship. Day after day, they continue to speak. Night after night, the heavens, the creation makes our God known. Another example of science and scripture

you're working together to show the glory of our creator and master designer. Look at the beginning. In the beginning, God said. Look at the design, the intricacy, the glory, the beauty, the functionality of the world that God created. And number three, I would encourage you to look at what's known as the resurrection of Jesus. Look at the resurrection of Jesus. And what's so powerful about the resurrection of Jesus is it actually makes Christianity unique.

It's different from any other world religion. Christianity is what we'd call the only falsifiable religion because it's based on the evidence of the resurrection. All you have to do is prove that Jesus didn't rise from the dead and you disprove Christianity. Scripture even says it. First Corinthians 15 says this, and if Christ has not, not been raised, then all of our preaching is useless and your faith is useless. If he didn't come out of that grave, then this is all a big joke. Consider the resurrection. And there's a fascinating study. There's actually more facts that I'm going to show you, but the most basic facts are

known as the six minimal facts surrounding the resurrection. And I want to explain to you what you're about to experience. The six minimal facts, for a fact to be honest, the six minimal facts for a fact to be this list, the author, Gary Habernos, compared about 3,400 different sources. So you've got Christian sources and you've got secular sources. Over 3,000 sources. And for one of the facts to be on this list, they had to be on 90% of the sources and most of them were on 100% or very, very close to that number. The six minimal facts around the resurrection. Number one, it is not disputed by hardly anybody alive today, that Jesus was a real person and he died by a Roman crucifixion. You don't have to be a follower of Jesus to know the dude walked around, he taught,

people followed him, he hung on a Roman cross, and he died. Witnesses, that's one of the minimal facts. Number two, Jesus' followers experienced what they believed to be actual appearances of a resurrected Jesus. Whether you believe he rose again, there is enough evidence, secular, and otherwise, that the followers completely believed that he was dead and he wasn't dead anymore. Number three, because of those experiences, these followers were willing to die for their faith in Jesus' resurrection. We could stop there. Judas betrayed Jesus. There was 11 left. Of those 11, John, they tried to kill when he wouldn't deny his faith. Dipped him in boiling oil, but he was like the energizer bunny and the weeble wobble that

they couldn't keep down. They just came back up. They couldn't kill him. And so they simply exiled him to the Isle of Patmos. The other 10 remaining disciples would not deny their faith that Jesus had risen from the dead. And all the other ones were tortured and killed for their faith because they believe they saw the resurrected Christ. Number four, the Christian church started right after Jesus was killed,

right where Jesus was killed, in the city of Jerusalem. And here we are, 2,000 years later, and the Church of Jesus Christ has spread around the world and continues to meet and continues to thrive. Number five, James, the biological brother of Jesus, was not a Christian, and was not a Christian, until after he believed he saw the resurrected Christ. And number six, Paul, who wrote the majority of the New Testament, went from killing Christians to starting churches because he had an experience with who he believed was the risen Christ. Look at the creation.

Look at the divine design. and look at the resurrection. And if you ask me, Craig, why do you believe Christianity is true? And I would tell you from the bottom of my heart, it's not just because the Bible says so. And it's not just because of the scientific facts. I believe that Jesus died and rose from the dead

because he changed me. He changed me. it is embarrassing to tell you how lost and broken and ungodly I was. Lied so much I couldn't figure out what the truth was. You ever done lied so many times? You don't know it's true? Couldn't keep up with my lies. Hurt just about anybody that got close enough to me to spend much time.

Stole a lot. So much so I got arrested for it. Betrayed very close friends. hurt person after person, and hated myself, unable to stop with my addictions, and couldn't stop. And tried everything to be better. And I got a hold of a little Bible and started reading the Gospels about Jesus. That you could be saved not by your good works,

not by religious efforts, not by trying harder, but by grace through faith, not just knowledge, not just study, not just research, but faith that a God would love us so much that he would become one of us, that he would send his son to die in our place, and that his followers were so convinced that he was risen that they would die. If a man predicts his own death and resurrection dies and pulls it off, I think I'm gonna follow him. Because that man, Jesus, didn't come for the righteous,

but he came for people like me, the sinners. He didn't come for the healthy, listen. He came for people like you and like me. He came for the sick. Why do I believe? I believe because Jesus changed me. And you may say, okay, I'm interested, but I still have some doubts.

Well, welcome to the party. Right? I mean, I still got unanswered questions I live with every day. And we all will for the rest of our lives. But what do we know? We know that your doubts don't disqualify your faith. We know that doubts and questions,

they can actually be a part of a growing faith. And that once you put your faith in Jesus, just try. If you're there, reveal yourself. Show me. Just pray. And see what happens. And watch.

If you don't get overcome, with this supernatural love that loves you in spite of what you've done, in spite of who you are, and suddenly it changes you and you start becoming more loving too. And then suddenly the world looks on and they're not going like, we don't know this by the facts or by the textbooks or by your brilliant defense of the gospel, but we seem to like your love.

And ultimately, that's how they'll know that we're disciples. Now, by the way we preach, not by how good our defense always is, but they will see a love that goes beyond anything you've ever seen in this world. And that love comes from heaven. Why do I believe? I believe because Jesus changed my life. Keep asking a question.

Keep being smart. Keep thinking. But at some point, you've got to put your face somewhere. I put my faith in Jesus. Father, we ask today that by the power of your spirit, you would do a work in ways that we cannot do. As you're praying today, watching online or at different churches around our country, around the world,

I wonder how many of you would say, I am a follower of Jesus, but I would like to grow even deeper in my faith. Would you lift up your hands right now? I want to grow even deeper in my faith. God, I thank you for a church full of people that are not content just to be on the sidelines. Never going to satisfy by being lukewarm,

but God would use the gifts that you've given them, God, we thank you that we grow in our faith by hearing the Word of God. May we be people of the church, people in the house, hearing your word. God, may we be in life groups, breaking bread together, fellowshiping around your word. God, may we use your gifts and know that the greatest are those who serve as we pursue you, God. We know we'll have questions, but build our faith, build our faith that you do the impossible. Build our faith, God, that you hear our prayers, God. Build our faith that when we cry out to you, you draw near to us. God, build our faith today. Build our faith in your goodness and your presence. Build our faith, God. As you keep praying today, there are those of you,

there's something odd may be happening in your life. Let me try to tell you what it might be. You could have been like me, you kind of grew up in and around the church, but you recognize you never really knew God or had a personal relationship with him. And you're aware of that right now and there's something drawing you. Or you may be a person, you're not a church person at all, and you're something is happening on the inside that's luring you, pulling you toward the things of God. You may still have some questions, but you're, you're being drawn to God. What is that? Let me just tell you what it is. That is the Holy Spirit. That's the third person of the Trinity. God, the Father, God, the Son, Jesus, and God the Holy Spirit. And the Holy Spirit, guess what?

He draws people toward God. It's like a mystery. You don't know how, you don't know why, but the Holy Spirit's working today. And at some point you're going to recognize, you've done wrong. The Bible calls it sin. We've all sinned. We've all sinned. And our sin separates us from God, but here's how good God is. He sent Jesus, his only son who was without sin. So he could be the perfect sacrifice. He died in our place. And we believe by faith that God raised him from the dead. The sacrifice was perfect. The penalty has been paid for your sins. The way you're made right with God is not by religious efforts, not by being better, but by putting your faith in Jesus. You're saved by grace through faith today. At all of our churches, are those of you watching online. Some of you

recognize, oh my gosh, I really don't know God. What are we going to do? We're going to step away from our sin. We're going to step away from our old life. We're going to take one step toward Jesus and say, I believe you're the son of God. And because you died and because you rose again, I want to follow you. I give my life to you. When you pray, a very simple prayer in that zone, God will forgive you. You become new. Your sins are removed. The Holy Spirit takes place in you,

and now you're born into the family of God. Wherever you're watching from today, you're watching online, you're watching a campus. You say, I need that. I want his grace. I want his forgiveness. I don't know how, I don't know why I'm being drawn. At some point, it's a step of faith.

You take the step of faith. I believe who you are. Today, by faith, I give my life to you. Today, by faith, I ask you to forgive my sins. I know I can't get there on my own. I surrender my life. Jesus, by faith, I give my life to you. That's your prayer.

Lift your hands high right now. All over the place. them up. Come on somebody. Thank God for lift them up right over here. Praise God for you. As we've got people today at all of our churches saying yes to Jesus. Oh, you can type it in the comment section. I'm choosing to follow Jesus. Just type it in the comments. I'm choosing to follow Jesus and we're going to pray wherever you are. Pray aloud for Heavenly Father. Would you forgive my sins? Jesus save me. Make me brand new. Fill me with your spirit so I can walk with you and serve you and follow you. By faith, I give you my life. Thank you for forgiveness.

Thank you for new life. In Jesus name I pray. Can somebody celebrate big. Welcome those born into God's family today.