Skeptics who deny Christianity criticize us for relying on faith to know things that happened long ago. However, all people of all religious and nonreligious persuasions rely on faith more than they might readily admit. There are many things that are known by faith. Almost every event in history is known by faith. 'Faith' is a word that doesn't apply exclusively to religion. We Know that President Abraham Lincoln was shot in Ford's Theater on April 14, 1865. How do we know it? We know it by faith in the integrity of the eyewitnesses who were present at the time and place of the shooting and we know it by faith in the historians who wrote down the information received from the eyewitnesses. History is known by faith. It involves faith in the integrity and accuracy of the eyewitnesses and historians.
The phrase "knowing by faith" at first glance seems to be a phrase loaded with exclusively religious connotation but "faith" is a word that simply means "to trust in the ability of another." We trust in the ability of historians to write an accurate history of Abraham Lincoln. We can't know history by science. We can't conduct an experiment to find out where Lincoln died and who shot him. We can't mix all that up in a test tube.
Natural history is a branch of history and as history it involves making sense of non-repeatable events that occurred in the distant past. As with any branch of history, we know it largely by faith. Many have faith in Charles Darwin who offered a theory that seemed to explain the facts. Darwin was no eyewitness to early earth history yet many latched on to his theory.
There is, of course, forensic evidence (such as fossils) and these can be examined by experimental science and inferences can be made. We can exhume the body of Abraham Lincoln and examine his skull and conclude that he was shot in the head but that sheds no light on who shot him or whether or not it was at Ford's Theater. We must have faith in the integrity of historians to accurately fill in the details.
The theory of evolution was offered as an explanation for the outworking of natural history. Evolutionists claimed that genetic mutations were the means of evolutionary progress and even did experiments involving irradiating fruit flies to try to cause the flies to mutate into new kinds of insects. Advances in genetics were no help to evolution. The fruit fly experiments failed miserably, yielding only dead or deformed flies.
As paleontology progressed it became more and more evident that there were gaps in the fossil record that were not being filled by discovery of transitional fossils. Even archaeopteryx, the supposed transition between lizard and bird, is now regarded as a fully feathered, perching bird.
The book of Genesis also gives a record of natural history. There was an eyewitness to the natural history of early earth. God is that eyewitness and we trust in Him, that is to say we have faith in Him, to give an accurate record of what actually occurred on the early earth.
Archaeology, which examines various types of forensic evidence, also confirms the accuracy of the Bible.
Advances in science resulting in better study of the fossils is bringing forth embarrassing findings that refute evolution. CAT scans of fossil skulls reveal that the skulls put forward by evolutionists as evidence of human evolution are not skulls of apemen but are either fully ape or fully human just as was maintained all along by creationists. Advances in microbiology prove the first cell is far too complex to have formed by chance. Advances in genetics prove that mutations don't add new specified information to the DNA that could result in new organs on plants or animals.
History, including natural history, is a 'soft' science that can't be experimented on. Any theory of history can't be directly proven or falsified. A hard science like chemistry involves repeatable experiments occurring in the present and any theory of chemistry can be directly tested and proven or falsified. History is known by faith and chemistry is known by science. Experimental science only touches evolution in an incidental way and involves examining fossils or understanding genetic mutations, etc. Experimental science, when it touches on evolution, strongly tends to disprove evolution.
The evolutionists for the most part refuse to admit it but they are being beaten from pillar to post by scientific evidence. Just as doctors for decades refused to conform to the findings of Louis Pasteur so the evolutionists of today resist the mountain of evidence refuting their theory. I have confidence that even as nineteenth century doctors eventually came around so also will today's evolutionists eventually abandon evolution. There will be an ultimate triumph of creationism!
The Bible is scientifically accurate! Find the evidence at www.icr.org.
Steps to salvation:
Jesus said "Ye must be born again." (John 3:7)
- Believe that God created you and loves you and sent the Messiah (Messiah is Hebrew for Christ) to redeem you.
- Believe that Jesus the Messiah came in fulfillment of over 300 Bible prophecies to die for you to take upon Himself the penalty for your sins. (Isaiah 53:5-6, John 6:29, Romans 4:5, First Peter 3:18)
- Turn from sin and call on the name of Jesus to receive forgiveness. (Romans 10:13)
- Receive Jesus as Savior and experience the new birth. (John 1:12, Acts 2:38)
- Follow Him as Lord. (John 14:21)
"Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved" (Romans 10:13)
To receive the salvation that Jesus purchased for us at the terrible cost of His suffering and death on our behalf I invite you to pray this simple prayer:
"Dear heavenly Father, I thank you for sending Jesus, the promised Messiah, to die for my sins. I admit that I am a sinner and I ask for your forgiveness on the basis of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. I ask you to fill me with your Holy Spirit to empower me to serve you under the Lordship of Jesus Christ, Amen."
If you prayed that prayer in the humble sincerity of your heart then you have received everlasting life, which includes power to live right in this life and entrance into heaven in the afterlife!
Bill Nugent, Overcomer Ministries of West Harrison, New York, USA
(C) 2009 William P. Nugent, permission granted to email or republish if credit given
Read Bill Nugent's award winning Christian book, Lawful or Legalistic: How New Testament Believers Must Understand Old Testament Laws. For more information and to order click here.
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DEFENDING THE FAITH
APOLOGETIC ARTICLES
Bill Nugent currently writes a series of articles called "Defending the Faith" which, as the title suggests, defend the Christian faith from the many attacks leveled against it in our postmodern world.
The articles deal with such topics as evolution, UFOs, cults, modern/postmodern philosophy, liberal theology and popular culture. At the end of each article is an invitation to receive Christ as Savior and Lord. These articles are sent out over the Internet to several opt-in email lists. People who receive these articles are encouraged to resend them to their own lists and in this way reach their own unsaved relatives and friends with the Gospel.
All Defending the Faith articles are © 2009 William P. Nugent, permission is granted to email or republish if credit given.
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