Insight January 2015

insight the newsletter of Solas Centre for Public Christianity

January 2015

“What’s so great about Christianity?” asked best-selling author Dinesh D’Souza. Among many answers to that question is: it gave us science.

Many people have been led into the belief that there is an inherent contradiction between science and Christianity, or between science and faith; Solas believes that science depends on a biblical view of the world for its very existence and that it is such a worldview that presents the only secure foundation for scientific enterprise.

© 2015 Solas - Centre for Public Christianity, The Solas Centre, Swan House, 2 Explorer Road, Dundee DD2 1DX. Phone: +44(0)1382 525021, Email: [email protected]

Focus Area 3: SCIENCE

Written byDavid J. Randall,Solas Chairman

to fear it, as if afraid that science does, or will, render faith irrelevant or false. Christians believe that all truth is God’s truth and science, properly understood, is the investigation of the realities of things around us. It is – or should be – an essentially neutral thing with no vested interests, no hidden agendas.

After all, D’Souza argues, science depends on “the presumption, quite impossible to prove, that the universe is rational… Without the ‘irrational’ belief that we live in an ordered universe, modern science is impossible.” (pp.92f) As a matter of historical fact, many leading scientists have been Christian believers, including such well-known names as Copernicus, Kepler, Boyle, Newton, Harvey, Faraday, Herschel, Joule, Kelvin, Ohm, Ampere, Pasteur and Maxwell. Such people worked with the

underlying assumption that the universe is rational and they saw their science as a God-honouring look at His handiwork. Lord Kelvin went so far as to say, “If you think strongly enough, you will be forced by science to believe in God.”

In the last issue, we argued that people who pursue the liberal agenda of contemporary secularism undermine the very freedoms that enable them to have their say; similarly, scientists who reject belief in the Creator cut away the ground from underneath their own science.

The conflict is not between faith and science but between faith and scientism. Science as such is neutral and it is a completely unnecessary thing for believers

Image: DNA Lab - University of Michigan School of Natural Resources & Environment

“If you think strongly enough, you will be forced by science to believe in God.”

Image: Galaxies Collide in the Antennae Galaxies, NASA

SOLAS FOCUS AREAS:Church &Theology

Philosophy & Religion

Science

Arts & Culture

Politics & Current Affairs

Family & Society

Insight - Newsletter of Solas CPC January 2015

The problem is with scientism, by which is meant an outlook (sometimes known as “nothing-buttery”) that reduces everything to the level of the observable. It is more of a philosophical presupposition, while Christianity takes the view that there are more things in heaven and earth than are dreamt of in such a materialistic reductionism. Science and faith are not contradictory but complementary.

A simple sketch once made the point in a Scout Gang Show. Different people came on to the stage representing characters created by Charles Dickens – Oliver Twist, David Copperfield, Scrooge, etc. Later another character appeared who was not recognised by the others. When they asked who he was, he answered, “The name’s Charles Dickens; I created all of you.” The others derided him and rejected him, and the sketch ended with “Dickens” saying, “Fancy; all these people and they don’t recognise the one who created them.” The plots of David Copperfield and all the rest are internally understandable, but they would not exist without Dickens.

Science is very good at describing and analysing things, but we need to recognise the limitations of science, as Stephen Hawking famously did at the end of his Brief History of Time: “What is it that breathes fire into the equation and makes a universe for them to describe? … Why does the universe go to all the bother of existing?”

The Bible gives the explanation. That which science investigates is God’s creation, and it is appropriate to approach Him with an attitude of awe and faith. No-one would study one of Dickens’ novels by means of test tubes and Bunsen burners. The scientific approach to anything is the one that uses the appropriate means. As one studies grammar in terms of grammatical principles and chemistry with laboratory apparatus, so the appropriate – and in that sense scientific – way to approach God is along the lines of godly method – through faith, prayer and reverence.

In the words of Joseph Addison’s hymn about created things:

In reason’s ear they all rejoice and utter forth a glorious voice, For ever singing as they shine, ‘The hand that made us is divine’.

In October it was a joy for me to speak at the London Evangelists Conference in All Souls. This in effect acted as a book launch for Engaging with Atheists (you can get this at all good book stores and from Solas – it is also on Kindle). It was wonderful to be flying home from a conference speaking about evangelism and find myself sitting next to a businessman who asked lots of questions about the book – which was on my lap. The result was that he came to the church where I was preaching in Edinburgh on Sunday. God’s work continues in God’s way.

In October I also had two good meetings in Glasgow, firstly at Cartsbridge Evangelical Church and then at a Glasgow men’s curry night. At the beginning of November I was then speaking at a ministry conference in Italy – there was a lot of interest in the kind of work we are doing in Solas and I hope Solas Italy won’t be too far away!

November, of course, was a busy month with Solas Connect and the Solas Day. Again, I am sorry to be boring, but they were very encouraging. Connect especially seems to have had an impact on those who attended. Thanks to Tom and the team for organising it so well.

Director’s Report

“Science is very good at describing and analysing things, but we need to recognise the limitations of science...”


I have continued to do a lot of writing, blogs, a weekly article for Christian Today website, and material for the Free Church. Speaking of which, I have been invited to be Moderator of the Free Church at the 2015 General Assembly.

Finally, let me mention two new developments. One has happened and the other we hope will happen next year. Quantum of Solas is our weekly podcast that looks at events in the news from a Christian perspective. We have been getting good feedback: “Heartening and challenging episode this week, keep up the good work!!!” “Love the Quantum of Solas! God bless brother, greeting from The Netherlands bro!” The podcast is very well produced, short and mixed with good and liberal sound bites, by our own Al Smith. Please subscribe and encourage others to do so - it’s a great evangelistic tool as well.

And then we are planning to start a Solas magazine. Not a magazine about Solas or church news but more a magazine with news from throughout Europe. Think Spectator, Time or The Economist, with a Christian perspective! Please pray for this and plan to subscribe. Any ideas and thoughts are welcome. Many thanks for all your support and prayers.

The title of this year’s conference may have suggested an earnest forum about the evils of consumerism and the virtues of recycling. The subtitle ‘Is Christianity past its sell-by date?’ gave us more of a clue, but in fact the main talks were on the three concepts that inspired the ideology of the French Revolution: Liberty, Equality and Fraternity.

The first talk on ‘Equality’ was by David Robertson, Minister of St Peter’s Free Church, Dundee, who gave us a tour of modern inequalities and explained that equality is not a natural idea: it cannot derive from a Darwinian worldview. The concept of equality has its source in four aspects of our identity as creatures of God: 1. We are equally made in the image of God; 2. We are equally sinners; 3. We are equally in a fallen world; 4. We are equal on judgement day before our Maker. Human rights are not self-evident but derive from our equality under God.

So the church needs to set the agenda for radical equality, and refute the myth peddled by many secularists that Christians are anti-equality. As society moves towards more and more state control that may threaten our freedom to preach the gospel, there needs to be a return to a Christian secularism, i.e. an appropriate separation of church and state. Solas would like to set up a Christian college for high-schoolers in each Scottish city that would run in the evenings and at weekends to help counteract the effect of current education, permeated as it now is by pagan worldviews.

The second talk on ‘Liberty’ was by Nola Leach, Chief Executive of CARE (Christian Action, Research & Education). She cited the powerful image in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe of the snow of Narnia’s long winter melting when Aslan is on the move. She mentioned the comment by Dominic Grieve, the Attorney General, noting the tendency to push religion out of the public arena, and an article in the New Statesman lamenting the removal of Christianity from our culture. Secularism is destroying the very faith that brought about free societies,

Report on 2014 Solas conference - ‘Throw-away Society’

David Robertson speaking on Equality

Nola Reach (CARE), speaking on Liberty


while the church was asleep during the 1960s when the foundations of our Judeo-Christian heritage were being undermined. We need to fight for our freedoms, mindful of the description in the book of Proverbs of a personified Wisdom calling aloud in the public square.

Nola described how a hierarchy of human rights is emerging, with religious rights being trumped by other rights, and she listed various recent legal cases that exemplify this tendency. An evangelistic humanism now challenges God as Creator, His design for the family, and the sanctity of life. Our society is steeped in the worship of self and the belief that science trumps all. Nola urged us to play our part in exercising the creation mandate of stewardship of the earth by speaking the truth into our culture and involving ourselves with the upcoming General Election; see the website engage15.org.uk. She also introduced us to Cameron Dobbie, the new CARE worker for Scotland, who told us about his role in the organisation.

Our third talk, on ‘Fraternity’, was by Sinclair Ferguson, Associate Minister at St Peter’s Free Church, Dundee. He explained that, whereas liberty and equality were human rights that could be artificially produced, fraternity had disappeared quickly from the trio because the key to it – one human family under the fatherhood of God – had been thrown away. For example, the Named Person Act tries to produce by law what has been rejected by grace, and can only come about through regeneration. Like many moral values, fraternity can only flourish in the soil of biblical truth. The four acts of the biblical story – creation, fall, regeneration and consummation – all involve fraternity, a concept that is attacked by the individualism of the Enlightenment heritage with its emphasis on ‘one-ism’ rather

than diversity. Adam and Eve are made as God’s image, a creative fraternity that is mandated to extend the dominion over the garden to the whole of the natural world. Thus the serpent attacks the unity of the family which is the apex of God’s creation. Sinclair urged us to love the church as the family of God and the bond of true brotherhood.

The conference closed with a Question and Answer session and panel discussion by the three speakers who were joined by Dave Landrum, the Evangelical Alliance’s Director of Advocacy.

Other features of the conference included times of worship, an art exhibition by members of Morphe, information about the Edinburgh Theological Seminary, the Annual General Meeting of Solas, and a presentation by My Hope UK of a message from Billy Graham titled ‘The Cross’ that is available on a free DVD.

Like the other Solas conferences, this one has been recorded and will be available for purchase online and on DVD in the New Year. Please contact the Solas office for more details.

Alison Carter

Sinclair Ferguson speaking on Fraternity


European Director’s Report

Nearly thirty participants from ten different nations gathered at the Solas facilities in Dundee in the third week of November for the second annual training week on Church-Based Persuasive Evangelism. What a wonderful week it was, beginning each morning with solid Bible teaching from Sinclair Ferguson.

Where does one really begin with evangelism? What is our point of contact? “Persuasive”? What does that mean, really? And how does one be or become persuasive? “Ten different nations”? But aren’t the cultural contexts different in each nation? And isn’t evangelism to be contextualised? Is persuasive evangelism a one-size-fits-all? If so, that sounds like an oxymoron. So how does it work in reality? It would seem that “The Problem of Evil” (or pain or suffering) might require different thinking in the UK than in Ukraine. How did you deal with those issues, while persuasively evangelising?

All of those questions and many, many more were addressed during our four days together. In truth there is no one-size-fits-all persuasive evangelism programme. That’s not what Solas is about – delivering yet another evangelism programme. Solas is about training and helping churches and church leadership absorb evangelism as part of their DNA. That is, evangelism is not a programme; it is what the church does because it is the church. Evangelism is to be an integral part of the lifestyle of a church, wherever the church may be during the week.

That is not an easy task, with the difficulty compounded if the church is content to remain in “maintenance mode”. Nevertheless, because of Solas’ reason for existence, we tackled some of the issues head on, with encouragingly good feedback. Just recently I received the following comments from various ones who had participated in the week-long training, who have since returned to their respective countries:

• Since being back home, we have had three debriefs of Solas-Connect, plus I talked to each guy personally. All felt very positive about the training. Of our three debriefs, our main one was a meeting of those who attended the training to talk about “where do we go from here?” As a result, one of the participants is committed to planning out a year’s worth of Quench-type Events.

• Once again, many thanks for all that you have done to bless us in Dundee. I truly appreciate it, and feel gratitude. I was personally very much encouraged and received some great ideas for future ministry.

• We just wanted to drop you a line to thank you for all your help and your invaluable input to the Connect event.

We really valued the experience. We would like to talk through with you the possibility of a Solas Intern being placed here.

• The training has helped me to engage with people without being direct or “in your face” with the friends around me.

• I hope we’ll initiate public venues for evangelism, using the helpful concepts learned from the training week, employing the principles learned.

• I am inspired. I am encouraged. I am ready. I got so many things and ideas of what to do, how to minister and what not to do. This training will go a long way with me.

• You reminded me that while reading more books and sharpening my skills is important, God’s will prevails over my mistakes and fumbling.

• I found it a huge encouragement. It gave me hope and challenges.

A long four days of training, fellowship and discussion, but as you can see from only a handful of the comments, well worth it. We’re already gearing up for Solas-Connect 2015.

In a more “specialised” vein, we continue very pleased and encouraged with our first “on-site” Solas intern, Phil Dickson. Phil has made a magnificent contribution to the Solas team and ministry. He has fitted in seamlessly, and almost from the very first day it seemed his plate was full – and it continues full.

The good success and robust possibilities with the Solas/St. Peters internship, prompted us to expand our vision and connect with churches beyond Dundee and beyond Scotland. As a result, we have established a good relationship with a strong church in Slovakia which wants to have on board a brother dedicated to church-based evangelism in his city. The partnership is confirmed and the internship awaits only the final details before it begins

the first of the year. There is also the strong possibility of an internship in the making in yet another country. At this moment, we are only discussing the possibilities; quite enthusiastically however!

There are many good things going on in Solas at the moment, two of which – Connect training and Internships – I’ve mentioned above. In subsequent Newsletters I hope to touch on rewriting an apologetics/evangelism training program that an online ministry has asked us to do; further developments with internships both in Scotland and across Europe; expanding Connect training opportunities into Europe; moving forward with producing “Exploring The God Question” in Spanish. Encouragingly, as one would say: “Watch this space…!”

Dr. Tom Courtney, Solas European Director

Phil Dickson, Solas intern

Tom Courtney with Ivan Fink, Solas intern from Slovakia


2014 Conference DVD set

If you are interested in purchasing the DVD set from the 2014 conference, please click the link below.

Alternatively, you can fill out the DVD Order Form and send to the Solas office

CLICK HERE TO ORDER

COMING SOON

SOLAS PAPER No. 4“THINKING FAMILIES”by Educational consultant MEgan PattErson

http://www.solas-cpc.org/wp/product/2014-conference-dvd-set/

Insight January 2015

Documents

Transcript of Insight January 2015