The purpose of this paper is to identify and assess five elements of a Christian philosophy of science implied in the verse "worship Him who made the heaven and the earth, and sea, and the springs of waters" (Rev 14:7) which is so central to mainline Seventh-day Adventist theology.
Is there a possibility that the matter of faith and faith in matter can have some talking point? What are the aims of Christianity and those of science? Can we conceive of common goals for both? Where lies the final answer to human queries?
Science/religion issues are important because they have to do with ultimate realities, such as whether a supreme being is above the creation and can supernaturally intervene with events such as miracles, an Incarnation, a resurrection, a new birth, or an Advent.
I don't have much faith in logic as a solution to the world's problems, but I do want a logical faith. I don't demand that my faith correspond to "scientific logic" as presently conceived, but I do expect it to be consistent throughout.
As biological knowledge has increased, the argument for design has been revived and expressed in more sophisticated ways, such as the argument from “irreducible complexity.” The existence of certain features that could not survive in intermediate stages is evidence of a Designer. It is also evidence of a Designer God who created by special intervention—Creation—and not through a continuous process such as evolution.
The doctrine of Creation occupies an important place in Seventh-day Adventist message and mission. The reason for this is twofold: First, Adventists believe in a fiat Creation; and second, they are committed to the proclamation of the three angels’ message of Revelation 14.
Long ago, the Psalmist recorded a gem of inspiration: "The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands." Nature calls us to recognize its Creator and nature invites us to probe its mysteries. Within the context of that call and that invitation, there need be no conflict between biblical Christianity and science, between faith and reason. A scientist can indeed be a Christian.
Now is the time to tremble at the words of the God of Israel, particularly in the creation and flood narratives, and not to tremble at the words of Darwin, whose theory is in crisis.
Survival on earth seems bleak as the environmental crisis worsens. Amidst the destruction, how should Adventists respond to the environmental crisis? Creation and incarnation dominate Christian understandings of ecology. However, I think that a third theological theme, the Resurrection, best illuminates the relationship of Christianity to the environment.
A recent survey shows about 9% of the population accepts the viewpoint of naturalistic evolution, about 40% accept divinely guided evolution, about 47% accept a recent creation of humans, and about 4% registered they don't know. These results are nearly the same as a similar survey taken three years before. Published in Origins v. 18, n. 2.
In this essay I have attempted to outline the world as it is, reality as it is perceived through the lens of science and scripture in terms of the concepts of order and chance.
Most punctuated equilibria theories explain why proposed exceptions tend to be in the Upper Cenozoic. Punq Eq Creation Style, however, not only predicts the stasis and abrupt appearance of species, but it also predicts that exceptions will be found in the Upper Cenozoic among forminifera. Because of its greater explanatory power, PECS teoyr is superior to other PE theories. Published in Origins v. 16, n. 1.
Some prominent scientists had educators have declared that creation has failed the test of science and has to be discarded. However, ideas that have been discarded are sometimes found to be true. Creation should not be discarded, because there is no better explanation for design in nature and the origin of life. Published in Origins v. 12, n. 1.
Life is a property of precisely ordered biopolymers maintaining a non-equilibrium state. The ordering requires information, and this, with the chemical state of non-equilibrium, are conditions not available to natural processes, and point to the existence of a Creator. Published in Origins v. 11, n. 2.
The way we perceive God, the way we look at the world around us, and the way we understand our own selves all have their roots in the opening verse of Scripture: "In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth."
The first three chapters of Genesis are of crucial importance for both the origins of our world and for determining relationships between man and woman. Without these chapters, any understanding of the mutuality between man and woman is impaired and one-sided.
A general theory of creation is proposed, consisting of ten postulates derived from divine revelation and informed by observations of the created world. Published in Origins v. 1, n. 1.
