Welcome to ECB's weekly sermon podcast. ECB is
an international church in Bangkok, Thailand,
with dozens of nationalities worshiping together.
We invite you to connect with us from wherever
you are through our website ecb .asia or our
mobile app. And now we pray that you are blessed
by this week's sermon. This series of walking
with God was a reflection. on different topics
from our apologetics trip to England. And as
you know, in the previous studies, we have talked
about several of the things that we did. And
we have reflected in lots of different topics.
Some of you wanted to go to the trip. You couldn't
do it. And some of you have asked me, can you
please teach us about it? I want to learn. Can
you show me pictures? I want to see. So that's
why we have spent this month going through some
of the key elements of what we learned. So the
idea is an environment in which we are reflecting
together. Almost as if we were drinking some
coffee together and talking, reflecting. And
in that sense, this series is a little bit different
from others. And what I want you to get from
this study is to beware of myths. Myths, as the
Bible talks about myths, is the idea of false
beliefs. I remember that when I was a kid, I
heard a joke that I find so funny. And it was
about this scientist that was studying fleas.
So he decides to study fleas' behavior, and he
places this little flea on a little glass container,
and he says to the little flea, Flea, jump! And
the flea jumps, boing. So he writes in his notebook,
when the flea is told to jump, it jumps. And
then he decides to remove two legs, ping, ping.
And now he says to the flea, flea, jump. And
the flea goes, boing. So he's surprised and he
writes, you know, when the flea has only four
legs and is told to jump, it jumps. And then
he decides, to try again and goes, ping, ping.
And now he says, flea, jump. And the flea, very
weakly goes, ping. Just a little jump. He's surprised.
So he writes, when the flea has only two legs
and is told to jump, it jumps. And then he gets
curious. So he decides to do it one more time.
It goes, ping, ping. And says, little flea, jump.
And nothing happens. And now he's more curious.
So he says a little bit louder, little flea,
jump! And nothing happens. It doesn't move. So
he decides to say one more time, but very loud,
little flea, jump! And nothing happens. So he
writes conclusion. When the flea has no legs,
it becomes deaf. Told you it was funny. That's
a myth. It sounds like it's true, but it's not.
It could be based on good observations, but wrong
conclusions. And it's funny when it's a joke,
but it's not funny when we build our lives on
a myth, cultures on a myth. And what is interesting
is that the Apostle Paul talks about this very
clearly to us, followers of Jesus. He says to
Timothy, very specifically about this topic.
Now, Timothy was his apprentice. We met him a
couple of studies ago. Timothy was a young believer
that worked with the Apostle Paul. He went into
his third missionary trip together. And then
the Apostle Paul, when he returns to Jerusalem,
enters the last stage of his ministry. He's going
to go from Jerusalem now. He's going to go in
prison. Eventually, he's going to end up in Rome.
And when he is in prison, the Apostle Paul will
write two letters to Timothy. That's how close
they were. And we have those two letters in our
Bible, New Testament, 1 and 2 Timothy. And if
you go to chapter 4 of both letters, what is
interesting is that the same chapters, chapter
4, has the same warning. In 1 Timothy chapter
4, he tells Paul, he tells Timothy, the Spirit
clearly says that in later times, some will abandon
the faith. Why? Some followers of Jesus will
abandon the faith. Why? Well, they will follow
deceiving spirits and things taught by demons.
Oh, he says, there's going to be spiritual oppression
against the Christian faith because there's going
to be false teaching that is going to originate
in darkness. And that false teaching is going
to deceive some followers of Jesus. Such teachings
come through hypocritical liars whose consciences
have been seared as with a hot iron. There's
going to be people Who are going to be used,
not by God, but by the enemy to introduce deceptions.
And those deceptions are going to cause some
people to abandon the faith. That's the warning
in the first letter. Very clear. False beliefs
will infiltrate and you have to be aware of it.
But in the second letter to Timothy, also chapter
4. He says it a little bit more extensively,
and this is what he says. In the presence of
God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living
and the dead, and in view of his appearing and
his kingdom, I give you this charge. Oh, wow,
that sounds pretty heavy. It's like you open
the letter, you know, it's the last letter he
will ever write. And now you open it and it says,
Timothy, this is not a greeting of. Hey, Timothy,
how are you doing? It's like, Timothy, in the
presence of God and Christ Jesus, who will judge
the living and the dead, and in view of his appearing
and his kingdom, I'm going to give you this charge.
It's like, oh, I better sit down and start reading
this thing, because this is not just a funny,
how are you doing text. What is it? Timothy,
preach the word. Be prepared in season and out
of season. Correct, rebuke, encourage, but do
it with great patience and very careful instruction.
And I'm going to tell you why. For the time will
come when people will not put up with sound doctrine.
Instead, to suit their own desires, They will
gather around them a great number of teachers
to say what their itching ears want to hear.
Let me read that section again. Timothy, you
have to teach the word and do it carefully because
there's going to be a time. And the time is coming.
When people will not put up with sound doctrine,
instead to suit their own desires, they will
gather around them a great number of teachers
to say what their itching ears want to hear.
And they will turn their ears away from truth
and turn aside to what? Myths. The time is coming
when myths, not truth, are going to become so
popular because lots of people are going to believe
it and lots of teachers are going to be teaching
it. And not only will it be popular, but it will
be persuasive because all these teachers and
all these people believe it, so it must be. True,
maybe the flea is deaf. And because it's popular,
persuasive, people will start feeling the pressure
to believe it. Because if I'm surrounded by people
who believe it and I'm the only one that doesn't,
that's hard. But Timothy, Beware of myths. The
time is going to come where people won't care
about truth anymore. But you, you be different,
Timothy. You keep your head in all situations.
Just because it's popular doesn't make it true.
You keep your head in all situations. And if
it becomes hard because you feel like a fish
swimming against the current, endure hardship.
Do the work of an evangelist. Discharge all the
duties of your ministry. Timothy, you stand for
truth. And sometimes it's going to be hard. But
truth matters. As for me, I'm already being poured
out like a drink offering. I'm at the end. You're
at the beginning. The time for my departure is
near. I can feel it. I have fought the good fight.
I have finished the race and I have kept the
faith. But remember, some won't keep it because
of the myths. Now there's in store for me the
crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous
judge, will award to me on that day and only
to me. but also to all who have longed for his
appearing. And this is the section where the
Apostle Paul repeats the concern and the warning,
beware of myths. Myths in this context is this
Greek word mythoi, which is a false belief. It's
a false worldview. It's a false structure of
belief system that is faulty. And we followers
of Jesus are called by the apostle himself to
be aware of that because at some moments you
will be in that journey of discerning truth from
myth. And that journey is not always clear and
sometimes it is wrestling. And the sad thing
is that it will cause many people to be deceived.
Many people to walk away from the faith and many
people will be then harmed because of it. And
I have gotten to meet some of those people that
walked away from the faith only to come back
later to the Lord saying, I was duped. I was
deceived. Now I really know the truth. And it's
hard because that time of being away from the
Lord, away from the faith, could be years. Could
be decades. Beware of myths. And just to give
you a glimpse of some of this, see the contrast
that the Apostle Paul talked about to Timothy.
Truth is... Given by the Holy Spirit because
the Holy Spirit is the spirit of truth. And he's
the one that inspired the scriptures. So if you're
walking with God, you're walking in close intimacy
with the Holy Spirit. Therefore, truth will matter
to you. And sound doctrine will matter. The teaching
has to be biblical. It has to be right. I'm not
just going to give it away because it sounds
right. It's a biblical. Sound doctrine matters.
And that will have the effect of setting you
free because truth sets us free. And it will
strengthen your walk of faith, your walk with
God. But myth, on the other hand, it does not
come from the Holy Spirit. It comes from deceiving
spirits, says Paul. It's a false narrative. It's
a myth. It's not really true. It may sound true,
but it's not. And it's going to deceive people.
And you will know the outcome. It's not from
God because he will take you away from the Lord,
not closer to him. Beware of myths. And from
the beginning, from the time of the Apostle Paul,
even to the time of our time, two areas that
are constantly under this space of different
ideologies trying to compete with biblical narrative.
It's the idea of origins and the idea of identity.
It was true for the Apostle Paul as it is for
us. Let me give you just a glimpse of this in
three passages as I read them. The first one
is the beginning of the Gospel of John. If you
are reading John, if you are a follower of Jesus,
this is what John starts saying. Let me read
it two times. First time now. In the beginning
was the Word. And the word was with God. And
the word was God. He was with God in the beginning.
Through him all things were made. Without him
nothing was made that has been made. In him was
life. And that life was the light of all mankind.
And the light shines in the darkness. And the
darkness has not overcome it. You continue reading
chapter one of John and you will realize, oh,
he's talking about Jesus. The word became flesh
and lived among us and we have seen his glory.
And he starts introducing who Jesus is in the
gospel of John. So let me read it again, but
I'm going to replace the word, the word by the
word Jesus. So that the meaning becomes a little
bit clearer as you're reading it. In the beginning
was Jesus. And Jesus was with God. And Jesus
was God. And Jesus was with God in the beginning.
By the way, this is one of the reasons why we
believe in the Trinity. Jesus is God. God is
not Jesus. God is Father, Son, Holy Spirit. But
Jesus is God. The Father is God. The Holy Spirit
is God. Jesus was with God at the beginning.
And he himself was God. Jesus was with God in
the beginning. And through Jesus, all things
were made. Without Jesus, nothing was made that
has been made. In Jesus was life. And that life
was the light of all mankind. The light shines
in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome
it. Truth or myth? Was there a beginning? And
did Jesus create? And Jesus is God? And he came
therefore to the world he created to save us
and redeem us to himself. Truth or myth? You
see, if you're a follower of Jesus, you say,
well, this is true. Some people will look at
you and say, you're believing in a myth. If I'm
a follower of Jesus, I have to realize that the
Bible says Jesus is creator. Therefore I was
created. We humans were created by God. And Jesus
is God. And through him everything was created.
Nothing would exist without him. That was created.
I believe that. Because it's there. And I believe
in Jesus. And I want to agree with everything
that Jesus says. And in the gospel, Jesus speaks.
And one day, Jesus is approached by the religious
leaders and they ask him a question about divorce.
And Jesus answers to them using the scriptures,
the various scriptures that Paul is telling Timothy
that he has to teach well. And Jesus answers
that question with this answer. He tells the
people at the beginning of creation, God, Made
them. What? Male and. Female. At the very beginning
of creation. Haven't you read this? God made
them male and female. And for this reason. A
man. Will leave his father. And mother. And be
united to his wife. Not to his partner. But to
his. Wife. His. Wife. And the two will become.
One flesh. So there are no longer two, but one
flesh. Marriage is a change of identity. From
two, now we are one. And this means that there
was a beginning, wasn't it? And in that beginning,
God created, didn't he? And at the beginning
of that creation, he created humans, didn't he?
And he created us. Male and female, didn't he?
And he is the one that designed the idea of marriage
to be the union for life between a male and a
female coming together and becoming one flesh.
That is our understanding of marriage and that
is our understanding of gender. Why? Because
Jesus said it. And he's quoting Genesis. Hmm.
True or myth? Ah, now you're getting a little
bit uncomfortable. Beware of myths. They will
sound popular. Lots of people will believe it.
But I can tell you something, the flea is not
deaf. And the Apostle Paul, It's warning us that
we're going to be hearing myths and we have to
be careful that we really pay attention to the
scriptures. Not only I want to agree with what
Jesus says, but I also want to agree with what
the apostles taught. If the apostles taught it,
I want to agree with them. And I'm not trying
to simplify hermeneutics. I know that biblical
interpretation sometimes is complex. There's
the Greek, the Hebrew, the translation, the nuances,
etc., etc. I understand that. But within that
context, I want to agree with Jesus and with
the apostles. And there's a moment in which the
apostle Peter is warning us about false teaching.
And he says, look, there will be people that
will deliberately forget. That happened a long
time ago. What? Well, they will deliberately
forget that long ago, by God's word, the heavens
came into being and the earth was formed out
of water and by water. And by these waters also
the world of that time was deluged and destroyed.
Wait. Did God speak? And things were created
by him just speaking? Yes. And at the beginning,
the earth was covered with water? Yes. And the
ancient world was destroyed, deluged by water.
And just as it happened then, Is going to happen
in the future. By the same word. That created
the heavens and the earth. The same word. That
destroyed that ancient world with the water.
The same word. The present heavens and earth.
Are reserved. For fire. Being kept for the day
of judgment. And destruction of the ungodly.
There's a future judgment coming and the earth
will be destroyed by fire? Yes, just as it was
destroyed by water before. By the very word that
God spoke. Wow. True or myth? Did God really
speak and things came into being? Just like that?
Ah, you see what I mean? There are things the
Bible teaches that sometimes we are struggling
with because now we have an abundance of teachers
teaching us things that we want to hear. And
without realizing it, we can turn into myths.
And myths are popular. They're persuasive, but
they're not true. And therefore, my job as a
follower of Jesus, and so is your job as a follower
of Jesus, is to make sure that we create environments
where we can engage with truth and discern it
and wrestle with it. Because whatever we end
up concluding, we want to make sure that it is
biblical and true. And because I believe these
things, all these passages that I read today,
I believe them because they are clear. And for
me to try to dissect them and reorganize the
words and give them a whole different meaning,
it makes me uncomfortable because it feels like
I'm trying to manipulate the scriptures to make
them say what I want to hear them say. And that's
the wrestling that we find ourselves in. Have
you been there? Have you questioned in moments,
I wonder if that's really true. Am I being deceived
or is that really true? I sit in the Bible, but
did that really happen? And now in that space
of tension is a reality of the walk with God.
The walk with God at moments will require that
we discern truth from myth. And sometimes that
space is going to be Disorienting. And because
I believe these things, I remember that since
my kids were little, we would spend time reading
the scriptures and then there are people that
have published books with beautiful illustrations
and stories about the Bible. And this was one
of them, Jesus Storybook Bible. And we read it
to all of our kids. nighttime, and we'll go one
by one, chapter by chapter, retelling the story
from Genesis all the way to the life of Jesus.
Creation, the fall, the history of salvation,
Jesus coming, and then Jesus redeeming his people.
So it's, of course, with creative license. It's
not word by word, but it's summarizing the story
of the Bible. with beautiful illustrations and
very poetic writing. So our kids grew up hearing
the word through this. Now that we were in England,
we went to the British Museum, British Library,
engaged with biblical archaeology, with textual
criticism. And then we also went to Charles Darwin's
home to engage with his life. I had a couple
of science sessions with a scientist who is the
president and CEO of Creation Ministries International.
And we engaged in a little bit of this space.
So when we went to Charles Darwin's home, I bought
a couple of books, but one of them was a children's
book. And I started reading it, and I thought,
oh, wow, this reminds me of the book I was reading
my kids. Not because it's the same content. but
because it's targeting children. Would I buy
this book and then start telling my children
this story? And it starts with volcanoes, that
there's gases, there's nothing that exists, there's
no life on earth. It doesn't start with the world
covered by water. No, no. There are volcanoes
and gases and no life. And from the very beginning,
you realize, okay, these two stories are not
compatible. And I remember reading when I was
doing my doctorate, the book Sapiens, History
of Humankind. And from the very first page, it's
like, wait, this version of history is not compatible
with what I believe. The framework, at least,
of it. And that's when you start realizing that
there's a narrative that is different from the
scripture's narrative. About origins, about where
we come from, about where the universe comes
from. And therefore, as I'm engaging in those
spaces, I have to start asking, truth or myth?
Am I believing a myth, and maybe that's the truth,
and I'm being deceived and ignorant? Or, this
is the truth, and that's the myth. How do I know?
How about origins, for instance? One of the most
dominant frameworks of origins that we know today
is known as Darwinian evolution, the origin of
the species. And that's why we did this part
of the trip, to really understand it better.
And if you are a parent that has children who
are wrestling with some of these questions, then
this study is for you. If you're on a journey
in which you're wrestling with some of these
things, and you want to be an educated Christian,
not an ignorant, just Bible -thumper, you know,
then this study is for you. It's a space to engage
with important questions. So when we went to
Charles Darwin's home, this is the home from
the backyard, beautiful place, amazing area,
very intelligent guy, lots of good studies. But
several of the things that he taught, which have
become popular and mainstream beliefs today,
they originated in his writings. And this is
the statue that is right there at the main stairwell
of the Museum of Natural History. And what we
know from Darwin is that he had a worldview on
things that he asserted. So one of them is that
he lived in a time in which the scientific establishment
believed that the universe was eternal. No beginning,
no end, no big bang, nothing like that. For about
300 years, the scientific establishment believed
and taught that the universe was eternal. Because
the idea that it would have a beginning sounded
too much like... Yeah, the Bible. So the idea
that the universe would have a beginning was
not something that people will entertain. So
he believed that during that time. And actually
that belief continued until the time of Einstein.
Einstein believed the universe was eternal until
the evidence showed him something different and
he changed his belief. But that's how recent
that belief was. He believed that the Bible was
a myth, that salvation by faith in Jesus is what
he called a damnable doctrine, that Christianity
is a myth. He did not know biochemistry. He did
not know about DNA. It had not been discovered
yet. He did not understand mutations. He didn't
understand how they worked. And he did not know
about epigenetics, how the genes turn on and
off different functions and traits that we know
just from recent. Scientific studies. This was
the framework that he came from. And he wrote
many of these things. I have mentioned some of
those in the previous studies, but I want to
show them to you in case you were not in those.
He writes in his autobiography, I have gradually
come by this time to see that the Old Testament
from its false history of the world was no more
to be trusted than the sacred books of the Hindus
or the beliefs of any barbarian. The Bible is
not true. The Old Testament is not true. Jesus
is not true. You cannot trust the Bible. It's
a myth. And not only that, he says, I can indeed
hardly see how anyone ought to wish Christianity
to be true. It is a damnable doctrine. For him,
the idea of Jesus being the word at the beginning
and becoming flesh and having to believe in him
to be saved from your sins. was nonsense, something
that needed to be condemned. And then he writes
in a letter to a friend who was a famous botanist
during that time, and he was the head of the
Kew Gardens, beautiful botanical garden. Have
you never been there before? Take a trip, if
you are in England, go to the Kew Gardens. Beautiful
place. But it is in this letter that he starts
writing about his ideas about origin. And you
know, something funny happened because I was
doing some of my research and reading this letter
in a moment when I was sitting next to my wife
and I'm using my phone to start reading the letter
and she looks over and she says, What is that
dear hooker? So I had a little bit of explanation
to do. And because that's the last name. J .D.
Hooker. And that was also an English lesson for
me on that day. But this is what he writes to
him. He says. As his friend. But if. and I know
this is a big if, but what if we could conceive
in some warm little pond with all sorts of ammonia
and phosphoric salts, light, heat, electricity,
et cetera, all these things present, that a protein
compound was chemically formed, ready to undergo
still more complex changes. At the present day,
such matter would be instantly devoured, but
at the beginning, right? Or absorbed, which would
not have been the case before living creatures
were formed. If that happened at the very beginning,
a warm little pond somewhere, and all these things
happening, maybe the first protein that became
the first cell, just like that, by accident,
maybe. And I know that's a big what if. And this
is where that idea came from. And that reminded
me of the book, the children's book that I told
you about. Because that's how it starts at the
beginning. Let me read it from the screen here
because I cannot read it from there. But it says,
then in the deep dark ocean, you are the kids
now, okay? Then in the deep dark ocean, something
amazing happened. In warm water, near underwater
volcanoes called black smokers, some tiny, tiny
floating bits came together. And these bits were
so small that you couldn't possibly see them.
They could have dropped from space or bubbled
up from under the seabed, and they form the beginning
of life on earth. That's how life started. Not
because there's someone that is life in himself
called Jesus. No. Just somewhere in the ocean,
tiny things. And these tiny things, then the
first life was just an incredibly small, shapeless
blob. And we call that shapeless blob a cell.
And as time passed, cells lived together making
sticky, slimy mats that grew into mounds as big
as pillows. Lots of cells together now. Some
cells started using sunlight, water, and gas
in the air to help them grow. Cells multiplied
into billions. And so the seas clouded with lots
of new kinds of life. Some cells puffed out an
invisible gas called oxygen. And that's where
oxygen comes from. Miraculously filling the air.
which completely changed the air and even the
color of the planet, and circling the globe,
the oxygen turned black rock shades of yellow,
red, and brown. Even so slowly, over millions
of years, cells got more complicated, and they
filled with special parts that helped them do
new things. Some began to live together, even
inside each other. As the air filled with oxygen,
some cells began to use it to grow and grow.
So this new gas changed living things forever.
Cells grew into all kinds of weird and wonderful
shapes and sizes. And some of these became the
first animals alive on earth really began to
get going. It just took a few million years to
get to this point. I'm a theologian. I studied
biology and chemistry in high school. That was
my major. So I'm not really a scientist. So maybe
there's something I don't understand. Maybe Darwin
was right and this book is telling the truth.
And I have to reinterpret it how I read John
1 and Genesis. Or, It's something I do not know?
What is it? I want to know truth. Well, so I
remember that one of the most loud and vocal
scientists who was promoting this worldview is
Richard Dawkins. He wrote the book, The God Delusion.
And actually he was interviewed in a documentary
called Expelled, No Intelligence Allowed by a
Jewish -American guy, famous, his name is Ben
Stein. And he goes and he does this documentary
to understand this idea of intelligent design
and evolution and everything. So I went back
to that documentary to maybe, maybe Dawkins could
give me some insight on this. Because I want
to know true. So listen to the interview with
me for a second and see what we learn from the
experts on this topic. Hello, Professor Dawkins.
How are you? I'm Ben Stein. I'm just sorry to
keep you waiting. How are you? Fine, thank you.
You have written that God is a psychotic delinquent
invented by mad, deluded people. No, I didn't
say quite that. I said something rather better
than that. Oh, well, please tell us what you
said. Please tell us what you said. Well, I would
have to read it from the book. No, please. The
God of the Old Testament is arguably the most
unpleasant character in all fiction. Jealous
and proud of it. a petty, unjust, unforgiving
control freak, a vindictive, bloodthirsty ethnic
cleanser, a misogynistic, homophobic, racist,
infanticidal, genocidal, filicidal, pestilential,
megalomaniacal, sadomasochistic, capriciously
malevolent bully. So that's what you think of
God? Yeah. How about if people believed in a
God of infinite lovingness and kindness and forgiveness
and generosity, sort of like the modern -day
God? Why spoil it for them? Why not just let
them have their fun and enjoy it? I mean, I don't
want to spoil anything for anybody. I write a
book. People can read it if they want to. I believe
that it is a liberating thing to free yourself
from primitive... So religion is a primitive
superstition? Oh, I think it is, yes. So you
believe it's liberating to tell people that there
is no God? I think a lot of people, when they
give up God, feel a great sense of release. And
freedom. Why do you think that? I mean, what's
your dad? What's your scientist? What's your
dad? I think, well, I've had a lot of letters
saying that. There are 8 billion people in the
world, Dr. Dawkins. How many letters have you
had? No, I haven't done that. That's quite true.
Professor Dawkins seemed so convinced that God
doesn't exist. that I wondered if you would be
willing to put a number on it. Well, it's hard
to put a figure on it, but I mean, I'd put it
as something like, you know, 99 % against or
something. Well, how do you know it's 99 %? I
don't. You're saying not 97%. No, you asked me
to put a figure on it, and I'm not comfortable
putting a figure on it. I think it's, I just
think it's very unlikely. What? But you couldn't
put a number on it? No, of course not. So it
could be 49%. Well, it would be, I mean, I think
it's... It's unlikely, and it's quite far from
50%. How do you know? I don't know. I mean, I
put an argument in the book. Well, then who did
create the heavens and the earth? Why do you
use the word who? You see, you immediately beg
the question by using the word who. Well, then
how did it get created? Well, by a very slow
process. Well, how did it start? Nobody knows
how it started. We know the kind of event that
it must have been. We know the sort of event
that must have happened for the origin of life.
What was that? It was the origin of the first
self -replicating molecule. Right. How did that
happen? I told you we don't know. So you have
no idea how it started? No, no, nor has anybody.
Nor has anyone else. What do you think is the
possibility that intelligent design might turn
out to be the answer to some issues in genetics
or in evolution? It could come about in the following
way. It could be that at some earlier time, somewhere
in the universe, a civilization evolved by probably
some kind of Darwinian means to a very, very
high level of technology and designed a form
of life that they seeded onto perhaps this planet.
Now, that is a possibility and an intriguing
possibility. And I suppose it's possible that
you might find evidence for that if you look
at the details of biochemistry, molecular biology,
you might find a signature of some sort of designer.
Wait a second. Richard Dawkins thought intelligent
design might be a legitimate pursuit? And that
designer could well be a higher intelligence
from elsewhere in the universe. But that higher
intelligence would itself have had to have come
about by some explicable or ultimately explicable
process. It couldn't have just jumped into existence
spontaneously. That's the point. So Professor
Dawkins was not against intelligent design. Just
certain types of designers, such as God, said
that they... I'm going to pause there. If you
haven't watched the documentary, I highly encourage
you to expel no intelligence allowed. But, okay,
I get it then. So nobody knows? But maybe aliens
planted the first... And on the other hand, I
have God who says, I was there. I'm your savior.
I created you. I was with God at the beginning.
Which one? True or myth? You see, as we are walking
in this journey of discerning things, we have
to ask these questions. Because once you realize
that it comes from a worldview, an assumption,
that the God of the Bible is all these words
that are so offensive, and yet, I know the truth,
and I'm going to tell you. It makes me uneasy
to try to take that worldview to start interpreting
the Bible through those eyes. Beware of myths.
There's one more section that it was part of
the intriguing experience of being in England,
which was going to the Museum of Natural History
because we are there. And we're going to this
area that there's a huge blue whale. You can
see the skeleton. Huge room. As big as this room,
perhaps. And you can see the skeleton and everything.
And that's when soon you realize that the belief
is that these whales actually evolved through
millions of years from actually land animals,
mammals. And where did the idea come from? Well,
the idea comes from Darwin himself in his book
on the origin of species. He had a friend that
was describing how he saw a bear swimming with
the mouth open trying to eat insects. And so
he starts thinking, you know, millions of years,
low process, natural selection, mutations, all
this stuff. And he says, I can see no difficulty
in a race of bears being rendered by natural
selection more and more aquatic in their structure
and habits. With larger and larger mouths, till
a creature was produced as monstrous as a whale.
So he starts imagining, maybe whales evolved
from bears. Because I can see the bears swimming,
so maybe after millions of years, develop a little
bit something more, then a little something more,
and a little something more, until it became
that. And that is something that he was ridiculed
at the beginning in the first edition of his
book, so he removed that completely from the
second edition of the book. But that took off,
and that's why they show in museums today that
whales evolved from these animals. And actually,
it's a specific kind of dog type of animal that
they say. So among all of these supposed transition
forms, there's one particular one that is very
interesting. It's called the Rhodocytus. And
the Rhodocytus is the first one that's supposed
to be the link between the... a land animal,
and the tail of the whale because it's the first
one that developed a tail. But I discovered something
that is like, it leaves you speechless. This
is a short video. It's an interview with a guy
who actually discovered this fossil and presented
it and published it. And look at what he says.
Modern whale -type structures in Rhodocetus.
There are not many modifications from Rhodocetus
to the modern whale other than changes in size
of the structures. When this video series was
being filmed on location at the University of
Michigan in Ann Arbor, the executive producer
noticed a discrepancy between museum drawings
of Rhodocetus and the fossils. The reconstruction
of Rhodocetus had a whale fluke, but there were
no fossils of the tail to confirm this. Dr. Phil
Gingrich, the scientist responsible for the discovery
and reconstruction of Rhodocetus, was questioned
how he knew there was a whale fluke on Rhodocetus,
since that part of the fossil was missing. What
was the reasoning that the scientists think there
was a fluke on Rhodocetus? based on the other
pieces of anatomy? Well, I told you we don't
have the tail in Rhodocetus, so we don't know
for sure whether it had a ball vertebra indicating
a fluke or not. So I speculated it might have
had a fluke. Scientist Gingrich also acknowledged
that the flippers were drawn on the diagram without
these fossils. Now, he does not believe this
animal had flippers. Again, his answer was surprising,
since the museum diagrams had flippers on Rhodocetus.
Now, since then, we've found the forelimbs, the
hands, and the front arm, the arms, in other
words, of Rhodocetus. And we understand that
it doesn't have the kind of arms that can be
spread out like flippers are on a whale. And
if you don't have flippers, I don't think you
can have a fluke tail and really powered swimming.
And so I now doubt that Rhodocetus would have
had a flint tail. Many experts consider whales
to be the best fossil evidence for evolution,
but are unaware of these discrepancies. Opponents
of evolution contend that whale evolution is
nothing more than hopeful supposition. If museum
diagrams are redrawn and corrected for various
discrepancies, opponents argue that whale evolution
is non -existent. So you made up the tale because
you assumed it had to be there even though it
wasn't? Yeah. And then you forgot to tell the
museum? They will accumulate teachers to tell
them exactly what they want to hear. That is
a sign of myth that the Apostle Paul wrote about.
I'm not trying to persuade you because I know
that within Christian circles there are so many
different views on these things. But what I'm
trying to do is to remind you of the warning
that the Apostle Paul gave us. There's going
to be myths that are going to replace truth.
And when a scientist comes to her career and
she has to take a walk because she has to feel
that now I have to choose between religion or
science, they cannot go together. That is the
crisis that the myth has created. Because science,
from its inception, was compatible with Christian
worldview. It was not incompatible, but it has
become because of some of these ideologies. So
a person can feel very alone in this journey
because whether the person is a scientist, like
many of them have started questioning some of
these assumptions of materialism that they grew
up with or went to college and learned from,
the experience can be very lonely because am
I the only one that is doubting these things?
Am I the only one that is struggling with these
things? What about dissent? And what I have discovered
is that there's a whole growing sector of scientists
that have walked away from this ideology, Darwinian
evolution, as an explanation of the origin of
species. Some of them, not all of them, but some
of them have become Christians, Bible -believing.
Others have just become open agnostics. There's
a whole growing group of scientists that are
saying this does not match what we know to be
true today from the science that we have today.
And it's important that we know that. I'm not
going to spend much time on this, but I want
to mention it to you in case you are in that
journey in which you want to learn more about
these things. One of them is the book Darwin's
Black Box, because that was the first attempt.
That was clearly mentioned from Michael Behe.
He's a scientist who talked about, look, the
cell is a very complicated thing. And you have
all these machines that are irreducible complexity.
There's no way that they can be explained by
natural processes that are completely random.
There are machines at the cellular level. He
has videos on YouTube called The Secrets of the
Cell. Amazing videos. You can watch them with
your kids. to really teach you about what the
cell really is like and why people that are non
-Christians talk about intelligent design because
the idea of intelligence behind these designs
is so loud. Also, there's Stephen Mayer. He's
a very intellectual... guy that writes about
these topics on intelligent design. He has written
some very good books. If you are more like the
intellectual type, I would highly recommend reading
these books. They are not religious. They are
purely scientist books. And he mentions the issues
that now Darwinian evolution is facing and materialistic
worldview is facing because there is a beginning.
Now we know the universe is not eternal. The
universe is finely tuned. There's biological
information that precedes formation. So a cell
being born out of electricity and smoke and all
of these different things just doesn't fly. It
doesn't happen that way. Information precedes
formation. Also, he talks about the Cambrian
explosion, how life appears in the geology all
at once, not slowly through processes. And there's
life fossils that have complex life in them.
The eye appears immediately from early forms.
How do you explain those things unless there's
a designer? Today, we have the problem of dinosaur
bones that have tissue and cells in them. which
defies the idea that dinosaurs were actually
millions of years old. Today we understand that
mutations do not create new information, they
destroy information. And we understand also that
the changes of mechanisms that happen of creatures
adapting to the environment is not because of
the environment per se, but it's written in their
DNA. The DNA has already built in the instructions
to turn on and turn off different features depending
on the environment. So a dog or a bear does not
become a whale. It's written in their DNA. These
are things that scientists are writing seriously
about today. There's these great documentaries,
universe design, produced by a former atheist
that became a Christian. He was a filmmaker,
and he realized people need to know these things,
so he created this documentary. If you were to
watch only one documentary, I would go to that
one. But you have to pay for it because it's
not for free right now. Darwin, The Voyage That
Changed the World is an amazing documentary.
It talks about actually what Darwin actually
experienced on his trip. And then Evolution's
Achilles Heel is a group of scientists that come
and tell you the summary of what are the issues
that scientists are experiencing today that defy
the idea of evolution. And finally, there are
ministries that have become established by groups
of scientists from lots of different fields.
One of them is the Institute of Christian Research,
which is established in Dallas. They're a growing
ministry. And also the ICM, the CMI Creation
Ministry International, which is an international
organization with scientists. They have websites,
they have documentaries, they have articles written
by scientists who do not believe what Darwin
said, but do believe what the Bible says. It's
amazing to see that there are serious scientists
writing all of these things today. Beware of
myths. And if you have not taken time to reason
through these things, I'm here to simply invite
you into that journey. Wrestle with these things.
Because whatever happens, do not let myths take
you away from the faith. You don't have to choose
between God and science. Science will point you
to God. So your journey is going to take you
through different phases. Maybe you're ignorant.
You don't understand these things. They don't
matter to you. Fine. Maybe you're feeling the
pressure of people. Everybody believes it and
you feel the pressure to conform. Or it sounds
so convincing that you are accepting things that
you wouldn't have accepted before. Or you feel
isolated because you're the only one that believes
differently. Or you are in the science field,
your career, and you feel that it can cost you
your reputation or your career. No matter where
you are in your journey, beware of myths. Do
not let false teaching, as popular as they may
be, to deceive you. The flea is not deaf. There's
a different interpretation that is most likely
to be the truth. Lord, lead us into truth. Lead
our children into truth. Help us engage with
things that point us to you. And if anyone is
in wrestling, Holy Spirit, would you lead that
person into all truth? We are here for you, Lord.
And we hear the warning. We listen to it. We
don't want to be ignorant. We don't want to be
dogmatic. We do want to study and learn and know
that what you say is true. In Jesus' name we
pray. Amen. If God is calling you to support
our ministries, you will find giving options
on our website. And remember to join us next
week. God bless you.