Church Designer Magazine

everyone lives by faith, even atheists. thisweek on creation magazine live! welcome to creation magazine live! my nameis richard fangrad and i’m calvin smith. now our topic this week is faith. everyone livesby faith. there are different kinds of faith. in this next half hour we’re going to explainwhy everyone lives by faith and to try to summarize and compare a few different kinds of faith.we’ll also look at the role that faith plays in the origins debate, for both creationists and evolutionists. this is one topic where there is a huge amountof confusion. even the simple statement that, “everyone lives by faith” is likely confusingto some of you out there, and it may take a few minutes to unpack that, but let’s start with somedefinitions. there was a survey done in 2014

where over 700 people were asked this question,“do you believe that when christians use the word ‘faith’ they mean ‘believingsomething even though it is not supported by evidence’”now of the christians who responded to the question 91 percent said, so the christians responded 91% said “no”, that’s not whatwe mean. and 9 percent agreed with that, yes, ‘faith’ means believing in something even though it’s not supported by evidence. so a small percentage of christians now look at the response from the non-christians.72 percent think that when christians use the word “faith” what christians reallymean is believing in something even though it’s not supported by evidence. that’samazing. the same word has a very different meaning depending on the group using it. it’slike inigo montoya, “you keep using this

word. i don’t think it means what you thinkit means.” that's about it there's a great application for that particular meme. it gets even more complicated because thereare different kinds of faith. there is a kind of faith, that everyone has, that is supportedby evidence. of this type of faith, no one would say that it’s defined as “believingin something that has no evidence.” it’s called a human faith or a warranted faith if you like.it’s a faith that is warranted, it's based on past experience. in other words, there’sevidence for this kind of faith. right, bible teacher john macarthur describes it this way, “everytime you fill your glass at the sink and drink the water and have no idea what’s playingin your pipes, you exercise human faith. every time you go to the pharmacy and you take abottle of pills and you ingest those pills,

for all you know, they’re cyanide. you haveabsolutely no idea what’s in those pills and you act on faith, that’s human faith.you get in your car, you turn on your engine, you start a whole bunch of explosions a footaway from you, and you don’t expect the engine to blow up in your face. you get onan airplane, you assume somebody’s flying it and they’re flying it to where you wantto go. you have no idea whether that’s true or not but you trust that that is what’sgoing on. worst of all, you go to the hospital, they put you out and then some guy that you’venever met starts cutting you up and you think it’s for your benefit and you have no ideawhat they’re doing or why they’re doing it. you trust what they told you. now thisis human faith. and the reason you do those

kinds of things because there’s a trackrecord of reliability. … so your faith is based upon something you know by past experience.”ok so there’s a good description of human faith, or warranted faith. it’s a faith warrantedby evidence or experience. we are going to look at 4 different types of faith today. so there’sthe first one. it’s a faith that everyone has, regardless of your beliefs, whether you’rean atheist, or a bible-believing christian, or anything in between. the type of faith that72 percent of non-christians think christians exercise is blind faith. blind faith is a leap into the dark. there’sno evidence or experience to warrant this kind of faith. this kind of faith was displayedin 1989 in the third indiana jones movie.

the scene involves indiana jones making attemptingto retrieve the holy grail that would prevent his father from dying. so indy stands before this huge chasm that appears bottomless, he has to get across, but it’s far too wide tojump. so he has to take a “step of faith” or this leap of faith. right and then you see him trying to muster up faith.he closes his eyes slows his breathing, puts his hand on his heart and takes a step offthe cliff. but he doesn’t fall to his death. due to some optical trickery there is actuallya bridge there! never mind the reasons why that wouldn’t work. bottom line: there waszero evidence that he was going to survive stepping off the cliff. that’s blind faith.when we come back we’ll explain why that is not the faith that christians believe. why christians don't have a blind faith. and we'll be back...

what is something computers and humans have in common which constantly needs upgradingin computers but not in humans? the answer is software. you might not have realized thatyou have software but inside the nucleus of each of your cells a program is written inthe form of three billion dna letters. intelligent programmers write computer softwarebut what about living things? evolutionists tell us that the information in the firstliving cell just appeared by itself, with no intelligent input required. but is thatpossible? the answer is a resounding no. even one of australia’s best known scientists,paul davies, conceded that, “there is no know law of physics able to crate informationfrom nothing.” and perhaps that’s why,

in a new scientist article, he lamented, “howdid stupid atoms spontaneously write their own software? nobody knows.”to find out more from creation ministries international visit our website creation.com. now if you’ve just tuned in, this week we are talking about different kinds of faith. wejust covered warranted faith and blind faith that's 2 of the 4 types we’re going to look attoday. according to the survey, most non-christiansthink christians have blind faith. so belief in god, the events recorded in the bible likecreation, the flood, the exodus, miracles, the resurrection of jesus are all taken onblind faith. of course, nothing could be further from the truth.christianity is based on historical events.

you just mentioned some of them: creation,the flood, the resurrection, etc. because these things happened in an actual point intime, in a real physical location on earth, not mount olympus or some far off world or something like this, andreal people witnessed the events, the truth claims of christianity can be investigated because they are historical events. and when people honestly, that's the key, investigate the truth claims of christianity, it stands up to thoseclaims. we’ve done shows on this in the past. actually, almost every one of thesehalf-hour shows that we do provides another piece of evidence supporting the bible. we did ashow a few years ago called, “why christianity is true” that summarizes a small fractionof some of the best evidences for christianity. if christianity was simply about blind faith,what’s the point in doing these shows? if

the christian faith has no connection to factsat all then we can say, “just have faith” and be done with it. here’s a diagram thatshows the relationship between faith, facts and feelings within christianity.so the engine that pulls the whole system along is “facts”. the facts of the history that's recorded in the bible. that’s where it all starts.true facts about who god is, where this universe came from, where it’s going, how the brokenrelationship between sinful people and a holy god can be mended, etc. “faith”, the second car in the train, is pulled along by the facts, these real events that occurred in history. christians have faith that the facts the bibledescribes are actually true. “feelings” are the third car in the train. powerful feelingsare the natural result of having faith in the facts the bible describes.it’s not that feelings are irrelevant, they

are actually quite important. john piper isprobably the “go to” guy on that subject. his main topic, all his life, is really summed up in the name of his ministry, “desiring god”. that has to do with desires. but that’s a topic for another time. rightnow we talking about the relationship between facts and faith. here’s a key verse fromthe bible revealing just how important facts are. in 1 corinthians 15:14it says, “and if christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faithis in vain.” wow, so if the fact of the resurrection ofchrist is not true, then all of christianity falls apart. so facts, that one in particular, is vital to the christian faith. you know, it’s interesting how non-christians oftenperceive christians. they think we’re brainwashed

we're ignorant of the “real world” of rocksand fossils and physics and astronomy, etc. that sort of attitude shows up fairly oftenin witnessing situations and online discussions. these programs are broadcast around the worldon religious networks, and are then put online. there are many discussions that happen, inthe youtube comments section, for example, between christians and non-christians, andyou see this stereotype appear over and over again.here’s a recent discussion. this first person seems to be a christian, and he said this, “whatyou have been told to be science is false. most of the world is brainwashed. you shouldnot accept everything you are told, but research, as i did. the non-christian he was chattingwith replied, “hahahhahahahhahahahahahhahahahah...i don't know how many 'h' 'a 'h' 'a's you can put there...

- its always funny when a religious personcalls somebody brainwashed. so what’s implied here? people who have faith, who are “religious” are brainwashed. it’s interesting that the first commentermentioned that “most of the world is brainwashed”. that may be an oversimplification whenyou only hear one side of a two sided issue, like the creation evolution issue. all that's taught in public education is of course one side of the issue, well, so it’s very likely thatyou are going to be brainwashed. to some extent yes. and on that topic, that actually relates tothe third type of faith, and that’s “irrational faith”. this can be defined as, “havingfaith in something in spite of the evidence against it.”so this really goes a step further than blind

faith. because now there's evidence against what you believe. so with blind faith evidence is ignored.with irrational faith you actually believe something where evidence points the otherway. and of course we’ll say a little more about that when we come back. what are the theological consequences of adding ‘millions of years’ to genesis? how doesit impact doctrines such as the gospel, sin, the atonement?refuting compromise is the most powerful biblical and scientific defence of a straightforwardview of genesis. loaded with scientific support for a recent creation in 6 real days, it demolishesall attempts to twist the biblical text in order insert ‘millions of years’, bringingclarity into an area usually mired in confusion. must reading for bible college students andanyone involved in church leadership or teaching.

get your copy at creation.com. on this week’s episode we are talking about faith. everyone has faith. and we’re examiningdifferent kinds of faith. the third kind of faith we just described is irrational faith.if evidences, logic, science, reason etc point one direction, this kind of faith believesthe opposite. right it's kind of like the extreme version of blind faith.it’s blind faith on steroids, something like that. mark twain, the famous author and humourist who wrote,“the adventures of tom sawyer” had a view of faith like this. he wrote, he wrote this quote; “faith isbelieving what you know ain't so.” that’s irrational faith. it is, andi remember watching the 1947 version of the christmas classic, “miracle on 34th street”many years ago. one of the characters in the

movie made a similar comment, “faith isbelieving when common sense tells you not to.” that comment totally ruined the moviefor me. the whole movie was based around proving that a man named kris kringle really was santaclaus, and gathering evidence to support it. not blind faith, not irrational faith, evidence. right, it's like that indiana jones “step of faith” scene gets pretty close to this “irrational faith”too. he’s going against his senses, logic, evidence that there might be a bridge there,and previous experience. his faith is really more in the “irrational faith” categorythan the “blind faith category in that way. right, but there are comments online, withthat video clip, from people who call themselves christians praising that scene, saying that that scene demonstrates christian faith!

for most christians that’s one of those kind of face-palm moments. like, give me a break! this is not what the christian faith is all about.it goes back to those survey results. a great majority of non-christians, and some christians,think that faith doesn’t have anything to do with facts or logic or reason and so on.there’s one more kind of faith and that is biblical faith. it is a supernatural faithgiven by god to christ-followers only. 1 corinthians 2:12-14 describes it this way, “now we havereceived not the spirit of the world, but the spirit who is from god, that we mightunderstand the things freely given us by god. and we impart this in words not taught byhuman wisdom but taught by the spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual.the natural person does not accept the things

of the spirit of god, for they are folly tohim, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned.”the spiritual truths in the bible, they won't be understood, that is, they won’t be believed by faith, without the spirit of god. ephesians 2:8-9, highlights the same thing.it says there; “for by grace you have been saved through faith. and this is not your own doing;it is the gift of god, not a result of works, so that no one may boast” we’re not talkingabout some human faith that has to be mustered up. biblical faith doesn’t originate with us,it’s “not your own doing”, as it says, it is “not the result of works”. saving faith is agift from god. what’s remarkable is that biblical faithincludes the features of warranted faith.

as we said earlier, the truths the bible records,especially the historical events can be investigated. and there’s a huge amount of evidence thatthe bible really is the word of god. so, biblical faith is an extension of humanfaith or warranted faith. human faith alone will never get you to heaven. it may enableyou to believe that the events in the bible are true, but it will stop short of enablingyou to believe the spiritual implications of those events. for example, you might cometo believe that jesus really died and really came back to life through human faith alone,because those events have a huge amount of historical evidence to support them. but mereintellectual assent of those events doesn’t mean that you are a christian.it’s biblical/supernatural faith that takes

you all the way. so, you recognize that thebible’s truth claims about historical events are accurate and you recognize the spiritualimplications based on those events. in john 3:12 jesus says this; “if i have told you earthlythings and you do not believe, how can you believe if i tell you heavenly things?”here again a link is made between real events that can be seen and investigated, and thingsthat can't be seen. the faith to believe the spiritual truthsis linked to the faith to believe earthly truths. hebrews 11:6 says for example; “and without faithit is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to god must believe that heexists and that he rewards those who seek him.” there’s a pretty obvious truth there:in order for god to save you, you’ve got

to believe that he exists.hebrews 11:1 provides a great definition of biblical faith, ”now faith is the assuranceof things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” so it’s an assurance of claimingthe reward that god is preparing for us and a conviction that the spiritual truths revealedin scripture are true. and we’ll add a few more details when we get back... have you ever wondered what sort of evidence would convince an atheist that the universewas designed? scott todd from kansas state university gave a startling answer:"even if all the data point to an intelligent designer, such an hypothesis is excluded fromscience because it is not naturalistic". candid admissions like this show us that somepeople will reject a designer, no matter what

the evidence. but recognizing design has longbeen a part of science. when an archaeologist finds an artefact like a piece of pottery,he knows immediately that it was designed by someone, even though he can’t see thedesigner. so if design has no place in science, archaeologists are in serious trouble.forensic science—who killed who?—is also about recognizing the evidence of intelligentagency, proving that it was no accident. but when the evidence in science points to godbeing the intelligent designer? never! to find out more from creation ministriesinternational visit our website creation.com. our subject this week is faith, what is it,what are the different types of faith, and we also said that everyone has faith, those are some of the things we've covered already. right, but not everyone shares the same faith.

we just showed how biblical faith appliesonly to christians, but everyone exercises human faith and a variety of the other twotypes. another key aspect of faith is what it produces.your beliefs determine your behaviour. so, it isn’t just a personal thing that onlyaffects the individual. your personal faith influences your behaviour, your actions, howyou live your life, your sense of right and wrong for example, the truths that you will stand up forand defend, and what you vote for, that kind of thing. those things affect the people around you and, ultimately,society in general. of course, the bible isn’t silent on thisaspect of biblical faith either. in the book of james in the bible, james wrote this; “so alsofaith by itself, if it does not have works,

is dead.” so, yes there is another typeof faith called ‘dead faith’, and there are other types as well. the 4 types thatwe’re talking about today don’t really exhaust all the types of faith there are. martinluther, the great reformer echoed what james wrote when he said, “we are not saved byworks; but if there be no works, there must be something amiss with faith.” so biblicalfaith, if it is real, will result in outward, behavioural change, which affects the wayyou live. works are the evidence that true biblical faith has actually taken root.luther, is credited with saying, he said this; “we are saved by faith alone, but the faith thatsaves is never alone” he’s referring to biblical faith, but the principle that “beliefsdetermine behaviour” applies to all types

of faith. i'll give you an example, if i believe that mcdonald’s hamburgers are delicious, what ‘works’, what actions will that belief, that faith,ultimately produce? you’ll probably go out and buy a mcdonald’s hamburger!absolutely! my beliefs determine my behaviour. so let’s relate everything about faith thatwe’ve been summarizing for the past 20 minutes or so, to the origins debate. people believethings about the past. they certainly do. everyone, regardless of whether you lean towardcreation or evolution, everyone believes something about the past. as biblical creationists webelieve that the bible accurately records history. so the bible forms the basis forour beliefs about the past. evolutionists, they don't have any written account, no testimony at all,about what they believe supposedly happened millions

of years ago. but both sides exercise faith.this goes back to a key feature of the origins debate, something that we’ve mentioned manytimes before in previous episodes, previous shows. all we have today are facts: fossils, rocks, stars,etc. and when considering how those facts got to be there we try to fit the facts into whateverhistory we hold to be true by faith. science involves making observations about the world aroundus, so the origins debate does involve science, but then faith kicks in on both sides of thedebate, because both sides are making pronouncements about what happened in the past, and thatis outside of science! picture it like this: here’s the creationistand here’s the evolutionist. both positions believe in naturalism. that is, that the universeoperates according to fixed laws that don’t

change. actually, science would be impossibleif the natural laws changed all the time. on the evolutionists side we could add a furtherdefinition that applies almost universally: they are anti-supernaturalists.the anti-supernatural crowd self-censors all scientific evidence pointing to creation.in fact, they’ll say that there isn’t any. no there's no evidence for creation. their belief, their faith position, theirreligion if you like, requires that the origin of the universe is explained by the same natural laws thatgovern the operation of the universe. on the other hand, bible-believing scientists recognizethat those laws are insufficient to account for the origin of the universe.does that sound complicated? we’ll look at an example to help clarify how this workswhen we get back.

everyone likes to get things forfree. thanks to donors at creation ministries international we have put great effort intomaking huge amounts faith-building information freely available to anyone with an internetconnection. creation.com now has more than 8000 articles.some of cmi’s most popular books are in pdf format to read online for free. allepisodes of creation magazine live! and other teaching videos are online at no charge.consider making a donation, enabling us to continue producing free, faith-buildinginformation. ok, let’s look at a real example to clarifyhow faith drives both sides of the creation/evolution

issue.sure, we can use the example of the law of biogenesis: life begets life. this is attributed to louispasteur and there has never been a single observational example of this law being broken. that's why it's one of the most established scientific laws. life does not arise from non-living material. it’s a fact of science with mountains ofevidence supporting it. creationists accept that scientific fact,but evolutionists have to say that the law was broken, at least once. that life did comefrom non-life. note that this goes against natural laws and against observations. thisis where it gets really interesting because, what kind of faith is that?oh dear! that’s firmly in the category of irrational faith, it goes against our observations, that's defined as, “havingfaith in something in spite of the evidence

against it.” so, the belief in evolutionover millions of years really involves, in this example anyways, aspects of irrationalfaith. chemical evolution is an irrational faith. what about bible-believers and bible-believingscientists? we have no problem understanding how life could have arisen because we don’tdeny the supernatural, that something is above nature. and that is exactly what is needed to get life here.naturalism fails to account for the origin of life, but we are not forced to explainthe origin of the life through naturalistic means alone, the evolutionists are.scientific laws are descriptive of what we observe happening regularly. it doesn’tmean that god couldn’t, at various points in history, alter or add to those laws. soin the origins debate, the biblical creationist

position doesn’t involve going against observationalscience, while at the same time we remain open to god’s involvement.there isn’t a single scientific observation that creationists reject. we don’t rejectscience, we reject the evolutionist’s version of history. our beliefs about the past don’tinvolve irrational faith. they involve human faith, a warranted faith, warranted by scientific observations, by logic and reason and so-on, and biblical faith obviously, where god has revealed spiritual truths about the reason for thecreation in the first place and our place in it. there’s a great article called, “miraclesand science” on our website. it covers the relationship between the two in far more details than we could do here in this short time. so you can go to: creation.com/miracles and you can check that article out. yes. we could do another example of irrational faith; dinosaur

soft tissue. for the last 30 years, and we've reported on this on the website as well, dinosaur soft tissue and different types of protein blood cells, blood vessels, even dinosaur dna, over the last 20 years or so, over 30 instances of biological structures like this have been found in dinosaur bones. right. national geographic had an article saying that most of the fossils we have in museums probably contain soft tissue. so if they're willing to make a statement like that probably all, let's say 50% even of dinosaur bones that we find have soft tissue in them well everything that we know about the laws of chemistry, and evolutionists have come out and made statements like this, even if you could take dinosaur soft tissue, or any kind of soft tissue and preserve it, freeze it, put it in optimum conditions, after 6 million years chemically it would break down. right. even if you could preserve it, somehow, the environment, but chemically things break down. right, so that's what science says, those types of things are not going to last back to the 'age of dinosaurs', when dinosaurs, according...65 million years... according to evolution they all went extinct 65 million years ago, that kind of thing, and its not going to last that long. so that's what science and logic and reason say, yet what does evolution say? exactly the ...that dinosaurs are 65 million years old!...exactly

the opposite. now do we have a problem with that as biblical creationists? no that material could not last that long. what does it fit with? biblical history. right now an evolutionist will say yes but there is other data that shows that dinosaurs lived millions of years old because look at all of the rock layers that are supposedly 65 million years where we find the dinosaur bones. but that's not been observed either. so that's a challenge. amazing. next week we're going to look at arguments for abortion and refute pro-abortion arguments. next week on creation magazine live! we'll see you then...