Science, Faith,

and Reason Four Fundamental Features of the World

Dr. Ken Boa and Bill Ibsen

www.KenBoa.org

Science, Faith,

and Reason Four Fundamental Features of the World

Dr. Ken Boa and Bill Ibsen

1. Worldviews and Paradigms

2. Four Fundamental Features of the World

3. Implications

Overview

Worldviews and Paradigms

Science Faith

the universe is rational and can be studied...

the universe is an illusion...

The Logos...an ordering mind

Progenitors of

Science

Nicolaus

Copernicus

1473-1543

Isaac

Newton

1642-1727

Galileo

Galilei

1564-1642

William

Harvey

1578-1657

Michael

Faraday

1791-1867

Gregor

Mendel

1822-1884

Blaise

Pascal

1623-1662

Joseph

Priestly

1733-1804

Louis

Pasteur

1822-1895

Science Faith

Joe Atheist

Science Faith

Joe Atheist

Science Redefined

Scientific Method Scientific Method

+

Naturalism

Ultimate reality = matter, energy, time, space

Ultimate reality ≠ God or anything spiritual

Science Correctly

Defined

Scientific Method

Inference to the best explanation

“Go where the evidence leads” - Socrates

Kinds of Knowledge

1. Scientific

2. Historical

3. Personal

4. Moral

5. Philosophical

6. Aesthetic

7. Religious

...none are exhaustive

Design Theory

“The quest for design will kill science”

Thomas Nagel,

Atheist, Professor

even if science cannot tell you

the identity of the designer, or

what is going on in the

designer’s mind.”

It potentially can be scientific to

argue that the data of DNA and

life points to an intelligent

designer

“

Design Theorists

Young-earth

Creationism

Theistic

Evolution

Old-earth

Creationism

Deistic

Evolution

Design

Albert

Einstein

1879-1955

Antony

Flew

1923-2010

Guilt by Association

Sciences Distinguishing

Design from Accident

Design =

Creationism 2.0?

Go where

the evidence leads

Momentum of Evidence

Complexity

Elegance

Information

Feature 1: Evidence for the

Universe’s Beginning

or

“If anything now exists, something must be eternal,

something not eternal must have emerged from nothing.”

If Proposition

1. The universe is an illusion

2. The universe is eternal

3. The universe emerged from nothing

4. The universe was created by an eternal

being

If Proposition

1. The Universe Is an

Illusion

2. The Universe Is

Eternal

• Steady-state theory

• Matter and energy always existed

• Fred Hoyle: continuous creation

• Faith propositions

Astronomer

Fred Hoyle

2. The Universe Is

Eternal

• Big Bang theory

• Matter and energy had a starting point

Astronomer

Edwin Hubble

Scientists

Robert Wilson & Arno Penzias

73% = Dark Energy

23% = Dark Matter 4% = Ordinary Matter

“Curiouser

and curiouser!”

The Second Law of

Thermodynamics

The Second Law of

Thermodynamics

Useful

Energy

Time

The Universe Had a

Beginning

Feature 2:

Fine-Tuning of the Cosmos

Just Right:

• Particles

• Atoms

• Molecules

Just Right:

• Galaxy

• Star masses

• Expansion rate

Just Right: • Star

• Planet

• Moon

Carl

Sagan

A common sense

interpretation of the facts

suggests that a superintellect

has monkeyed with physics,

as well as with chemistry and

biology, and that there are no

blind forces worth speaking

about in nature.”

“

Strong Nuclear Force

The Neutron

0.1% +/-

1 in 1037

Expansion Rate of

the Universe

+/-1 in 1055

x 1 million

Stellar Mass

1 in 1040

Electromagnetic Force :: Gravitational Force

Our Just-Right Galaxy

Elliptical

Q uic k Tim e™ and aTI FF ( Unc om pr es s ed) dec om pr es s or

ar e needed t o s ee t h is p ic t ur e.

Spiral

Only spiral galaxies provide any “safe zone” for

life-sustaining planets

Irregular 20% 60% 20%

Our Just-Right Sun

• Right mass: Yellow dwarf

• Right light: Emits a balance of red & blue

allowing photosynthesis

• Right composition: High metallicity for creating

terrestrial planets

• Right orbit: Nearly circular for temperature

stability

180

+/- 5%

Circumstellar

Habitable Zone

(not to scale)

1 in 10215

1022

1 in 10193

A Multiverse?

Inference to the Best Explanation

Natural Causes

Designed

Designer Gutzon

Borglum, ca 1930

Feature 3:

Biogenesis

The Exquisitely

Complex Cell Biochemist/Author

Michael Denton

“…[chemical evolution] is no more or

no less than the great cosmogenic

myth.”

memory banks for information storage and retrieval,

elegant control systems regulating

the automated assembly of parts and components,

error fail-safe and proof-reading devices utilized for quality control,

artificial languages and their decoding systems, “

[and] a capacity not equaled in

any

of our own most advanced

machines,

assembly processes involving the principle of

prefabrication and modular construction . . .

for it would be capable of replicating

its entire structure within a matter of a few hours”

Simple?

Design Theory

Thomas Nagel,

Atheist, Professor

For a long time I have been

skeptical of the claims of

traditional evolutional theory to

be the whole story about the

history of life.”

“

Design Theory

Thomas Nagel,

Atheist, Professor

even if science cannot tell you

the identity of the designer, or

what is going on in the

designer’s mind.”

It potentially can be scientific to

argue that the data of DNA and

life points to an intelligent

designer

“

What Would it Take to

Get One Living Cell?

Cell Complexity

and Elegance

Proteins

Amino Group

NH₂

H C COOH

R

Amino Acids

Phe

Leu

Ser

Cys

Left and Right-Handed

Amino Acids

Protein of 400 Amino Acids

400x

Directed

Panspermia

Feature 4:

Information Theory

Beautiful Natural

Patterns

010010001001100111100000001111111101010100110

011

Pattern ≠ Design

Your DNA is the most exquisitely engineered

communication protocol in existence.

Q uic k Tim e™ and aTI FF ( LZW ) dec om pr es s or

ar e needed t o s ee t h is p ic t ur e.

Letters

4- Letter Alphabet

Chapte

r

Book

Word

Senten

ce

One cell carries

more data than

this:

Where Does Information

Come From?

Where Does Information

Come From?

He didn’t steal that car

He didn’t steal that car

He didn’t steal that car

The lower cannot account

for the higher

M.I.T. Mathematician

Norbert Wiener

Any materialism that fails to take account

of this will not survive one day.”

Information is information;

neither matter nor energy. “

Information Transcends

Matter & Energy

Atheistic Riddle

Show me a message

that doesn’t come from a mind.

Promissory

Materialism

Science Fait

h

Other Features of the

World

• Human consciousness

• Rationality

• Moral values and obligations

Other Features of the

World

• Beauty

• Human dignity, value, and purpose

• Human rights

• Universal religious experience

Implications

Inescapable Conclusions

of Naturalism

1. No transcendence

2. No life after death

3. No absolute foundation for right

and wrong

Inescapable Conclusions

of Naturalism

4. No ultimate meaning for life

5. No free will

DESIGN > DESIGNER

The End

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