Ask any school kid about dinosaurs (Greek:‘deinos’=terrible, ‘sauros’=lizard) and you will be impressed by their vocabulary: allosaurus, brachiosaurus, compsognathus, diplodocus, stegosaurus, tyrannosaurus, velociraptor. They may even explain that a giant asteroid hit earth and caused mass extinction of these ‘terrible lizards’ 65 million years ago, long before humans appeared on earth. This dinosaur-mania among children is widespread; fuelled by children’s books, movies, mechanised dinosaur performances, BBC documentaries and museum exhibits. Consistently, they all link dinosaurs to the theory of evolution and promote a naturalist* worldview that is contrary to our Christian worldview.
The Raffles Museum of Biodiversity is trying to raise funds to purchase a set of 3 diplodocus (affectionately named Apollo, Prince and Twinky for its kids-appeal). Prof. Peter Ng, director of the museum, explained why Singapore should have such an exhibit, “(The scientific advisory committee) wanted the museum to tell the story of the history of life and evolution. Dinosaurs are (part of) the history of life.”1 Two weeks later, The Straits Times featured another story with the heading “I've no God- and am proud of it”; 2 highlighting a growing number of people in Singapore who do not believe in a God and have banded together, determined to be unapologetic about being non-religious. It quoted one member saying, “The questions I had about the world, about life and death- I found my answer in science, not religion.” The group registered as the Humanist Society (Singapore) last October, calling themselves “secular humanist”, united in their rejection of a theistic or supernatural explanation of reality and prided themselves in embracing only scientific inquiry and “the indomitability of the human spirit”.
With globalisation and westernisation, Christianity in Singapore is increasingly facing the challenge of naturalism. This worldview incessantly bombards our children and youths through education, media and contemporary culture.
Naturalism claims that ‘natural causes’ alone are sufficient to explain everything that exists. It denies the existence of God or a supernatural realm.3 It attributes the origin of life to evolution. According to this theory, non-living substance gave rise to the first living material. The simple organisms reproduced, diversified and through the process of natural selection, produced all extinct and extant organisms, including humans. This random process occurred over 4.5 billion years.
This naturalist worldview leads to logical consequences: if man did not originate from God, he is not morally accountable to Him. There is no moral absolute. Abortion is a choice. Homosexuality is a right. Marriage is optional. All morality is subjective preference, reined in only by the need of law and order. If man is a product of matter, time and chance, he has no intrinsic value or meaning. Man contrives his own meaning. He has attempted to do so - from communism to capitalism, heroin to humanism, sex to science.
The life of Ernest Hemingway, one of the great novelists of the 20th century, a Nobel laureate, an existentialist* and atheist, is one such example. Hemingway’s life credo described the logical conclusion of the naturalist worldview: “Life is just a dirty trick, a short journey from nothingness to nothingness. There is no remedy for anything in life. Man’s destiny in the universe is like a colony of ants on a burning log.” To give meaning to that nothingness, Hemingway set out to experience life to the hilt. Then at age 61, after a life of notoriety as big-game hunter, adventurer and womaniser, Hemingway deliberately embraced death. He could no longer prove that he was the master of his own fate by his daredevil adventures or self indulgent lifestyle, but he could prove it by controlling the time and means of his own death.3 He committed suicide by shooting himself through the mouth with his favourite gun on 2 July 1961.
There are the skeletons (of dinosaur proportions) in the closet of naturalism. Yet naturalism claims science as its authority and uses science as its proxy against Christianity. Naturalism is portrayed as reality, facts and rational; while Christianity is relegated to the realm of values, subjectivity and even superstitions. In truth, naturalist scientists have chosen to restrict, a priori, the observable facts of the world to ‘natural causes’ (by which they mean excluding God). This bias leaves them with no alternatives but to appeal to evolution, no matter how unreasonable it may be. Evolution has been challenged by Christians and non-Christians4. It is an unproven theory and lacks scientific, statistical and philosophical evidences for its claims.5,6 The many controversies surrounding evolution have prompted scientists to propose other novel theory of origin of life.
Francis Crick, Nobel laureate of DNA fame, proposed that life on earth may have sprung from tiny organism from distant planet- sent here by spaceship as part of a deliberate act of seeding! This bizarre theory is called “directed panspermia.”7 He is not alone with this fantastical speculation. Variations of “panspermia” have been proposed by scientists from different renowned universities.8 Scientists view the world from their chosen perspective. They wear “spectacles behind their eyes.”9 This explains why naturalist scientists are willing to accept even the most absurd theories, so long as it does not require them to believe in God.
The Raffles Museum of Biodiversity is trying to raise funds to purchase a set of 3 diplodocus (affectionately named Apollo, Prince and Twinky for its kids-appeal). Prof. Peter Ng, director of the museum, explained why Singapore should have such an exhibit, “(The scientific advisory committee) wanted the museum to tell the story of the history of life and evolution. Dinosaurs are (part of) the history of life.”1 Two weeks later, The Straits Times featured another story with the heading “I've no God- and am proud of it”; 2 highlighting a growing number of people in Singapore who do not believe in a God and have banded together, determined to be unapologetic about being non-religious. It quoted one member saying, “The questions I had about the world, about life and death- I found my answer in science, not religion.” The group registered as the Humanist Society (Singapore) last October, calling themselves “secular humanist”, united in their rejection of a theistic or supernatural explanation of reality and prided themselves in embracing only scientific inquiry and “the indomitability of the human spirit”.
With globalisation and westernisation, Christianity in Singapore is increasingly facing the challenge of naturalism. This worldview incessantly bombards our children and youths through education, media and contemporary culture.
Naturalism claims that ‘natural causes’ alone are sufficient to explain everything that exists. It denies the existence of God or a supernatural realm.3 It attributes the origin of life to evolution. According to this theory, non-living substance gave rise to the first living material. The simple organisms reproduced, diversified and through the process of natural selection, produced all extinct and extant organisms, including humans. This random process occurred over 4.5 billion years.
This naturalist worldview leads to logical consequences: if man did not originate from God, he is not morally accountable to Him. There is no moral absolute. Abortion is a choice. Homosexuality is a right. Marriage is optional. All morality is subjective preference, reined in only by the need of law and order. If man is a product of matter, time and chance, he has no intrinsic value or meaning. Man contrives his own meaning. He has attempted to do so - from communism to capitalism, heroin to humanism, sex to science.
The life of Ernest Hemingway, one of the great novelists of the 20th century, a Nobel laureate, an existentialist* and atheist, is one such example. Hemingway’s life credo described the logical conclusion of the naturalist worldview: “Life is just a dirty trick, a short journey from nothingness to nothingness. There is no remedy for anything in life. Man’s destiny in the universe is like a colony of ants on a burning log.” To give meaning to that nothingness, Hemingway set out to experience life to the hilt. Then at age 61, after a life of notoriety as big-game hunter, adventurer and womaniser, Hemingway deliberately embraced death. He could no longer prove that he was the master of his own fate by his daredevil adventures or self indulgent lifestyle, but he could prove it by controlling the time and means of his own death.3 He committed suicide by shooting himself through the mouth with his favourite gun on 2 July 1961.
There are the skeletons (of dinosaur proportions) in the closet of naturalism. Yet naturalism claims science as its authority and uses science as its proxy against Christianity. Naturalism is portrayed as reality, facts and rational; while Christianity is relegated to the realm of values, subjectivity and even superstitions. In truth, naturalist scientists have chosen to restrict, a priori, the observable facts of the world to ‘natural causes’ (by which they mean excluding God). This bias leaves them with no alternatives but to appeal to evolution, no matter how unreasonable it may be. Evolution has been challenged by Christians and non-Christians4. It is an unproven theory and lacks scientific, statistical and philosophical evidences for its claims.5,6 The many controversies surrounding evolution have prompted scientists to propose other novel theory of origin of life.
Francis Crick, Nobel laureate of DNA fame, proposed that life on earth may have sprung from tiny organism from distant planet- sent here by spaceship as part of a deliberate act of seeding! This bizarre theory is called “directed panspermia.”7 He is not alone with this fantastical speculation. Variations of “panspermia” have been proposed by scientists from different renowned universities.8 Scientists view the world from their chosen perspective. They wear “spectacles behind their eyes.”9 This explains why naturalist scientists are willing to accept even the most absurd theories, so long as it does not require them to believe in God.
Our battle is not with science. The Scripture is inerrant. Scientific facts are dynamic. When the Bible is interpreted correctly and scientific facts are appropriately evaluated, there will be “No Final Conflict”.10 The battle is for the mind, a worldview. We are commanded to “love the Lord your God....with all your mind” (Lk10:27). This is a mind so controlled by the Word of God that it changes our whole outlook on ourselves, our family, our friends, our society, our country and the world. This outlook is reflected not only in personal piety, corporate worship and works of charity but also onto the totality of life and reality which includes science, education, economics, culture and politics. With a Christian worldview the ‘terrible lizards’ can be ‘missionary lizards’, a bridge through which we explain the magnificence of the Creator, the fall of man and God’s redemption. I hope to have the dinosaurs in Singapore. Tonight, I made a donation to the Raffles Museum of Biodiversity at http://rmbr.nus.edu.sg/dino
*Glossary
naturalist - a
person who adopts philosophical naturalism
existentialism –
the theory that humans are free and responsible for their own actions in a
world without meaning
References:
1. Tan
Dawn Wei. The Sunday Times, 10 July
2011
2. Yen
Feng. The Straits Times, 23 July 2011
3. Charles Colson. How
now shall we live? (Tyndale House
Publishers,1999) p.20, p.260
4. Michael Denton.
Evolution: A Theory in Crisis (Adler &Adler,1986)
5. Philip E Johnson.
Darwin on Trial (InterVarsity Press,1991)
6. Robert E Kofahl.
The Creation Explanation: A Scientific Alternative to Evolution (Harold
Shaw,1975)
7. FHC Crick, LE Origel. Directed Panspermia. Icarus 19 (1973):341-346
8. J Madeleine Nash. Was the cosmos seeded with life? Time, Aug 19, 1996
9. N R Hanson. Perception
and Discovery: An introduction to Scientific Inquiry. (Freeman, Cooper & Co
1969)
10.Francis
Schaeffer. No Final Conflict
(InterVarsity Press, 1975)
Note: ST Wed., 7
Sep 2011.The Raffles Museum of Biodiversity has since secured the purchase of
the dinosaurs, thanks to the last-minute multimillion dollar donation from a
mystery donor.
