What is Christmas Really About?

If you are wondering what Christmas is really all about, check out this video:

That's Christmas! from St Helen’s Church on Vimeo.

Let me know what you think.

Stephen Hawking's New Book Critiqued by Alister McGrath

This Review & Critique of Hawking's book was published on the ABC religion website:

Every shrewd publicist knows that the best way to sell a book is to generate lots of advance publicity. That's why there's been such interest in Stephen Hawking's latest work declaring that there is no need for God to light the blue touch paper of the cosmic firework.

In his latest book, The Grand Design - released in Australia today - Hawking declares, "Because there is a law such as gravity, the Universe can and will create itself from nothing. Spontaneous creation is the reason there is something rather than nothing, why the Universe exists, why we exist."

The "big bang" just happened spontaneously, the outcome of the laws of physics, not a cosmic designer. It's a great way to promote a book. And it's also a great way to keep the age-old debate about God going, as it raises such interesting questions. Let me explore some of these.

I used to be a scientist myself. My undergraduate degree from Oxford was in chemistry, and my first doctorate in molecular biophysics. It's widely agreed that the natural sciences are neither atheistic nor theistic. They just don't operate at that level.

They can certainly be interpreted in religious or anti-religious ways. The militant atheist Richard Dawkins uses science as a weapon in his war against religion. But others see science and religious faith as mutually illuminating.

For example, Francis Collins's book The Language of God argues that belief in God makes more sense of science than atheism. Both sides can be argued, neither has been able to prove its case, and both are entirely reasonable.

So what about Hawking's latest book? Does this move things along? I don't think so. My scientific colleagues in Oxford and London are puzzled by Hawking's bold declarations about God, mainly because they are such speculative interpretations of what is already a very speculative theory.


The rest of the article (on the ABC website) can be found HERE. It's well worth a read

Can I Trust the Bible? Isn't it full of Myths and Fairy Tales?

In talking with students at UWS and elsewhere, one of the common responses when talking about Christianity is that you can't trust the Bible as your source or authority to live by because it is full of myths and other made-up stories. Like the fairy tales of the Grimm Brothers, people say, you may be able to draw some moral from the tale, but can you really trust it?

The first thing to consider is the attitude of the Bible itself toward 'myth'. A number of passages in the Bible speak strongly against the propagation of myths. These include 1 Timothy 1:4; 1 Timothy 4:7; 2 Timothy 4:4 and Titus 1:14:

rebuke them sharply, so that they will be sound in the faith and will pay no attention to Jewish myths or to the commands of those who reject the truth.

In these passages the apostle warns his hearers of the danger of 'myths'. In contrast he urges Christian leaders to teach the truth. Nowhere in the Bible are myths spoken of positively! If myths are so strongly condemned within the Bible and the truth is held up as the standard, then it is hard to argue that the Bible is full of myths.

So if the stories of the Bible are not myths, then what are they?

To answer this question we must look more at what the Bible is, rather than what the opponents of Biblical Christianity claim it is.

Perhaps the most important issue is what the writers of the Gospels (the four accounts of Jesus' Life found at the beginning of the new Testament) thought they were writing.

Richard Dawkins debates John Lennox on 'The God Delusion'

One of the most famous debates in recent times on the relationship between Science & Christianity was between Professor Richard Dawkins (of Oxford) and Profesor John Lennox (also of Oxford). Held at the University of Alabama in Birmingham in 2008. The topic was specifically the title of Dawkins' book, The God Delusion.

The video can be found here. The whole debate goes for an hour and 40 minutes (153 MB!). Let us know what you think.

Links on the Relationship Between Science & Christianity

In our discussions at CBM I offered to put up some links to helpful sites/ articles that look at the issues in more detail. Here are the first few:

“Why not Every Scientist Worships at Darwin’s Feet”
- An Article by Professor John Lennox (Professor of Mathematics at Oxford University) from the Sydney Morning Herald of August 17th, 2008.

Has Science Disproved the Existence of God?
- A good summary from Cornerstone church, Nottingham, UK.
Includes this claim: “Indeed it might surprise you to know that of the 500 or so people who attend Cornerstone there are currently over thirty doctors of science of one sort or another. These range from a professor of microbiology, doctors in biology, medical doctors, metallurgists, pharmacists, engineers and physicists, all of whom are committed Christians who see no conflict between their faith and their field of study.”

I Believe in Nature: An Exploration of Naturalism and the Biblical Worldview.
- A detailed and well researched article by Australian author Kirsten Birkett who wrote Unnatural Enemies: An Introduction to Science and Christianity. A PDF file of the article can be downloaded from the same site.

The Complementary Nature of Science and Christianity
– an online booklet by Dick Tripp that examines the foundations of science and the relationship between the ‘book of nature’ and ‘the book of God’s word’.

Hasn't Science Disproved Christianity??

When people are asked to consider Christianity one of the replies that is commonly heard is "Hasn't Science Disproved Christianity?"

Many people assume that the advances in science from the time of the 17th century - not least the theories of Darwin - have effectively repudiated the claims of the Bible. They assume that 'Scientific Worldview' has done away with the 'Christian Worldview'. At the very least they assume that Science and Christianity are incompatible.

But is this the case?

In week 5 there will be two addresses by Richard Blight on the relationship between science and Christianity. In particular he will consider whether science disproves the claims of the Bible about God. Richard is a graduate in both Science and Theology, and will draw on his own experience of reconciling Science and Christianity.

At UWS Bankstown Campus in Week 5

Tuesday 24th August 1-2 pm Rm 23.G.40
Thursday 26th August 1-2 pm Rm 1.1.80

There will be a talk followed by time for questions and discussion.

All are welcome

Response to Global Atheism

Dr Greg Clark of the Centre for Public Christianity has begun a series on 'A response to Global Atheism' with an article on 'The Accident of Unbelief'. In particular it addresses the issue of the rarity of genuine Atheists.

Check it out here: http://publicchristianity.org/response_to_GA1.html

Professor John Lennox on the problem of Suffering and Evil

This video of Professor John Lennox (Oxford) talking about the arguments for God's goodness - both intellectual and emotional - comes from the Centre for Public Christianity, an organisation based in Sydney. They have lots of other resources discussing the foundations of Christian belief:

A good God? from CPX on Vimeo.

Check out more about Professor Lennox and more of what he says here: http://www.publicchristianity.com/lennoxvids.html

Is God Really Good?

In week 5 of Semester 1, 2010, CBM at UWS Bankstown will be running a series of talks on the topic: "IS GOD REALLY GOOD?" We would love you to comment or respond to the idea. If it is appropriate then we will ask our speaker to respond to your questions or comments. We will also try to answer questions on this blog.

Christians have always maintained that God, the God of the Bible and of Jesus, is good. But what does this mean? Is it simply a philosophical argument ie. That "whatever God does is by definition good", or is there more to it than that. What does it mean to say that God is 'good" in his essence? And what about the bad or evil things that take place in the world - what do they say about God's essential goodness?

What do you think - is God really good? Why or Why not?

Welcome to "God Talk at UWS"

I would like to welcome you to the blog that has been set up to facilitate the discussion about God and religion generally at UWS (The University of Western Sydney in NSW, Australia).

This discussion will be run by Campus Bible Ministries, a student group that runs on all the campuses of UWS. (The website can be found at mycbm.org.au.) However the discussion is open to anyone who wants to ask a question or make a comment. As long as you are reasonably polite in the way you write we will allow your post to stand and do our best to provide a reply.

We hope that this blog helps you in your quest to find out more about God.

Richard