Beyond Church at St Peter's Morley

It is obvious that if scientists cannot yet create dirt then surely God is the greatest scientist of all time, leaving markers or evidence of His power for us to find and marvel at.I find it interesting that some of the Apollo Astronaunts who went to the moon as ‘scientists’, came back and devoted their lives to Christ the following week!

Science helps us to understand and appreciate the wonders of God and his creation. Every age feels that it has found all the answers but time shows that there is always more to marvel at and discover. We can never have all the answers but God and science together help us further our knowledge.

Hello,
http://www.beyondchurch.org.uk – da best. Keep it going!

Religion & science are wholly (as apposed to holy) compatable, it is only when man, or woman, decides that in the light of current knowledge God was not required to start the whole process nor provide the guiding hand thereafter (lets ignore creation versus evolution as it matters not in this instance) they cannot prove that God was not required and until they can prove it I shall continue to believe in God. I also believe they never will prove that a God was not required because there is a God! SO THERE YAH BOO SUCKS to the unbelieving scientists!
Sorry about the appalling spelling – can we have a spell check please?

Jesus was born circa 5BC with ample evidence of the approx year, including the comet that the Magi followed.
The Gospels tell us Caesar Augustus decreed that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world and Joseph & Mary had to travel from Nazereth to Bethlehem because Joseph belonged to the house and line of David.
As I understand, there is no evidence of a census being decreed or carried out around this time which given the immense task involved it is unlikely that the records would have vanished without trace.
Did Joseph & Mary travel to Bethlehem for an unrecorded census?
Did Joseph & Mary travel to Bethlehem for a different reason?
Did Joseph & Mary travel to Bethlehem to fullfil the propheses?
OR are the scriptures wrong and Jesus was born elsewhere, but his place of birth is given as Bethlehem to fullfil the propheses?
Having read articles and watched documentries where members of the Church have agreed that Jesus was probably not born in Bethlehem, I am confused.
Can anyone clarify the situation for me please?

Hello everyone! I’ve just logged onto the blog and found myself being drawn closer and closer to writing a response, so here it is…

I have believed for a long time that much of what science teaches is affirmed through my own belief in God. It is well known that some of the most famous physicists around the world are also Christians.

Quite a few years ago, along with half the planet it seems, I read one of Dan Brown’s books: Angels and Daemons. In this novel the writer refers to the ‘God Particle’, something science has been battling to find for many, many years: the particles that were present at the ‘big bang’, particles that apparently only existed for micro-seconds.

It is worth noting that science has yet to find its own answer to the ‘big bang’ theory, the moment when creation began. Even if they find this all allusive particle that was present at the moment the Universe was created, they are still unable to explain HOW it began! Well, we Christians already know that answer surely?

“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters. And God said, ‘Let there by light,’ and there was light.”

I was recently asked about my faith by someone who has never been to church, specifically about my belief in God. My answer was simple: “I don’t have a belief in God; I KNOW God exists. I see God’s hand in all that I see. I see God’s creation around me each and every day, from the fields at harvest to the people I am with. I do not believe God exits, I KNOW God exists.”

My blessings and prayers are with you all at St Peter’s Morley. God bless you all.

Daniel

I have just read a book ‘Is God A Delusion’ by Nicky Gumbel which challenges the book ‘The God Delusion’ by Richard Dawkins. There follows a few thoughts not a book review, if you want to read the book it will be in St Peter’s library.

Atheist – doesn’t believe in God but can’t prove ‘no God’.
Christian – believes in God but can’t prove ‘God exists’.

Christians are accused of having ‘faith’ in something that cannot be proven BUT atheists also have ‘faith’ in the belief of ‘no God’ which also cannot be proven. So both atheists and christians believe in something that cannot be proven ie faith.

Scientists both christian and atheist generally agree on HOW the universe was formed (big bang, how life evolved etc) and that it followed the order set out in Genesis but over a longer period of time. What science cannot answer is WHY it happened and WHY it evolved in the way it did and WHO/WHAT triggered that very first reaction that led to it all happening.

We christians believe (faith again) that God was the instigator and guiding hand and He continues in that role.
Atheists really don’t have a credable answer as to where the first ‘particles’ came from to start it all off!

So the logical answer is be a christian, have faith and believe in God.

Read Nicky’s book, it written in understadable english and is well worth the effort.

Alan

Some interesting views here but Alan is missing the point about Atheism – it is not “faith” in “no God”, it is lack of faith in a God – these are not the same. It is logically impossible to prove the non-existence of something and thus an attempt to discredit atheism by reference to it’s inability to disprove the existence of God is meaningless. The burden of proof is always on the claimant to prove the claim.

However, “faith” requires that the adherer to the belief does so in the absence of proof. Thus, the inability to prove the existence of God is a necessary condition to believing in God. Those that do so accept this, those that don’t do not.

After all, of God’s existence could really be proved, incontrovertibly, there would only be one religion and everybody would be a member of it.

As a final comment, I personally have never found any problem with the idea that things have “just happened” and the universe “just happens” to be here and we “just happen” to be in it. I would be interested to hear why others think there has to be a reason.

Hi Ian
Thanks for your comments. it would appear that there are several versions of Atheism as the Atheists I have known, and do know, deny the existance of a God. Therefore they believe there is no God ie they have faith in there not being a God rather than a ‘lack of faith in a God’.
I don’t seek to discredit atheism, I only reiterate the points made by Nicky Gumbel in response to Richard Dawkins. I am a commited Christian and believe that God exists but I accept that other people think differently to me and will defend their right to put forward their beliefs.
I don’t know where you live, but if you are ever in Morley on a Sunday pop into the church for a cuppa and a chat, I would love to meet you.
Regards
Alan

The web page is full of remarkable advice and also is very fun to take a look at.

Nicely carried out:)

Leave a Reply