Well, this is the final installment of the "Sitting in the Kitchen" sermon series. This has been an amazing experience just preparing these messages. Honestly, it has also been a mentally draining experience as well. I am kind of glad that I don't have to write a sermon for this Sunday - give my brain a chance to rest. I am starting to get excited about the next series of sermons that will be coming this summer focusing in on the fruits of the Spirit. More details coming later.
Anyway, here is the outline of some of the key points from this past Sunday's sermon on the conflict between faith and science and reason. You can listen to the whole sermon online at www.fbc-elon.org/podcast.
1. The debate of "How can you believe that ...?" Faith asks how you can believe in evolution and Big Bang; reason asks how you can believe in intelligent design and creation. Faith asks how you can believe in theories; reason asks how you can believe in miracles.
2. Matthew 22:37 - "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind."
3. We are called not just to love God in our mind, but with our mind. Our mind is to be actively engaged in our devotion to God.
4. We engage the mind in devotion to God by searching to understand - Proverbs 30:1-2, 24-28. Wisdom is gained by observing even the tiniest creatures and learning from their behavior. Isn't that what science and education are all about, observing life and understanding what we observe?
5. There is a limit to what we can understand - Job 42:3, 1 Corinthians 13 ("now we see through the mirror dimly"), Isaiah 55:8-9 - the presence of mystery.
6. Hebrews 11:1 - faith is born when we encounter the things that we cannot fully explain or prove but know to be true.
7. Reason is not the enemy of faith, but can be a tool for enhancing and building faith. Reason cannot replace faith because faith is what guides me through the things I cannot understand or explain.
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