Science and Christianity (I): Friends or Foes

“¹Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good,

His love endures for ever.

²Give thanks to the God of gods,

His love endures for ever.

³Give thanks to the Lord of lords:

His love endures for ever.

⁴to him who alone does great wonders,

His love endures for ever.

⁵who by his understanding made the heavens,

His love endures for ever.

⁶who spread out the earth upon the waters,

His love endures for ever.

⁷who made the great lights –

His love endures for ever.

⁸the sun to govern the day,

His love endures for ever.

⁹the moon and stars to govern the night;

His love endures for ever.

²⁶Give thanks to the God of heaven.

His love endures for ever.”

Psalm 136:1-9, 26

 

 

R. J. Berry, Professor of Genetics at University College London, has said that God has written two books, the Book of His World and the Book of His Word – Nature and the Bible, Science and the Scriptures. In order to fully grasp God’s message to mankind we need to be experts at reading both books. However, the relationship between readers of both books has gone through stages of tumult and storm followed by stages of quiet and concord.

Barnabas – a man for our times (2): Acts 9:10-31

Sometimes, in the Providence of God, things happen which shock and surprise us. Back at the beginning of June, the Russian air force made a mistake in its calculations. It was trying to manipulate the weather above Moscow to keep it from raining on one particular public holiday. Now this can be done by dropping cement from a plane at high altitude – the cement powder absorbs the moisture from the clouds and empties the skies of liquid water. But this time, instead of dropping cement powder, the Russian air force dropped a 25kg load of cement – still in its bag – from very high altitude above Moscow. Needless to say, a few moments later, a Moscow householder was shocked and surprised to find a metre-wide hole in her roof and a bag of cement in the middle of her sitting room. Talk about shock and surprise!

 

In the loving sovereignty of God, there could have been no greater surprise for the early church than the conversion of Saul of Tarsus. But one can understand the initial coolness of the early Christians to Saul. They had him down as an enemy and they couldn’t believe that what God had worked in him was genuine. And into the mess of an uncertain Saul and an uncertain Church, steps God’s encourager – Barnabas. Bearing in mind that our greatest need is to be encouraged and to be encouragers, I want to see two things about this most surprising event: first, from vs. 10-26, every reason for pain; and secondly, from vs. 27-31, one man devoted to peace.

Barnabas – a man for our times (I): Acts 4:36-37

Recently, Gwent Police released a photofit of a wanted man – a thief who had stolen the life savings of a 98 year old woman. The problem is that the all the photofit shows is a mouth – everything else about the man’s face is obscured by a baseball cap. This photofit could therefore fit the bill for literally tens of thousands of young men in Britain today – it could be anyone.

 

If I was trying to identify someone in the Bible by using just the word ‘encourager’ – all of us would have no problem in pointing to the suspect – Barnabas. I want to begin a short study in the life of Barnabas because I believe one of our greatest needs today is to be encouraged. The Western Church is full of tired, weak, critical and despairing Christians – how we need to be encouraged, and to be encouragers of others! My hope is that we turn what we learn of Barnabas’ ministry of encouragement into prayers of repentance and prayers for God’s strength to encourage others.