This was the final exam question for my Core 300 class in at Spring Arbor University, Biblical History and Literature, taught by Dr. Chuck White.  All of this information is either from lectures or ideas from How Now Shall We Live by Charles Colson.

Science can be very unreliable -- it is not always certain.
There is evidence against it, and there is evidence in God's favor!

• Scientists cheat
• Hume's disbeliefs
• Chance
• Limit to selection
• Irreducible complexity theory
• 12-step argument for Christianity

In Miller's experiments, scientists made what they called "life" (actually all they made was a form of amino acids -- some of which are necessary components for life) from chemicals in an effort to prove that life did not have to be a result of God.  However:

• The chemicals and the surrounding environment used in these experiments did not provide the same conditions that there were when life would have formed according to the theory of evolution.  Any necessary changes were made to get the desired result -- life.  If life really did form from chemicals, as these experiments "prove", the chemicals and environment would most likely have been unpure and contaminated by who knows what!
• Amino acids (a part of DNA) did emerge from the chemicals, but they were useless for life.  There are what are called "right-handed" and also "left-handed" amino acids.  Left-handed amino acids are needed for life.  But only right-handed amino acids were formed in these experiments.
• The amino acids created were linked in a random order.  In order for life to be formed, they must be in a specific order.

• There is no objective reality
• There is no way to really tell what something is caused by, or what something causes.
• There is not necessarily continuity of nature -- who really knows if the sun will come up tomorrow?

There is too much chance involved to be confident of the Big Bang, evolution, etc.

• The chance of amino acids and proteins formed in experiments being all left-handed and in the specific order to create life is very slim.
• The Many Worlds Hypothesis says that there is life elsewhere in the universe.  However...
• There are 19 factors necessary for life to exist.  There is only one star in 10²⁶ stars that has these 19 factors.
• There are only 10²³ stars in the universe.
• That means there is only one chance in 1000 that Earth would even exist at all.
• Even if the argument of natural selection is valid, it is still designed!  It must have been, because it's perfect!  What are the chances of that?
• The size and shape of Earth's orbit is perfect for life.  If it were any closer to the sun, it would burn up, and if it were any farther away, it would freeze.  Life could not exist on Earth in these cases.
• Gravity is perfect.  If it were any stronger, the universe would have collapsted into the sun.  If it were any weaker, everything would be moving away from the sun too quickly, and formations of stars would never have been made.
• DNA contains so much information that it could not possibly have come about by chance or law.  It must be by design (according to Dembski's filter theory).  DNA has such a high information content, while anything by chance or law has a low information content.
• Mutations -- the idea just doesn't work!
• A mutation is an error in the genetic code.  Therefore it generally causes more problems than good.
• The probability of evolution occurring is only one chance in 10²¹.
• There are 10⁸⁰ particles in the universe.
• 10⁴² mutations can occur per second.
• It has been approximately 10¹⁷ seconds since the Big Bang.
• There is only once chance in 10²¹ that 500 positive mutations will occur in a row, for humans to evolve.

• Provine vs. Johnson debate
• Provine says there is no limit to selection while Johnson disagrees and says that the limit is the creation of a new species (maybe millions of changes in a species can take place, but a new species will never be formed).
• If there was no limit, we should have been able to make a new species of dresophila (fruit flies) since they have a short life span and are ideal for experimentation, but we have only made fruit flies with bigger wings, different eyes, etc.  They are still fruit flies, not new species.

• A mousetrap only works when it has all of its parts.  Take away the cheese and the mouse doesn't approach the trap.  Take away the lever that holds the cheese, and even if the mouse were to approach the trap, it wouldn't do anything.  Take away the part that comes down on the mouse, and all it would be is a mouse feeder.  All the parts have to be there for it to work.
• If a fish were to evolve into a land animal, then at some point, the breathing device would have to change.  A land animal with gills would suffocate, and a fish with lungs would drown.

1. There was a Jesus of Nazareth.
• Ossuaries (bones in jars) have been found with notes that said "Jesus help me" from times when Jesus was alive.
• Documentary evidence
• Josephus - Antiques of the Jews
• Tecitus - Annals
• Surtonius - Claudius
• Sanhedrin - Tulmud
2. Gospels are reasonably historically accurate.
• They are written by eye-witnesses, or recorded testimony of eye-witnesses.
• They are written in close time to the events that were recorded.
• They are accurate when compared to other contemporary documents (peoples' titles, etc.)
3. Jesus thought he was God.
• He claimed to forgive sins.  (Mark 2:10)
• He said, "I and the Father are one."  (John 10:30)
• He answered "yes" to the question at his trial, "Are you the Christ the son of God?"  (Matt 26:63)
4. Jesus either was God or wasn't, and he either knew who he was or didn't.
• If Jesus is God and knows it, he is LORD.
• If Jesus is God and doesn't know it, that is absurd.
• If Jesus isn't God, and says he is, he is a liar.
• If Jesus isn't God, and doesn't know who he is, he is a lunatic.
5. Jesus said he would prove that he was God by rising from the dead.  (Matt 12:40)
6. Jesus was crucified by Pontius Pilat and did die on the cross.  (John 19:33-34)
7. On the third day after Jesus died on the cross, his tomb was empty.
8. Jesus was seen alive by more than 500 people.
9. His disciples came to believe he was God.
• They did not expect him to die.
• They did not expect him to rise from the dead.
• They were Jews to whom the idea of a God-man was incredible.
10. The explanation that Jesus rose from the dead is the most reasonable explanation of data.
11. If Jesus told the truth when he claimed he would rise from the dead, it is reasonable to believe he told the truth when he claimed to be God.
12. If Jesus is God of the universe, he should be God of my life -- and yours!