More Than a Theory by Hugh Ross

I recently discovered Hugh Ross. I suppose I am behind the curve, but oh well. As soon as I heard of him, I went on the library site and immediately put on hold every book they had by him. The first book I received was More Than a Theory:Revealing a Testable Model for Creation. I'm not sure if it was the best book to begin with, but that's how it goes. 

He states up front that, “The purpose of this book is to present a creation explanation for the record of nature in an acceptable scientific form.” So I gather this is a book written primarily to fellow scientists. However, I as a lay person with little scientific bona fides, I struggled a bit. However, he states that the debate really seeks to answer, not so much the question of how we got here, but what does life mean. That I could get behind!

To my mind, he never quite laid out exactly what the Reasons To Believe (his foundation) model actually is. I know what it is not because he makes it clear what they are to be tested against. His theory is not Darwinian Evolution, Young Earth Creationism, Old Earth Creationism, Progressive Creationists, Theistic Evolution, or Intelligent Design. 

However, on the website, he offers this:

Reasons to Believe uses the term model in reference to our effort to summarize physical (observational) and biblical data relevant to creation into a coherent explanatory framework. The following foundational beliefs help shape how we interpret the data.

1. The Bible (including Genesis 1–11) is the error-free word of God.
2. The creation account of Genesis 1 follows a basic chronology.
3. The record of nature is also a reliable revelation from God.
4. The message of nature will agree with what the Bible says.
5. The Bible contains a selective summary description of God’s creation activity (e.g., no mention of dinosaurs, bipedal primates, quantum mechanics, or the existence of other solar system planets).
6. God gives humans the privilege to fill in the details, carefully, through patient, ongoing exploration and increased understanding of the natural realm.

Hugh Ross found that the Bible spoke to his own scientific mindedness when he was in high school. He saw evidence of the scientific method in Genesis 1 and 2 and believes the scientific method actually owes its start to the Reformers reading of Scripture. Therefore, he believes the Bible’s own theory of creation will withstand rigorous scientific testing. 

In fact, he uses the rest of the book to show how further scientific knowledge confirms, rather than denies, the Biblical account. He states, “Science has now verified the Bible’s ancient claim that the universe’s causal Agent exists and operates from outside the universe. The space-time theorems of general relativity and the proven reliability of general relativity to accurately describe cosmic dynamics establish that the universe’s causal Agent is not bound by space, time, mater, energy, or the physical laws in any way. All these entities were created by a Source beyond themselves.”

He talks a bit about the new theory of Multiverses to explain away all the “fine-tuning” arguments. It has become apparent to even the most atheistic of scientists that our universe definitely looks designed. The Multiverse theory is the last gasp of scientists sputtering, “But it cannot be.” It is, in effect, the way they admit believers are right, but maintain their dignity. 

Ross ends by describing the hunger students have for a correlation between science and faith. He gives examples of people whose interest in science was awakened when they discovered there might actually be a point to all of this. 

And in the end, isn’t that the point?!?