Tenet film review

What seems like ages ago in the future we went to see Tenet the first Saturday in September.  Time flies when you're having fun. 

There's this thing, right, that weaponises time so that bullets reverse fire and bombs unexplode. Cars go backwards too. Mostly stuff goes forwards, though, but sometimes in the past the future happens at the same time. And if you're from the future you'll need to wear an oxygen mask now. 

Got to be careful not to bump into your past self when you drop in from the future, as you may end up having a scrap with him [you]. And be sure not to kill your grandparents, as then you may not get born in the future to kill them and that will change the past. They do things differently there.

Confused?

There was an explainer in The Times the other Saturday. Explained that the science behind the film wasn't too facty. With my grade 5 CSE Physics, I think I got that.

Kenneth Branagh is a Russian baddie, Andrei Sator. Bit of a megalomaniac. Dying. No going gentle into that good night for him. Going to take the world with him by nuking the time travelling widget. This is a cause of some domestic tensions with his wife, Kat, a willowy blonde played by Elizabeth Debicki. Basically reprising her role in Night Watchman. Sator probably should have discussed it with her first. Would have been OK, then. 

Anyway, good job The Protagonist (John David Washington) is on hand to save the day and set things up for a sequel. Spoiler, the world doesn't really end, yet. 

If you find criss-crossing, time-shifting narrative arcs confusing, this one's going to do your head in. Like Inception, but not as much as Little Women. 

Now for the hidden theological message bit. The future invades the present, now and not yet. 

All clear now? 

An interview with Professor Stuart Burgess: 'Science & Faith: Harmony or Conflict'

Earlier this evening I interviewed Stuart Burgess, professor of Engineering Design at Bristol University. Among other things we discussed whether the Christian faith is compatible with science and whether it is possible for human beings to have personal knowledge of their Creator. I enjoyed our consersation. Hopefully you will too. 

 

'Faith and Science: Harmony or Conflict?' An interview with Stuart Burgess

On Sunday 27 September at 6.00pm I will be interviewing Professor Stuart Burgess on 'Faith and Science: Harmony or Conflict?'. The interview will be livestreamed here on our Church Facebook page.

Stuart Burgess is a professor of Engineering Design at Bristol University. He has worked for the European Space Agency on spacecraft design and also worked for the British Olympic Cycling Team, designing the chain transmission for the Rio and Tokyo Olympics. He has published over 170 scientific papers on the science of design in engineering and nature and received several national awards including the 2019 IMechE Clayton Prize for the biggest contribution to mechanical engineering science in the UK.

Objection to Westbury Incinerator Plans

I emailed this letter to Wiltshire Council. The deadline for responses is 22 September. Send yours to: Developmentmanagement@wiltshire.gov.uk or see here for the Wiltshire Council planning application page. 

Dear Sir/Madam,

Westbury Incinerator planning number 20/06775/WCM

We are writing to object to the planned Westbury Incinerator at Northacre Industrial Estate.

Many people living in the town already suffer with chronic health problems. Cancer and lung condition deaths are higher here than across Wiltshire. 

Poor air quality has been exacerbated by HGVs being diverted from Bath onto the A350 through Westbury. The Incinerator would mean an additional 20,000 truck journeys a year around the town. 

Smoke billowing from the Incinerator chimney would make the situation even worse, further damaging the health of Westbury residents.

The children and young people of the town deserve better than to have their lives blighted by growing up in the shadow of this environmentally disastrous development. 

We would urge that Wiltshire Council oppose the Incinerator plans submitted by Northacre Renewable Energy Ltd.

Yours sincerely....

See the Westbury Gasification Action Group for more information. 

The Mystery of Christ: His Covenant & His Kingdom by Samuel Renihan (review part 1)

Founders Press, 2019, 217pp

In his earlier title, From Shadow to Substance: The Federal Theology of the English Particular Baptists (1642-1704), Samuel Renihan set out to demonstrate that the federal theology of the seventeenth English Particular Baptists was a legitimate strain within Reformed covenant theology. A work of historical theology, in it the author compared and contrasted the views of Nehemiah Coxe and others with mainline Orthodox Reformed thought. The Mystery of Christ: His Kingdom & His Covenant is a fresh and original study in its own right. The focus here is on how the twin themes of covenant and kingdom disclose the 'mystery of Christ' as they unfold in biblical revelation. 

Methodology 

Renihan begins by clearing the ground, dealing with matters of methodology and defining key terms. He makes an important distinction between our obligation to God by virtue of creation and covenant-based relationships. As God's creatures, human beings are subject to 'natural law'. Keeping the law in that sense would not merit a reward, for God is due our entire obedience. In a covenant relationship, however, God may be pleased of his own free goodness to reward obedience with the promise of life. Covenants often involve 'positive laws' that go beyond the universal moral standards of natural law. The command that Adam should not eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil is an example of positive law, as is the command that the descendants of Abraham should be circumcised. Positive laws are contingent on specific covenant relationships. They cannot of necessity be carried forward into different covenant dispensations. The positive rules and regulations of the old covenant no longer apply in new covenant era, as in Christ we have the substance to which they pointed. 

Another important distinction is made between the law and the gospel. In a stark sense law and gospel are polar opposites. The former demands perfect obedience to God's commands, the latter offers Christ's perfect imputed righteousness to the believing sinner. But in terms of the historic biblical covenants, law and gospel are both present. While the old covenant is often described as 'the law', it also held out the promise of life in Christ. While the new covenant underscores that salvation is by faith alone, the law is written on the hearts of believers and its righteous requirements are fulfilled in those who walk not according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. As Robert Letham points out, all the biblical covenants are based on grace, yet regulated by law. (Systematic Theology, Robert Letham, Crossway, 2019, p. 364-365). 

The old covenant bore witness to Christ though it's types and shadows, but the full revelation of Messiah and his work was not yet made known. That is why Paul refers to the 'mystery of Christ' (Ephesians 3:4, Colossians 4:3). Biblical revelation is progressive. Covenant theology should be sensitive to history and mystery and not try to flatten the upward curve of God's self-disclosure in Christ. 

Renihan sees an intimate connection between the themes of covenant and kingdom. A covenant is a guaranteed commitment between two parties. Promises are attached to the fulfilment of covenant obligations. Sanctions or threats give the covenant arrangement legal sanction. In terms of the biblical covenants God promises blessing to those who are faithful to his covenant and threatens judgement upon those who break its terms. Remarkably, the Lord took the sanctions upon himself when formalising his covenant with Abraham, Genesis 15:9-10, 17-20. 

Three Kingdoms 

God contracts his covenants with federal heads, or representative figures. That was certainly the case with the covenants associated with Adam, Noah, David and Christ. Blessings or sanctions flow from the federal heads to those who belong to them. "Covenants function as the legal basis upon which God interacts with man in a given kingdom." (p. 54). This applies to the three kingdoms God established, each governed by their own specific covenants. The Lord governs the Kingdom of Creation by means of the Covenant of Works and the Noahic Covenant. The Kingdom of Israel is constituted by the Abrahamic, Mosaic and Davidic Covenants. Finally the Kingdom of Christ is the realisation of the Covenant of Redemption and Covenant of Grace. 

The Kingdom of Creation 

Although the word 'covenant' may not be used of God's relationship with humanity in Adam (but see Hosea 6:7), all the essential elements of a biblical covenant are present. By virtue of his creation, Adam was obligated to obey God, both in terms of 'natural law' and also his God-given task of exercising dominion over the creation. But beyond that, Adam was the recipient of covenantal promises and sanctions. He was promised access to the tree of life and the reward of entering God's rest once his work of subduing creation had been completed. He was threatened with the sanction of death and expulsion from the garden sanctuary of Eden if he disobeyed God by eating of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. 

Adam did not deserve the blessings of life and rest. In his goodness God condescended to bestow these rewards upon him on the condition of obedience, This was a covenant of works. That Adam was the federal head of the covenant of works is evident from the fact that all humanity fell with him into sin and death according to the Genesis account. This is further spelt out in Romans 5:12-21 and 1 Corinthians 15:21-22.

The covenant of works has now been abrogated. There is no way back to Eden, no second chance to keep its command to refrain from eating of the forbidden tree. Humanity remains under the curse of this broken covenant, however. Sin reigns in death over all people in Adam. The moral law continues to demand obedience to God, but sinners cannot live up to its requirements and so attract God's condemnation and wrath for their transgressions. 

The promise of salvation through a deliverer immediately after the fall was the first revelation of the covenant of grace, Genesis 3:15. It was only by means of this covenant that the protology of the covenant of works would be brought to its eschatological fulfilment in Christ. As Isaac Watts sang, 'In him the tribes of Adam boast/more blessings than their father lost." 

Under the Noahic covenant, after the judgement of the flood the Lord promised to preserve the 'common kingdom' of sin-ruined creation until Christ came to make all things new. "The mystery of Christ will unfold in this theatre of preservation." (p. 82).

The Kingdom of Israel 

In common with the Particular Baptist tradition Renihan links the Abrahamic, Mosaic and Davidic covenants as variegated expressions of the old covenant. These covenants flowed from God's grace towards Israel, but they are not in themselves administrations of the covenant of grace. They were intended to serve as 'covenants of promise' through which Messiah would be born into the world and bring blessing to Israel and all peoples. While the promise of Messiah though the seed of Abraham entailed a further revelation of the covenant of grace, life in the Promised Land was conditional upon Israel fulfilling her covenant obligations. In that sense the old covenant was a covenant of works, but that does not mean it was a republication of the Adamic covenant. 

The laws associated with the Mosaic covenant elaborated upon the covenant obligations that the Lord imposed upon Abraham, Genesis 17:1, 9-11. But the people of Israel were not saved by keeping those laws. Rather, like Abraham, salvation was for those who believed the promise of blessing through Messiah, Genesis 15:6 cf. Romans 4. Not all of Abraham's descendants believed the promise that was revealed to them through the types and shadows of the old covenant, Romans 9. The law had no power to compel obedience. Israel was often wayward and rebellious. Their covenant breaking led to Israel being expelled from the Promised Land. 

The kings in the line of David acted as federal heads of the whole nation. The kingdom of Israel rose or fell according to the faithfulness of their earthly rulers, 2 Samuel 7, Psalm 89. 

The people of Israel were in a highly privileged position. From the descendants of Abraham and David would come the longed for Christ. But Israel broke the terms of the old covenant. Her kingdom lay in ruins. A new covenant and kingdom was therefore needed, Jeremiah 31:31-34. 

I think I'll leave it there for now. In part 2 of the review we will look at what Renihan has to say about the Kingdom of Christ and then move from an attempt to summarise his thesis to constructive appraisal. One critical point that I would make is that The Mystery of Christ isn't available in the UK, or can only be ordered if you are willing to pay a handsome price for p&p. Mine is a review copy courtesy  of Founders Press. I hope they soon are able to sort out a UK distribution deal. 

See here for part 2 and part 3 of this review series. 

Life: It's a risky business

 

For months the government’s message to its citizens was, ‘Stay At Home, Save Lives, Protect the NHS’. Now that lockdown measures are easing ministers would like us to venture out a bit more. Workers should leave the comforts of home and get back to the office, otherwise sandwich shops will go bust. Then there was the ‘Eat Out to Help Out’ initiative, counterbalanced by a campaign to encourage people to take more exercise. Air corridors were opened to favourite holiday spots, only for them to close again, forcing Brits returning from Spain and France to quarantine for two weeks.

After months of being told what to do during lockdown we are now being asked to weigh up the risks for ourselves and get on with life as best we can. Of course, it would be wrong to be foolhardy. Social distancing and good hand hygiene should be maintained, but living life to the full involves taking risks. Sadly, we know that not everyone who gets married ‘lives happily ever after’, yet many of us nevertheless risked all for love, pledging to stick by our wife or husband, ‘for better for worse, for richer, for poorer’. And we’re glad we did.

A playing it safe, risk-free life would be rather dull. One thing that enables us to take risks is hope. Holiday makers hoped their trip to the south of France would be worth the inconvenience of possibly having to quarantine. The Christian faith is big on risk-defying hope in the light of the death and resurrection of Jesus. The first Christian missionaries to the New Hebrides were killed and eaten by cannibals only minutes after they reached land. That was in 1839. Almost ten years later John G. Paton and his wife set sail for the same islands with the intention of sharing the good news of Jesus with the inhabitants.

A friend tried to warn Paton against such a risky undertaking, “You will be eaten by cannibals!” The missionary would not be put off, replying, “Mr. Dickson, you are advanced in years now, and your own prospect is soon to be laid in the grave, there to be eaten by worms; I confess to you, that if I can but live and die serving and honouring the Lord Jesus, it will make no difference to me whether I am eaten by cannibals or by worms.”

Paton wasn’t eaten by cannibals. His mission was a success and he lived to a good old age. The preacher’s unwavering hope in Jesus enabled him to take a huge risk that paid off. We may not be called to such a dangerous mission, but with hope in our hearts we can defy fear and face the risky business that is life in a world stricken by coronavirus.

*For News & Views, West Lavington parish magazine 

How to pray with help from Martin Luther

I started reading this during our summer hols and am still working my way through. The author, Harold Senkbeil is a Lutheran pastor and that Reformation tradition enriches the classic model of pastoral care he commends in these pages. Although some aspects of Lutheran pastoral practice freak me out a bit.

In chapter 4 the writer has section on 'How to Pray'. He uses Martin Luther's model of prayer as a means of equipping pastors to help their people in the practice of prayerful meditation on God's word. 

Luther would use a "prayer wreath" approach to praying through a biblical text. I'd not come across this before and found it helpful. The "wreath" has four basic strands, (1) precept; (2) thanksgiving; (3) confession; (4) supplication. See p. 106-107 (Kindle edition). 

Senkbeil uses the opening petition of the Lord's prayer as a worked example, "Hallowed be thy name.". I summarise in my own words: 

1, Father you teach me that your name is holy. Your name is to be revered above all things. In the waters of baptism I was baptised into the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit and now I belong to you. 

2. I thank you Father that you have set me apart as holy to yourself by the blood of your Son and presence of your Spirit. I gladly offer my life to you as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to you, which is my reasonable service. 

3. I confess that by life and lip I have profaned your holy name. Forgive my sin for Jesus' sake.

4. Help me, Father to be holy as you are holy in thought, word and deed, that my life may reflect your character to the glory of your name.

The same basic approach can be applied to most any portion of the word of God. With a sprinkling of homiletical pixie dust the four strands can be relabelled: (1) precept; (2) praise; (3) penitence; (4) prayer. 

Awaiting Moderation

When I first started blogging people used to comment on my posts on a pretty regular basis. Occasionally you might get a good discussion going and a longish thread of comments would ensue. I was only thinking recently that those days seem to have gone. 

Now comment on or discussion of blog content tends to take place on Facebook or Twitter, rather than in the comments field of a post. 

Comments on my blog have to be moderated by me before publication. That helps to avoid posts being cluttered up with stupid, irrelevant and spammy comments, which I would then have to delete.

But it's been ages since I checked to see whether any comments were awaiting moderation. When I did think to check the other day there were quite a few for me to look at. There were a several in Arabic. Seemed to my untrained eye like exactly the same comment on several different posts. Exotic spam, probably.

Then there were the typo/error alert comments. A number of those, oddly enough. John Blanchard's Gathered Gold had become Gathered God. Not a Freudian slip, I hope. Embarrassingly, in one post I missed the 'l' from public. I do read through the stuff I write here before posting, honest. This blog has always been plagued by typos. And readers have always enjoyed pointing them out. Glad to be of service. Pedants.

Much to my surprise Robert Letham left a few comments. Evidently he had been reading my Plague Journals, which featured updates on my progress in reading his Systematic Theology. As well as 'I read from page ? to page ?? in the last week' kind of thing, I would also do a bit of a running review. You will find his comments at the foot of Plague Journal: Weeks 11-13.

I've now finished Letham's ST, and very good it is too. A review has been submitted to the Banner of Truth Magazine. You'll have to wait until its published there until I post my impressions on the blog. All I'll say for now is that it was one of the best STs I've read. Although, as a Reformed Baptist I didn't always agree with his stance on covenant theology, baptism and the church.

Sorry if I've neglected you if you've been kind enough to comment. The typos/errors highlighted have now been duly corrected.

Maybe the golden age of blog comments isn't quite over yet. I just need to remember to check to see if there's anything awaiting moderation more frequently. 

Quarantine Journal

In my justly unfamous Plague Journals I reflected in harrowing detail on the stresses and strains of my transformation from old school preacher to 21st century Cyber Pastor. I can now Zoom with the best of them, although linking the platform with Facebook Live is still a bit hit and miss. And when I say 'with the best of them', that was a idle boast, really. I mean, some flashy churches do stuff like getting their worship band to play and sing together, despite being in different homes. We just stream Aber hymns. 

Ebenezer Baptist Church started gathered worship services at the beginning of August. It was good to be able to preach to a living, breathing congregation, rather than a pixelated version. The Chapel has no internet connection, but I managed to stream the service to FB Live using my mobile phone for the benefit of those unable to attend. At Providence Baptist Church we await the completion of major building works before we can meet at the Chapel. Hopefully it won't be too long before we can gather.

Like many other churches, even when both of ours are able to meet for worship, that will only be for one service a week, with other things continuing online so long as the government's Covid Secure guidance applies in its current form. 

We had a nice holiday in Biarritz in the Basque region of France from 4-18 August. I visited the city when Interrailing  as a student back in 1989. I remember hoping that if a girl I had my eye on and me got together, I'd like to take her to Biarritz one day. It seemed such a lovely, romantic place. Reader, I married her and 29 years since Sarah and I got hitched I finally whisked her off to the South of France. 

We booked the holiday back in January, way before the coronavirus outbreak came to dominate everything. For months it looks as though we wouldn't be able to go. Then the government opened an 'air corridor' to France and we were off.  Covid cases were low in the Basque region, but we kept an eye on UK news, as it became apparent that infections were on the up in France as a whole. Soon enough the 'air corridor' was slammed shut again on Saturday 15 August. But we didn't join the stampede to beat the deadline and avoid having to self-isolate for 14 days, 

While on holiday we enjoyed spending time on the beaches of Biarritz, exploring the town and eating out at local restaurants, We often went for evening walks to watch the sun go down and saw some amazing sunsets. When on holiday Sarah likes soaking up the rays, while I huddle under a parasol reading books, popping out several times during the day for a swim in the sea. I read Rorke's Drift: A New Perspective, by Neil Thornton and Interpreting Eden, by Vern Poythress. I almost finished The Mystery of Christ: His Covenant & His Kingdom, by Samuel Renihan and made a good start on The Care of Souls: Cultivating a Pastor's Heart by Harold Senbbeil. 

The second of the four titles was for review in the Banner Magazine and I've been asked to delay posting a my impressions on the blog until its published there. I'm currently working on a review of the third book, which I've now finished. Still reading the last one. I liked the first two or three chapters very much. The author's gentle pastoral heart shines through every page. But his Lutheranism seems to get more pronounced as the book proceeds. Talk of crucifixes and the like doesn't sit well with me as a Grace Baptist Pastor, but there are good things here too, with a strong emphasis on Word and Spirit in ministry. 

When on holiday we found an English speaking CofE congregation in Biarritz. They had a Lutheran pastor take the service on the first Sunday we were there, but had no preacher for the second Sunday. They knew I was a minister because we made contact with a member of the group before we set off for France. I ended up preaching the second Sunday, on Matthew 15:21-28, which was one of the Lectionary readings of the day. I wondered how I might go down with the people, as they weren't used to your typical Reformed Baptist preaching, but I felt helped and they've invited me to preach there again sometime. 'Guy Davies Global Ministries' really is becoming a thing at last.

Anyway, having returned to the UK after the quarantining deadline, we've been under virtual 'house arrest' for the best part of a fortnight. I don't know why the government can't regionalise 'air corridors' so only people staying in parts of countries with high infection rates are affected, or why they can't sort out airport testing, so only people who test positive need to isolate? Unlike for some, my work wasn't affected too badly, as most of our services are still online. 

In any case I didn't start back to work until last Monday, although there were still some bits and pieces that needed doing before then. We've had to do our big weekly shop over the internet and rely on our daughter to get us the other things we needed from the shops. Apart from work, we've done some decorating at home. I've managed to get a good bit of reading done and caught up with church members via phone and Zoom meetings. 

We got up to speed with the BBC's A Suitable Boy (1 episode still to watch) and used our freebie week's subscription to Now TV to see the powerful and thought-proving drama, Chernobyl. What a harrowing expose of the corrupt old Soviet Union. The whole system was based on illusion and lies, but the truth about the nuclear disaster  as told by Valery Legasov and others at great cost helped to bring the system crashing to the ground. 

I usually don't bother to shave when on holiday and have continued unshaven while quarantining. Here I am wearing at hat that was a birthday gift from our son. We'll be able to venture out again on Tuesday. The beard may have to go by then, but we'll see. 

Can Science Explain Everything? by John C. Lennox

The Good Book Company, 2019, 127pp

I forgot to review this book when I read it sometime last year. Not sure why it slipped through the net. I think I quoted from it in a sermon shortly after reading it and a member of the congregation expressed an interest, so I lent it to them. When they returned the book the moment had passed and I simply popped it on a  bookshelf, unreviewed. 

I bought the title having watched a discussion between John Lennox and Peter Atkins chaired by Justin Brierley on Premier Radio. Here it is. Lennox came to my attention more recently when I noted that he's one of the speakers on Sing! Global, hosted by the Gettys. On seeing a promo clip I was pretty sure I'd read one of Lennox's books and tried searching my blog for the review to see what I thought about it. Nothing. The one that got away.

So, here's a review of a book I only vaguely remember reading and haven't gone to the trouble of re-reading, just a brief skim through. In my sermon I believe I quoted the bit where Lennox recalls a conversation he had with a senior academic when he was a student. The professor told him that if he wanted to get on in the scientific world he would have to abandon his Christian faith. Lennox responded that atheism had nothing better to offer than his faith, so he would maintain his beliefs. 

Some people like to suggest that scientists observe the world with chilly detachment. From their Olympian heights they hand down definitive explanations of how the universe originated and operates. The explanations proceed on the basis of physical laws of cause and effect. Everything can be accounted for on that level. Even if some stuff can't be scientifically explained at the moment, one day it will. God doesn't get a look in. The Bible, a book of primitive mythology has nothing to say to the world of science, which is based on observation and reason, not faith.

And what about Galileo? He turns up in chapter 1, Can you be a scientist and believe in God? Hint, yes. Science certainly offers explanations of how the material universe works that are cogent on one level, but meaning and purpose in the universe isn't exhausted once the equations have been reeled out. Lennox uses the illustration of a boiling kettle. At a scientific level the water is boiling because the electrical element in the kettle has heated the H20 to 100°c. That's good as far as it goes, but it would also be perfectly correct to say that the kettle is boiling because I fancy a cup of tea. To say that only scientific explanations count is reductionist 'nothing buttery'. (Not to be confused with Utterly Buttery). 

The Bible may not deal in scientific theories, but its message reveals the purpose of life; that human beings were made to know, love and glorify their Creator. By way of contrast, Richard Dawkins views the world as devoid of ultimate purpose, seeing only "blind, pitiless indifference". If that's all atheists have to offer, no wonder Lennox couldn't be persuaded to abandon his faith in God. 

Science has done a wonderful job in discovering the presence of natural laws such as gravitational force, but it cannot explain why those laws exist or how it is that we are able to understand their workings. Lennox exposes the logical flaw in Stephen Hawkin's argument that, "Because there is a law like gravity, the universe can and will create itself from nothing." (p. 37). So, because there is something (gravity), the universe must have created itself from nothing? OK. And anyway, laws do not create, they simply describe how created stuff operates.

Self-creation is self-contradictory. But if God made everything, who made God? Lennox addresses that one too. God is by definition outside of the world of material causation. He is an infinite and eternal being, without beginning or end. Science depends on the universe working in orderly and predictable ways and assumes that human beings are able to decipher the laws of nature, That makes perfect sense if God created the world in his wisdom and to display his goodness. That we are able to make sense of things also makes sense if we were created in the image of God. Which is why the scientific method arose in a context where the Christian faith was the prevailing worldview. The scientific method in itself gives no rationale for the scientific method. 

Yes, but what about the scientific claim that the universe is 13.8 billion years old, rather than a mere thousands of years old as the Book of Genesis seems to claim. Lennox distances himself from 6 x 24 hour creationists, saying that their view is a 'particular interpretation' of Genesis 1, one that he doesn't hold to himself. He advances a 'gap theory' position, which isn't especially convincing either. I'll return to the length of the creation days in my forthcoming review of Interpreting Eden, by Vern Poythress. 

Anyway, the Christian belief isn't ultimately a worldview that is worth holding to because of its explanatory power. The faith is founded upon the historic claim that in Jesus God became man to die for our sins on the cross and that he rose bodily from the grave. As the author shows in chapter 8, if that claim isn't true, Christianity can be disproved and dismissed as false. But it is true and the New Testament provides compelling evidence for us to believe that Jesus lives. 

Here's where it gets personal. We must believe in order to understand. By faith in Jesus we are reconciled to God, experience the forgiveness of sin and know the hope of everlasting life. Science can't explain everything. The ultimate purpose of life is disclosed in Christ, though whom and for whom God created all things. 

People who have fallen for the oft-repeated claim that 'science has disproved God' would do well to give this book a read. Christians studying the natural sciences in an atheistic environment will find reassurance here that their their faith is not incompatible with science. In writing Can Science Explain Everything? John Lennox has provided a handy apologetic tool that will enable believers to give a reason for their hope in a sceptical age.

There. done it.