Greetings! My name is Fazale “Fuz” Rana. I’m the vice president of research and apologetics at Reasons to Believe. The focus of our ministry is to demonstrate how the latest advances in science provide ongoing evidence for God’s existence and the reliability of Scripture.
I’m going to present two papers at this year’s National Conference on Christian Apologetics. One of my presentations is titled Dinosaur Blood and the Age of the Earth. This breakout session talk will be based on my recently published a book of the same title.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H9RvJCsTJ04&w=300&h=200]
My plenary presentation is entitled The Cell’s Design. In my view, insights from biochemistry represent one of the most fertile areas to draw from for scientific apologetics. Simple inspection of the structure and function of the cell’s chemical systems leaves most observers with the impression of design. The question is how can we turn that intuition of design into a formal argument for God’s existence. During this session, I will show how the latest advances in biochemistry can be used to update William Paley’s Watchmaker argument. I will also discuss how new discoveries in biochemistry allow us to anchor this classical argument for God’s existence squarely within Christian theism.
It is critical for Christians to be able to articulate a scientific case for the Creator. Sadly, because of the pervasive influence of the evolutionary paradigm, many people think that evolutionary mechanisms account for the origin and the design of life, rendering God superfluous. For example, evolutionary biologist and atheist Richard Dawkins wrote in his book The Blind Watchmaker, “Although atheism might have been logically tenable before Darwin, Darwin made it possible to be an intellectually fulfilled atheist.”
In my experience the Watchmaker argument is readily assessable to experts and laypeople alike and can be used to provide a scientifically rational response to skeptics and reasons to believe for seekers.
I invite you to attend this year’s National Conference on Christian Apologetics. It will be well worth the time and money you invest. Where else can you learn from some of Christianity’s best thinkers how to more effectively share and defend your faith.
