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Sunday School Lesson

January 12, 2020

Led by Dr. Wesley Fryer

followjesus.wesfryer.com

@wfryer

@pocketshare

Chapter 9: Intelligent Design

Bible Verses - Romans 1:18-25

(NIV and The Message)

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12 Jan 2020: Chapter 9 - “Option 3: Intelligent Design”

19 Jan 2020: Chapter 10 - “Option 4: BioLogos”

Saturday, 25 Jan 2020: Class Lunch, Planetarium Show & Science Museum Oklahoma Visit

  • Noon: Lunch at Jason’s Deli (78 E 33rd St, Edmond)
  • 2pm: Planetarium show: “From Earth to the Universe”
  • Science Museum open until 6 pm

26 Jan 2020: Chapter 11 - “Truth Seekers”

Upcoming Classes and Events:

* Subject to change!

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Our Next Book

(probably starting in mid February)

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This is OPTIONAL & not required!

Access all class slideshows, videos & resources!

Join our Google Classroom!

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Class resources also shared publicly on:

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Weekly Class Format

  1. 10 - 10:05 am: Fellowship
  2. Opening Prayer
  3. Big Question(s)
  4. Focus Bible Verse
  1. Table Talk
  2. Lesson / Video
  3. Joys & Concerns

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Opening Prayer

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How do you believe diverse organisms on earth developed?

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“This video, which took third place in the ASCB contest, shows the cytoskeleton of a frequently studied human breast cancer cell line. The cytoskeleton is made from protein structures called microtubules, made visible by fluorescently tagging a protein called doublecortin (orange). Filaments of another protein called actin (purple) are seen here as the fine meshwork in the cell periphery.

The cytoskeleton plays an important role in giving cells shape and structure. But it also allows a cell to move and divide. Indeed, the motion in this video shows that the complex network of cytoskeletal components is constantly being organized and reorganized in ways that researchers are still working hard to understand.”

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Big Question:

How did diverse organisms on earth develop?

Romans 1:18-25

(NIV & The MSG)

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Intelligent

Design

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Search for “Intelligent Design”

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“The Divine Watchmaker”

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What is “Intelligent Design?”

  1. Started in 1991
  2. A response to evolution & Darwin, specifically materialism
  3. Focuses on “life’s stunning complexity”
  4. Includes concept of “irreducible complexity”
  5. Emergence coincided with U.S. judicial defeats on the teaching of creationism

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What is “Intelligent Design?”

“...ID could be thought of ironically as the rebellious love child of Richard Dawkins and Daniel Dennett.”

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3 Propositions of “Intelligent Design”

  • Evolution promotes an atheistic worldview and therefore must be resisted by believers in God.
  • Evolution is fundamentally flawed, since it cannot account for the intricate complexity of nature.
  • If #2 above is true, then there must have been an intelligent designer involved.

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“The ID movement is careful not to specify who this designer might have been, but the Christian perspective of most of the leaders of this movement implicitly suggests that this missing force would come from God himself.”

page 186, “The Language of God” by Francis S. Collins

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“...Intelligent Design remains a fringe activity with little credibility within the mainstream scientific community.”

page 187, “The Language of God” by Francis S. Collins

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3 Examples Highlighted by Advocates of “Intelligent Design”

  • “Bacterial flagellum”
  • The Human Eye
  • “The human blood-clotting cascade”

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“ID is a ‘God of the Gaps’ theory, inserting a supposition of the need for supernatural intervention in places that its proponents claim science cannot explain… Ultimately a “God of the gaps” religion runs a huge risk of simply discrediting faith. We must not repeat this mistake in the current era… ID portrays the Almighty as a clumsy creator…”

page 193, “The Language of God” by Francis S. Collins

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Big Question:

How did diverse organisms on earth develop?

After creating the universe, has God intervened in history? How often? Why do you believe that?

Romans 1:18-25

(NIV & The MSG)

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Joys and Concerns

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Sunday School Lesson

January 12, 2020

Led by Dr. Wesley Fryer

followjesus.wesfryer.com

@wfryer

@pocketshare

Chapter 9: Intelligent Design

Bible Verses - Romans 1:18-25

(NIV and The Message)