The short answer is no, it does not. On the contrary, there are good reasons for viewing scientific discoveries as providing support for the belief in God. Furthermore, science and theology aren't built to answer the same questions. There may be some overlap occasionally, but science and theology are two different fields and need to be respected as such. Science is a helpful method for gaining knowledge about the world around us, but it is limited in scope when it comes to answering questions about God. Similarly, theology is great to learn more about God, but it is unable to answer some of the more basic physics or chemistry questions. It oversimplifies the issue by making science an enemy of faith and religion.

The topic that tends to cause the most tension is the evolution-creationism debate. What is important to note is that there are strong Bible-believing Christians who fall on both sides of the issue, and believing in evolution should not be a significant roadblock to believing in God or the Bible.

Despite the Bible being a massive collection of books, Christianity stands or falls on one historical event: the resurrection of Jesus Christ. If Jesus rose from the dead, then Christianity is true. There may be debate about how to best interpret the Bible in light of scientific discoveries, but the bedrock of Christianity is the historicity of the resurrection.

We believe that the Bible in its original manuscripts (or autographs) is the inspired and inerrant Word of God. As such we trust the Bible as being the words and wisdom of God Himself. Furthermore, we are convinced that there are adequate evidence and reasons for affirming that the Biblical text we have today has been accurately preserved and is not relevantly different from the time it was written. We acknowledge that there have been minor changes in the Biblical text overtime, but through careful analysis we know what those changes are, and they do not affect any major Christian doctrine.

Any response to the question "Is the Bible reliable" comes down to two basic questions.

1. Did the authors of the text truthfully depict what actually happened? (e.g. Jesus actually rose from the dead rather than the authors mistakenly thinking that He rose)

2. Has the original manuscripts of the text been accurately preserved over time? (e.g. the resurrection accounts in the gospels were existent since the beginning and not later additions by some copyist or scribe).

We are convinced that there are good reasons to answer both of these questions with a resounding, "yes!"

Another way this question is often phrased is "How can a just God give someone an infinite punishment for a finite sin?" This question has many complex and nuanced answers and requires a great deal of time to answer thoroughly, so a thorough response cannot be given here. However, there are a few key considerations that help frame the issue.

4.The authority of Jesus

• If Jesus truly is who He said He is (i.e. the eternal Son of God), then His teachings about Hell have the authority of God. It is good to exercise our critical faculties and ask questions (we strongly encourage that!); however, there are moments when we need to understand and acknowledge the limits of our reasoning. We may not like the idea of a loving God punishing people; however, we should not compromise God's justness and wrath towards sin. In such cases when reason is unable to find a perfectly satisfying answer we need to trust the authority of God's Word and depend on His goodness and justice.

No, we do not need to be 100% certain to make a 100% commitment. An analogy that is often used is that of marriage. A woman may not have exhaustive information about her husband-to-be; however, she has good reasons for trusting him and believing that he will be a good husband. Can she be certain that he won't change in 5 years or cheat on her in 15 years when the stress of work and family life is high? Does she know that he won't get involved in some accident or be diagnosed with a debilitating illness that will severely change their relationship? Despite there being looming uncertainties, the bride-to-be can still confidently love her fiancée and fully commit herself to him and their shared life together.

Similarly we may have uncertainties and unanswered questions about God that go beyond (though not against) reason and our ability to know. Exhaustive knowledge about God is unavailable to us, so trust and faith are required. This is not a blind faith, but rather a well-examined faith acting in full-commitment. There is a point in time when we need to understand the limitations of our ability to reason and to have all the answers. We need to make an act of commitment and put our faith in God based on the answers that we do have rather than those that we wish we had.