Science versus Christianity

We've had an interesting series going on the last couple of weeks at ACoC concerning Science and the Bible.

Our preacher and a member of our congregation who happens to be a PhD astrophysicist, teamed up to present the series.


As a teacher of Science AND a born-again believer in Jesus Christ, I followed the series with great interest. You see, I have been of the thought for years that Science and Christianity are NOT mutually exclusive entities. There are questions that science can answer, that is true; but there are many more that science can NEVER answer, and that is where faith comes in.

What questions can science not answer? The origin of life, for one. Scientists tell us that life simply sprang forth from the primordial soup once the right mixture of chemicals and proteins were synthesized. Really? If that's the case, we should be able to re-create it in the laboratory, right? I mean, we know what compounds must exist for even the simplest forms of life to spring forth; we should be able to pull them all together in whatever condition supposedly existed in that "primordial soup" and re-create the scenario, yes? Well, boys and girls, we can't do that because only God breathes life into the lifeless! We can put together all of the elements and compounds and expose it to heat, electricity, pressure, vacuum, or whatever conditions supposedly existed and still not make it live. Only God can breathe life into it and only God DID breathe life into it!

Another question - the origin of the universe - is supposedly answered by "The Big Bang." Well, where did the energy and matter that formed the Bang come from? It may in fact be true that billions of years ago, all of the known matter in the universe converged in a tiny single point in space and then exploded, but where did that energy and matter come from? The Bible says that God created everything that was created and that He upholds it by the power of His word. Scientists have recently discovered that the universe is not expanding at the same rate now as it did when first created. They say that "Dark matter," or "anti-matter" is the culprit. Could it be that God's word is the force that they cannot see? Could it be that God did in fact create all that is created and that "Bang" is what we call His creative might at work? I think it's as good an explanation as any and it is the one I believe.

So, if I place so much faith in the Biblical account of creation, how could it be that the universe was created biblically in 6 days when we know chronologically that it's 6 or so billion years old? Uhhhh....who's to say what a day is in God's timing? Maybe the whole universe is more "galaxy-sized" to Him and it revolves around Him much as our solar system revolves around the sun? We equate a "day" in terms of how long it takes for our earth to make one revolution on its axis. Perhaps God's "day" is the time it takes for the universe to revolve around Him one time, who knows? One thing's for sure; it's a question that cannot be answered scientifically because it cannot be recreated to test it. Science depends upon proof. You must be able to quantify and test in order to prove and we cannot quantify numbers so vast. We cannot find the absolute value of Pi for example, even though super computers have been working the equation for years. It's not quantifiable, and neither is God. It's truly a matter of faith!

Well, okay....some things are just a matter of faith, then. Suppose I choose to place my faith in Science and my suppositions are more or less based upon what we know to be true (allegedly). Isn't it just as viable to believe that life simply sprang forth from the primoridal soup as it is to say that God created it? Isn't it just as viable to say that the forces of gravity caused all of the known matter in the universe to converge 6 or so billion years ago and that the resultant explosion created the universe? Well, I suppose you could go that route, but if you choose to go that way, you still have some very basic questions that are left unanswered. Where did the matter and energy come from in the first place? It's a cop out to say that it was just there; that's the line that Christians use! If you're going to believe in Science, you have to take it to the end of the road and answer ALL of the questions that present themselves and until that happens, NONE of your suppositions hold water! It's rather like building a house. Unless your foundation is firm, it won't support the roof and walls and it will come down with a crash eventually. Building a scientific case is the same way. It must be built on a firm foundation or all of the conclusions that are based on that foundation will come crashing down when the foundation is found to be flawed. I say that all of the matter and energy in the universe was created by God and that, until He spoke it into existence, it wasn't there! "But Dan!" you say, "that flies in the face of all we know! The Laws of Conservation of Energy and of Matter state that neither can be created or destroyed but only changed! Are you saying that God doesn't obey the laws of His own creation?" Well.....YES!!! That's pretty much it and PRECISELY it! Every read the story of Jesus walking on water? That's not physically possible, yet there were eyewitness accounts of it happening! It's not possible to change water into wine, but we have numerous witnesses of that physical impossibility too, don't we? How many other times did Jesus produce scientifically impossible deeds? How often did God Himself do so? Matter obeys His Word because He is master if all that is seen and unseen. Our "laws" of physical behavior mean nothing to God because He does not exist in one dimension at one time only; He exists in all time and in all places simultaneously and He directs the "laws" that hold our universe together.

Is it ungodly to believe in science? I don't think so. God gave us minds and the knowledge of being so that we COULD discover Him. We are curious by nature. We want and NEED to answer these questions. God wants us to answer them with Him and to KNOW that no other answer satisfies the questions that we pose. I believe that science is a useful tool for answering some of the questions that present themselves to us, but I also believe that only God is the final answer and, when we come to that conclusion, we'll know all of the rest of it in His time! - Dan