What is at Stake in the Weight that Christians Give to
Science?
The
question of scientific authority has no bearing on any measure of God’s power
or competence, but instead seeks for the relevant data of nature to indicate how
God may have chosen to fashion it. I believe God could easily have created the
universe in an instant had He willed to.
But the evidence from nature (which Romans says is true) indicates that
He did not.
I
instead endeavor to rekindle a robust biblical delineation of the validity of both
the categories of facts and biblical revelation and their relationship to each
other. I also seek to assist parents in
offering a more constructive reply to their children when the latter say that
the “science” they are learning in school contradicts what they were “taught”
from the Bible. On the authority of the
Bible, I affirm both realms to be valid and, at the very least, do not necessarily
conflict. As for the circumstances when they
do seem to conflict, two things may be said. Firstly, a careful study of the text
of Genesis 1 shows that nothing specific is said as to exactly how anything
was created or formed except to say that God created, or formed, every bit of it! Secondly, truth can be conveyed in not only
scientific language but also in daily conversational speech. For example, the lines, “You put the right
ingredients together and bake them at the right temperature” (science), and
“Aunt Matilda loves to bake cakes” (religion), can both be factually
true with respect to the question, “Where did this cake [on the table] come
from?”[1]
But
what must NOT be done is to insist that the Bible demands the last word. I earlier established that it commands us to
trust the witness of nature as a vital means by which God convicts the world
that He is its creator. I then indicated
the impossibility of material forces causing the creation of the universe from
nothing (material). In summary, while
the Bible blesses scientific insight and discovery, in light of section 3, the
latter must also bow to God as the only conceivable cause cosmic
existence. Consequently we believers in
the Bible ought to highlight scientific evidence as opposed to hiding it “under
a bushel” (Matthew 5:15). For if we fail
to affirm science as an arena of truth, it will be impossible to gain the attention
of intellectuals, let alone persuade them, of the truth of the Gospel that
God holds out to all people!
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