The Christian And Science

"Do you know the laws of the universe?  Can you use them to regulate the earth?" (Job 38:33, NLT).  
There is "no final conflict" [between science and Scripture]." --Francis Schaeffer

The National Academy of Science defines science as "The use of evidence to construct testable explanations and prediction of natural phenomena, as well  as the knowledge generated through this process ... and scientists gather information by observing the natural world and conducting experiments." --Dr. Jeff Myers in Understanding the Faith. It is my premise that science does not have all the answers but is only one avenue or vehicle of knowledge and truth, for all truth is God's truth, as Augustine said. In other words, you cannot measure three feet of love or six pounds of justice--values and principles are not subject to scientific analysis.  Scientists have faith in the reliability and predictability of the laws of the universe, while Christians believe in God of the universe who made the laws.  How can there be laws without a Lawgiver?  The first modern scientists laid its foundations assuming there's a God, how can they now deny the one they assume?  Basically, there are disciplines other than an empirical investigation to arrive at the truth:  ethics, mathematics, philosophy, and religion are all outside the scientist's parameters.

We can indeed learn by experience and empirical investigation, but rational thought and revelation are two other avenues of learning. All knowledge is contingent and springs from faith, not just religious!  Even music, art, and mathematics are beyond the scope of science and depend upon insight and rational or creative thinking.  There is objective truth that is true regardless of belief and true for everyone all the time, and then there is an opinion or subjective truth, such as one saying that broccoli tastes good. You cannot prove anything that isn't true, logical, and verifiable. 

Science wouldn't have been founded without an assumption of the Christian worldview of an orderly, predictable, and governed universe.  In fact, the first modern scientists were believers.  But today science has gone too far--they perpetuate the idea they can solve all man's problems.  Moreover, secularists use science for non-scientific endeavors and to solve problems which lie outside its province.  Many things simply cannot be answered by science: ethics, for example, is not in its domain.  Basically, science gives the know-how, not the know-why. Science takes things apart, while religion puts them together, it's been said!  But many things are not subject to scientific analysis, such as history and one-time events of the past, such as creation.  They weren't there and science relies on observation, repetition, measurement, and experiment!

Scientists have been known to make philosophical statements such as astronomer Carl Sagan said, "The Cosmos is all that is or was or ever will be."  Science doesn't give us answers to the ultimate questions, such as the meaning and purpose in life, and our final destiny.  What's so sad is that people put their faith in science when science is based on faith!  Scientists assume there's no God without evidence.  People that think science contradicts faith don't understand either.  Einstein said that science without religion is lame, and religion without science is blind!

It's not all a matter of facts or reason versus faith (and God doesn't ask us to leave our reason behind), but which set of presuppositions one wants to accept from the starting point of one's worldview.  Both sides have faith!  There's no smoking gun evidence either way. The mystery of life, of which science has no answer, can be answered by faith in God who causes all life to grow. In fact, there's no strict definition of life--science doesn't know what it is in essence!   But what we do know is that life comes only from life (biogenesis, which means spontaneous generation, or producing lifeforms from nonlife matter is impossible), as surely as DNA comes only from DNA!  Cloning is not producing life from nonlife, but another way of reproduction.  This begs the questions of where the first life and DNA came from if not God!  Experiments to achieve life fail to come off and this is the Achilles' heel of evolution.   Infinite regress is impossible--the chain of events had to start somewhere (notably a First Cause).  The Bible makes it plain that God created life and it's His gift and comes from Him, the Source and Author of life.

Teaching science dogmatically and ruling out God from the get-go is not scientific.  Scientists need to learn when they are becoming unscientific and venturing into scientism, or of harnessing science for unscientific means! Scientists must be aware that there is "scientific evidence" for the existence of God:  DNA; the anthropic principle; the Big Bang; the Second Law of Thermodynamics or entropy; and biogenesis!  The Bible is not a science textbook, but where it does make statements about scientific principles, it is right on--there are no scientific absurdities. They cannot explain away these phenomena!   All in all, true science doesn't contradict Christianity and there's no reason believers cannot become scientists.  (Though archaeologists have attempted in vain to disprove the Bible's historical accuracy, it has not yet controverted a biblical reference!)  

In conclusion, science sometimes seems to be at odds with the Bible, but it is always been proven wrong when at variance and the Bible correct after all, such as that the earth was the center of the solar system!  To name some examples of the Bible predating science:  the ocean currents, the anthropic principle, the beginning of time, the water cycle, the round earth to name a few notables!  According to Paul Little, in 1861, the French Academy of Science issued fifty-one scientific facts that "controverted the Scriptures!'  Today, none of these so-called "facts" are believed!  Someday, scientists will have to admit what theologians have been espousing--that "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth."  Soli Deo Gloria!