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Is Christianity against science?

by | Nov 25, 2008 | Questions, Science

Is Christianity against science? No, it is not. Science is that branch of study that seeks to observe, discover, and understand the nature and principles that govern our universe, our world, and ourselves.  The result of this process is a systematic categorization of knowledge with the goal of predicting and manipulating events according to discovered natural laws.

Science has shaped our lives dramatically.  Because of science, we now have great medical knowledge.  We can travel in jets, automobiles, and trains over great distances.  We can harness rivers, predict storms, and use the power of the atom.  By picking up a phone, we can talk to almost anyone in the world.  We can see anywhere on the planet via television and even gaze upon the surface of the moon and Mars.  Like a giant floodgate that has been opened, what is flowing through its doors is a wonderful technology of help, advancements, relaxation, amusements, security, answered questions, and hope.  No longer must we till the land with our hands, pray for life-giving rain to water our crops, be subject to the whims of nature, and be helpless during times of sickness.  In fact, science has become, for many, a new god.

Before the time when science was looked to for explanations of the unknown, mankind turned to religion.  History is full of stories, writings, and the influence of religious beliefs upon entire societies.  Temples dedicated to various gods are all over the world.  Even though science has not replaced religion in all areas, it offers an intellectually justifiable reason to deny God’s sovereignty.  Evolution is a good example.

When a society is powerless to control its future and is vulnerable to the elements of nature, it turns to that which is in control of those things: god(s).  In all religious systems, prayers are offered in the hopes of appeasing and convincing a god or gods to help in times of need.  But now that we can provide irrigation to replace rain, medicine to cure diseases, weapons to protect our homes, and television to dull our minds and hearts, the need for a deity to pray to has given way to the need to obtain money in order to gain the benefits of technology: comfort, leisure, and security.  The world offers a new kind of religion: science.  The scientists are its priests, and the general populace is the congregation.

What does this mean to a Christian?

To the Christian, science is merely that branch of discovery that categorizes, discovers, and utilizes the knowledge woven into the fabric of the universe by a sovereign, all-powerful, and omniscient creator.  Science is not the end of all thingss but merely one of the means by which man may glorify God.   This is because God is the creator of all that is.  He has hidden the treasures of his ominous glory in the very universe in which we exist.  The power in the atom, momentum, energy, mass, time, etc. are all creations of God and, therefore, under his authority.  The more the Christian learns of these things, the more he can glorify God.  Science must be subservient to Him, not the other way around.  Science is not God’s replacement.  Every Christian should know that.

Do the Bible and science disagree?

Where other cosmologies found in religions have the world on the back of turtles or the earth being the result of a fight between gods, biblical revelation is quite consistent with science. This is not to say that the Bible is vindicated by science; rather, it is science that is vindicated by the Bible. Consider the following.

  • The Round Shape of the Earth – It is He who sits above the circle of the earth, And its inhabitants are like grasshoppers, Who stretches out the heavens like a curtain And spreads them out like a tent to dwell in,” (Isaiah 40:22).
  • The Earth is suspended in nothing – He stretches out the north over empty space And hangs the earth on nothing” (Job 26:7).
  • The Stars are Innumerable – And He took him outside and said, “Now look toward the heavens, and count the stars, if you are able to count them.” And He said to him, “So shall your descendants be” (Genesis 15:5).
  • The Existence of Valleys in the Seas – Then the channels of the sea appeared, The foundations of the world were laid bare By the rebuke of the Lord, At the blast of the breath of His nostrils” (2 Samuel 22:16).
  • The Existence of Springs and Fountains in the Seas – In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, on the seventeenth day of the month, on the same day all the fountains of the great deep burst open, and the floodgates of the sky were opened,” (Genesis 7:11). See also Gen. 8:2; Prov. 8:28.
  • The Existence of paths of the sea Water Paths (Ocean Currents) in the Seas – O Lord, our Lord, How majestic is Your name in all the earth, Who have displayed Your splendor above the heavens!…8 The birds of the heavens and the fish of the sea, whatever passes through the paths of the seas” (Psalm 8:1, 8).
  • The Hydrologic Cycle – “He wraps up the waters in His clouds, And the cloud does not burst under them” (Job 26:8); “For He draws up the drops of water, They distill rain from the mist, 28 Which the clouds pour down, They drip upon man abundantly,” (Job 36:27–28); “Blowing toward the south, Then turning toward the north, The wind continues swirling along; And on its circular courses the wind returns. 7 All the rivers flow into the sea, Yet the sea is not full. To the place where the rivers flow, There they flow again” (Ecclesiastes 1:6–7).
  • The Concept of Entropy – Of old You founded the earth, And the heavens are the work of Your hands. 26 “Even they will perish, but You endure, And all of them will wear out like a garment; Like clothing, You will change them, and they will be changed” (Psalm 102:25–26).
  • The Nature of Health, Sanitation, and Sickness – The listing for this section is too large for this page.  But the scriptural references are Leviticus, chapters 12 through 14.

There is no God but One.

Christians need to be careful not to let science usurp the place of authority and honor that belongs to God alone.  If you are a Christian, you need to keep in mind that God alone is the Lord and that He placed the universe here.  We are here for Him, so we might glorify Him and enjoy Him forever (1 Cor. 1:9).  There is no God but one (Isaiah 44:6, 8).  But…

Do you look to science as your hope, your security, and your safety net?  Do you go to God only after science has failed you, only after the medicine doesn’t work, or only after your comforts are threatened?  Is television an idol to which you sacrifice your time and energy?  Are the pleasures offered by technology, which is the child of science, the fruit you seek more than God?  How much of your dependence upon God has been replaced by your dependence upon things?

Science is the creation of God and God is the Sovereign of all.

Look inside your own heart and see which is on the throne.

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