The 20th Century produced a scientific explosion of knowledge and technology which continues today. It has been said that scientific knowledge actually doubles every ten years, and that 80% of all scientists who have ever lived are alive today. Similarly, 80% or more of all medicines have been developed since World War II. Also, well over 15,000 scientific, medical, and technological journals are published around the world.
If you are anywhere near my age (64) you can probably testify to the incredible profusion of science and technology just in our lifetime. I am old enough to remember when Polio was still a terrible and feared epidemic in this country. Now it is all but eradicated.
I can remember when hand calculators were first introduced in the early 1970s. Before then, to do multiplication and division, you had to use a slide rule or work it out on paper (calculators made figuring baseball batting averages much easier). Until the 1980s, no one even dreamed of personal computers, the internet, email, and portable cell phones.
The point is, we are in a radically scientific and technological age. This brings to light a very old issue. For centuries a conflict has swirled between science and Christianity. This clash was (and still is) unfortunate and really unnecessary. It was brought about by the stubborn mindsets of people in both science and Christianity. The truth is, Christianity and science do not, in and of themselves, conflict. The problem has been between some Christians and some scientists, not Christianity and science. The clash was a result of mistakes made on both sides of the fence. In this article we will examine some the mistakes made by Christians and scientists that create conflict between them.
We will begin by reviewing some of the mistakes that Christians have made in relation to science.
When I was in college, I once met a pastor of a fairly large church. When I told him I was a student, he asked me what was my major subject. I told him I was majoring is Psychology, but planned to go on to theological seminary after I graduated. He looked at me rather strange and asked if I thought Psychology was a proper major for a Christian to study. He almost implied that it was a satanic science. Granted, there is much in secular Psychology that does not necessarily conform to a Christian worldview. Nonetheless, by filtering out the unbiblical aspects, it still gave me useful insights into human behavior.
The pastor’s attitude reflected what is often that of some Bible believing Christians. They have an inordinate suspicion of science and technology. Certainly, as Christians, we need to be careful of false and unbiblical ideas when we are exposed to them. It is correct that science can be, and is, misused, so a healthy wariness of every new concept that comes along is good. That’s why we need a Christian worldview filter. However, we do not need to be paranoid.
I recall hearing some Christian commentators say that modern technology is evil. Some even said that computers and cell phones are demonic (one even said a computer is the Beast of Revelation 13). Of course, people said similar things in the past about telephones, phonographs, trains, automobiles, and airplanes. I guess those critics should join the Amish who reject all technology developed since the 18th century (why they stopped then, I don’t know).
Another problem some Christians have demonstrated is they have preconceived and biased ways of interpreting the Bible. They have argued that scientific discoveries are against the Bible, but often it is because they have misinterpreted Scripture. For example, in the Middle Ages it was assumed that the earth was the center of the universe, and that everything else revolved around it. The Bible, however, does not teach that cosmology. It came from a Greco-Egyptian astrologer named Ptolemy (AD 90 – AD 168) in the second century AD. Ptolemy’s theory of an earth-centered universe was so convincing to people of that day that the Roman Catholic Church’s leaders adopted it as their official biblical interpretation and doctrine. Of course, scientists now know the earth is not the center of the universe, or even our solar system. That modern perspective is certainly consistent with the Bible.
If science is done correctly and honestly, it need not be a threat to our faith. The scientific method was actually formulated by Christians who believed in an ordered universe designed by God. We should, of course, challenge pseudo-science, not good science. This brings us to the mistakes that scientists have made that have facilitated conflict with Christianity.
In the 1980s, the renowned astronomer Dr. Carl Sagan hosted a television series on PBS titled COSMOS. The show’s aim was to teach the audience, using then state-of-the-art animation, about some of the newest discoveries in scientific studies of the universe. In his introduction to the series, Sagan made a rather audacious statement. He said, “The cosmos (that is the material universe of time, space, matter, and energy) is all there is, all there ever has been, and all that there ever will be.”
The problem with that assertion is that it is not a scientific statement. Dr. Sagan could not possibly have known if the cosmos is all that exists. It only reflects what is a common philosophical presupposition held by many scientists. They clearly have an anti-religious, anti-Bible, and thoroughly Naturalistic worldview. They dogmatically deny any supernatural activities and the possibility of miracles occurring. Indeed, many are committed atheists who not only don’t believe in God themselves, but feel it is their duty to convince others as well.
The problem Naturalistic astronomers now face is that science and physics have proven conclusively that the universe had a beginning from absolutely nothing (no time, no space, no matter, no energy – what I call “Nothing Nothing”). So they have painted themselves into a metaphysical and philosophical corner with no Naturalistic way out.
Another example of this Naturalistic dogma is evident in recent debates concerning Darwinian Evolution. The modern scientific establishment has declared (as it did with Ptolemy’s cosmology) that Darwinism (or Neo-Darwinism) is the indisputable explanation for the varieties of life on earth, and for the emergence of humanity. Most don’t even tolerate dissension from that view. This is despite the growing evidence that Darwinism is inadequate to explain how, totally by chance, complex life began on earth, or why so many diverse species exist in such a limited time. A far better explanation is that an Intelligent Designer (i.e. God) is behind it all. (For more on this issue visit the website of The Discovery Institute at http://www.discovery.org/id.)
So, does science conflict with Christianity? Not necessarily, if they both are properly understood. Both the Bible and science are sources of truth. Science needs to admit that not all knowledge can be gained by Naturalistic methods. Some things are beyond the physical universe (Egs. God, angels, miracles, etc.). Christians likewise need to concede that, while everything in the Bible is true, not all truth is in the Bible. There is much to learn from scientific investigation.
All truth is God’s truth, regardless of our source for learning it. We can assert confidently, as Christians, that if science sticks to the facts it discovers, and is not locked inside a Naturalistic box, it need not contradict Scripture or Christianity.
© 2016 Tal Davis