BIBLE AND SCIENCE

Many regard religion and science as separate and mutually exclusive realms of human thought. Some claim that developments in science and technology eliminate any need for God or the Bible and that science should replace mythology, religious revelations and philosophy in our communities.

Such thinking represents a misunderstanding of both scientific theory and religious belief. It fails to recognize that biblical thinking led to the rise of modern science. Most of the early pioneers in every branch of natural science were deeply committed Christians who found their motivation in their personal faith. Scientists like the astronomer Johannes Kepler, the botanist John Ray, the chemist Robert Boyle and the physicist Isaac Newton had a personal faith that enabled them to pursue the study of God’s handiwork. So did some of the great nineteenth-century scientists like Joule, Rayleigh, Kelvin, Stokes and Maxwell, whose names appear in standard textbooks on physics and chemistry. C. S. Lewis put it well: “Men became scientific because they expected Law in Nature and they expected Law in Nature because they believed in a Legislator.”

However, the relationship between science and Bible has not only been a story of mutual support but also of mutual criticism. Some Christians have had problems accepting the teachings of science. In the sixteenth century, the church disagreed strongly with Copernicus and Galileo when they found that the sun, not the earth, was the centre of the solar system. Galileo was persecuted by the church and forced to recant his beliefs. In time Christians came to recognize that the problem was not with science, nor with Bible, but with improper interpretations of the Bible, which failed to distinguish between literal and metaphorical language.

Another major crisis in the relationship between science and the Bible arose in the nineteenth century when Charles Darwin proposed the theory of evolution. Many opposed this theory because it seemed to conflict with the biblical account of creation. However, today many Christian scientists accept evolutionary theory as foundational to the modern, scientific study of biology. Yet the debate still rages as to whether opposition to or acceptance of the theory of evolution is based on faulty understanding of science or a questionable interpretation of Scripture.

Today, a significant percentage of university-level scientists still believe in a personal God who answers prayer. Their numbers include the Nobel Prize-winning physicist William Phillips and the director of the Human Genome Project, Francis Collins. Many such scientists acknowledge the grace of God in the discoveries of modern science.

Both the Bible and natural science originate from God. As Paul says in Romans, “since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities – his eternal power and divine nature – have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made” (Rom 1:20).

Where science and the Bible differ is in the way in which knowledge is acquired. Biblical revelation of truth is final and unchanging. What can change is our interpretation and understanding of this revelation.

In science, however, theories are only an approach to truth, not the final truth. Every scientific theory is subject to revision and possible rejection. Doing scientific work itself is an act of faith. It requires a basic assumption that there is a real world outside our mind. No scientific development in the field of cosmology or evolution disproves the existence of God. The scientific approach of biblical archaeology and the study of ancient manuscripts have affirmed much of what we know about the Bible and the events it records.

Knowledge of science and knowledge of the Bible are not mutually exclusive. In fact, each deepens our understanding of the other. As Christians we want the “world” to consider the Bible seriously. But we also need to consider the evidence of science seriously. Science is not an enemy of the Bible.