Are Science and Christianity Friends?
Many people
think that the Christian faith and science are in conflict with one another. But
for most of history the Christian Church has been a friend to scientific study
and has encouraged it. It was the Christian worldview that provided the right
environment for modern science to emerge.
Belief in one God led people to look for the laws of nature to remain
the same in time and space. If the
universe was thought to be irregular and unpredictable it could not be
systematically studied.
Few of our
early scientific discoveries came out of countries with religious systems that
espoused beliefs in many unpredictable gods, some good, some bad, some warring
and some helping. And even some gods who
demanded human sacrifices. The people who shared these religious beliefs did
not live in an environment that encouraged them to get involved in scientific
study.
But the
Christian belief in a rational God who created the world in an orderly fashion
led scientists to look for a world that was both ordered and rational. And when they looked for an ordered universe,
they found it. The Christian faith was an encouragement to many scientists
during the Renaissance period to investigate their natural world. Since the Christian faith teaches that God is
a God of law, scientists were inspired to look for laws in nature. And they found them also.
Our faith
and what we believe about God is all important.
Scripture says: “The fear (reverence) of the Lord is the beginning of
wisdom.” (Psalm 111:10) Christian faith teaches that we have a good
and loving and just God who is all powerful and who is separate from nature. We order our lives differently when we
believe in the Christian God of grace and sacrificial love. If we lived in a
country with a religion that tells us that all forms of matter (animals,
plants, trees, etc.) are really gods, then we would not want to perform
scientific experiment with these, since we would be experimenting on a god and
we might be cursed.
Some
religions teach that matter in nature (birds, germs, insects, the weather) is
evil. Members of these religions would
be discouraged from performing scientific experiments with natural matter if
they believed that it was evil. The
Christian belief that everything that God created is good (Genesis 1-2) is a
doctrine that encourage scientific experimentation.
The fact
that Christian doctrine provides fertile soil for scientific experimentation is
recognized by historians, philosophers and scientists. Science is the child of Christian thought. Many devout Christians have been inspired to get
involved in scientific study because of their underlying faith.
One of these
early Christians was Nicolaus Copernicus, who lived in the 15th
century, and who laid the foundations of modern astronomy. He was Canon of Frauenburg Cathedral in
Poland. Another early scientist, Johannes
Kepler, who lived in the 16th century was known for his discovery of
the three principles of planetary motion. As a devout Lutheran, he said that he was
“thinking God’s thoughts after Him.” Sir
Isaac Newton who lived in the 17th century discovered the laws of
gravity. He also was the first to find a correct analysis of white light. He believed that Scripture was God’s Word and
he wrote theological books as well as scientific books.
Michael
Faraday of the 19th century was the first to produce an electric
current from a magnetic field and he invented the first electric motor and
dynamo. He stated that his Christian
faith had influenced him to get involved in scientific study. James Simpson, who discovered anesthetics and
paved the way for painless surgery was once asked, “What is the most important
discovery of your life?” And he
answered, “The most important discovery I ever made was when I discovered Jesus
Christ.” Thousands of Christians have
devoted their lives to scientific study over hundreds of years. Louis Pasteur who discovered pasteurization,
and Joseph Lister who pioneered antiseptic surgery are two who come to mind.
Some people
believe that science proves the Christian faith to be wrong because our
Scriptures (the Bible) teach about miracles. Scripture tells us that Jesus performed
miracles, raised the dead and healed the sick. But some people say that science
proves that miracles cannot happen.
Actually science describes or tells us how God usually acts in nature but science does not prove that
exceptions to the laws of nature (miracles) can never happen!
Scientific
studies look for rules in nature (how nature usually acts). But people studying
science do not always make room for the
exceptions to the rules of nature (the supernatural). Some folks think that the
laws of nature are set in stone and cannot be tweaked or changed! But God created the laws of nature and rules
over them, not the other way around! And
God can do whatever He wants!
Some folks
believe that science has proved that the laws of nature are rigid and cannot
ever be broken. They believe in a
mechanical uniformity of nature. They
can’t seem to believe that God can create exceptions to His rules! If the laws of nature are completely uniform
and they can never be broken, then the supernatural would be ruled out.
Since it is
not natural for a virgin to have a baby or for someone to rise from the dead,
some people do not believe that Mary was a virgin when she gave birth to the
baby Jesus. Or that Jesus rose from the
dead after He was crucified. That God could work these miracles seems too much
for some to believe. They can’t seem to believe in anything that doesn’t usually
happen, or anything that they have not seen with their own eyes!
If there is
no God then miracles are a problem. But
if there is a God and if He created matter, reason, time, space, and all the
scientific laws, then He is at liberty to interfere or move His own rules
around if He wants to. What seems
impossible for us is always possible for God!
He is all-powerful and all loving and He can do anything! Perhaps if we can’t believe in miracles, our picture
of God is too small.
Scripture
states that the angel told Mary that she would become pregnant by the power of
the Holy Spirit and that her child would be the Son of God. We all know that it is not natural for a
virgin to have a baby. We know that for
a baby to be conceived and a woman to become pregnant, we need the union of the
mother’s egg and the father’s sperm.
But Mary’s baby – the baby Jesus – is
different. Different from every other
baby that has ever been born! Jesus is
God! His name “Emanuel” means “God with
us” according to the Bible. (Matthew
1:23 and Isaiah 7:14) And Jesus the Son of God was born sinless so He was a
special Person and He had a special birth.
Of course God could make an exception to the
usual rule of nature this one time and intervene and impregnate Mary by the
power of the Holy Spirit if He wanted to. God is powerful enough to manage
that. If we can believe in a God that is big enough to manage these things then
we can believe in miracles. It is as simple as that! Let’s believe in a bigger
God. That is the key I think. Scripture says that the Virgin Mary conceived the
baby Jesus when the Holy Spirit came over her. Is that so hard to believe?
When we
believe that God is big enough then it isn’t hard to believe in the miracle of
the virgin birth or in any other miracle for that matter. Our Christian faith
rests on the fact that Jesus, our Savior, rose from the dead. Scripture says: “Because He lives, we shall live also.” (John
14:19) The fact that men and women do
not come back to life after they have been dead for three days and nights does
not mean that Jesus Christ the Son of God did not rise from the dead after
three days and nights. Jesus Christ is
God and He has conquered death. He
conquered it for us! We don’t worship a
dead Savior but a living Savior. God is
God and He is all powerful. Nothing is
impossible with Him. Our God is a God of
miracles!
Some of the
ideas in this blog were taken from Nicky Gumbels’ booklet, “Searching Issues”.
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