Science and Faith?
There are alot of people who think that Science is the antithesis of faith. For this reason many uninformed Christians often criticize and cut down the scientific advances that this interesting little creature called man has conjured. Whether they be scared of it, or simply have been taught to hate scientific reasoning, I really believe that an attitude like that hurts our cause as Believers in a couple of key areas.
For one point, hating science definately falls into the Jesus-Freak stereotype. It’s really hard to have to answer for what some of the forefathers (crusades..cough) and other believers in the church have done and this particular anti-gnositic attitude turns off 100% of the scientific nonbelievers that I know.
Going to a school where the majority (though not by much) of the student body are liberal and virtually all of them are scientists presents one’s faith with some interesting challenges. I have been called everything from a crazy man to nothing but a sheep who doesn’t know how to think for himself. Nevertheless, I really believe being educated in the sciences of man has a major advantage on the witness field and has allowed God to work in areas of my life that are otherwise untouched.
Most of the hardcore nonbelievers tend to be very logical people, and these are the toughest nuts to crack. But, Praise God, the Holy Spirit can crack any nut. Still, it’s interesting to me to discuss theories of the creation of the universe with non-believers. It’s also interesting how Christians have turned certain buzzwords into negative “sinful” terms. Two good examples of this are “Big Bang” and “Evolution.” Try this: The next time you are at your home church, go find an elder or just anyone that you don’t know too well and ask them their views on these two words. I know that in my home church I would most likely be flooded by well-meant but often overzealous comments about how neither are viable or even scientifically sound.
Ironically, both the theory of evolution (mostly microevolution and some aspects of darwinism) and the big bang are pretty viable. Before you start hate mailing me and praying for my soul to be truely saved, ponder for a moment this what if: What if God build the universe for potential? What if the Almighty Creator spun this world into existance by science? Would that in any way degrade God?
I don’t think so. In the same way that man has figured out how his insides work (and we obviously like Doctors) it’s possible that modern science has shed some light on how the Almighty breathed our little rock into existance. We are, after all, ingenius little creatures; beings built in God’s image. God did create the universe. Shouldn’t we have a little creativity in us too?
In the end, I realize that this argument doesn’t particularly matter to most people. But I have a heart for the overly educated and those that some churches deem unsavable. I have a heart for people like Paul.
Ben said,
April 23, 2006 @ 12:56 pm
Amen brutha. I agree totally. I think that it’s awesome to see how God works–i mean that in the sense of being the physicist that i wish i could be. You and I both have an inherent desire to see how things work. i think that is a statement that could be universally applied to all human beings. We don’t like to be left in the dark. And i think that it’s just silly how so many christian fundamentalists can be so turned off to science. After learning string theory, God’s sovereignty shines through any formulas or answers they might have; because for every answer, there are 100 other questions that are raised–such is the nature of science. It’s just amazing to see how wonderfully brilliant and, for lack of a better word, creative. I personally don’t know anyone that could sit around and think, ‘hey, i’m going to create a universe where everything works together!’ It’s just stupid awesome that we have 26 universal constants that CANNOT be changed. IF they were to be changed, life as we know it would cease to exist. God is great my friend. But your anti-spam thing isn’t…
Uncle G. said,
September 23, 2006 @ 1:02 am
Science, in much of society, has been reduced down to the attempts of godless individuals to rule God out of the creation equation.
What is called science today is not really science. It is nothing other than man attempting to find his origins and control his destiny on his terms and not on God’s. I don’t buy any of the nonsensical babble of people who are educated beyond their intelligence-arrogant, denying that there is a God.
I would not call anything viable that comes from any such source, not because I don’t have an open mind, no, because I personally know and have spoken with the Creator.
You don’t have to believe in evolution to win those who believe and teach it.
From a biblical perspective, evolution is a farce.
Uncle G. said,
September 23, 2006 @ 1:51 am
Clarification:
(Forgive me for lumping all types of evolution into one category).
Micro-evolution is the adaptations and changes within a species while macro-evolution is the addition of new traits or a transition to a new species.
Evolution, as what been taught by much of the science world, is macro-a transition of one species into a new species. This has and cannot be proven except only in the minds of the self-deluded.
Calling adaptation and changes in a species over a certain period of time a form of evolution sounds like an attempt of the macro-evolution proponents to give some sort of credence to their godless world view. Who decided to call it micro-evolution anyway? It is not really evolution in its original form.
The problem is not with what Darwin found on the Galapogos Islands but is with how he interpreted what he found. His world view formed his interpretation. He actually found no evidence of transition of species-to-species but only found evidence of adaption and possible genetic mutations.
If anyone , who is a Bible-believing Christian, were to tell me that they believed in evolution, they would be immediately rebuked because it really can’t be separated from the godless world view that spawned it.
When most people hear the word “evolution”, they immediately associate it with, “We came from apes.” That is why the majority of response from churchdom would be negative toward you.
This is one reason why we shoudn’t categorize adaption or mutation as evolution.
Blessings