“Mystery—awe and recognition of
that which we cannot explain, yet hold to be true—stands at the center of both
faith and science. The wordless beauty of a cathedral, the ‘sublime, subtle and
inexplicable’ that Einstein saw behind the laws of physics, the twinkle in a
baby’s eye, the astounding reality that in the midst of a vast and complex
universe, you and I are here.” – Jim Trainor, Grasp: Making Sense of Science
and Spirituality
Text: When Christians Get It Wrong,
by Adam Hamilton. Chapter 2: Science, Faith and Fear
Discussion Point: A graph similar to one from Jim Trainor’s
book (referenced above):
Scientific discovery is important, and scientific discoveries have shaped our world.
Simple
Ideas: Making fire, cooking food, making weapons, utilizing a wheel, making
simple fabrics, making bricks and concrete, training animals, building simple
machines.
More
Complex Ideas: The telescope, thermometer, gravity, and the sun, moon and stars
do not revolve around the earth (Galileo – 1589), motion-force-mass-planetary motion
(Newton – 1687), fossils and geological strata (Charles Lyell – early 1800s), The Origin of Species (Charles Darwin –
1859), the expanding universe – aka the Big Bang Theory (Edwin Hubble – 1929 …
the universe is expanding and we are moving through space at over 500,000 miles
per hour), relativity, quantum physics, string theory, and countless others…
For many
years, the Church held to the belief that the earth is the center of the
universe. But, we now know that the earth is not the center of the universe. It
is an average size planet that revolves around our sun, an average sized star,
in the galaxy we have named The Milky Way. There are an untold number of other
galaxies, and the one closest to ours is the Andromeda Galaxy, which is over 2
million light years away. By the way, light travels 186,000 miles per second,
so that’s roughly 11,731,392,000,000,000,000
miles away, and the universe is estimated to be 1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000
miles across. The diameter of the earth is roughly 8,000 miles.
Christians
are often accused of being closed minded when it comes to science, and we
certainly have not done ourselves any favors. In the early 17th
century, Bishop James Ussher meticulously went through the recorded genealogy
of the Bible and concluded that the earth was created in 4004 BC. There are
still some Christians that hold tight to this idea, and quite often, the church
has declared scientists (such as Galileo) heretics when their discoveries do
not support theology.
However, there is no need for
conflict.
Science and Faith do not compete with each other. They complement
each other. Science helps us understand what and how. Faith helps us understand
why and for what purpose.
Also, the Bible was never
intended to be a science book.
“When
some Christians add up the ages represented by the genealogies of the Old
Testament and then tell us that the earth is less than ten thousand years old,
I want to laugh or cry. With John, I find myself wondering why they can’t
appreciate that the biblical stories of creation were written in the form of
Hebrew poetry. They were not written as God’s way of giving ancient people a
lesson in cosmology or biology or physics. They were written to say that behind
all of the magnificent beauty of creation there
is One who created—who called for all that is and gave it form and shape
and established the laws and patterns that govern it.” – Adam Hamilton
“Some people believe we were made by a creator
who has plans and purposes for his creation, while others believe there is no
greater meaning to life, no grand design, and we exist not because of some
divine intention but because of random chance. This is not a discussion between
people of faith and people who don’t have faith. Both perspectives are faith
perspectives, built on systems of belief. The person who says we are here by
chance and there is no greater meaning has just as many beliefs as the person
who says there’s a creator. Maybe even more. Think about some of the words that
are used in these kinds of discussions, one of the most common being the phrase
“open-minded”. Often the person with spiritual convictions is seen as
close-minded and others are seen as open-minded. What is fascinating to me is
that at the center of the Christian faith is the assumption that this life
isn’t all there is. That there is more to life than the material. That
existence is not limited to what we can see, touch, measure, taste, hear, and
observe. One of the central assertions of the Christian world-view is that
there is ‘more’.1 Those who oppose this insist that this is all there is, that
only what we can measure and observe and see with our eyes is real. There is
nothing else. Which perspective is more ‘closed-minded’? Which perspective is more
‘open’?” – Rob Bell. Velvet Elvis: Repainting the Christian Faith
And we should not try to use
scientific theories to prove what we believe about God:
A
perfect example of this is the way people reacted to the big bang theory. Many
Christians said “That’s it! That proves God created the universe and
everything within it. Creation was the big bang!" The problem with using
scientific theory as a basis for our beliefs is that we have no place to hang
our theory when the scientific theory is proved wrong or replaced by a more
modern theory.
How do Christians get it right,
and nonchristians sometimes help?
“Christians
get it right when they see science as an important companion in the quest for
knowledge and truth.” – Adam Hamilton
“I do
not feel obliged to believe that the same God who has endowed us with sense,
reason, and intellect has intended us to forgo their use.” – Galileo
“This
means that the initial state of the universe must have been very carefully
chosen indeed if the hot big bang model is correct back to the beginning of
time. It would be very difficult to explain why the universe should have begun
in this way except as an act of a god who intended to create beings like us.” –
Stephen Hawking
Christians
can appreciate science without abandoning their faith in God. When we treat
each statement in the Bible as a “brick” and believe all of Christianity
depends upon the strength of each “brick”, then we lose God’s message and truth
for our lives.
“This
truth clicked for me last Friday in a new way. Somebody showed me a letter from
the president of a large seminary who is raising money to help him train
leaders who will defend Christianity. The letter went on about the desperate
need for defense of the true faith. What disturbed me was the defensive posture
of the letter, which reflects one of the things that happens in brickworld: you
spend a lot of time talking about how right you are. Which of course leads to
how wrong everybody else is. Which then leads to defending the wall. It struck
me reading the letter that you rarely defend a trampoline. You invite people to
jump on it with you.” - Rob Bell, Velvet Elvis: Repainting the Christian
Faith
Jesus
extends this sort of invitation to all of us through his life and the Gospels
of the apostles. He invites us to live the life God intended for each of us,
though faith, not scientific proof. We also encourage others through our faith
and the power of God.
“When I
came to you, brothers and sister, I did not come proclaiming the mystery of God
to you in lofty words or wisdom. For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and him
crucified. And I came to you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling. My
speech and my proclamation were not with plausible words of wisdom, but with a
demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that your faith might rest not on
human wisdom but on
the power of God.” – 1 Corinthians 2:1-4
Christians
do not need proof. We all know Love, but we cannot prove its existence. We have
experienced God’s powerful love, and we have felt God working through each of
us. Our experiences are irrefutable, and yet, impossible to prove to others.
But take heart. There is no need to prove anything.
“We live
by faith, not by sight.” – 2 Corinthians 5:7
And God
is the great I Am. Indeed, as John wrote,
“In the
beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was
with God in the beginning.” – John 1:1-2
“Are you
greater than our father Abraham? He died, and so did the prophets. Who do you
think you are?” Jesus replied, “If I glorify myself, my glory means nothing. My
Father, whom you claim as your God, is the one who glorifies me. Though you do
not know him, I know him. If I said I did not, I would be a liar like you, but
I do know him and keep his word. Your father Abraham rejoiced at the thought of
seeing my day; he saw it and was glad.” “You are not yet fifty years old,” the
Jews said to him, “and you have seen Abraham!” “I tell you the truth,” Jesus
answered, “before Abraham was born, I am!” - John 8:53-58
Men know
little, and they will never know everything.
"For now
we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face; now I know in part, but then I
will know fully just as I also have been fully known." – 1 Corinthians 13:12
"For I am
sure that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things
present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything
else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in
Christ Jesus our Lord." – Romans 8:38-39
Further Discussion:
- Renowned physicist Freeman Dyson said, “Science and religion are two windows that people look through, trying to understand the big universe outside, trying to understand why we are here. The two windows give different views, but they look out at the same universe. Both views are one-sided, neither is complete. Both leave out essential features of the real world. And both are worthy of respect.” What are your thoughts?
- Christians have to understand that the opposite of love is hate, and hate surely exists. Consider the words of prominent chemist Peter Atkins who says, “The religious will increasingly have no excuse for continued belief in the existence of God but will nevertheless cling to it. Indeed, as science exposes the ultimate bleakness of the universe—a bleakness I find enthralling—it is likely that humanity will cling increasingly to the false hope provided by religion … They want comforting thoughts, not truth… faith is one of the world’s great evils, comparable to the smallpox virus but harder to eradicate.” How difficult is it for you to deal with these statements?
- String theory suggests that we may be living in an 11 dimensional world. Some have said that perhaps God acts through these other dimensions. Could it be dangerous to think this way?
Additional Reading – Grasp: Making Sense of Science
and Spirituality,
by Jim Trainor
