Science, Faith and Fear

“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 17^th 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:

1. 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? 
2. 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? 
3. 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