Comments from Pastor Billy about chapter eight of his summer book recommendation - a great read for high school graduates and their parents!
Science Seems Like It Can Explain Everything in the Universe--Do We Really Need to Believe in God?
One of the biggest challenges on a college campus or in the world today is how the Bible and Christianity fit with what we know about the natural world. It is one that often takes us by surprise if we have never truly thought through and studied what the Bible says about creation, earth, man, nature, etc.
Are we as Christians just relying on ancient thoughts and writings to explain the scientific world? Are there Christian scientists, and what do they believe about many of these theories that claim that the Bible and science do not work together?
Michael Kruger tackles this subject in chapter 8 of his book, which is primarily written as letters to his daughter, who is majoring in Medicine. Kruger first makes it clear that there is not really a war between science and Christianity. To the contrary, many scientists throughout history and today are using their Christian worldview and what they know about the Bible, side by side with their scientific pursuits. It may surprise you to learn that John Lennox, a math professor at Oxford stated, “over 60 percent of the Nobel Prize winners between 1900 and 2000 identified themselves as Christians.” So, intellectual pursuit and knowledge are not incompatible with a Christian worldview.
Another point that Kruger brings up in this chapter, which is quite compelling, is the idea that science needs a Christian worldview to function. Kruger writes, “It needs a worldview in which the universe operates in an orderly, predictable, uniform fashion -- what scientists call the uniformity of nature.” The reason it is so important is so that experiments can be done. If the world was random and nothing ever happened with any sort of predictability you could not conduct repeatable experiments that would lead to scientific discoveries. It is a wonderful and amazing truth that our universe operates with a certain framework.
Also, it is made clear by Kruger, and rightly so, that just because there is disagreement with a scientific theory does not mean that all science is “bad” or “wrong”. For instance, Kruger cites Richard Dawkins a famous atheist, “It is absolutely safe to say that if you meet somebody who claims not to believe in evolution, that person is ignorant, stupid or insane.” While it may be true that many in the scientific community take evolution as fact, there still remains many who do not, some of which are not even Christians. Without going onto a lengthy doctoral thesis about evolution, there are some things that have not been proven without a discussion. For instance, Kruger mentions “origins of the first living cell, how order can increase in the face of the second law of thermodynamics and the systemic gaps in the fossil record.”
Therefore, science and a biblical worldview are not at war with one another. Instead there are certain theories and ideas that lead to worthwhile discussion and debate. Kruger ends this chapter with dipping into the inter-faith debate many Christians have about the Book of Genesis, and its opening chapters about creation. While I believe that the early chapters are giving us a historical account, meant to be interpreted that way, I know many of my brothers and sisters in Christ would push back on my interpretation. However, I think we can all agree that the opening chapters and even verse should have a bearing on our understanding of science:
“In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.”
In Christ,
Billy