Home » Science and Faith Walking Hand in Hand?    

Comments

Science and Faith Walking Hand in Hand? — 17 Comments

  1. Thank you for this. I have always wondered about sharing my faith with those who do not already hold the bible as true. The bible means “nothing” outside of a culture that does not believe. When I read the word, I feel the fire in my heart too; but when I share about this word to my friends, this is not the argument I give. In addition to the evidence on the flood and creation, I think empirical evidence in my own life and experience help me to show others that my God is real. I also think that God is willing to reveal Himself to all those who would like to meet Him. So when my friends ask me if God is real, I respond to them that they should ask Him themselves. I always say that if you really want to meet God, then just ask Him to reveal Himself. If you are honest in your inquiry then He will definitely show up.

    (0)
  2. Although it appears logical to our feeble minds that science is a means of discovering what God already created, it is difficult to convince some even within the Seventh day Adventist Church to accept this. Most of my fellowship members gets really angry if one tries to test any Biblical point.

    (1)
    • They only feel angry because they are fearful that God hasn't provided the necessary evidence. They should in fact be happy and joyful when the Bible is put to the test because such will only demonstrate to the honest seeker for truth the amazing credibility and Divine origin of this Book. It's actually very exciting to discover evidence after evidence that confirms the claims of the Bible - evidence which has, time and again, completely undermined the attacks of its numerous "intellectual" critics over the centuries. As someone once said, "The Bible is an anvil that has worn out many hammers."

      (0)
  3. Answered most questions I have been having, thank you for the journal, God bless you... Now opening a dormant field, how to go about it? I think the bible should direct science and not science to direct the bible. Like that argument of which came first between the chicken and the egg. It is the chicken. But I dunno.. God created and it came to be, so science is the egg and the bible the chicken . It is mysterious! Nevertheless what God reveals to us, we rejoice and give Him glory for He is ever true.

    (0)
    • Well, I'd say that they are equals in that both science and Scripture shed light on each other. The credibility of Scripture is itself established, according the Biblical authors themselves, by forms of scientific reasoning based on the weight of evidence that God has provided to us. On the other hand, Scripture gives us details about God and His love and sacrifice for us that the scientific study of nature and human history alone, independent of the Bible, could never demonstrate.

      (0)
      • Hi Sean, It seems to me that what you say about the Bible and science being equal applies if both are studied under the guidance of the Holy Spirit.

        However, science, as currently defined by the world (without any reference to God), must be kept subservient to Scripture, if we wish to know the truth - both in the natural realm and the spiritual realm. That is, if science seems to contradict Scripture, we can usually know that science is wrong, although there might be exceptions, when we have misunderstood Scripture.

        It seems to me that not only does science without God lead to false conclusions about God, but it also leads to false conclusions about the evidence in the natural world.

        (0)
        • Of course, as mentioned in my article, we're talking about true science here - a process of investigating the world in which we live with an honest and sincere heart and a firm desire to know the truth. The Holy Spirit will always guide the mind of such an individual and lead such a one toward God.

          "You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart." - Jeremiah 29:13

          Generally speaking, God gives us no other way to rationally determine Biblical credibility than to use our God-given reasoning abilities - which are based on forms of scientific reasoning. That is why I suggest that true science and true Biblical faith or religion walk hand-in-hand.

          (0)
        • There is also another aspect of this as stated by Paul, "for when Gentiles, who do not have the law, by nature do the things in the law, these, although not having the law, are a law to themselves, who show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and between themselves their thoughts accusing or else excusing them) in the day when God will judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ, according to my gospel" (Rom. 2:14-16 NKJV). Sometimes I think we forget that the Holy Spirit works with everyone even in the world of atheism (Jn 16:8-11). For the Gentiles that Paul was speaking of the Holy Spirit was placing those people under the new covenant in spite of themselves, "I will put My laws in their mind and write them on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people" (Heb. 8:10 NKJV) and as long as they do not reject the leading of the Holy Spirit they will be lead by God into all truth (Jn 16:13).

          The problem comes when people reject the leading of the Spirit and go their own way, "with all unrighteous deception among those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved" (2 Thess. 2:10 NKJV). This can happen when people reject clear evidence in favor of their theory in an effort to bolster their egos.

          What we as Christians need to keep in mind is the fact that, "He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world (1 Jn. 2:2 NKJV). The majority of the saved are still out there even among the scientists, we simply don't see them now and like the thief on the cross they may never have the opportunity to become what we consider savable yet they will be in Heaven along with everyone else who does not reject revealed truth.

          (0)
  4. Sean,

    You covered your subject well and I enjoyed the various aspects! I especially like this, "There are many within Adventism... a type of faith that needs no critical analysis or testing or rational validation. For them faith is, by definition, internally-derived and self-validating. ... “Because the Holy Spirit told me so and He wouldn’t lie to me.” When I ask them how the Holy Spirit speaks to them and reveals to them these truths, they say, “I feel a burning deep down in my soul, deep in my chest, whenever I hear or see or read the truth.”
    Some refer to this experience as a “Burning in the Bosom.” I have never heard of this phrase, "Burning in the Bosom" but have seen it played out over and over!
    And I like Dr. Zacharias, "If a pastor says, “All we need is the Bible,” what does he say to a man who says, “All I need is the Qur’an”? It is a solipsistic method of arguing. The pastor is saying, “All I need is my own point of reference and nothing more than that.”
    Thanks for such an deep discussion!

    (0)
  5. To Tyler,

    I like and agree with your comments and scripture Rom. 2:14-16. I grew up Catholic (until age 14) and then went my own way for about ten years. It's helpful to remember that those who go their own way aren't freaks or people that have totally closed God out of their lives. During the time I went my own way, I adopted a healthy diet and the SDA health message (six years before I became a SDA). Jewelry never interested me, even as a child, and the whole extended family knew. Fiction and and TV weren't on my radar, because I loved reading books and so many other activities. I don't think TV is bad, I just made other choices. I don't even know cartoons because was too busy to watch!! There must be other clues of God's leading. So I pray we keep our hearts and minds open to people that God sends into our midst. Thanks Tyler!

    (0)
  6. Sean, it is interesting that you have used the Paul Davies quote from his review of Polkinghorne's book. John Polkinghorne, of course, is an enigma in the scientific world. He started out as a physicist and contributed a number of significant ideas to the the discipline. He then, at the middle of his working life, turned his attention to theology and became a priest in the Anglican church. Polkinghorne has been an outstanding contributor in the arena of science and faith. He is obviously a theistic evolutionist, and that does not sit well with the readership of this blog. However, his main contribution, has been to bring attention to those scientific premises on which mechanistic evolution is based and show their weakness. Few of us are in a position to do so with the authority of Polkinghorne.

    Paul Davies is an atheist but has always had a respect for those who see God as the designer. He of course argues from a mechanistic approach but understands that thinking Christians want to attribute that design to God.

    This current set of lessons have reminded me of the sorts of discussions and interchange that these two men have. Both are highly respected scientists but have fundamentally different explanations for origins but who understand one another.

    There are a number of scientists who have contributed to my understanding of Christianity. Another is C A Coulson, one of the leaders in molecular orbital theory. I was privileged to be be taught be one of his PhD students, who used Coulson's textbook on molecular orbital theory (I still have it). At the same time I was studying a Christian Apologetics class where Coulson's book, "Science and Christian Belief" was used as a text book (I still have that too) Coulson's writings convinced me that we should be careful not to separate the natural from the supernatural in the way that we often do. He pointed out that if God created the natural world then his design would be found through it, not outside it. (and there is a lot more.)

    I read Davies - currently reading "The Goldilocks Enigma"- because I think he is fairly honest in his search for answers on "How and Why" the universe and life exist at all. He is one of the atheistic scientists who is willing to ask the big questions that go beyond the mechanistic explanations.

    (0)
    • Paul Davies is indeed interesting. He may now be an atheist (as his current writings seem to suggest), but I he wasn't an atheist at the time he wrote the review for Polkinghorne (1983) or his 1984 book Superforce. After all, if you read the original review, Davies quite clearly says,

      "The belief that there is 'something behind it all' is one that I personally share with, I suspect, a majority of physicists. This rather diffuse feeling could, I suppose, be termed theism in its widest sense."

      http://groups.yahoo.com/group/creation_evolution_debate/message/162710

      Also, in his 1984 book, Superforce he went on to say that,

      "The equations of physics have in them incredible simplicity, elegance, and beauty. That in itself is sufficient to prove to me that there must be a God who is responsible for these laws and responsible for the universe."

      Those are pretty theistic statements. Of course, Davies may wish now that he never said things quite so clearly, but he did.

      That is why I used these quotes in particular - because Davies seems to be honest enough, even today now that he's more of an atheist, to admit that the universe does at least look designed. In short, I don't think he's a very confident atheist... if you know what I mean.

      (0)
  7. MORE THAN AN INTELLIGENT DESIGN

    It is encouraging that some scientists discover an intelligent design behind the marvellous order of nature. In connection with the act of creation, the Bible calls it wisdom (Proverbs 8:22-30). It climaxes in Christ, the power of God and the wisdom of God (1 Corinthians 1:24), regarded as foolishness by the wisdom ot the world (verse 20). Our God is not just an intelligent design behind nature, although this is the first step into the right direction. In incarnation and the cross God is coming very close to us.

    Winfried Stolpmann

    (0)
  8. I love God. He gives us science and faith to work with. the school that says science is non-mentioned in the Bible needs to read the Bible again. I love their (science and faith) interface as it helps me appreciate what God is and will always be.
    Come Sabbath and we will enjoy all the blessings the Lord has shelved for His own that are prepared to go into the creation studies

    (0)

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

HTML tags allowed in your comment: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <s> <strike> <strong>