The Bible and Science

The Bible and science are in two different realms.  The Bible is a spiritual revelation from God.  Science uses observation and reason to discover natural law.  Nevertheless these realms overlap.  On the one hand, there is a certain amount of scientific fact in the Bible.  On the other, a good number of people hope that science will discredit religion in general and the Bible in particular.

Both the Bible and science address the question of the origin of the universe.  There is no subject that has been more hotly debated in both these realms than this one.  The reason is that the answer to this question affects everything.  If God created the universe (Gen. 1:1) then it displays both His power and His nature (Rom. 1:20).  If the universe is the product of nothing more than natural law then the Bible is little more than an interesting product of human culture.

The Real Issue

Thus the real issue is not about things such as the age of the universe.  It is about whether there is a God to whom we will have to give an account one day.  The "philosophical aversion" of some scientists to this thought is no more scientific than the faith of a believer in the Bible.  Natural law is exactly perfect to make life on earth possible and science is continuing to discover how amazingly delicate the balances are to make it possible.  Science cannot answer the question of why the universe has the properties we observe.  It can only tell us that the slightest change in any one of a good number of these properties and we would not be here to observe them.

But what about the age of the universe?  Hasn't science proved the biblical story of creation to be false?  If you asked these questions of a variety of people you would get all kinds of answers.  To me it seems that science has made a strong case against the interpretation of the Bible that suggests that the universe is only a few thousand years old but this is just one way to interpret what the Bible says.  Sometimes those who want the Bible to be proved to be true fail to distinguish between what the Bible says and our interpretation of it.  The Bible does need to be interpreted, otherwise we cannot enter into its depths.  Nevertheless, we all may find out one day that some of our cherished interpretations were not accurate.  This in no way discredits the Bible.

The Bible clearly and emphatically states that the universe came into being through God's creation.  There is no need of any interpretation to understand this.  However, so few details of the process of creation are given that this process is not only open to interpretation, it is probably foolish to try to derive a scientific theory of this process from the account in the Bible.  Actually the Bible makes no claims at all about the age of the universe.  It simply says, "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth." (Genesis 1:1)

A Universal Beginning

The same science that discredits the notion of a few thousand year old universe has concluded that the whole universe began at a single instant in time.  In other words there was an instant we can call "the beginning" in a universal sense.  Before the discovery that the universe was expanding no one dreamed that science would verify the first 3 words of the Bible.  Since that discovery a good number of scientists have done their best to come up with theories that did not require a universal beginning.  Those attempts not only failed, they led to some of the most compelling evidence supporting the "big bang" theory.

Moreover the "big bang" suggested by the theory was an inexplicable burst of almost infinite energy.  Somehow that energy burst, against odds that also were almost infinite, possessed all the properties to form the universe as we know it.  Somehow again intelligent life formed on this earth.  It is hard to imagine any scenario more fitting for the process of creation than this one.  I don't know about you but to me this clearly points to a Creator of infinite power and wisdom.

The Story of Adam and Eve

Another aspect of the creation story that seems very unscientific is the story of  Adam and Eve.  Darwin's famous theory of evolution is an attempt to explain the origin of life without involving God.  The debate about this theory has given many people the impression that to believe the Bible you have to ignore science and that to accept science you have to ignore the Bible.

But recent DNA research turned up a big surprise.  The researchers focussed on a section of DNA that is only passed from mother to daughter.  They discovered that all women are descended from one individual woman.  Similar research on other sections of DNA only passed from father to son showed that all men are descended from one individual man.

This is hard to reconcile with the concept of creatures gradually adapting to their environment.  How could an evolving species be reduced to one male and one female and still survive?  Needless to say, the DNA evidence corresponds very well to the story in the Bible.

Science Has Neither Proved or Disproved the Bible

In the end science has neither proved or disproved the Bible.  It has given us amazing new technologies but it has not solved our human problems.  Science has not changed people; only God can do that. The Bible tells us not only that God has the power and wisdom to create the universe.  It also tells us that He has gone through the process of becoming a man, living a human life, dying for our sins, and rising from the dead to become a life-giving Spirit (1 Cor. 15:45).  Now if you are willing you can receive God as life and give Him the permission to begin to make you a new person.  It is these processes with their purpose and results that are the central message of the Bible.

This message makes many people uncomfortable.  One problem is that it is in the spiritual realm and thus cannot be put into a test tube to be scrutinized by science.  The main problem though is that it puts on us the responsibility to respond.  The fact is that even though God has prepared a way for us to come to Him and invited us through the message of the Bible to come, many people do not want anything to do with Him.

Christ is the Meaning and Reality of Human Life

If I would only focus on the destructive capacity that science has enabled along with its amazing lack of progress in changing people I would be very pessimistic.  How can the world prevent all chemical, biological and nuclear weapons from falling into the hands of those reckless enough to try to use them on a large scale?  But the Bible tells us that just at the point when the major armies of the earth are gathered together to battle, the Lord Jesus will return to judge the earth and establish His kingdom.  Until then the tools of science will produce at least as many "swords" as "plowshares".  If you look to science to provide meaning and reality in your life you will be utterly disappointed.  On the other hand, if you come to God in the way He revealed in the Bible you will find that Christ is the meaning and reality of human life.  This is the experience and testimony of countless lovers of Jesus.  What a joy it is whenever we touch His reality!