Questions about the Bible: 6. Hasn’t science disproved the Bible?

Hasn’t science disproved the Bible?

Over recent years many have sought to make science and God mutually exclusive. They say that belief in God is old fashioned folklore. Nothing could be further from the truth. There is no credibility in this argument. It really is a myth. History shows that science and theism go hand in hand.

First, so many of the fathers of modern science – Galileo, Newton, Farraday, Bacon, Kepler and more – were all people who believed in God. The Bible teaches that God is orderly and rational. Therefore, it follows that His creation is too. There are laws that can be tested, so that the world’s orderliness can be studied. Of course, there are aspects to creation which cannot be measured, such as the beauty of our world and its ability to inspire awe and wonder. This in itself speaks of a Creator who is more than just an engineer! Essentially science comes from a belief in God.

The trouble is that we have cloaked the scientist with a mantle of infallibility, but a true scientist is known by his or her confession of ignorance. For example, Johannes Kepler, who discovered that planetary orbits are elliptical, reflected, ‘O God, I am thinking Thy thoughts after Thee.’ Isaac Newton said: ‘I do not know what I may appear to the world, but to myself I seem to have been only like a boy playing on the sea-shore, and diverting myself in now and then finding a smoother pebble or a prettier shell than ordinary, whilst the great ocean of truth lay all undiscovered before me.’ The inventor Thomas Edison once stated, ‘I do not know one millionth part of one per cent about anything.’

Edward Jenner, the discoverer of the benefits of vaccination, said, ‘I do not wonder that men are grateful to me, but I am surprised that they do not feel gratitude to God for thus making me a medium of good.’

After all, scientists cannot explain the source of kindness, love, beauty, friendship or fairness. They cannot say where we are going, or why it is that humankind universally demonstrates a spiritual dimension and a desire to worship.

A second myth is that Christians belittle science. Actually, Christians believe that science is good. It explains much of the world and helps us in medicine and technology as well as exploration. The Bible tells us to be good stewards of the world and to do so we will want to understand it.

So why is there a problem? The reason is that too often God has been used to explain the inexplicable – the God of the gaps. When things like the weather are beyond our control we speak of an ‘act of God’, but as soon as science can explain these things the need for God disappears. This is false reasoning. Being able to describe how something works doesn’t take away the fact of a Creator and Sustainer.

Imagine you walk along the street and you come across a watch on the floor. You have no idea how it works, but you are happy to deduce that someone made it and put it there. What happens if you slowly learn how it works? Would you then say it had no maker? Of course not!

Science explains how things work in normal circumstances. This doesn’t rid us of God; rather it shows us His greatness.

Science does not contradict the Bible, nor does the Bible contradict science. There are, however, scientific theories (rather than proven facts) and misguided biblical interpretations that may give the impression that there are contradictions. Perhaps limited knowledge leads to limited theories upon which many feel they can build a case and a life that excuses them from trust in God.

In all the world there is the seal of a great and amazing Creator of such marvellous things. I once saw a cartoon that expresses the wonder of the beauty of creation. It showed two monks surveying some marvellous scenery in the distance. One was saying to the other, ‘I like his use of green in the bottom left-hand corner!’ Nature testifies to the glory of God. It is reasonable to believe that behind designs there must be a Designer, behind something made there must be a Maker, behind creation there must be a Creator.

But the sceptic will also question the miracles. Again, though, if God is truly God He is well able to intervene, even if the result does not act in accordance with the usual observable laws of nature. Here is a clue to overcoming what has been a problem to some. A scientist is limited in being able to explain only what he actually sees. If God is taken into account, the explanation and outcome may be very different.

For example, given a piece of bread and asked to describe how it was made, a scientist would naturally detail how the seed was planted in the earth, its growth, harvesting, grinding, mixing with other ingredients and finally its baking in the oven. Of course, that would be fine, unless, that is, something remarkably exceptional had happened. Suppose, instead, the particular piece of bread under examination was one that had been picked up after Jesus had taken five loaves and two fishes, given thanks, then broken and distributed them to feed the five thousand, as described in Matthew chapter 14, verses 13 to 21. We read that twelve baskets of leftovers were gathered. If the piece of bread in question was one of these fragments, or from the incident a little later when Jesus fed four thousand with seven loaves and a few fish (read Matthew 15:29-39), the scientist would have been wrong in his analysis and description, because he failed to take into account the supernatural hand of God.

The scientist would make a similar and understandable mistake if he described the birth, growth, catching and grilling of the fish, if in fact this too was the product of miraculous and instantaneous multiplication by Jesus.

Or again, suppose wine was given to a professional wine-taster or a scientist to describe its country of origin and vintage. As he swilled it round in the glass, smelled and tasted it, he could perhaps describe this mature-tasting drink, perhaps even locating its country of origin and pinpointing one of the finest vineyards in that land. However, this time, far from being the natural product of grapes that had undergone years of fermentation, it was made in an instant. Jesus was attending a wedding feast at Cana in Galilee, as described in John 2:1–11. The wine ran out, but Jesus commanded that six large earthenware pots be filled with water.

As the chief steward tasted the drink, he found it was the best of wine. Knowledge of the presence of the One who created it would change the whole outlook on the wine itself. It was made in an instant rather than the long process that appeared to be the more obvious method.

If the Bible is as it claims to be, the word of God, then we would expect to read of the works of God. If these were within the realm of normal human experience then one would rightly question whether they were a demonstration of God or merely of humans. It is surely reasonable to expect God to work in ways that are beyond human comprehension. This does not disprove the Bible but demonstrates the infinity of God and the limitations of our finite minds and scientific pursuit.

Go to: Can’t you prove anything you want from the Bible?