How Should We Think About Science?
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“For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made.”
“Men became scientific because they expected Law in Nature, and they expected Law in Nature because they believed in a Legislator.”
A question arises from considering different creation theories: Just how does God reveal Himself in His creation? I’ve written before about what the creation says about God, but in a more specific way, I want to talk about how Christians should think about science and how God makes Himself known to His creatures in ways other than supernatural revelation (and chocolate; chocolate is clearly a divine gift).
I started my Christian journey as a rabid Young-Earth Creationist, but reading the works of godly people that I respect has challenged my thinking about things. I no longer think that believing the universe is ancient is a “compromise” view or means a person doesn’t take scripture seriously. I now have doubts that Adam and Eve ever had a pet velociraptor.
Whether the universe is billions of years old or not, What’s at stake isn't just Christians' standing in the scientific world, or our popularity in the culture at large. How we think and talk about the origins of life and the universe affects the way we see God and His activity in the world around us. And what we say about God affects what other people think about Him, so we have to be careful and have the humility to admit what we don't know.
Can God use any process to bring about His will? How does God reveal Himself through the Bible and through creation? Can we trust the scientific process to tell us true things about God’s handiwork? These are a few questions to consider as we think about how Christians in the sciences should engage with the accepted theories of their disciplines.
Christians need a robust philosophy of science, one way or another, or we are going to be left behind in a culture that has embraced the scientific mindset. At the very least, those of us interested in apologetics and theology should be able to speak intelligently about science to people who have made it their livelihood.
C. S. Lewis was a great example. A literary historian and expert in the English language, he nonetheless had a decent grasp of the scientific issues of his day, and knew how to speak about them with a humility and confidence grounded in his belief that truth cannot contradict itself. When he wrote about scientific concepts that were beyond his expertise, he let people know that he was offering hypotheses, not making pronouncements. But when he wrote about his overall theory of knowledge and science, he spoke with the confidence of a good philosopher, because he was one.
What is a Christian philosophy of science? Mine is this:
1. In the beginning, God created the universe. The physical universe had a beginning, and it will have an end (in a sense - Revelation tells of an eternal New Earth in His Kingdom). God is outside the universe and He created everything, from atoms to galaxies.
2. Everything that exists depends on God for its continued existence. God is the ground of every other thing. I’ve heard it put like this: if God stopped thinking about you, you would cease to exist, because the mind of God is the foundation of reality. That’s not a perfect way to think about it, but at least it helps us understand: Everything utterly depends on God’s sustaining action to exist.
3. Just because everything is created by and depends on God, that doesn’t mean that everything is “good” in the same sense. All things share one good quality, the quality of existence. It is better to exist than not to exist. Beyond that, there are many degrees of goodness (with Satan and Chuck E. Cheese at the bottom, fresh-roasted coffee and Tom Hanks most way up, and the Triune God at the top), and the measure of goodness is an object’s alignment with God’s will for the redemption of the universe.
4. God is actively engaged in the universe that He made. Jesus said that God knows when a sparrow falls to the ground, and He knows how many hairs are on your head. Because He is everywhere-present and all-knowing, He is completely aware of everything that is happening in every corner of the universe at every moment. Because He is outside of time, He can see everything that will happen in the future, from two minutes to two million years from now. God is everywhere, and active in His creation, both through miracles and through natural processes.
5. Mankind is a special creation. We are not just another type of animal; we are made in the image of God and stewards of the world. Even though our bodies are made from the same materials as earthworms and zebras, our souls are imparted to us by the eternal God, and we are precious to Him.
6. Science is a tool for discovering things that God already knows and does. Because God made the universe, it is intelligible. And because God made our minds, they are capable of true knowledge. But because of the Fall, we are broken and imperfect, and everything we do is broken and imperfect, including science.
7. Science is limited in scope. It will never tell us everything about the universe, because that is not its purpose. Its purpose is to reveal physical processes, systems, and laws through experiments and observation. There are many things that are beyond the scope of science, such as philosophy, theology, morality, and the true contents of chicken nuggets.
8. Science can be used for good or for evil. Just as a hammer can be used for building a hospital or for murdering an in-law, science is a tool that serves the hand of the one who wields it. Doctors use science to cure terrible diseases, and Nazis used science to find efficient means of committing mass murder. Morality has to be imposed on science from the outside, because science isn't equipped to make moral judgments.
9. Even though science is only possible because of God's providential hand, it can be done extremely well by believers and non-believers alike. We all, though fallen, are made in the image of God and so are capable of discerning truth to varying degrees. The talent for scientific proficiency is not necessarily tied to a proper understanding ultimate reality. Good scientific work and the thrill of discovery are joys that can be shared by people with many different worldviews.
10. If we are open to see it, the universe can teach us things about its maker. Since God created everything, we can learn things about Him by studying just about anything (even roaches). From the creation, we learn that God is big and powerful and intelligent beyond imagination. From ourselves, we learn that God is personal, relational, and moral. And from the brokenness of the world, we learn that God wants us to be free agents and not robots, even if that means we often choose poorly. Created things teach us about the creator, and science is one way to access that truth.
Whatever the exact mechanisms of God’s creative actions, the Christian understanding of science is robust, grounded in confidence that God is the source of all good things and that He wants to be known by His beloved creatures.