1 Lord, our Lord,

how majestic is your name in all the earth!

You have set your glory
in the heavens..
³ When I consider your heavens,
the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars,
which you have set in place,
⁴ what is mankind that you are mindful of them,
human beings that you care for them?

-Psalm 8:1,3-4

My overarching purpose here is to discuss the relationships between science and faith. Particularly, those relationships that are necessary, helpful and valuable. We, as Christians, should also seek to illuminate areas of misunderstanding. By doing so, we thereby enrich and restore this line of dialogue between one another.

We see an increasing need for such conversation within Christian communities because many of us (myself included) have been taught to view science and faith as separate and opposing entities. This perspective leads us with a fractured view of God. After all, how could God create something that would supposedly oppose His truth? This thinking is also harmful in the face of well-supported scientific evidence, if we can’t reconcile such fracture with God’s truth, our faith becomes shaky at best.

“It may seem bizarre, but in my opinion science offers a surer path to God than religion."

"People take it for granted that the physical world is both ordered and intelligible. The underlying order in nature -the laws of physics- are simply accepted as given, as brute facts. Nobody asks where they came from; at least they do not do so in polite company. However, even the most atheistic scientist accepts as an act of faith that the universe is not absurd, that there is a rational basis to physical existence manifested as law-like order in nature that is at least partly comprehensible to us. So science can proceed only if the scientist adopts an essentially theological worldview.”

–Physicist Paul Davies

When it comes to fostering conversations about science and faith discussions, our largest problem is often bias. We all have beliefs about who God is and what mechanisms in which He operates. These beliefs fundamentally shape the way that we view the world around us. In turn, our beliefs become biases when evaluating new information, especially when that new information appears to oppose what we already think.

If we view God as the one who established order and is sovereign over all of Creation, then God could use natural processes to create the origins and complexity of life. His fundamental sovereignty can be seen in the establishment of guiding forces such as gravity, thermodynamics and the laws of motion These forces maintain order and stability in our universe.

Christians across the spectrum of denominations and ideologies believe that God doesn’t contradict himself. We hold that it is absolutely impossible for Him to go against his own nature. God is both the creator and sustainer of all of Creation and the author of the Bible. As such, if we claim that science and faith are in conflict, we are saying that they come from two different gods. This is impossible.

Consider this diagram taken from page 74 of "Origins" by Deborah B. Haarsma and Loren D. Haarsma. It shows the relationships between science and biblical interpretation and the resulting influences that both possess on our world.

It’s entirely possible then, that we what have more in common outweighs our differences. So is it possible we are just fitting the pieces together the wrong way? Are we assuming that God has to only work and reveal himself in ways that we like and agree with?

“We know God by two means: First by the creation, preservation and the government of the universe, since both the universe is before our eyes like a beautiful book in which all creatures, great and small, are as letters to make us ponder the invisible things of God: his eternal power, as the apostle Paul says in Romans 1:20. All these things are enough to convict men and leave them without excuse. Second, he makes himself known to us more openly by his holy and divine Word, as much as we need in this life, for his glory and for the salvation of his own.”

-Belgic Confession, Article 2

Another bias when it comes to science and faith discussions is a notion that is fundamentally godless institution. Or, even more drastic, a conclusion that science is out to disprove the existence of God. On the contary, science often leads us to ponder faith questions. When biologists study disease, it raises the inevitable question of suffering. When astronomers study the vast expanse of the universe, it can lead to questions about the significance of the small humans in a seemingly infinite universe.

As Christians, we are called to pursue God’s truth. We are called to pursue Him with our whole heart, soul and mind. I think sometimes we place the significance on the first two, but not on the "mind piece" which is just as important. As scientists, our calling to pursue truth is the same because we fundamentally desire to understand the world around us. We observe so we can investigate in hopes of then a future explanation.

As Christian scientists, we believe that God established the process we are studying. That in itself makes them worthwhile to study because we believe that God is unchangeable and consistent and that his processes will be the same. Therefore, we can trust our observations about the phenomena around us and to make confident claims about their nature and behavior.

Also, because God has created the world around us, we can also uncover a new perspective on His character through the lens of his creation. That new perspective gives and fuller and more complete portrait of God; science be a vehicle to worship God with our heart, soul and mind.

“It is the divine page that you must listen to: it is the book of the universe that you must observe. The pages of Scripture can only be read by those who know how to read and write, while everyone, even the illiterate can read the book of the universe.”

-Enarrationes in Psalmos, 45.7 (St. Augustine)

In atmosphere such as the “Bethel bubble” or other very evangelical contexts, it’s often easy to trivialize hard questions by brushing it off saying “that’s just how God did it” or “We’ll know that when we get to heaven.” But ultimately that can lead us to shaky scientific places and theological places. Such as, for example, believing in the God of the Gaps. This theory says that God's handiwork is in the scientific places that we don’t understand. Such a claim places us between a rock and hard place when reasonable and logical discoveries and explanations arise for what was formerly not understood.

Our questions drive us to pursue God’s truth whole-heartedly; they force us out of complacency to evaluate what we believe and why we believe it. The tough theological questions such as "why does a good God allow the presence of evil?" or "what mechanism and time frame God used to create the world?" are questions that we need to grapple with. We do ourselves and those around us a disservice when we dismiss these questions or answer them in a trite fashion. We need to wrestle with these questions. Our faith should be able to with stand testing and allow for questioning and exploration. The Bible even implores us to ask these questions and test faith, trust me, God can handle your questions.

“I want to know how God created this world. I am not interested in this or that phenomenon, in the spectrum of this or that element. I want to know his thoughts; the rest are details.”
-Albert Einstein

A major common misunderstanding about science is the idea that scientists can prove anything. As scientists, we cannot prove anything, but we have a certain degree of certainty based on the evidence available to us at the time. This comes with a degree of humility because hypotheses have to adjust in the light of new evidence. Going along with this is the concept of theory vs law. A theory is often downplayed as a guess, while a law can be misinterpreted as “proof”. This is not the case. In the realm of science, a theory is an explanation of the phenomenon while the law is the mathematical equation that quantifies the explanation. Instead of the theory versus. law idea, a more accurate interpretation is a double-sided coin.

“A scientific discovery is also a religious discovery. There is no conflict between science and religion. Our knowledge of God is made larger with every discovery we make about the world.”

–Joseph H. Taylor Jr., received the 1993 Nobel Prize in Physics for the discovery of the first known binary pulsar, and for his work which supported the Big Bang theory of the creation of the universe.

Another common misunderstanding is the lumping of the Big Bang theory in with the evolutionary theory. The Big Bang theory has absolutely nothing to do with the evolutionary theory. The Big Bang theory accounts for the origin of the universe, and is substantiated by the Doppler Effect and the work of Penzias and Wilson. Nowhere does it account for first life, or the formation of planets, et cetera. The Big Bang is also consistent with the account in Genesis.

“God [is] the author of the universe, and the free establisher of the laws of motion.”

—Physicist and chemist Robert Boyle, the founder of modern chemistry.

.If we are honest, the Bible contains a lot of tension and a whole lots of grey areas on all types of subjects. Those are great areas to ask questions and topics wrestle with. Many times when we as Christians say “The Bible clearly says” what we really mean often is "The way that I interpret this verse allows me to justify this perspective."

So when we wrestle with tough questions that may not fit with in neat, ordered perspectives, a good hearty dose of humility is needed. Not knowing exactly how God works and not knowing the answers to exactly how He has designed life is very frustrating because we like clear, concise, right or wrong and yes or no answers, especially as scientists. But God is not limited to those explanations.

¹⁹ He made the moon to mark the seasons,
and the sun knows when to go down.
²⁰ You bring darkness,it becomes night,
and all the beasts of the forest prowl.
²¹ The lions roar for their prey
and seek their food from God.
²² The sun rises, and they steal away;
they return and lie down in their dens.
²³ Then people go out to their work,
to their labor until evening.

²⁴ How many are your works,Lord!
In wisdom you made them all;
the earth is full of your creatures

-Psalm 104:19-24

Ultimately, neither the Bible nor Science will give you all the answers. Think of the first time, you saw and experienced the ocean. Sure, you had seen pictures, read about it and people had described to you the look, the feeling and sounds, but that paled in comparison to your actual experience. The words and the testimonies of both science and faith point to someone for whom all words fail.

The Scriptures and Science are good, lovely and worthwhile pursuits that give of us a frame of reference... But ultimately God is too big be contained in those mediums. God is the ocean. God is the creator of the expansive universe, the creator of Nitrogen, Photosynthesis and T Cells, the creator of pine needles, B sharps, galaxies and sunrises and while I am more and more convinced that God is present and actively working in the world.

I am also more connived than ever that God is sovereign in all things, but I am less convinced than ever about what that means. I am less certain that I know or understand exactly how He works in the world. So I continue on my path searching for truth, God’s truth, which is my calling, our calling individually and collectively.