“God looked over everything he had
made; it was so good, so very good! “ - Genesis 1:31 (The Message)
For too
long now science has been seen as the evil other by many in the Christian
faith. I don’t know how far back this
animosity goes but I know it shifted into high gear when over the course of
three hundred years scientists challenged many sacred notions about planets, the earth
and life. Such things as Copernicus
proving that the planets did not revolve around the earth, Galileo proving the
earth is not a unique planet, and Darwin and company advocating for evolution and
the origin of life. The Reformation and
the Renaissance provided the necessary environment for a blossoming of new,
renewed and reworked ideas about the earth, planets, biology, anatomy, gravity
and motion. At the same time the Roman
Catholic Church was seeking ways to hold onto its power and authority which led
to a confusing and often hostile intellectual climate that pitted the Church
against science.
Up to
this point in history the only explanation for the way things are was that God
created them as we know and experience them.
That the earth was unique and the center of the universe and that life
as we know it sprang into being fully developed having been created that way by
God. But these new and renewed theories
and discoveries were shaking the core of these beliefs and if you remove God
from the equation what do you need God for?
Dietrich Bonheoffer called this God the God of the answers. I think that the tension between science and
some Christians is best understood as the anxiety of those who need a God of
the answers to feel safe and secure in a universe that makes sense. They need something to provide them with simple answers.
In the
past many scientists were actually members of the clergy or monastic orders who
saw science as an extension of theology, a way to know and understand God. Many of them saw in the wonders of nature and
the workings of natural laws the evidence of God at work. They were comfortable with the mystery and
with the discovery of answers to the mystery and saw both as God’s work. They knew the truth and still searched for
answers and they understood that something could be true without it needing to
be factual. They allowed for the
blending of hard, empirical observation and reflection while at the same time
finding mystery and wonder in what they were observing and studying. For them science wasn’t something to fear, it
was something to use to further experience and understand God. This is the way many Christians think and
feel and believe today, I know I do.
Many of
us have trouble believing things that go against clearly defined and understood
natural laws and scientific observation.
Many Christians find it hard to fathom how you can hold tightly to a
myth that explains creation as a divine work of 6 literal days. Many of us see in the wonder and mystery of
nature the fingerprint of God without needing to have creation be the fully
crafted final product that creationism would have you believe.
It is
so much work to try and make everything make sense if you hold onto the
creationist view. Dinosaur bones are
found and you have to explain them as animals wiped out by the Flood. Signs of ancient humanoid activity have to be
seen as the remains of those punished by the Flood. Pictures of solar systems and galaxies being
born have to be attributed to our misunderstanding what we are seeing. Obvious and observable changes in a species
have to be our ignorance or inability to comprehend the differences as
different species not as genetic modifications brought on by evolution. And the final catch-all is that Satan or the
Devil has put things into creation to trip us up, make us throw off our belief
in creationism and thereby be damned.
Why
would God create me with a thinking, inquisitive mind? Why would I be given the intelligence and the
insight to find connections and motivations?
Why would God give me a brain and then not want me to use it? And why would God give me all this and then
place within creation so much that would cause me to question and doubt and
wonder and explore when that activity is just my failing the test of faith to
ignore it and blindly accept what doesn’t make sense? Why give people such awesome gifts of
intuition, insight, puzzle solving and theorizing if all we need do is believe
what the Bible says? It doesn’t make
sense to me. It doesn’t fit with my
experience and understanding of God. It
doesn’t meld with how I understand faith and God’s work in the universe. And it doesn’t help me understand what it
means to say that I am godlike – created in the image of God – reflecting God’s
nature. It doesn’t assist me in trying
to know God and understand God if everything that I see and experience cannot
be explained by the Bible.
The fact of the matter is that faith isn’t a scientific thing. You cannot prove or disprove the things you
believe in. Because faith isn’t about
proof it’s about experience. Faith isn’t
about a dogma or a doctrine that explains everything. Faith is what you believe regardless of what
can be proved. Faith is also living with
questions and uncertainties. It is bringing
to bear on the questions and puzzles of life all the gifts God has given you
without the need to find a final answer.
Faith means you have to step up to the challenge to set aside the God
of the answers without setting aside your relationship, your connection with
God.
Science is one extension of our being created in the image and likeness
of God. It is one way we employ our God
given gifts and talents. Science isn’t
the enemy of faith; it is an extension of faithfully engaging the world with all
that God has given us. And you can’t believe
in natural laws and still blame God when things happen.
Science is true and real. God
exists. People of faith celebrate
science for what it is and does. We
thank God for science, scientists, curiosity and our drive to understand the
universe and how it works. We also
celebrate God and faith and how these are critical if we accept science and its
findings. You need both God and science to truly appreciate this universe and our place in it.
No comments:
Post a Comment