Faith and Science

While listening to one of the true crime podcasts that I enjoy, I was reminded of the early 20th century battle between church and science. I suspect that many thought this would continue to be the divide for many more years to come, but as of about 1950, people seem to have accepted that science is real, trustworthy, and not in opposition to reasonable people of faith. In fact, a middle school friend of mine had even written a song about the scientist and the priest that I thought was outdated and out of touch with our current struggle regarding capitalism and faith being more at odds. Many theologians suggest that it is nationalism and politics that are most egregiously in disagreement with our faith. So let’s talk about science and faith instead. It is possible for those who base their life in faith and those who live life based solely on reason to agree, live peaceably, and to both be right. Two things can be true at the same time.

First question then, what do we do when science seems to oppose something we see written in Scripture? Panic. Burn the heretic. Outlaw all their writings. Oh wait, we tried that with folks like Copernicus and Galileo. Pretending like science doesn’t exist is not the answer. Destroying it (and the people who study it) is markedly worse. But sometimes science does seem to contradict what we see in Scripture. Archeologists tell us that the earth is millions of years old, while someone has done the math on Scripture and come up with a much smaller number on the age of the earth. Which, then, should we believe? Who do we trust? For me, the answer is simple. The scientists.

When reading Scripture I absolutely want things in it to be true. However, truth and fact are not the same thing. Scripture is full of contradictions. My favorite has to do with creation- we have at least two accounts of creation in just the first few chapters of Genesis. They are mutually exclusive if taken as fact. They cannot both be correct. One must be wrong, factually. But both can be true. Are you confused yet?

The order of creation according to Genesis:

Genesis 1
Light
Sky
Earth (dry land) & Vegetation
Stars, moon, planets, etc.
Living creatures & birds & sea monsters
Humans
Sabbath

Genesis 2
Adam
Garden of Eden
Trees
Every animal
Eve

 If we take these orders of creation as fact, they cannot both be correct. Humans either came last out of everything or both first and last? But if we take away a truth from this- that God created all things, then both are correct. It’s the difference between how I understand truth and fact. Fact remains true through testing while truth is not dependent on evidence. God still creates all whether it is done in one order or another. You may have heard before that if two people are telling the same story, you get person A’s version, person B’s version, and somewhere in the middle lies the truth. With faith, we often find ourselves in the middle ground where there is little to support our understanding. Scripture does seem to honor those who believe without proof.

Coming back around to science, what happens then when we try and force fact into faith? How many relics have been faked in an effort to prove something as historically accurate only to be proven a fraud? Does your faith in Jesus Christ rely on the Shroud of Turin being a real relic?[i] What do you do when your faith and science do not mesh?

Friends, we reevaluate our understanding of things. Changing your mind when something is tied to your beliefs is so incredibly difficult. Nigh impossible. But has your faith not changed and grown as you have changed and grown? Are you the same believer now (at whatever age you may be) as you were a believer at the age of… 7? I doubt that you are. You have more experience and knowledge and wisdom. You have a greater understanding of who God is, who you are meant to be, and what matters in life. In some ways, we live out the process of science with a few dots because of how we change and grow.[ii] There will always be things we as humans cannot explain. John Wesley said “Bring me a worm that can comprehend a man, and then I will show you a man that can comprehend the triune God.” I do not have to understand everything, everywhere, all at once to know what God calls me to do, how to love my neighbor, or how to follow Christ. Just the next right step is enough.

A caution- God of the gaps.[iii] Just because science cannot yet explain everything does not mean that scientists are wrong or that a lack of evidence is proof of the divine. Sometimes scientists do get it wrong. Or get weird, unrepeatable results in scientific testing. Or lie. Remember, even gravity is still considered a theory despite all advances in science.[iv] Give grace to all, yourself included. Do not berate yourself for things you did not know before this moment. Do better now that you know, but forgive yourself for ignorance so long as it was not willful ignorance. If it be willful ignorance, that is also a lesson to be learned in moving towards holiness.

I hope that you, like me, find that science and knowledge are not at odds with your faith. That you can absorb new information and not reject it outright if it does not match with what you believe. That you can hold onto the reality when two things are true at the same time. God can help with that.

As we enter into this new year, what next right step is God asking you to take? What are you meant to examine and evaluate and question? What are you doing to actively grow your faith? What are you wrestling with?

[i] https://www.pbs.org/wnet/secrets/shroud-of-christ-clues-and-evidence/7125/#:~:text=In%201988%2C%20an%20international%20team,radiocarbon%20dating%20is%20disarmingly%20straightforward.

[ii] https://sciencebasedlife.wordpress.com/2012/07/28/explaining-the-process-of-science-with-a-few-dots/

[iii]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/God_of_the_gaps#:~:text=%22God%20of%20the%20gaps%22%20is,of%20the%20existence%20of%20God.

[iv] https://ncse.ngo/gravity-its-only-theory