Jesus Loves Science
Of course Jesus loves science: he's the original scientist isn't he? So went one of the lines from a seminar I hosted for over 1,000 young people across three Christian festivals this summer. And the emphasis is on hosted. Although the crowd received my limited, if enthusiastic, perspective on the subject, I handed the floor over for the bulk of the time to a real live scientist - fake and dead ones being much harder to coax into speaking - Dr. Ruth Bankewicz of the Faraday Institute for Science and Religion.
We had several aims for the seminar. Yes, we did answer the 'Did God create Dinosaurs?' type questions, handled the inevitable Dawkins debate, and the ensuing old earth/young earth creationist queries. But we also encouraged a whole load of teenagers who were about to start science A-levels and degrees to gain a broader perspective, to see that God desires Spirit-anointed scientists as much as he desires Spirit-anointed preachers and worship leaders.
That's why we entitled the talk 'Jesus loves science' and not 'The science and faith debate' or 'Has science disproved, killed or perhaps just slightly maimed God?'
Because, as Ruth succinctly put it, 'Science is not Richard Dawkins's territory; it's God's.'
It's time that we got passionate about what science teaches us about our creator and the contribution science makes to helping heal a broken world and its broken people.
And so I'm encouraged by the ever-increasing phalanx of scientists who love their work and love their God even more. Not because of apologetics - 'hey look, really clever people believe in God, Christianity must be plausible, right?' But because of those scientists' reverence for their subject, their child like excitement at exploration, their humility in the face of the mysteries of the universe.
Since the created order (and sometimes seeming chaos) belongs to God, we have nothing to fear from the discoveries of science. We only have to fear how flawed humans sometimes handle those discoveries.
Science is not our territory, it's God's and that's why we're not 'taking it back' - God never let go of it in the first place. And in this way, perhaps, we might share Einstein's sentiment:
'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.'
Jason Gardner
Links
testoffaith.com - an extremely well produced set of three films documenting the faith of believing scientis
cis.org.uk - Christians in science a network for scientists, teachers and students plus resources.
Comments
Good article. A small group from our church went to hear Ruth Bankewicz and D. Alexander at Cliff College, Derbyshire. It was an excellent evening. We have since used the Faraday Institute "Test of Faith" DVD at a series of Saturday evening apologetics talks/discussions at church. As a science teacher, I often meet surprise from kids that a science teacher believes in God. Apologetics is an important area for the removal of stumbling blocks to the gospel.
Yes, of course Jesus loves science - through Him all things were made (John 1v3a), and if in Him all things hold together (Col. 1v17b) then He must be, inter alia, the Creator of gravity and the strong & weak nuclear forces! Therefore we should believe Him, not secular (or compromised Christian) scientists, when He says that "IN THE BEGINNING the Creator made (them) male and female" (Matt.19v4 cf. Gen.1v1). So gender and sexual reproduction were there from the start, not after millions of years of evolution! I do hope Jason and Dr. Ruth Bankewicz made this point clearly, as it is fundamental to evangelical belief!
Very well said. Also, whilst the european church famously has a bumpy history with science, it also seems that the Judeo-Christian worldview provided a foundation for developing empirical research. i.e. God's faithfulness and consistency means that we can expect that in his creation things work in an orderly fashion where we can repeat an experiment and the same thing will happen.. leading to our understanding of the basic laws of physics.
interesting.
A cup of cold water Jason! May we never shy from the virbrant engagement with science from the sure ground of saving faith. The article bristled with the fused wisdom of a rugged faith and an enquiring mind! Well done.
I'm a committed Christian and a professional physicist, in that order. I've often had a nonplussed reaction because the the two are apparently incompatible, or delight that I am living testament to the fact the science and faith do mix. I've never understood why they shouldn't. I think the alleged conflict between science and faith comes down to a misunderstanding about science can and can't tell us. Some of my atheist friends seem to think that science can cure all the world's ills and that scientists are objective, highly rational and bound solely to the facts; it has become for many atheists a surrogate religion with scientists as its priests. The truth of being a professional scientist is much more earthly; what I'm really trying to do is work out how the world works, and use that understanding to better us all - specifically, those who need the kind of medical images my NHS department produces. There are still moments of wonder though, where I realise the Creator has gone before me and I am just tracing His fingerprints, but those moments are available to people in all walks of life.
Date:
2011-08-31 09:40:44
Author:
Heather Williams