Bible and science. For some, these two things have absolutely no relation. One deals with matters of faith, and the other with matters of fact. The view of Biblical Christianity is that the Word of God is the authority by which all science must be judged. This view holds that the Bible and the God of that Bible give science the very foundations that it rests upon. We will examine this in more detail and show that it is only in the context of the Christian worldview that science finds its proper place. Unbelieving, materialistic, naturalistic worldviews cannot account for the basis of science.
What are the underlying assumptions of scientific endeavors? Can a naturalistic, materialistic, evolutionary worldview account for them? Let’s begin with what is called the uniformity of nature. I have touched upon this in my posts dealing with Carl Sagan and Revelation 4:8. Here is an excerpt from the second part of that article.
“When scientists conduct experiments, it is assumed that the laws of physics are the same in Albuquerque as they are in Tokyo. It is also assumed that an experiment performed under controlled conditions will give similar results when repeated in the future. How does a naturalist account for the uniformity of nature that science hinges upon? This is an assumption in every scientific endeavor, or else the pursuit of science would be impossible. An atheistic, naturalistic worldview cannot account for the uniformity of nature. Someone who holds this this worldview can still do science with great success, but cannot account for its foundations. When pressed, the best answer this worldview can give is that things have been that way in the past, so they will be that way in the future. They use their previous experience to account for the uniformity of nature. The question then arises, how can one trust their previous experiences? The naturalist answers, because it has worked in the past. They must rely on the uniformity of nature to account for the uniformity of nature. This line of argument is circular and shows that the uniformity of nature is a principle that scientists take by faith.”
On the other hand, the Christian finds the basis for the uniformity of nature in God. We expect the cosmos to behave in an orderly, logical fashion since God has created all things (John 1:1-3) and upholds all things (Colossians 1:17; Hebrews 1:3). God has created the universe with certain behaviors that we call “laws.” We can expect these laws to be consistent throughout the universe because of God’s character and being. God is immutable and does not change (James 1:17; Malachi 3:6). Also, God is omnipresent (Jeremiah 23:23-24; Psalm 139) and omnipotent (Revelation 19:6; Psalm 115:3). This is the Christian’s basis for the uniformity of nature.
Greg Bahnsen in his article, “Revelation, Speculation and Science,” discusses another problem for the consistent naturalist. The naturalist believes that the universe is conducive to scientific endeavor. The processes of the universe can be studied and understood. The question must then be raised to the naturalist, “Why is this so?” How can one arrive at the belief that the universe is conducive to science? How can one trust that he can actually know the processes of the universe. Bahnsen explains this predicament further when he says,
“Here the scientist, who depends on the self-sufficiency of his logico-empirical procedures, is in a predicament. His response is usually to make various hypotheses about the world and then point to the beneficial results that flow from such hypotheses; he gives, can give, no reason for those hypotheses — they just are, because they work. If pressed, or if he is philosophically inclined, he may even go so far as to say that his “working hypotheses” have no reason unless it be “chance.”"
The Christian’s answer to this problem, is that the universe was created by God and is providentially governed by Him. God created the universe with order, and He created man with the ability to investigate and understand that order, to a certain degree. The universe maintains that order by God’s sovereign control. Bahnsen goes on to state,
“The sovereign God controls all the operations of his creation, thus providing the uniformity we see in nature, a connection between the mind and the material world, a union of logic and facts, and standards of absolute truth.”
The presuppositions of science are Christian presuppositions. There is a fundamental relationship between the Bible and science. However, the Bible does not serve as a detailed textbook for science. It does not give us detailed technical information on the laws of science that God has put in place. There are some passages however that do speak to certain scientific laws. For example, Ecclesiastes 1:7 speaks of the water cycle when it says, “All the rivers run into the sea, Yet the sea is not full; To the place from which the rivers come, There they return again.” While we can cite other passages that may speak to certain scientific processes in the creation, we must understand that God has left it up to mankind to perform scientific endeavors as part of the “Creation Mandate.” Genesis 1:26-28 gives the Creation Mandate, “Then God said,”Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. And God blessed them. And God said to them, ”Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” (ESV). We are to pursue scientific endeavors to fulfill the mandate given at creation, for the glory of God (1 Cor. 10:31).
(c) Dustin Crider 2009
Hi, Dustin! This is Owen’s friend Rebekah. I didn’t know you had a blog ministry; that’s great! I had seen various people, like Mr. Hargraves and Alanna, on Facebook link to the “Taking Every Thought Captive” podcast, but I didn’t even realize that you were the one doing the podcasts until I followed the link to this site!
I look forward to reading more when I have the time; keep up the great work for the Lord! Speaking of science, have you ever been to the Creation Museum in Kentucky? My family and I went about a year and a half ago, and it was great. We’re wanting to go back, though, because they’ve added a lot more since we were there.
It was great to finally meet you at graduation a few weeks ago!
Rebekah
Thanks for the kind words. I pray I would be a faithful tender of the small garden the Lord has given me.
I have wanted to go to the Creation Museum ever since it opened. i hope to visit it sometime soon, Lord willing.
Thanks and God bless!
Well, it looks like you’re doing a great job so far!
I hope you’re able to go sometime in the near future. It ended up being pretty convenient for us while we were visiting family in Indiana a little over a year ago, for the museum ended up being on our way home, basically. Lord willing, we’ll be making that same slight detour one of the next times we visit Indiana.
I just now had the chance to read this article in its entirety, and it was excellent. You made some really great points; your paragraph on the uniformity of nature was so true (and thought-provoking!).
Again, keep up the great work!
God bless,
Rebekah
P.S. I, too, have been inspired by Mr. Bahnsen’s work. I just began his book, “Always Ready”, and so far it’s excellent.
I just talked to a atheistic man a couple of days ago about the issue of science, and basically told him that the presuppositions of science cannot really be held together without the God of the Bible. I also told him that the statement that I am a man of faith and he is a man of facts is not true because he has foundational assumptions also that lead him to believe what he does about the universe. For example, he believes that the universe can be rightly understood apart from the Bible. This is not a matter of proof or scientific reasoning, but an issue of faith.
I am very encouraged by what is going on in the field of creation science these days. People like Kurt Wise, John Baumgardner, Russell Humphreys, Andrew Snelling, Steve Austin, and Larry Vardiman are moving beyond poking holes in scientific naturalism, and are providing a cohesive scientific explanation of the universe from a young age creationist standpoint. These men are great (and well accredited) scientists, and I would encourage people to study their works. Although atheistic scientists look down on these men, especially Kurt Wise as he graduated with a PhD from Harvard under Stephen Jay Gould, they are sound scientists. The problem that atheists have is that they start with the Bible, which affects all of their conclusions. As a Christian, I have no problem with this, and think that these men know their science well (they have the degrees to demonstrate that), and have personally benefitted a lot from their studies.
May the Lord use your words to open the eyes of the atheist.
I am thankful the Lord has raised up faithful men who desire to study and promote Biblical science. I didn’t know Kurt Wise studied under Gould. Very interesting!
Hello,
Firstly let me reveal that I am what you would call an atheist. I stumbled upon your podcast and I am impressed by the professional well presented issues discussed here. I am writing to request some clarification on one point that seems to be the basis for many of your arguments:
A scientist must have faith in certain derived laws of science. These laws are then used as a basis for further exploration of scientific endeavor.
Are you therefore suggesting that a scientist has no right to deny faith in religion as they themselves have faith in certain laws of science? Is it possible to have faith in something other than religion? If someone has faith in ‘laws of science’ does this mean they automatically have faith in all things requiring faith, including all religions? I am asking these questions in the utmost of respect. I do not want to offend or disrespect. I am simply looking for an understanding of your argument.
Sincerely,
Anthony.
Anthony, sorry I haven’t gotten back to you; I have been extremely busy. I will try and answer your question soon. Thanks!
Anthony,
Thank you for your comment. I hope I can make my position a little more clear to you. In order to do science, you must believe certain things. You must believe the universe behaves in a uniform way. For example, if I run an experiment and get a certain result, I should be able to repeat the conditions exactly and get the same result. Likewise, other scientists all around the world should be able to repeat the experiment under the same conditions. This is sometimes called the “uniformity of nature.” Science would be impossible without the uniformity of nature. At a more fundamental level, we can speak of this as induction. It is my contention that only the Christian worldview can provide a basis for induction. No other worldview can. Let me give an example.
Let’s say I am a materialist and someone asks me the question, “How do you know that a ball when thrown up in the air for the one hundredth time will fall back down to earth as it did the previous ninety-nine times?” That is, how can I generalize my experience to the hundredth time or even to other balls that are thrown up in the air at different times all over the earth? How can I justify my use of inductive reasoning? If I seek to justify it by using past experience where it has been successful, that assumes the future will be like the past. Therefore, induction is justified by induction. This is a circular argument. I believe all unbelieving worldviews fail to give a philosophical basis for induction and the uniformity of nature.
On the other hand, the Christian finds the basis for the uniformity of nature in God. We expect the cosmos to behave in an orderly, logical fashion since God has created all things (John 1:1-3) and upholds all things (Colossians 1:17; Hebrews 1:3). God has created the universe with certain behaviors that we call “laws.” We can expect these laws to be consistent throughout the universe because of God’s character and being. God is immutable and does not change (James 1:17; Malachi 3:6). Also, God is omnipresent (Jeremiah 23:23-24; Psalm 139) and omnipotent (Revelation 19:6; Psalm 115:3). This is the Christian’s basis for the uniformity of nature.
So, a scientist can have faith in only the laws of science. A scientist can reject all religion. My argument is science itself has presuppositions that only make sense in terms of the Christian faith. When a scientist does science, he is operating in terms of Christian assumptions, even if he rejects them. The Bible discusses much of this in Romans chapter 1. It talks about how all of mankind is decieved by sin. We don’t see things as they truly are and we do not worship the Creator, although He is clearly seen through creation. In Romans 3, we learn that all of mankind is sinful and that Jesus Christ is the way of salvation.
I hope this helps. Please let me know if you have any questions or need me to clarify something.
Hi, my name is Garrett. Im in a Bible study that Stephen Mizell is leading and he told me about the website because im doing a paper for Eng class on creation vs evolution. i have not looked at any articles yet on the website but the titles look like they would help a lot.
Thank you for commenting, Garrett! If there is anything I can do for you, please contact me at takingeverythoughtcaptive@gmail.com. Glad to hear you know Stephen; he is a godly man and dear brother in the Lord!