On Science

Christians today, especially evangelical Christians living in the Bible Belt, fight what I truly consider an unnecessary war: a war against science. You all know my background: I come from a family of scientists and engineers and started my own college career along that path. So maybe I'm biased, but I just don't see how truth, actual truth, can pose a threat to our faith. It's time for us to stop fighting science and join together as allies.

Science truly offers us the best way to know new facts about our universe. There are some things it can't answer, of course -- and we need to be aware of its limitations -- but it certainly provides a far more complete picture of the natural world than even the Bible does. The Bible is not a science textbook; it is the living word of God for His people to know, to believe, and to use in order to have a relationship with Him. It's far more metaphysics than physics, and we do it a great disservice to treat it as something it is not. After all, the Bible offers no mention of nucleotides, no formula for universal gravitation, no Planck's Constant in either testament. There is only the story of a Holy God reaching out to love His people.

Christians are quick to support science when it supports our faith, but even when the same science is used in precisely the same way to call into question other things, we tend to immediately turn it into a villain, something opposed to God. First, we need to be consistent on that score. Second, let us remember that all truth is God's truth, and He, in His goodness, gave us brains capable of learning and understanding that truth. Finally, let science tell us how the universe is made, but let the Bible remind us just Who the Maker is -- and then let us use both to know Him as best we can.