Science v Christianity

Saturday 7/26/2014 6:26 AM

The modern world seems to think that science and Christianity are at odds with each other, where some even suggest they are mutually exclusive sets.  In other words, a credible scientist could never be a good Christian and a good Christian could never be a credible scientist.  I’m not sure when this belief began because some of the earliest scientists were Christian.  They began to study what they believed to be God’s creation looking for underlying order and structure and they were not surprised when they found it.

Personally, I see no such separation of my Christian faith and scientific truths.  It seems obvious to me that the universe in which we live operates according to some type of laws if it were created by an omniscient entity.  It seems much more a stretch of faith to believe that an ordered universe came to be by accident.  I’m not surprised that my body, with all of its intricate and interrelated systems, was put together intentionally by an intelligent being and made in such a way that it can adapt and evolve as the environment in which it live changes over time.  It is much more difficult to believe that all the information stored in one strand of my DNA came about by some sort of remarkable coincidence at one point in time long ago and then evolved over the course of a few billion years to what it is now.

This morning I read 1 Corinthians 1:18ff.  “For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.  For it is written: ‘I will destroy the wisdom of the wise; the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate.’  Where is the wise person?  Where is the teacher of the law?  Where is the philosopher of this age?  Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?  For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe. … For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength.”  I always want to try to convince someone who thinks God doesn’t exist that he does exist.  But any kind of human argument seems doomed to fail since the wisdom of this world does not bring the knowledge of God.  Knowledge of God comes through faith, which is the gift of God given through the working of the Holy Spirit in a person’ life.  I should do more praying for the working of the Spirit in the world and less arguing.