SCIENCE AND FAITH

When I first held my newest grand-daughter, Erika, in my arms and looked at her, I asked, “Who are you? Where have you come from? What will your life be like?” Her perfectly formed face, eyes, nose, ears, fingers and toes fascinated me, as did my two daughters’ when they were born. I was also aware of Erika returning my gaze. What was she thinking? “Who is this person? Where did he come from? Why am I here?”

Why am I? Who am I? How do I make sense of my life? Am I just an accident? Am I just a higher animal? Am I just a collection of chemicals and genes? Who is the baby I hold in my arms? What does her life mean? Why is she so precious to me her grandfather and all who love her?

What is the value of your life? Why are you who you are? These are questions I have asked all my life. Where do you look for answers to these questions? I look to the Bible. There are many who discount the Bible in favor of a rationalistic approach to the meaning of your life and mine. Here is one such approach.

Scientism, according to one standard definition, is ‘an exaggerated confidence in the methods of science as the most (or the only) reliable tools of inquiry’. The main tenets of this philosophy are bracingly summed up in a series of questions and answers. Is there a God? No. What is the nature of reality? What physics says it is. What is the purpose of the universe? There is none. What is the meaning of life? Ditto. Why am I here? Just dumb luck. Does prayer work? Of course not. Is there a soul? Is it immortal? You must be kidding. Is there free will? Not a chance! What is the difference between right and wrong, good and bad? There is no moral difference between them. (Anthony Kenny’s review of The Atheist’s Guide to Reality, Alex Rosenberg, Times Literary Supplement, June 22, 2012, p.24)

What is your response to such a catechism? Mine is: How does he know? What is the basis of his dogmatic claims? How does he live? How does he make moral decisions? How can he be so dismissive of the prophets, the apostles, and Jesus? I am amazed when I read in the popular press derogatory comments about the Bible, such as, “Modern science has disproven the Biblical view of origins in Genesis.” Anybody who makes such a statement is ignorant of both the limitations of science and the interpretation of Scripture.

There are different kinds of truth. There is theological truth, truth about God and his work, and empirical truth, truth about the structure of nature. The former comes through divinely inspired revelation, and the latter by scientific experiment and observation. Knowledge of God and his ways is of a totally different category than knowledge of physics and biology. The scriptures teach one kind of truth, and science another. Both truths derive from God and yet they cannot be measured by the same standard or criteria. They are as different as seeing yourself in a video or an MRI. Both pictures are true, but they portray different images. Failure to understand this has led otherwise highly intelligent people to the wrong conclusions.

Many atheists are unable to appreciate the complexity of life, and the diversity of wisdom. They are like other materialists, or physicalists, who cannot understand poetry, enjoy music or appreciate feelings.

When I was young I read these words in the Children’s Encyclopedia and may have contributed to the opinion I expressed above.

Many a great man of science has found himself miserable in old age because in youth he stopped his ears to music and poetry, and because for the sake of his reason he vigorously banished wonder and imagination from his mind. Moreover, and this is a most important matter, the long road of scientific exploration is strewn with theories once thought by men who expounded them to be gospel truth, but discarded later as incorrect and sometimes even ludicrous, even though they may have served a useful purpose in their turn. Reason alone is thus a dangerous guide to truth. We need never be overawed by science. The very latest discovery may be wrong….Even the best of our guesses and the greatest and truest of our discoveries are only victories in the field of partial truth. Always remind yourself that we can only understand bits of things. If we understood all there is to understand of the Earth our knowledge would be only of a bit of the universe. Add all our bits together, and how small is the sum. (The Children’s Encyclopedia, ed. Arthur Mee, Vol.2, London, p.864)

The Fool has said in his heart, “There is no God.” (Psalm 14:1) “Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundation?” (Job 38:4)