My question is when and how does science play a part in proving religion wrong, inaccurate, or even impossible? When do we know what stories in the Bible are not to be taken literally (Noah's Ark, people living till they were 900 years old, etc). Has science interfered with disproving other religions as well?
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I am not necessarily sure how you would best frame such a question, but I think that the science/faith question in the end boils down to a view of events in the bible as being literal vs. allegorical. I think this is such an interesting question because there is so much of both present in the bible. Besides just the creation account, there are many other possible interpretations of events that could be allegorical in nature, rather than strictly factual. The ages of many old testament figures point to this, as do many events in the old testament; i.e. plagues, floods, etc..
Thanks for these questions. Science certainly has played a part in shaping how Christians have interpreted the Bible in the past. More often than not it has been a helpful corrective against folks who try to make the Bible to be something it clearly isn't (i.e. some sort of science textbook). It is helpful to point out that the Bible does not speak to and is not concerned with the mechanics of a thing, but rather the meaning and purpose for why a thing exists in the first place. When someone tries to extract scientific processes out of Scripture they are by definition going beyond what Scripture itself affirms. However, God is not bound by time and space as we are and because of that there is always a possibility of the miraculous. So we can't be too quick to conclude that something in the Bible could not have happened just because it is "impossible". God stands above science and he may work thru it or bypass it from time to time to remind us who He really is.
Just some initial thoughts.... What do you have to say?
As a geologic scientist myself, I see the conflict between religion and science quite regularly. Every time I look at the geologic time scale posted on my office wall, it forces me into conflict with my faith and biblical history. However, I think it should be noted that biblical authors were men, inspired by God. With that came inherent flaws in their understanding, and their writing would be subject to the reference frame of their time and place. Here’s such an example:
ReplyDeleteIt has been clearly shown that most people, even educated people, cannot quite wrap their heads around millions of something. An example of that would be if you took the average human lifespan (~80 years) and related that to the length of Earth history. The 4.5 billion years of geologic earth history divided into life spans, would roughly calculate to 1.78*100,000,000 life spans or generations. Can you really grasp that? I know that I still have trouble. These numbers, notably the length of Earth's history, are just something that people could not have known or grasped at the time the bible was written. Would we expect God to have them write about billions of years, when the people reading it would have no understanding or way to relate that to their lives? We now know about and understand these things through modern science, yet anyone who has faith trusts in the Bible and believes God inspired it.
Dave mentioned in his earlier post that God was not bound by space or time. I think this is extremely important to understand and grasp as Christians because we are being challenged in our faith daily, more and more by science. Researchers in Europe are trying to understand the Big Bang, by smashing particles together in the Large Hadron Collider. One of these scientists, in their arrogance, referred to the particles they are trying to observe as “The God Particle”. I say this is arrogance because as Dave said earlier the laws of space, time, or other scientific laws do not bind God. Events in both the Old and New Testaments speak directly to this (i.e. walking on water, healing the sick, raising the dead). Our hope to find God through science would come only when God himself gives us the ability to do so. Instead, scientists are claiming to understand and reveal God through science.
Here is a recent article from Christian Science Monitor on this topic:
http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Global-News/2010/0330/What-is-Higgs-boson-and-will-CERN-scientists-find-the-God-particle.
In the end it comes down to faith. Christians have faith in their understanding of God through the Bible. The scientists also have faith (though they might call it a hunch or educated guess) that their research will lead them to this “God Particle”. In the end, at least for me, my study of science has given me a deeper respect and faith in God through seeing and studying his awesome creation. I certainly hope others can find that same thing through science, and try to get past some of the stumbling blocks that will always exist between religion and science.
Thanks, Jared. Good to have some legit scientist types joining in the conversation! I tried the link you provided and I couldn't get it to pull up. Can you try to repost it?
ReplyDeletehttp://www.csmonitor.com/World/Global-News/2010/0330/What-is-Higgs-boson-and-will-CERN-scientists-find-the-God-particle
ReplyDeleteThe problem was with the period at the end of the last link...this link should work now.
Perhaps it's a little late to post anything on this blog post, but I just read it and wanted to share a thought.
ReplyDeleteWhen our understanding of the Bible and our understanding of science are in conflict, I think we may be wrong in our understanding of the Bible, science, or both.
Perhaps this only begs the question in the minds of some. But when people think the latest opinion is the right or best opinion, we may be guilty of arrogance or becoming closed minded and unable or unwilling to continue to learn.
Hey Gary. This is a really good point. It is funny sometimes to hear close-minded scientist and close-minded religious folks talk because they sound SO much the same: totally convinced and unwilling to engage in dialogue.
ReplyDelete