Astronomy and Science

Do Science and Belief in God really conflict?

We may admit that some Christians do bad science. This may be especially true of those who argue for a young earth (e.g. one less than 50000 years old). But belief in God and even the Bible itself does not require one to believe in such theories. Even the word for day "yom" in the Biblical accounts in Genesis 1 and 2 certainly need not stand for 24 hours. See Reasons to Believe and other writings by Dr. Hugh Ross and others for more on this. The best astronomical estimates indicate that the Big Bang happened about 17 billion years ago. It turns out that even with billions of years of time, there still just isn't enough time for life to appear by random chance.

Click here for some recent quotes by secular astronomers

Science is a method in which observations about the physical universe are made, patterns are observed, theories and mathematical models are proposed and experiments are constructed to verify the accuracy or otherwise of the theory. Understanding more about the normal operation of the physical universe will never demonstrate that a spiritual world does not exist. In fact, for theistic thinkers, the incredible 'lucky' co-incidences in the laws of physics which make a physical universe like ours possible strongly suggest that there must be a Designer out there. Even a famous agnostic physicist has said, 'It seems that someone has monkeyed with the laws of physics'. This evidence for design extends to the realms of chemistry and biology.

Many of the greatest scientists the world has known were Christians (e.g. Pasteur, Pascal, Newton, Faraday). Many more scientists, although not Christians, were convinced by what they observed in the Universe that there must be an intelligent Designer - a Creator God. Albert Einstein was in this category. Although the religion of secular humanism has largely hijacked the sciences and the education system in general, there are still many brilliant Christian scientists in the world today (e.g. Dr. Hugh Ross, Dr. A.E. Wilder Smith et. al.).

A lot of scientists may come out in favor of an agnostic, materialistic world-view. It is the natural tendency of any kind of specialist to try to reduce the world to the terms of his particular field of interest. Remember that not everything scientists say is scientifically based (just ask their wives - or husbands!) It is actually outside the scope of science as such to make pronouncements on the existence or otherwise of things not describable by mathematics. Science can never prove that there is no God, because science can never reveal everything, even about the physical universe. (The uncertainty principle of Heisenberg is a small example of this). Science can help us see how things work, but not why they exist. Science cannot prove or disprove the existence of a spiritual world.

What we actually see on the earth and in the cosmos would lead us to doubt that this Universe and all it contains is actually the product of time, chance, matter and energy.

It is outside the scope of this page to cover ground that others have already covered better than myself. You don't have to believe everything "Creation Science" people insist on in order to believe that God created the world. Let every theory stand or fall on its own merits.

Suggested Links for Further Study

Reasons to Believe - Dr.Hugh Ross, former research fellow at Caltech, with his colleagues bring scientific evidence virtually proving scientifically the existencee of a Creator God.

How Can We Make Sense of The Genesis 1 Creation Account?

Some Thoughts on Evolution - brief objections by Michael Fackerell.

Recent Quotes by Secular Astronomers

From "Creation and Time", pg. 126, by Dr. Hugh Ross:

Since 1985 the evidences for a divinely caused and designed universe have been accumulating dramatically. Consequently, a growing number of astronomers and physicists have been making theological inferences. For example, American astronomer George Greenstein, in The Symbiotic Universe (1988), concluded:

As we survey all the evidence, the thought insistently arises that some supernatural agency - or rather, Agency - must be involved. Is it possible that suddenly, without intending to, we have stumbled upon scientific proof of the existence of a Supreme Being? Was it God who stepped in and so providentially crafted the cosmos for our benefit?

British scientist Paul Davies in his 1983 book, God and the New Physics, denied the possibility of God as Creator and promoted an atheistic interpretation of the universe. But, just one year later, his thinking had begun to change. In his 1984 book, Superforce (pg 203), he wrote:

The laws [of physics] ... seem themselves to be the product of exceedingly ingenious design ... The Universe must have a purpose.

In his 1988 book, The Cosmic Blueprint (pg 203), Davies expressed further change:

[I see] powerful evidence that there is something going on behind it all. The impression of design is overwhelming.

Agnostic Robert Jastrow described the path travelled by his fellow astronomers as:

scaling the mountains of ignorance, ... conquering the highest peak, ... pulling [themselves] over the final rock ... [to be] greeted by a band of theologians who have been sitting there for centuries. (God and the Astronomers: W.W. Norton, 1978), page 116.