Why Science & Christianity are not Natural Enemies

Christopher UllmanChristian Life College

2

Science was Stillborn in Non-Biblical Civilizations

• Egypt• India• China• Babylo

n

Each had a worldview which was insufficient to incubate the scientific method. Why?

• Superstition and animism• “All is god and god is all” • Non-linear view of history

god

3

Science was Stillborn in Non-Biblical Civilizations

• Greece• Rome• Islam• Their gods had power

but not holiness• “All events are

predestined and inscrutable”

4

The Biblical Worldview is the Incubator of Science

The Bible teaches:• There is order in the universe• This is a good world that God has made• God intended for humans to discover His

creation• Our sensed perceptions can routinely be

trusted• Like causes produce like effects• Everything God created has a purpose

5

The Order Premise“There is order in the universe.”Science operates on this assumption, and

it results in beliefs such as:• The physical world is real: it is what it is• Like causes produce like effects• Matter/energy is neither being created

nor destroyed• In a closed system, net entropy

increases

6

The Order Premise Can’t Be Disproven

To argue against it, one must first believe one stands firmly in the world of experience

The world of experience is known to be real because it is orderly

Therefore, one must assume the order premise to try to disprove the order premise

7

The Best Basis for Believing the Order Premise is True:

There is a rational, orderly mind who created the universe

• John 1:1 – In the beginning was the Logos• Job 38:36 – “Who endowed the heart with

wisdom?”• Isaiah 1:18 – “Come, let us reason together.”If God had not intended for us to know He is the

source of the order in the universe, He would not have spoken to us

8

The Biblical Worldview is the Incubator of Science

This is a good world that God has made• Genesis 1:31 – It’s all very good• Jeremiah 10:12 – He founded the world• I Timothy 4:4 – Everything God created is

goodIt is not the source of evilIt is not a plaything in the hands of GodIt is not eternal: it had a beginning and it will

have an end

9

The Biblical Worldview is the Incubator of Science

God intended for humans to discover His creation

• Genesis 1:28 – “Subdue it”• Proverbs 25:2 – “Search it out”• Job 12:7-8 – “Ask the animals, and they will

teach you; the birds, they will tell you”• Romans 1:20 – “Understand, from what has

been made”• Colossians 2:2-3 – Find the hidden treasures

by finding Christ

10

The Biblical Worldview is the Incubator of Science

Our sensed perceptions can routinely be trusted

• Proverbs 6:6-8 – Go to the ant … observe his ways

• 1 John 1:1-2 – Heard … seen … looked at … touched …

• Matthew 16:2-3 – “You know how to interpret the appearance of the sky …”

11

The Biblical Worldview is the Incubator of Science

Like causes produce like effects• Proverbs 30:33, 26:21, 10:4 – the law of the

harvestNo effect is quantitatively or qualitatively

greater than its cause• Hebrews 7:7 – The lesser is blessed by the

better• Matthew 10:24 – A student is not above his

teacher ( also John 13:16)• Acts 17:24 – God built the universe, and

doesn’t need a temple built by human hands

12

The Biblical Worldview is the Incubator of Science

Everything God created has a purpose • Revelation 4:11 – By your will they were created• Psalm 100:2-3 – We are the sheep of his pasture• Job 36:5 – God is firm in his purpose• Proverbs 19:21 – It is the Lord’s purpose that

prevails• Isaiah 55:11 – “My word achieves the purpose for

which I sent it”• 2 Corinthians 5:5 – God made us for this very

purpose• Genesis 1:26 – “Let us make man in our image”

13

Christianity Gives Birth to Science

1. There is order in the universe2. This is a good world that God has made3. God intended for humans to discover His

creation4. Our sensed perceptions can routinely be

trusted5. Like causes produce like effects6. Everything God created has a purposeEquipped with these truths, at the appropriate time

in history the experimental method began to be employed

14

The Christian Worldview as Science’s Womb

Christian Europe became the womb from which each of the basic scientific disciplines emerged.

Far from being an enemy of science, Christianity provided the necessary conditions for humanity that prior civilizations had lacked.

The motivation of the early scientists: “To think God’s thoughts after Him”

15

Christian Scientists• Each of the following scientists expressed faith

in Jesus Christ and in the Bible– They were not blinded by their faith to the world of

observation and experimentation– Their faith gave them the best reason to engage in

scientific research• Most of them were the founders of the specific

discipline of science in which they worked• Each one of them excelled and changed their

field of science forever• Many of them wrote commentaries and articles

defending the Christian faith

16

Christian Scientists• Roger Bacon (1220-1292)

– Oxford scholar and teacher who tried to summarize all the learning of the day

– He promoted the use of experimentation to determine truth

• Nicolas Copernicus (1473-1543), mathematician and astronomer– Astronomer known for concluding

that the sun is the center of our solar system

17

Christian Scientists• Johannes Kepler (1571-1630),

Mathematician and Astronomer – The astronomer who explained

planetary motion – “Science is thinking God’s thoughts

after Him” • Jan Baptist van Helmont (1577-

1644), chemist and physiologist– the founder of pneumatic chemistry – Wrote on the effects of the Fall of

Adam

18

Christian Scientists• Blaise Pascal (1623-1662),

mathematician, hydrostatics– Discovered Pascal’s Law– Founded the theory of probability– Proposed Pascal’s Wager supporting

belief in God• Robert Boyle (1627-1691), chemist

– Discovered Boyle’s Law of gases– One of the founders of the Royal Society

of science in England– Translated the Bible into Gaelic and

Turkish

19

Christian Scientists• John Ray (1627-1705), botanist

and zoologist– One of the founders of the Royal

Society– Wrote books on natural theology

and the Flood• Isaac Newton (1643-1727),

physicist, mathematician, astronomer, optics– Defended creation and the Bible

20

Christian Scientists• Carl Linnaeus (1707-1778),

botanist, physician, zoologist– Father of biological taxonomy– Attempted to delineate the

Genesis “kind”• William Herschel (1738-1822),

astronomer– Discovered planet Uranus– “The undevout astronomer must

be mad.”

21

Christian Scientists• John Flamsteed (1646-1719),

astronomer – Founded the Greenwich observatory– Accurately calculated solar eclipses of

1666 & 1668– Devout deacon and preacher

• William Derham (1657-1735), natural philosopher– First man to measure the speed of

sound– Wrote Physico-Theology and Astro-

Theology on the being and attributes of God

22

Christian Scientists• Michael Faraday (1791-1867),

physicist– Developed the sciences of electricity

and magnetism– Believed God’s creation to be

purposeful and designed for man’s well-being

• Humphry Davy (1778-1829), chemist– Discovered several alkali elements, did

original work on the nature of chlorine and iodine

– Bible-believing Christian and highly generous

23

Christian Scientists• Charles Babbage (1792-1871),

mathematician and engineer– Originated the idea of a programmable

computer– Invented the speedometer, the

ophtalmoscope, and actuarial tables– Wrote a mathematical analysis

defending the Biblical miracles• John Dalton (1766-1844), chemist,

meteorologist and physicist– Father of modern atomic theory– Researched color blindness– Was a Bible-believing Quaker all his

life

24

Christian Scientists• Samuel F.B. Morse (1791-1872),

inventor of the Morse Code, painter– Created the single-wire telegraph

system– First telegraph message quoted

Numbers 23:23: “What hath God wrought!”

– Wrote about the clear evidence of the “divine origin of the Bible” and “God’s remedy for fallen man”

• Matthew Maury (1808-1873), oceanographer– Psalm 8:8 “paths of the seas” led him

to discover and graph ocean currents

25

Christian Scientists• Rudolph Virchow (1821-1902),

biologist and pathologist– Originated the Cell Theory: “Every cell

originates from another existing cell like it ”– Strongly opposed the evolutionary

teachings of Darwin and Haeckel– Protestant who campaigned against the

Catholic Church• Gregor Mendel (1822-1884),

geneticist– Father of genetics– He was a creationist and rejected Darwin’s

evolutionary ideas

26

Christian Scientists• Louis Pasteur (1822-1895),

chemist and microbiologist– Created the pasteurization

process for milk and wine– Experimentally refuted the

evolutionary theory of spontaneous generation

• Henri Fabre (1823-1915), biologist– Father of modern entomology– “Without Him I understand

nothing; without Him all is darkness.”

27

Christian Scientists• William Thomson [Lord Kelvin

] (1824-1907), physicist– Formulated 1st and 2nd Laws of

Thermodynamics– Opposed Darwin and

uniformitarian geology• James Clerk Maxwell (1831-

1879), physicist– Formulated Maxwell’s Equations &

Maxwell’s Distribution– Refuted Laplace’s evolutionary

Nebular Hypothesis

28

Christian Scientists• William Mitchell Ramsay

(1851-1939), archaeologist– Expert on the archaeology of

Paul’s missionary journeys– Converted to Christianity after he

discovered that all the historical facts of the Bible’s Book of Acts were confirmed

• John Ambrose Fleming (1849-1945), electrical engineer– Father of modern electronics– Founded

Evolution Protest Movement in UK

29

Christian Scientists• Howard Atwood Kelly (1858-

1943), surgeon & gynecologist– Foremost OB/GYN in America

from 1900-1920– Wrote

A Scientific Man and The Bible: A Personal Testimony

• George Washington Carver (1864-1943), botanist– Invented hundreds of uses for

peanuts, soybeans, pecans, etc.– Opposed Darwin’s theory and

believed the Bible’s creation account

30

Christian Scientists• Wilbur (1867-1912) and Orville

Wright (1871-1948), aeronautical engineers– First successful airplane flight

December 7, 1903– Both received Jesus as their

personal Savior as youths– Studied God’s creation in the form

of bird flight to develop their own design for an aircraft

– His father “never tired of relating the positive effect that the Bible had had on his children”

31

Christian Scientists• Wernher von Braun (1912-

1977), aeronautics engineer– Father of the US Space Program– Director of NASA– Developed the rocket that landed

on the moon– “I find it as difficult to understand a

scientist who does not acknowledge the presence of a superior rationality behind the universe as it is to comprehend a theologian who would deny the advances of science.”

32

Scientists Who Believe in Biblical Creation: Groups

Creation Research Society: http://www.creationresearch.org/

Discovery Institute: http://www.discovery.org/

Creation Science Movement: http://www.csm.org.uk/index.php

Answers in Genesis: http://www.answersingenesis.org/

Creation Ministries International: http://www.creationontheweb.org/

33

Scientists Who Believe in Biblical Creation: Groups

One list of living scientists who accept the Biblical account of creation: http://www.creationontheweb.com/content/view/4983 (all possess a doctorate in a science-related field)

One list of scientists who dissent from Darwin: http://www.discovery.org/scripts/viewDB/filesDB-download.php?command=download&id=660

34

Friendship Rules for Science & Christianity

1. Be open to all five ways of knowing

• The Empirical• The Rational• The Mystical• The Pragmatic• Authority

35

Friendship Rules for Science & Christianity

2. Christians must believe that the Bible is inerrant in its original manuscripts, and infallible in all that it teaches.

IT IS ALL ABOUT ME … AND YOU

36

Friendship Rules for Science & Christianity

3. The findings of science must always be, to some degree, tentative

37

Friendship Rules for Science & Christianity

4. The Supreme Court of truth claims must be revelation, not science

38

Friendship Rules for Science & Christianity

5. God can use Science, Theology, and Philosophy working together to teach us truth about the universe

SCIENCE THEOLOGY

PHILOSOPHY

39

Friendship Rules for Science & Christianity

6. Beware of the God-of-the-Gaps Fallacy: “We don’t understand this phenomenon, so it must be a supernatural act of God”

• “God is our explanation for every gap in our present understanding”

• RESULT: The more we understand, the less use we have for God!

• A phenomenon we don’t yet understand is not therefore necessarily a direct supernatural event

40

Friendship Rules for Science & Christianity

7. Science does not need methodological naturalism (“natural phenomena can only be explained by referring to other natural phenomena”)

• Some phenomena have only a supernatural explanation

– The Initial Creation– Christ’s Resurrection– Miracles

• History’s great Christian scientists were not methodological naturalists

41

Science and Christianity