One of the big things many evangelicals need to reconsider is the tendency to disregard or even disdain science and its findings. This most frequently relates to evolution, but it can also involve climate change, medicine, psychology, or other things. The best example of anti-science bias among evangelicals I know of came from Chuck Colson, on his Breakpoint radio program. He said (and I believed, at the time) that many scientists supported and argued for evolution, not because of evidence, but because they wanted freedom from the Bible's sexual rules. Right... It was the Bible, not anything else, holding back those science nerds from fulfilling their sexual wishes (sorry, science nerds).
Seriously, though, something that's come across inescapably clearly from some sources in evangelicalism is that science can't be trusted because of an anti-God bias that scientists have. Evolution is accepted by scientists, the claims go, not because of evidence, but because it justifies their atheism.
I can understand this, because I used to believe it. All of it. Most of my life I've been a young earth creationist, disagreeing with the overwhelming scientific consensus, on the basis of some things I had been told were true. First, evolution is in crisis for lack of evidence, and scientists in each field assume the other fields must have evidence, because their own field does not. Second, as I've already mentioned, scientists have ulterior motives, or an anti-god agenda. And, finally, evolutionists had never given creation scientists a serious look - if they did, they'd say, "Oh, this explains the evidence we see so much better than evolution." I used to be there, but I've since seen that each of my foundations for throwing out scientific consensus were incorrect (I'll do a post on that another time). In any case, I've argued throughout most of my life for the young earth creationist view, so I understand what that's like. But it's time for science and conservative Christianity to get reacquainted.
Because science and Christianity should be, and traditionally have been, allies. Science is in the business of discovering what things are and how they function. There's a long tradition of scientists seeing themselves (and being seen) as helping mankind better understand God. One of the greatest scientists of all time, Isaac Newton, wrote more about the Bible than he did about science. Descartes, Pascal, Mendel, and most other early scientists, who laid the foundation for what we know about the world today, were Christians who wanted to study creation to better know God. Galileo wrote a letter during his controversy (a very wordy letter) affirming the inability of the Bible and science to disagree, but also stating that either can be misinterpreted (that's my summary). Georges Lemaitre, the man who came up with the Big Bang Theory was a Catholic priest. Francis Collins, who led the human genome project to sequence mankind's DNA, is an evangelical Christian. Christianity and science should be friends, God is allied with those who pursue truth. Jesus said the devil is the father of lies (John 8:44). Titus 1:2 teaches that God cannot lie. And, science is first and foremost about seeking truth. That's always been the purpose of science. And I'm probably being redundant here, but it's important to understand that science as we think of it today was essentially founded by men who believed God had given them an orderly world, and as they studied it, they learned about him as well.
Now, science isn't inerrant, as I believe the Bible to be. But science is self-correcting, and that's a big deal. What I mean by that is, unlike many of us, scientists work to disprove one another's ideas, and when that happens, it's big exciting news for scientists. That doesn't mean, obviously, that science can't be wrong, but here's what it does mean.
There's a vast gulf, a chasm, between "opinion" and "scientific consensus". One is not as likely to be valid as the other. It also means if you want to deny science, in any area such as evolution or climate change where countless studies have been done and replicated over decades, the onus is on you to put forward another plausible theory. Bonus points if you also supply people with an idea of what you'd accept as proof that your hypothesis is incorrect, making it testable. Finally, it's helpful to present a plausible explanation for why science has got the whole thing completely wrong, such as the reasons I believed scientists were wrong on evolution. That way, you're able to evaluate whether, for example, all scientists who accept evolution really do have something against God, or if you might be the one who's incorrect. For me, I started to question my assumptions when I came across scientists who were vehemently pro-evolution but also clearly where conservative Christians or even (like Francis Collins) evangelical.
Now, what I'm saying in this post doesn't mean you have to believe in evolution, or any other scientifically accepted position. It does mean it's not sufficient to say, "Scientists really like sex, drugs & sin, so they came up with a god-free theory of origins." If you're going to disagree with a broad scientific consensus, you need to present your own theory of how we got here that explains what's observed in the natural world. For example, we can see light from stars that would have taken 13.6 billion years to get here. That doesn't seem compatible with the idea that all things were created 6,000 years or so ago. So, maybe you pick "God created a mature universe that looks old, and included light in between earth and stars" or perhaps you go with creation days representing different eras in an old earth view, or you may say the universe is old, but God created our planet 6,000 years ago in six days. All of those are fine. But what you shouldn't do is simply say, "I believe God created everything, 6,000 years ago, and your scientific evidence is meaningless because I know scientists hate God." Science doesn't work that way, and neither does reality.
God has a monopoly on truth, plain and simple. Science, insofar as it seeks to find truth, is serving God, and we as Christians shouldn't view it as an enemy, even if it might go against some things we've believed previously - not because the Bible is wrong, but because our interpretation or assumptions may have been.
Finally, below is a video from the conservative Christian organization Biologos, which was founded by Francis Collins, which puts some of the strongest evidence for evolution in fairly simple terms. If you're interested.
Leave a comment, and let me know what you think. Thanks for reading!
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