The Question of Science

(Acts 17.19-27)

This week, both in here and in the hall, we are thinking about, "The Question of Science".

Some people do NOT believe in the existence of God, because they think that science has disproved religion:

In 1996 there was a series of debates in Oxford University between two atheist scientists, and a Professor of Theology.

One of the scientist declared, in a manner so heated that it was reported in newspapers:

"It is deplorable that in modern-day Oxford, the study of theology is taken so seriously that there is a professorship. You might just as well have a Professor of Fantasy". (paraphrased)

Well that's what one atheist thinks, but I find that Christians too feel quite uneasy about the whole issue of science.

(Would you mind switching the kettle on please!)

I remember as a young Christian, not wanting to think about the relationship between science and my faith, because I was frightened that I too may come to the conclusion that science has disproved Christianity.

So I kept these two things very much apart.

I'd watch science programmes on the telly, about how the universe is billions of years old, ...how it started with a 'Big Bang' ...and about how humanity evolved from other animals. ...and I'd keep all those ideas over here.

And then I read in my Bible, about how God created the world in 7 days, ...and how he made Adam and Eve. ...and I'd keep all these ideas over here.

But I was reluctant to bring those two sets of ideas together, because I was frightened that science might destroy my faith.

After all, history has many examples of the Church picking arguments with scientists, and losing the argument.

In the 17th Century, Galileo promoted the theory that it is the Earth that goes round the Sun, (the Sun doesn't go round the Earth).

And who was it that bitterly disagreed with this theory? ...the Church! They condemned it as heresy, and Galileo was forced by the Church to renounce it. (...and incidentally, it wasn't until the 1990's that the Catholic Church officially admitted that Galileo was right, and that the Church was wrong).

In the 19th Century, Charles Darwin promoted the theory of evolution.

And who was it that bitterly disagreed with this theory? ...the Church! (amplify)

But I think that most Christians today would accept that animals have evolved over a period of millions of years.

In the past Christians used theological arguments to disprove science, ...and they lost the argument. And as a result, many people now think that science has disproved Christianity.

But it hasn't! It is possible for science and faith to live together in perfect harmony. Religion doesn't disprove scientific views, and science doesn't disprove religion.

Let me use an illustration.

David has just boiled the kettle.

Tell me, "Why is the water in the kettle boiling?".

Prime someone with the answer:

An electrical current passes along the flex. It passes through a piece of metal inside the kettle, causing the molecules in it to vibrate.

As they vibrate, a chemical reaction takes place, the by-product of which is that heat is generated. The heat is conducted into the water. The heat in the water causes it's temperature to rise.

As the temperature approaches 100 degrees Celsius, a further chemical reaction results in a change of state from liquid to gas. Gas bubbles form inside the water and drift to the surface. From the surface they evaporate.

By the time 100 degrees Celsius is reached, that chemical change is taking place at a very vigorous rate. The surface of the water becomes extremely turbulent, and gives the appearance which we know as 'boiling'.

Sigh at the person who gave the answer, and say "No!"

She protests that she has given as accurate scientific explanation as she can.

Perhaps you have, ...but the real reason the kettle is boiling is because I want a cup of coffee!

Pour water into a cup.

There are two answers to the question about the boiling kettle, and they are both right.

The scientific answer explains HOW the kettle, the electricity, and the water interact together to make boiling water. ...but it doesn't explain WHY I put the kettle on in the first place.

That has a very different answer, "Because I want a cup of coffee".

The two answers don't contradict each other, in fact they complement each other very nicely.

And it's the same with science and Bible.

When we look at the universe, science attempts to give us answers about HOW?

- How was the world made? ...was there a big bang? or did it happen some other way?

- How have we got so many different species of animals and plants?

- How do things work?

- How are volcanoes formed?

- How does the tide go in and out?

And we have many scientific answers to these questions? But science doesn't give us answers about WHY?

Many of you will have heard of the famous physicist, Stephen Hawkins. As far as I know he doesn't profess to be a Christian, but he made exactly this point. He said:

The usual approach of science constructing a mathematical model cannot answer the questions of why there should be a universe for the model to describe...

If we find the answer to that, it would be the ultimate triumph of human reason - for then we would know the mind of God.

Why was the universe made?

Why were human beings made?

If we want to know answers to the why? questions, it's no use turning to science books, for there we'll find no definitive answers.

Instead we need to turn to the Bible, because these are the sort of questions that religion tries to answer.

In our Epistle, we read:

"God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us. For in him we live and move and have our being."

Have you ever had an urge to be creative and to make something. Whether it's to arrange a bowl of flowers, ...or to paint something, ...or to cook a delicious meal, ...or, in my case, to design a factory, ...or you see something in a mess, and you have an urge to sort it out, (to bring order out of chaos).

Well the Bible tells us that we are made in the image of God. And that creative urge, ...that desire to bring order out of chaos, ...is a reflection of the creative character of God.

Why did God make the universe? ...because within the heart of God was a deep desire to make something beautiful. ...and we read in Genesis, that men, women and children were the icing on the cake.

The universe was made in order to please God... and it is his desire that men, women, and children reach out for him, and find him, so that we can give him our worship and devotion.

Now an answer like that doesn't contradict science in any way. Scientists might tell us how the universe was created, (they think it was a big bang), ...but the Bible tells us why it was created, ...and it also tells us who created it.

Who boiled the kettle?

Well in a sense it boiled of it's own accord using the power of electricity, and the natural laws of physics.

But in another sense the answer is very simple. Who boiled the kettle, ...David did.

And scientists differ over who created the universe.

Some think that it happened of its own accord, more or less by accident. That there is no God, and that by a process of 'cause and effect', and by random occurrences, the world has just ended up the way it is.

But other scientist think that the universe is too complex for it all to happen by accident. They believe that Something or Someone external to the universe must have set the whole thing in motion.

Scientists talk about a 'first cause'. They claim to be able to trace the growth and development of the universe right back to a few microseconds after the big bang.

But where scientists are divided is this, ...did the Big Bang go off by itself? ...or did Something or Someone light the touch paper?

Either answer requires a degree of faith. And here again, Christians believe that the Bible has the answer.

Christians would say that someone did light the touch paper, ...and has kept the universe going ever since ...and that we call that person God. Again as St Paul said in our Epistle:

The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lords of heaven and earth... He is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything, because he himself gives all men life, and breath, and everything else.

We've been thinking about the How? Why? and Who? questions, ...but what about the When? questions.

In some ways they're a bit trickier. For example, people often point to the so-called contradiction between the first Chapter of Genesis, (which describes God creating the universe in 6 days), ...and the scientific evidence that the universe was created over a period of millions of years.

Or the accounts of Adam and Eve, which one interpretation of the Bible would date just a few thousands of years ago, ...and the scientific view that there humanity is much older than that.

How to we reconcile the science and the Bible here?

Well Christians have different take different views on this, but with regard to the when? questions, I for one, am willing to accept the scientific view. Because it seems to me that these are questions that the Bible isn't trying to answer.

I see those first chapters of Genesis as stories that try to answer the who? and why? questions, ...not historical accounts which try to explain how the universe was made, or when it was made.

So if scientists tell us that the world was made billions of years ago. And that dinosaurs roamed the earth for 160 million years. ...well I've got no reason to disagree with them.

It seems to me that we need to learn from the mistakes that the church made with Galileo, and not pick arguments with scientists about issues that the Bible is not directly concerned with.

I began by saying that some people think Science has disproved Christianity, ...and that many Christians feel quite uneasy about science, because they are frightened that science might destroy their faith.

But I hope that you can see that we have nothing to fear. In fact quite the opposite, science needs religion to answer those questions which it can't, and never will.

We have made enormous scientific advances in recent years, and science is giving us increasingly clearer answers to the HOW? and the WHEN? sort of questions.

But Science will never be able to answer the WHY? or the WHO? questions. These will always be a matter of faith.

So let's have confidence in the Bible, knowing that it is the Word of God, and contains the answers to the questions that matter the most.