Science vs. Scripture

The subject of this blog is far too large to accurately convey the message. But if I were to single out the example I intend to use, anyone unfortunate enough to read this would completely overlook the ultimate message here. And I have no doubt it's going to happen anyway, so...

Yes, it's no great secret that the the Bible departs with science in many areas. Scripture says the universe was created in 7 days. Scripture makes no mention of Dinosaurs. The list goes on.

Understand - the subject of this post is not to debate which is correct based on specific subjects. For example - I do not intend to discuss the details surrounding the story of Genesis and the "7 days". I may save that for a later post. But the purpose of this post is to discuss the irony that seems to exist with respect to scientific theories - specifically those which seem to elicit response from those who would believe the literal translation of the Bible.

So in order to do this - I must use examples. What better example to use than the holy grail itself - Evolution. Because (as I've stated) I am not interested in discussing the facts at this time - it is only worth noting that nearly any Bible believing Christian generally refutes the theory of evolution on principle alone - the principle that it is (seemingly) in direct conflict with the Bible. People have spent their entire lives dedicated to proving that scientists are somehow completely incompetent when it comes to explaining the nature of creation. Were I the confrontational type - I'd be inclined to ask those same people, "What causes a ball to drop to the ground when I let go of it?" I'm certain the universal response would be "Gravity, of course" (except those who just have to say "God".) Without hesitation and without questioning, they believe that gravity is the cause of the effect (the ball dropping). And yet Gravity as we know it is only a theory, just like Evolution. Evolution is simply a theory which seems to support all empirical evidence to date - just like Gravity. And yet no one is crying about the dangers of Gravitational Theory.

This isn't some terrific surprise. Obviously Gravitational Theory does not conflict with any particular scripture (and it certainly doesn't imply a human ancestry with primates). So it is interesting to me, that we are perfectly comfortable accepting (as truth) the theories of scientists as long 1) those theories fit our observations and 2) those theories do not imply error in scripture.

Now let's look at the last criteria in more detail. Blind faith aside, I can debate the origin of the Bible. Written by God, inspired by God... Call it what you will, it is external to me. But what I cannot deny - is the power granted me by God, nature (or what ever you believe)... The power to observe and learn from the 5 senses given to me. So - you can begin to see the irony here. Given a choice to believe what I see, what I've learned of the natural world around me, what my senses and reasoning tells me - or the choice to believe a man made document (however inspirational it may be).... It seems far more blasphemous (to me) to deny the gifts handed to me by God in lieu of a book fraught with inconsistencies.

The truth of evolution (and all natural sciences) is not a disproof of God, but rather further proof that God has given us the unique ability to understand and discover the rules which make up this incredible universe. Does that mean that every theory we create is correct? No. Does it mean that we will always be able to understand everything? No. But it should be enough to convince us to look beyond our own hubris and accept the world as God made it - not as we wish he had made it.

Then again, I could be completely wrong...