Religion and Science

From the biblical viewpoint there is a remarkable unity between biblical religion and
science because the God of redemption and the God of nature are one and the
same Being. The God Who reconciled sinners to Himself through Christ, Who
justifies them through faith in Christ, and Who sanctifies them through the Holy
Spirit is the same divine Being Who brought the universe into existence and
authorized human beings to “subdue” the earth, that is, to work with nature and use
it for the common good. (Gen. 1:28) Within the biblical view of things, the full life
involves the enjoyment of God’s blessings in the order of redemption — biblical
religion, and the order of creation — science. (Matt. 6:25-34)

Some Limitations of Experimental Science

Scientists are dependent upon God; for they operate within God’s creation — within His laboratory, so to speak.
In addition, the very branches of science exist because God first created the various parts of nature with which
scientists work: matter/energy (physics and chemistry), the heavens (astronomy), the earth (geology), and living
things (biology and genetics). The scientist is also dependent upon God for the orderly operation of nature; for
it was He Who created what are known as “the laws of nature,” and it is He Who keeps them functioning so that
scientists can operate in a consistent and systematic manner knowing that nature will function tomorrow the way
it functions today.

Conflicts between biblical religion and science develop when scientists misinterpret or misrepresent scientific
data, and when theologians misinterpret or misrepresent the revealed truth with which they work, namely the Old
and New Testaments of the Bible. When certain scientists propose theories about ultimate origins, such as the
theory of evolution, and when certain theologians accept such theories, conflict among scientists and
theologians is unavoidable. It is to be noted, however, that there is no conflict between biblical religion as such
and scientific data. This is so because the God Who created the heavens and the earth is the same God Who
inspired certain persons to write what they did in the biblical books.

Matters of ultimate origin and final outcomes cannot be researched directly because scientific research, of
necessity, is limited to that which can be observed and measured in one way or another. The scientific method
cannot be applied to God. The scientist, in consequence of empirical research, cannot possibly speak with final
authority on such matters as the ultimate origin of galaxies, atoms, the biological cell, or human being. Neither
can he speak authoritatively about the operation of the Holy Spirit, miracles, God’s purposes in history, or the
general resurrection at the end of the world. Only God can do this, and He did that in times past by means of
revelations, through His Son (Jesus Christ), and through the men who wrote the Scriptures under divine
inspiration. The researcher can, however, as explained earlier, conclude on the basis of his research that there
had to be a Creator.

Biblically, the creation of the universe was a special one-time event — a
“singularity” in terms of scientific terminology; it was something totally miraculous.
The universe did not generate itself because matter/energy is not teleonomic, that
is, it has no intelligence, information content, or know-how within itself to produce
planned projects, to act purposefully. Neither did the cosmos come into existence
on the basis of natural laws; for the very laws of nature are themselves a part of
the created order. Consequently, it is impossible for man, a created being
operating within a created universe, to explain the origin of the cosmos on the
basis of experimental research.

“By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God’s command, so that what is seen was not made
out of what was visible.” (Heb. 11:3)

The Two Dimensions of Reality

In addition to the time/mass/space realm in which we exist and within which all scientific research is done, there
is the realm of the eternal, the transcendent, the world of the supernatural which is just as real as our own. This
is witnessed to by nature itself as the Scriptures say in Rom. 1:19-20. “What may be known about God is plain
to them, because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities —
his eternal power and divine nature — have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so
that men are without excuse.” From this it can be seen that God expects a person to look at nature and draw
the obvious common sense conclusion, namely, that nature came into existence by an almighty Deity. Not to
draw that conclusion is to do violence to one’s capacity to think logically.

The existing universe originated in God’s thoughts in eternity. Thereafter, by means of His almighty power, God
implemented His plans so that what had existed only in His mind became a functioning system. That moment of
creation is spoken of as “an event horizon,” that is, a boundary between two different dimensions of reality: 1.
the eternal dimension (no time, matter, or space), and 2. the physical dimension (presence of time, matter, and
space). Thus the cosmos came out of one dimension of reality, through an event horizon, and into our
dimension of reality. The near-instantaneous creation of the bulk of the universe on Day 1 as described in
Genesis 1 is no problem whatever to a divine Being Who is infinitely intelligent, knowledgeable, powerful, and
wise.

The eternal dimension cannot be seen or measured by human beings; however, it can be
inferred on the basis of what can be seen and measured as the Rom. 1:19-20 passage
quoted above shows. It is erroneous to hold that only that which can be measured is real,
that time, matter, and space alone are the sole realities.

Persons who do not acknowledge the dimension of the transcendent as real, live in what
can be called “Flatland”—a one-dimensional world. They are impervious to the existence
of another realm of reality in spite of the fact that nature itself clearly points to the
existence of such a realm.

It is significant to note that man was created as body, spirit, and soul so that through his spirit he could
experience fellowship with God’s Spirit — even while living in the present dimension of reality. Man was never
meant to exist in a state of estrangement from God; and a person finds fulfillment in life when the estrangement
due to sin is surmounted by faith in Jesus Christ Who reconciled all people to God through His substitutionary
suffering and death, and through His resurrection from the dead. (I Thess. 5:23, Heb. 4:12, II Cor. 5:18-21,
Rom. 8:9-11, Ecc. 12:7)

The Holy Scriptures partake of both dimensions of reality. They embody the world of time, matter, and space by
virtue of their having been written by people who lived in that realm, and they embody the world of eternity by
virtue of their having been inspired by the Holy Spirit Who exists in the realm of eternity. Every person needs
the Bible as a necessary reference point for his thinking and living. To bypass the Holy Scriptures is to bypass
the highest source of truth, to lose one’s orientation to the world in which he lives, and to forfeit eternal life with
Christ. The lives of people are fulfilled to a higher degree when they live in both dimensions of reality as they
are known from the Scriptures. LSI