Article Display
Email  |  My Account  |  Donate

It may surprise you to discover that the Bible and modern science are not at odds with each other. Properly understood, they actually work together in harmony to establish truth in both realms. Is there really a God? What am I doing here?


It may surprise you to discover that the Bible and modern science are not at odds with each other. Properly understood, they actually work together in harmony to establish truth in both realms. Is there really a God? What am I doing here? Is there any divinely appointed purpose or any reason for me to be here? If there is a God, does He know and care about me personally?

Every human being at some point in life will ask themselves crucially important questions about life such as these.

Unfortunately for a lot of people, these eminently important questions often get suppressed because they don't know where to look to find the real truth. If you ask these questions in the world, you'll probably hear, "There is no plan," "You have no purpose," and "There is no God or if there is, He doesn't care about you."

Since the implications of those kinds of answers can be rather unsettling most people just try not to think about them.

If you've ever pondered questions like these, I've got some good news for you. The source of that good news is Isaiah 1:18: "Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord. Though your sins be as scarlet they shall be white as snow. Though they be red like crimson they shall be as wool."

The Lord is saying that the capacity for reason He has given you, if properly utilized, will lead you to salvation. In fact, faith in Jesus Christ is the most reasonable conclusion any thinking person can reach providing one starts with the right premise. Basically, God is saying, "Don't go to the world and its faulty reasoning, come and reason with me."

Before I go any further, I want to destroy the common myth that reason and God are incompatible. They are not. God is the one that gave us our reasoning ability and, if the enemy doesn't pervert it with faulty assumptions, God says it will lead us to Him. But we must begin with the truth and the only source of absolute truth on this earth is the Bible.

If a concept didn't originate in the Bible, then it clearly had to originate in the mind of some man. And every person on earth is just as subject to error as you are! Do you really want to base the answers to the eternal questions about God, heaven and hell, life and death on the wisdom of some fallen man?

If you begin with the Bible as your source of truth, your God-given capacity to reason will take you to a conclusion that is confirmable in the natural realm. Proper reasoning doesn't take you away from God; it draws you closer to Him. And by the same token, the truth of God's Word, rightly divided, doesn't lead you to unscientific conclusions.

The Truth About Science
Science has been defined as a body of data arrived at and validated by observation and repeated experimentation. Naturally, reason is at the heart of all scientific inquiry. When God says "Come, let us reason together," He's saying, "If you'll come reason with Me, I'll take you to the truth and confirm it by observation and repeated experience."

Now that's an exciting thing to hear! Science and the Bible are not in opposition to one another. When the Word of God is rightly understood and science is honestly pursued, they will corroborate one another and harmonize to establish truth. It's only when science gets off track or when religious tradition perverts the Bible that there seems to be a conflict.

The Evolution Fallacy
The Bible warns us in 1 Timothy 6:20 not to be moved by false science and one of the most perverted things that science has done to promote conflict with the Bible is to push the theory of evolution. Evolution is absolutely insupportable by any established means of legitimate scientific inquiry. Yet today it is being taught in our public schools as fact.

But don't take my word for it. Let me tell you about the work of Dr. Francis Crick, the Nobel Prize winning co-discoverer of DNA. He did a probability analysis on the possibility of a single molecule of DNA being produced by random chance. His analysis indicated that the probability was so low as to be virtually nonexistent.

Sir Frederick Hoyle, one of the best-known scientists and astronomers of this century, did a similar study. He conducted a probability analysis on the likelihood of a single-cell life form developing by random chance in the time since the beginning of the universe. He arrived at an answer of one out of ten to the forty thousandth power.

To put that in perspective, you should know that in the mathematics of probability anything greater than one out of 1050 is considered impossible. Hoyle went on to conclude that, "Evolution is nonsense of the highest degree."

Even Darwin himself noted that evolution could not be supported in the fossil record. Furthermore, the scientific community itself recognizes that evolution contradicts the Newton's First and Second laws of thermodynamics.

The Truth About Religion
I'm focusing on evolutionary theory here because it is most often cited as a clear conflict between science and the Bible. But at the same time we must also realize that religious tradition has also distorted some Bible truths and thus contributed to the confusion over apparent conflicts.

For instance, it has long been taught in religious circles that the, "In the beginning," mentioned in Genesis 1:1 was only 6000 years ago. I believe that a careful inspection of the scriptures indicates that, "In the beginning, God created ..." may refer to the "Big Bang" the most widely accepted scientific theory of how the universe began.

In my estimation, the Big Bang and the theory of the expanding universe are not in conflict with God's Word. Nowhere in the Bible did God tell creation to "stop," and astronomical observation continues to show that the universe is rapidly expanding.

Jeremiah 33:22 tells us that "the hosts of the heavens (the stars) cannot be numbered." If the universe had finite boundaries, God wouldn't have said that its hosts were innumerable. The truth is, God did make man 6000 years ago, but the rest of creation occurred at some point in the dateless past.

In other words, there is a gap of eons between Genesis 1:1 where we're told, "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth," and Genesis 1:2 which begins the account of God re-creating a flooded, formless and void earth.

Evidence of God's Existence
Can and will God confirm the truth of His Word in the natural, created world? According to Romans 1:20, the answer is yes: "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" (NIV).

According to this scripture, nobody has an excuse for saying, "There is no God," because all creation virtually shouts of the power, majesty and glory of God. But even more than that, the Word says that we can know specific things about God by studying His creation.

Science and the Bible
One of my favorite examples of science validating scripture is found in 1 John 1:5 and John 1:19. In both of these passages we read that "God is light."

Now, any serious study of light has to include Einstein's theories of relativity and time dilation. Central to Einstein's revolutionary equation is one principle the speed of light (186,200 miles/sec) is the only unchangeable constant in the universe.

Keep in mind that James 1:17 says, "Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning."

In other words, Einstein's work simply validates what the Word says. God is unchangeable and God is light, therefore, light is a constant.

Einstein also learned that as physical objects accelerate toward the speed of light, time begins to be "dilated" or slowed. That means that if anybody were ever able to cross the threshold of the speed of light, for them, time would stand still.

When asked what lay beyond this mysterious barrier called the speed of light, Einstein said, "I can think of no other name for it than eternity." Isn't that interesting?

Furthermore, it has been proven that crossing the light speed threshold is not something that anything in this natural realm can do. To see this confirmed in the Word, read 1 Timothy 6:15-16: "Which in His (Jesus) times He shall show, who is the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings, and Lord of lords; who only hath immortality, dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto; whom no man has seen nor can see."

Looks like Einstein studied Paul, doesn't it?

Let's go a little deeper into time dilation with a brief example and then I'll give you a scripture that may surprise you.

If you launch a spaceship from earth and it travels at 80 percent of the speed of light for 15 days, turns around and comes back 15 days, time begins to be stretched a bit. While 30 days pass inside the spaceship, 60 days go by on earth. Why? Because as the ship moved closer to the speed of light, time (in relative terms) slowed down.

If you speed up the spaceship to 85 percent of light speed and travel for 30 days, 10 years pass on earth.

Now, let's go all the way to 99.999 percent, or right to the threshold of the speed of light. Our spaceship again travels for 30 days but this time 30,000 years pass by on earth!

Thirty days on earth is equal to 30,000 years at the edge of the speed of light. Reducing that down we find that one day is equivalent to 1,000 years. With that in mind, look at what 2 Peter 3:8 says:

"Beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day."

Einstein's equations merely validate the truth of God's Word. I think it's exciting to see how God can use the scientific process to authenticate what we see in His Word.

Why Am I Here?
"What does all this have to do with me," you may ask? "What does the Bible say about why I'm here?" Answering those questions without the Word of God is like trying to assemble a thousand-piece jigsaw puzzle without using the picture on the box to guide you. Knowing where your life fits in is impossible without understanding the big picture of God's overall purpose for mankind.

What is that purpose? We find some keys to understanding it in Ezekiel 28:13-19. There we see Lucifer in the Garden of Eden long before the creation of Adam as a beautiful creature and described as "the anointed cherub that covereth."

He was created to rule over a part of God's creation. Now we know from reading Isaiah 14:12-17 that he was corrupted by pride and led a rebellion against God. We're told God cast that rebellious host back into the earth.

We learn some more about the results of this cataclysmic event in Jeremiah 4:23-28. This passage says that as a result of a great judgment, the earth became "without form and void." Notice that these are the same words as those used in the Genesis 1:2 account of creation! It even uses the same Hebrew word tohu in both passages.

The King James Version of Genesis 1:2 says, "The earth was without form and void" but the Hebrew word translated "was" is hayah and 500 other times in the Old Testament hayah is translated "became." Therefore, verse two should read, "The earth became without form and void."

This is further supported in Isaiah 45:18 where God says that He did not create the earth "in vain" (also tohu or "without form and void"). You see, there must be a gap of time between verse Genesis 1:1 and verse two when the earth was destroyed during Lucifer's rebellion. This allows for the Big Bang universe to be billions of years old and the recreated earth to be only 6,000 years old.

In Genesis 1:2 God is starting the process of re-creation. That's why He told Adam and Eve to "replenish" the earth (Genesis 1:28). You can't "replenish" something that never before had life in it.

What I'm suggesting is God desired administrative help governing His creation and when the angelic host charged with that responsibility rebelled, God created man in His own image (Genesis 1:26) and gave him dominion over the whole earth.

Why do you suppose He did that? To give us an environment in which we can learn the lessons of stewardship administrating God's kingdom on His behalf, so that we will ultimately be able to do what Jesus calls "rule and reign" with Him for eternity! (Rev. 2:26-27, 20:6, 2 Tim. 2:12).

Friend, your eternal destiny is to rule and administrate, on the Lord's behalf, over the vastness of this still expanding universe. But the extent of our rulership depends upon our faithfulness to be God's stewards in this earth.

How do we know that? Well, in Matthew 25:14-30 Jesus gives us the parable of the talents. It tells of two faithful servants who did right with their master's goods while he was away. Upon his return, their master said, "Well done my good and faithful servant. You've been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over much." Clearly, God is preparing an eternal destiny for us that is as grand as we choose to make it.

It is God's intention to return to us the dominion Adam had before he sinned and lost everything. Now let's bring all we've seen down to a very personal level.

Does God Care?
Does God know and care about you personally? To answer that, think for a moment about the things you care a great deal about in this world. Take a hobby, for example. Is it not true that the more you care about something, the more you seek to know about it? Well, the Bible says God has numbered the hairs on your head (Matt. 10:30). God knows more about you than you do because He cares for you.

However, that illustration pales in comparison to the love He demonstrated for us when He laid down the Majesty, the Power, and the Glory of that eternal realm, took on human flesh and suffered the indignity of a death that none of us can even imagine to enable you and me to experience restored dominion and the eternity that I've just described. God loved us so much that He sent Jesus to pay the price for man's disobedience. And yet many still reject that wonderful gift.

What Must I Do?
If you let the truth of God's Word be the foundational premise for your life, God will verify it by observation in the natural realm. In other words, your life will change. God says, "Old things will pass away and all things will become new" (2 Cor. 5:17). Your value system and your behavior will change. Anger leaves and love grows. Selfishness departs and you begin giving. The bad habits drop off and you start living well. But as long as you are caught up in the kind of false science that produced evolutionary thought, or the kind of religion that distorts God's Word, it's doubtful you'll begin with an accurate premise.

This new life doesn't happen, however, the way religious tradition usually says it does. That is, "Be good. Go to church regularly. Follow these rules."

No, there is no other doorway into eternity and into your true destiny on this earth other than being "born again" (John 3:3). All that means is experiencing the supernatural transformation that comes by recognizing the need for God in your life and asking His Son, Jesus, to be your Lord.

The Bible says that your belief in, and confession of, two simple truths will result in this miraculous "new birth." Those two truths are spelled out in Romans 10:9,10: "If you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you shall be saved; for with the heart man believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation."

Your belief and confession gives God's Holy Spirit permission to work the miracle called the new birth. That's when old things start to pass away and all things become new.

If you need to take this step, if you need the salvation of the Lord, simply pray the following prayer out loud:

God in heaven, I come to you in the name of Jesus. I confess I've not lived my life for you but I'm glad to know I can change that. I've decided to believe Jesus is your Son, that He died for me and rose again from the dead, that I might have eternal life and the blessings of life now. Jesus come into my heart. Be my Lord and Savior. To the best of my ability and by the power of the Holy Spirit, I'll live my life for you. In Jesus' name I pray, Amen.

Welcome, my friend, to the eternal kingdom of God. Go tell somebody, "Jesus is my Lord."

Mac Hammond Ministries
All rights reserved. Used by permission.

 

 

Author Biography

Mac Hammond
Web site: Mac Hammond
 
Mac Hammond is the senior pastor of Living Word, a large and growing church in Brooklyn Park (a suburb of Minneapolis), Minnesota. He is the host of the Winner’s Minute, which is seen locally in the Minneapolis area on KMSP Channel 9 at 6:44 a.m. and 11:11 a.m. He is also the host of the Winner's Way broadcast and author of several internationally distributed books. Mac is broadly acclaimed for his ability to apply the principles of the Bible to practical situations and the challenges of daily living.
Read more...

About Us

The online ministry of cfaith has been helping people discover faith, friends and freedom in the Word since 2000. Cfaith provides a unique and comprehensive collection of faith-building resources for the worldwide faith community.

At cfaith, you can strengthen your faith and deepen your understanding of the Word of God by digging into the vast collection of teaching articles, streaming audio and video messages, and daily devotionals. No other website offers such a unique and extensive collection of spiritual-growth resources aimed at helping you grow in your knowledge of the Word.

Read More...

 

 

Support Us

Why support cfaith?


(All contributions are 100% tax deductible)


SUPPORT CFAITH WITH ONE CLICK!

For every Internet search you make using
goodsearch, cfaith will receive one penny!

GS Logo 250x38

Contact Us

Business Hours:


Monday—Friday: 9 a.m.—5 p.m. CST
Saturday & Sunday: Closed

Phone:

(763) 488-7800 or (800) 748-8107

Mailing Address: 

CFAITH.com
9201 75th Avenue North
Brooklyn Park, MN 55428

 

Login Form

Please ignore the “Secret Key” field; it is not needed to log in to cfaith.

Login Change Article

Spring360x442
You need to enable user registration from User Manager/Options in the backend of Joomla before this module will activate.