The Biblical Explanation of Reality: Part One –The God of Science
BOOK III: The Enigmatic Mystery (Science & Religion) – Consideration #175
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Tuesday February 11, 2025
“I want to know how God created this world. I am not interested in this or that phenomenon, in the spectrum of this or that element. I want to know God's thoughts, the rest are details.”
– Albert Einstein
PREFACE
Welcome Everybody!
We have come to think of “science” as the most valid source of truth. However, prior to sciences such as chemistry, there were metaphysical disciplines such as alchemy. We no longer hold alchemy in the same esteem as chemistry. Chemistry is a “real” science and alchemy is “pseudoscience” at best. However, that is not how the alchemists at the time felt, or what they believed. Science did not just “show up” one day; like all human ideas and concepts it evolved over time. And is still evolving.
“…the schism was not really about knowledge or truth; it was ultimately about power.”
From the perspective of the Church “their knowledge” had stood the “test of time” because it was “eternal,” compared to the new empirical ideas generated from the “natural sciences” which were temporal. Ironically, Descartes’ scientific method was a direct result of the Church’s own rational logic and metaphysics. However, the real schism between science and religion was not actually about knowledge or truth; it was ultimately about authority. The Church wanted the authority to determine truth. This is why they were willing to burn “skeptics” at the stake! It was not about who was right, it was about who had the power and control to decide what was right.
However, the empirical truths, or objective results, of science eventually became so apparent that even the power of the Church could not suppress them. Scientific truth was beginning to dominate religious truth.
CONSIDERATION #175 – The God of Science
“I find it as difficult to understand a scientist who does not acknowledge the presence of a superior rationality behind the existence of the universe as it is to comprehend a theologian who would deny the advances of science.”
– Wernher von Braun
At the peak of Catholicism’s power, the Church was the decider of truth. All truth; including scientific truth. Galileo’s recognition that the earth revolved around the sun did not fit in well with the Church’s declaration of the truth. Galileo was arrested and then recanted the “heresy.” However, many “heretics” were burnt at the stake for questioning the Church’s authority. The Church dictated what was and was not “science.”
“Science brought health, prosperity, and longevity to the citizens of the Western world.”
However, over time the verifiable “miracles” of science began to outweigh the verifiable “lack of miracles” occurring in the Church. Science was making life better, easier, and more enjoyable every day for the average person. Science brought health, prosperity, and longevity to the citizens of the Western world. The Church offered only promises of a better life to come.
Science was delivering a new life immediately in “real time.” It would become increasingly more difficult for the Church to deny the truth and validity of science. Partially because they shared the same foundational roots in logic, abstract rationalism, and metaphysics.
Eventually, religious authorities yielded to the old adage, “If you can’t beat them, join them!” The Church not only accepted the tenets of many common scientific theories such as the Big Bang, Evolution, and other various principles of physics; they insisted that all of it was clearly demonstrated in the Bible which had been written over four-thousand years ago!
“…a connection began to emerge between quantum reality and religious theology…”
Ironically, the Church essentially proclaimed that “in fact” these “scientific” truths directly supported the “eternal” truths of the Bible. As the natural empirical sciences of biology, chemistry, and physics evolved into the abstract rational sciences of relativity, quantum mechanics, and string theory; a connection began to emerge between quantum reality and religious theology regarding similar perceptions related to specific “truths” about reality.
“No longer were science and religion obligated to battle one another over the truth of reality…”
A unique concord of Greek & Roman philosophy & metaphysics, Catholic & Christian theology, and Relativity and Quantum science eventually led to a consideration of the same enigmatic mystery. No longer were science and religion obligated to battle one another over the truth of reality; which now appeared to be an unsolvable paradox for both. Descartes’ original understanding of science as a discipline for investigating the nature of God’s empirical creation, the universe, was again becoming a rational consideration. The God of the Old Testament was now also the God of Science.
However, from a Judeo-Christian theological perspective, the God of Science had a rational plan for it all; the Biblical narrative reflects the divine architectural blueprint of that plan.
POSTSCRIPT
The essence of the schism between science and religion begins when the Church attempts to impose “its truth” on both the Bible and empirical reality. However, because of the empirical nature of science, the Church’s subjective “rational” truth could not overcome science’s objective empirical results. Ironically, once forced to reconsider its truth, the Church recognizes a new truth; the Bible had it right all along, but they just did not see it at the time.
Ultimately “the truth” must “add up” both rationally and empirically. From a rational perspective there should be no incongruity between “God” and “God’s creation;” both should reflect the same rationality. Therefore, the Church argued that science ultimately supported the Biblical tenets of reality.
“For the past two hundred years the understanding of the biblical creation account has gradually shifted. As modern scientific views of the origin of the universe have radically changed, interpretations of the Genesis creation account have been shaped to fit them. Whether we like it or not, modern science has fundamentally altered how we read and understand the Genesis creation account…”
– John Sailhamer, Genesis Unbound
This begins a new schism within Christianity related to whether the Bible should be considered a “literal” or “empirical” account of reality, as opposed to a “rational metaphor” or “analogy” regarding the essential nature of reality. This is important, because a “literal” reading of the Bible becomes problematic in resolving the issues between science and religion. In addition, for many Christians, attempting to reconcile empirical science with divine rational truth can be dangerous.
“Because of some of the conclusions of modern science, some interpreters have sought to place nature on an equal footing with Scripture in determining Bible/science issues. They claim that God has given us two infallible revelations, one in the Bible and one in nature, and these are of equal authority. This attitude has its dangers.”
– Don Stewart, Blue Letter Bible
The essential argument for this proposition is that there is an inherent difference between “faith” and “empirical knowledge” and that one reflects the eternal experience and understanding of God while the other reflects the transitory and ever-changing reality of the physical world.
“…it fails to appreciate the difference between Scripture, which is an explanation of God's plan for humanity, and nature which is a silent testimony to God's creative hand. Nature tells us about God's power and majesty, but it does not tell us any specifics about His plan.”
– Don Stewart, Blue Letter Bible
“Modern thought about the origin of things is still in its usual state of flux, and there is nothing that can become out-of-date so quickly as an up-to-date scientific explanation of the first chapter of Genesis. This narrative has often been 'harmonised' with modern scientific theories, only to find that scientists have necessarily changed their position, leaving the 'explanation' quite out-of-date… had the Genesis account been subjected to constant amendment in accordance with modern thought, the various editions of it would make an interesting history of the changes in human thought on the subject, but it certainly would not impress us with the sum of human wisdom about origins…”
– P.J. Wiseman, Clues To Creation In Genesis
A “rational” reading of the Bible is relatively easy to align with the scientific explanation of reality. For example, if the Bible’s reference to “a day” is considered to mean a “specific period of time” then it is not incompatible with the Big Bang theory; however, if it must literally be considered twenty-four hours it becomes considerably more challenging! There are currently up to ten theological theories attempting to clarify this one issue in the Genesis account of creation.
Next week we will consider the “first day” from a Biblical perspective…
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