The Church and Secular Science

As scientists discover or reveal new information about the natural world, the discoveries must be correlated with one another in innovative theories. Each theory is then intensely and rigidly tested by subsequent observations, which provide either additional proof and acceptance or error and rejection. That is how truth is revealed- pg. 49

Secular science does have its methodology when it examines different issues and subject matters. But the words, ‘that is how truth is revealed’ is both misleading and very much in error.

In fact, they go against biblical teaching, one in Psalms 1:1 which says

Blessed are those that walk not in the council of the ungodly

The other is found in John 16:13, which says

But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth

Both passages do not restrict the discovery of truth to science only. With science filled with many unbelievers who do not want God part of their work or field, it is highly unlikely that they will stumble on the truth.

They are the ungodly which the church has been instructed to not walk in their counsel.

This is One of the Problems the Church Faces.

While science can be good, the messenger plays a role in how the message should be received. The unbelieving scientist is not the light unto the church. Even though the scientist has a good education,lots of years of experience in science, experiments and scientific research, they are still part of the lost, blind, deceived world.

They are in desperate need of a savior and in being guided to the truth. Secular science can investigate and learn how certain things work, like volcanoes, evaporation and so on, but that work cannot rule out the existence of God or how we originated.

The counsel of the ungodly leads too many people to the wrong conclusions and the wrong information. When the secular scientist goes beyond his or her natural boundaries, they are then traveling down the wrong path, looking in the wrong places for the wrong answers.

The church cannot follow along as those results are in contrast to the words of the God they say they believe and love.

Secular Science is Not Immune

It is known that many people elevate science to levels of authority it has no right to possess. Since God and the Bible are often excluded from the lives of people, they search for a new authority to fill the void they created by that exclusion.

Yet, that promotion does not make science sinless, incorruptible, all knowing and so on. The sin and corruption that entered the world at Adam’s sin is still very much a part of secular science no matter how much authority it is given.

This means that the spirit of truth is not guiding secular science or secular scientists. Evil is and the latter is doing everything it can to deceive those participating in any aspect of the field of science.

The Church Can Reject the Theories of Evolution and the Big Bang

There are many claiming to be Christian who accept those theories. They feel that science knows more than God does about how our origins came to be. Sadly though, their acceptance of those theories are misguided and wrong.

The Church can reject those theories because they are not true and are a product of the sinful world. They also contradict God and his word. If a person claiming to be a Christian accepts those theories, then they are sending the message that God lied and cannot be trusted.

Once they do that, they are saying that they d not believe God, his word and serve a different God than the one who sent Jesus to be our Savior. The church cannot afford to send such a message.

If the church and Christians claim to love and believe God well, love believes all things and that belief would include Genesis 1.

There are Not Two Magisteria

The late Stephen Jay Gould in his book Rock of Ages did contend that there could be a resolution between the conflict between the church and secular science. He wrote that secular science could rule the natural world while the church or Bible ruled the spiritual world and the two would not overlap.

That would be an error and impossible to achieve,. At no time has science been given authority over the natural world, especially where the theories of science would contradict the Bible’s content.

Science is a tool that is to be used to discover what God did in his creative act. It is not to be used to undermine God’s word and lead his people away from the truth. He Bible and God rule both the natural and divine worlds. There are not two books of revelation.

Some Final Words

God made it clear that his creation cannot serve two masters. There is a choice that has to be made. That choice applies to secular science and the Bible. Both cannot be correct.

For the church the decision should be simple. Give the verses quoted above, only the Bible can be correct because he theories of the secular scientific world do not originate with God.

They originate with the part of the world that needs the light of Jesus cast on it. What this means is that the Church must choose to side with God and Genesis 1. secular science given all of its education and experience is not following the spirit of truth but avoiding it because they do not want God.

God was there at creation, it is quite obvious that he knows what he did. He also knows how to communicate what he did and did not create a fairy tale for ancient minds to think on.

He left the church with a choice- believe him or not. To make the choice faith is part of the equation, always.