Old Testament Study - Science - Some General Comments

We will bring to a close this section on science and the creation

with the following comments:

To begin, it must be always remembered that the goals, subject

matter and points of view of science and the Bible differ completely.

The natural sciences study the universe and its physical laws in the

attempt to understand the environment, to control it, and ultimately

to alter man's relationship to it. Science begins with the universe.

The Bible, conversely, begins with God and with God's revelation of

himself. It discusses the universe only in terms of its relationship

to God, and its goal is to help mankind better fulfill the purposes

for which God has created it.

Natural science, then, begins with the universe and with natural

processes. Its methodology is scientific, insisting that one must

begin from that which can be observed and study only that. Its

presuppositions are that the universe is orderly and consistent, that

certain predictions can be made about it and its behavior, that our

minds and our abilities can give us a trustworthy picture of the

universe, and that the only truth which is to be considered reliable

scientifically is that which can be reproduced and tested by

independent observation.

This is precisely, then, the nature of the

scientist's beef with creation: it cannot be reproduced or

independently observed. The same is true of the miraculous and of

religious experience in general: one can't study it in a laboratory

setting or reproduce it at will.

What are the limitations of science? Its knowledge of truth is

limited to the identification of that which either cannot be proven or

disproven.

Natural science cannot prove the existence of anything,

though it can disprove some things. Even though it can demonstrate

that perhaps certain hypotheses or occurrences must be false because

it is known that they can't work that way, it has not necessarily

proven what will work. In addition, science cannot deal with

aesthetics, distinguishing between a beautiful sunrise and an ugly

one; this lies beyond the bounds of science. And it cannot study

phenomena which lie outside the universe. Since God, then, lies

outside the universe as we know it, science can have nothing to say

about him.

Since science cannot deal with that which cannot be

reproduced, it must remain silent on questions of morality and ethics

and of ultimate causes. It may go so far as to discover evidence

reflecting a plan or a purpose for the universe, but it cannot by

itself discover what that plan or purpose may be.

The Bible, on the other hand, starts with the presupposition of

the knowability of God, and assumes that the universe is dependent on

God for both its initial and continued existence. What can we say

about the Bible?

First, it is not a textbook on science, and does not

take a scientific point of view. It lacks both the scientist's

precise terminology and his goals. Its accounts are religious in

nature, and they are presented in the language which God chose: the

language of revelation, of a distinct people in a specific time and

place. It is the everyday language of the observer, and is general

rather than technical. What is important in the biblical records is

not what scientific data may be gleaned from it, but the truths

contained in it. These include the following:

God exists, and he is sovereign over all. The universe exists

only as a result of the will and the action of God, who created it ex

nihilo and ad extra. There is an orderliness and a sequence to

creation (though we don't necessarily know what that sequence is). In

the beginning, everything was pronounced good; pain, evil, et al, were

not inherent to creation but were introduced from a source outside it.

There is something unique about man - namely, that he was created 'in

the image of God'. And, finally, man's purpose is to glorify God, and

to exercise dominion over the universe God created.

Calvin Culver

Computers for Christ - Chicago

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Index of Preacher's Help and Notes

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