The Bible and science
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Introduction
Introduction
The Bible and Science
June 27, 2021
Why is the kettle boiling? Picture walking into a room and seeing a red kettle screaming it's whistle to indicate that it's boiling. Why is the kettle boiling?
First of all you might say well it's boiling because the water temperature has simply risen above the boiling temperature of water which by the way is 212 degrees Fahrenheit Google tells me this morning. This answer is correct and it would satisfy our scientists. Ryan who analyzes compounds and LeRoy who taught complex mathematics and even Paul Thomas who analyzed the tensile strength of films would all appreciate the simple fact that the water boiled because it got hot enough to boil.
The problem is that answer wouldn't satisfy everyone. In fact if Ashley walked into the kitchen and saw our red kettle boiling and asked me why it was boiling and I gave her the answer I got from Ryan, Leroy, and Paul she would actually glare at me and roll her eyes. She's looking for a different kind of why.
The other answer to this question, the other why is simply the fact that someone is heating water because they want a cup of coffee ... obviously not T. :) this answer has to do with the origin... it answers the question who filled the pot and started the heat anyhow? And this answer is only something that you can get in conversation with the person who initiated the action.
So you see 2 answers exist to the same question. Two approaches bring 2 answers.
There's not really any way for someone to come upon a boiling kettle and simply analyze all the details of the kettle and understand exactly why the kettle was started. Someone might have heated water to make coffee, or tea, or if you're in an old movie to have a baby I don't know….. this is the scientific method.
You are using all your senses to analyze what you see and understand and yet all those observations are still limited. They can't answer purpose and beginning and meaning.
However, on the other hand, If you walk up to me and ask me why the kettle is boiling and I tell you that obviously it's boiling so I can make another cup of coffee. I will have answered a purpose question but not given scientific details. possibly because I don't know them... Or simply because I didn't care to answer those details. I simply wanted to communicate to you or Ashley why I had the stove on and the kettle is boiling.
What is the purpose of the Bible?
Think about this for a minute. Why did God give us the holy scriptures?
16 All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, 17 that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work. [1]
16 All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness,
17 that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.
9 How can a young man keep his way pure? By guarding it according to your word.
105 Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.
30 Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book;
31 but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.
13 I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life.
12 For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.
Aren't those marvelous scripture passages? The Bible is this transformative an masterful word of God equipping us to love in this world as godly men and women. The Bible points us to Jesus, to salvation, and more.
But, did you read in any of those passages or the Bible states that it is a scientific manual given so that we may know how the natural world functions. It's not there.
The purpose of the Bible and so that you and I may be thoroughly equipped for every good work. And we may know how to have a relationship with our creator. Remember what Jesus said the greatest commandment is?
36 “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?”
37 And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.
38 This is the great and first commandment.
39 And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.
40 On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.”
Jesus said the greatest commandment is to love God and to love your neighbor.
Every day I tell my 2 girls the most important thing is for them to learn to love each other and treat each other with kindness. I do this every day because they struggle every day with being really annoyed with each other. My two daughters actually live in a complex world with tons of things they need to learn. Christy needs to learn how to care for all the details of her diabetes. And as well needs to continue to learn how to read. Both of my girls have a lot of information they need to learn and to know. In order for them to grow up to be successful adults they need to learn a lot. But what I'm most concerned about is who they are and how they love each other and the world around them. If they figure out how to love each other well and treat their parents with respect then they will have all the tools they need to do all the learning they need to do.
The greatest commandment is to love the Lord your God with all your heart soul and mine and to love your neighbor as yourself.
OK, what am I driving at?
Science allows us to answer questions of measurement, it helps us to understand how things work, and why they function the way they do. Science deals with observable realities and thinkable realities.
The Bible and our faith answers questions of why and purpose and sin and a right relationship with God.
When we rightly understand both science and the Bible they actually don't exist in conflict with each other.
But what we need to remember is that not every time a scientist makes a statement is it a scientific statement. Take for example one of our resident scientists Ryan Van Hoveln. When he tells you that Android phones are superior 2 apple phones you obviously can't take that as a scientific statement like when he's talking about organic compounds.
We also need to remember that not every time a pastor makes a statement is it a theological statement. To carry my joke about Ryan Ford... When I tell you I think apple technology is superior to Android technology it's not a theological statement. I very much morally disagree with things that the apple company promote. I do not believe everything Steve Jobs or his company does is right. They are not morally superior... just technologically ;)
but onto things we actually care about... What about the creation account.?
How much did God intend genesis one and two to be a scientific explanation of how he created the world?
OK let me step back, how should you and I interpret the Bible? Most of the time, we like to simply read the Bible and take the words that we read and apply them directly to our lives. But we need to always remember the Bible was written in a different language and in a different culture on the other side of the planet. Words have different meanings in different places. Even in different families.
When I got married vacation I learned was one of those words. For Ashley vacation meant 18 hour days going nonstop planning every minute and extracting every ounce of value you could from the time you had. For me, vacation meant sleeping in and relaxing and maybe doing one or two things that day. Same word, different meaning.
When we read the Bible and genesis we need to think about what it meant in the original context. That's why for thousands of years pastors and scholars have studied Greek and Hebrew and other ancient languages to understand what the Bible meant in its original context and language.
The ancient world and the Bible pictures the universe very differently from our modern science.
God doesn’t prophetically update our scientific understanding of the world.
[1] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), 2 Ti 3:15–17.