If you grew up in the 90’s or later, than you can probably sing the intro song to Bill Nye the Science Guy. Although I hadn’t watched him since about the fourth grade, I was interested to see that The Science Guy went viral this week with a controversial Youtube hit. (I was also interested how he ages so well – he looks exactly the same as back then.)
The title of the video is provocative -“Creationism is Not Appropriate For Children” and certainly a primary reason for its two and a half million views in just one week.
Before I go further, you must know my purpose is not to provide the evidential proof for creationism or evolution, nor is it a space to angrily debate the issue. Unfortunately there are plenty of venues for all those very “productive” discussions.
Rather, I want to pose the question “Must science and religion remain divorced in the minds of so many?” Is there really no room for healthy dialogue, even collaboration and partnership, between the world’s most brilliant scientists and the world’s most respected religious thinkers? It seems not even the Democrats and Republicans are so polarized.
I’m not sure Bill Nye’s primary intention was to slam Christianity. An honest listen reveals that his emphasis is most focused on the validity of evolution as real and observable in the world. And perhaps some Christians should be more open to what science has observed, both generally and particularly in this issue.
However, there is plenty of room for a Christian to live with openness and respect for science and still full-heartedly maintain the conviction that God created everything. Likewise, there should also be room for a scientist to study the nature and development of the earth and acknowledge the possibility of God as the creator and intelligence behind it.
Let’s be honest, the nasty divorce between science and religion needs to be reconciled. It wasn’t always like this, and they still really need each other. Evolution with no Creator behind any of it means life has no ultimate meaning or purpose. On the other hand, a religion that is afraid to consider and explore the world of science gets relegated to the place of “myth.”
At one point in the video, Nye states, “When you have a portion of the population (that doesn’t believe in evolution), it holds everyone back.” I must say, I am far more optimistic than the Science Guy.
As a pastor of students and young adults, I see a growing number of Jesus followers that are interested in science (and every other area of cultural life), and its their faith in a Creator/Redeemer God that compels them to engage those issues and vocations with great zeal and passion. These Christians will be most recognized for what they contribute in the world, including the world of science.
Jesus claimed that he himself was the truth (John 14:6), and that “you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free” (John 8:32). Science is about learning the truth, and Christians need never fear the truth, even in science. We should seek it harder than anyone!
Far from holding anyone back, followers of Jesus are stepping up to discover and innovate in this exciting and mysterious life, and glorifying God along the way. #LiveFully
Great article Brian! If we are afraid of science then it means that we don’t have enough faith in the existence of our God, if science could prove it wrong, then we shouldn’t believe in it, Ive got two science degrees, believe in evolution, and believe everything the Bible says, I don’t think there is conflict there! Francis Schaefer, a theroretical physicist also has a decent book on the subject!
Matt, thanks for sharing- I agree that fear of science is never necessary and I appreciate your commitment to both the Bible and science. Do you mind sharing which Schaeffer book? I’ve found several of his really helpful
Sorry for the late reply, I believe it is called “Conflict or Coherence, Science and Christianity” or at least something similar to it.
As someone who has a B.S. in Biology I believe that there is a strong misunderstanding between the scientific community and religious groups. For example evolution in itself is based on change over time. This can be divided into microevolution and macroevolution. Without getting into to much details most christians wouldn’t have an issue with microevolution, however there are plausible holes with certain aspects of macroevolution since its 90% of is based on fossils. As for creationism the scientific community is a bit a short sighted, as they don’t apply the scientific method and or reasoning or logic into coming to this conclusion. For example we identifty cars, boats, and airplanes as man made objects. In fact if a man came up and said that these vehicles weren’t made by someone and randomly came up through nature most of us would look at him as if He were crazy. Yet, human beings are 100x’s more complex and effecient then any man made vehicle but its logically rational to state that this randomly came up via nature? The truth is that God uses science to show off His brilliance. When I was in biology class I absolutely loved it. Do you know that in your body you have 7 trillion cells working in general harmony, and there is double that amount of bacterial cells living in your gut? Our country has over 300 million individuals yet we are no where as close and organized as the cells in the body. We look at computers and easily state that this is man made but we are turning to DNA and how its processed to make super computers b/c this method is far more superior than what we currently have. Surely millions of years of random chance shouldn’t create a superior system right? Our immune systems is closer to the star ship battles seen in Star Wars, yet we don’t say that George Lucas films randomly came together…. (at least the original trilogy) To summarize the science community needs to understand that just because certain things can be explained, by no means does it disprove God’s existent. The Bible teaches us to test all thing and to pursue all things that are true and honest. The scientific community teaches the exact same thing.
This is very well thought out, thanks for sharing! I especially loved your star wars comment. The problem I see in the science community (and I have limited experience in this area) is that many operate with the presupposition that God does not exist. Evolution is the best possible theory if there is no God. It would be fascinating to see what scientists come up with if they explored the world with the presupposition that God did exist.
I totally agree with you about how God uses science to show off His brilliance. He created everything, and he did it well.