Science and Theology When I started college I planned on a double major, Physics and Theology. I hoped to be a scientist revealing new aspects of God in His creation. He made it. He holds it together. I think His fingerprints are there to be found. For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse. Romans 1:20 Many have worked to put God and science back together, to prove God to the world. They have tried to realign Science and Theology to reach the minds of a larger audience. I wonder how successful they have been in getting God to hold still on the microscope slide..? A scientific approach is how we study all subjects, so applying it to our Bible study seems rational, even genius. Afterall, dont we belive someones story more if they can express it in clear and organized manner? Contrast this to an individual describing their experience in a subjective and highly emotional way. We idolize logic, rational thought and sterile objective speech - this is not a good thing. My concern is that by applying the our Scientific paradigm to theology we have Westernized God beyond recognition. To remind us, the scientific method is a sequence of procedures intended to organize our thoughts and standardize results - this is the scientific process for validating a theory. The scientific method is a way to ask and answer scientific questions by making observations and doing experiments. The steps of the scientific method are: ■ Ask a Question ■ Do Background Research ■ Construct a Hypothesis ■ Test Your Hypothesis by Doing an Experiment ■ Analyze Your Data and Draw a Conclusion ■ Communicate Your Results It is important for your experiment to be a fair test. A fair test occurs when you change only one factor (variable) and keep all other conditions the same. To be generally accepted as as valid, your experiment must be repeatable and reproducible. Repeatable is the ability to run the experiment many times with the same or similar results. Reproducibility is the ability for others, elsewhere, to be able to reproduce the experiment with the same or similar results. If we are scientifically inclined and have gathered in a Bible study, I get the impression that we unintentionally ask God to leave the room, so that we can study Him, objectively. When we need to talk about Uncle Joe, we do so when he is not around, otherwise its awkward... Are our studies fair? Do we have a control group? How do we change one thing while keeping all others constant when investigating God and His interaction with creation? How many of your experiences with God are repeatable? How many of Jesus healing miracles were repeatable? He deliberately did each one differently... Reproducible... This is even less likely than above. How often have you been able to pass on your methods to others who could reproduce the same result? I love Science, exploration and pondering beyond what we can see or touch. I love Theology, to study God, His creation and ways. My concern is that we talk more about God, than to Him, that we study the Bible more than pursue God, that we are still searching the scriptures for... while refusing Jesus... What do you think?
Posted on: Sun, 28 Dec 2014 21:09:48 +0000
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