Who’s afraid of science? Is the Christian church? You? God?

It feels like many Christians are afraid of science. They think science either will, or does, disprove Christian beliefs. But is this a legitimate fear? One of my favourite (intentionally spelled that way) authors wrote: Above all, do not attempt to use science (I mean, the real sciences) as a defence against Christianity. The thing is, if you recognize the quote, you know this is exactly the opposite of the way we Christians should feel.

Who’s afraid of science?

Who's afraid of science? Is the Christian church? You? God?
Should Christians be afraid of science? Or should we embrace it?

If you’re Christian, are you afraid of science? Why or why not?

Does your local church seem to be afraid of science? Is it ever talked about, like in sermons? In discussions about some of the events in the Bible?

Do you know how your denomination feels about science? For instance, what do they teach about creation? Was it six literal days, even though that means people walked with dinosaurs? Were Adam and Eve real people, or just an analogy?

What about the flood? Did it really happen? I so, was it worldwide, as the Bible says? Or was it only a local flood?

In other words, does your church bend the Bible to fit science? Or the other way around, do they bend science to fit the Bible? Or is it all just kind of kept in the closet and the two are never mentioned together? Or maybe science is only brought up when it agrees with beliefs about the Bible? Maybe, in the worst-case scenario, science is only brought up to prove a point about a belief, especially when the belief is in conflict with the Bible?

Is God afraid of science?

Now that we’ve asked all those questions, let’s get to the core question. Do you think God’s afraid of science? If you do, why would God be afraid of science?

Who is the author who said do not attempt to use science as a defence against Christianity?

Who said not to use science as a “defence” against Christianity?

Did you notice the wording in the wording above? The first is – who’s the author. The second one is – who said.

The answers are – the author is C.S. Lewis. If you know about him, but don’t recognize the quote, you’re probably shocked. And now that you know a famous/influential Christian author like C.S. Lewis wrote that, you may be shocked that I included it.

The thing is, the character who “said” it is Screwtape. He said it in a letter to his nephew, Wormwood. In a book called The Screwtape Letters. Wormwood’s a devil, writing to his devil-in-training nephew. So everything in the book is backwards. Upside down.

Therefore, since a devil says don’t use science to prove Christianity – then we humans should most certainly use science to prove Christianity!

The thing is, it means we need to learn about science, of course. However, it also means we need to learn more about our religion. And about the Jewish Scriptures we Christians call The New Testament.

For example, we have to learn about things like Creation days, as opposed to 24-hour days. Especially, for example, since the sun wasn’t created until day 4. In that case, how can there be three “24-hour days” before the sun even existed? And along those lines, we need to know about there was evening, and there was morning in Jewish beliefs.

And so much more.

What did Screwtape Letters tell us about whether we should be afraid of science?

Here’s the quote. Remember, this is a devil named Screwtape to his devil nephew Wormwood.

Above all, do not attempt to use science (I mean, the real sciences) as a defence against Christianity. They will positively encourage him to think about realities he can’t touch and see. There have been sad cases among the modern physicists. If he must dabble in science, keep him on economics and sociology; don’t let him get away from that invaluable ‘real life’. But the best of all is to let him read no science but to give him a grand general idea that he knows it all and that everything he happens to have picked up in casual talk and reading is ‘the results of modern investigation’. Do remember you are there to fuddle him. From the way some of you young fiends talk, anyone would suppose it was our job to teach!

That paragraph tells us several things. One of those is that C.S. Lewis doesn’t believe God is afraid of science. After all, if he has the devils being afraid of science and Christianity being put together, that has to be because God wants them to be put together. And why shouldn’t He?

Is there a link between God and science?

Is there a link between God and science? Better yet, how many links are there between God and science. I subscribe to a few sites that send out a “verse of the day” from the Bible. I received two related to this topic just this morning.

  • Ah, Sovereign Lord, you have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and outstretched arm. Nothing is too hard for you.
  • I will remember the deeds of the LORD; yes, I will remember your miracles of long ago. I will consider all your works and meditate on all your mighty deeds.

The relevance of the first is fairly obvious. God created everything. Science in action.

The second isn’t quite as obvious. However, notice that it refers back to various things God did in the past. A number of those things were done in the process of God’s creation activities from the first passage. Plus, they also refer to every other action of God.

When we go deeper, we realize that every act of God that aligns with science shows Him as both the creator of science and the only one who truly knows science. But even His miracles show God as the One who controls science, since He can do things that we cannot.

Furthermore, both of these passages are from the Old Testament. Think about how much time has passed since then. At least 2,000 years, depending on when they were written. The source of each is coming in a moment. But that means there’s also at least 2,000 years more of God’s actions related to science for us to see.

We’ll go into this, and much more, in other articles in this “Who’s afraid of science” section.

Is creation the only science in the Bible?

Creation is hardly the only science-related topic in the Bible. Of course, it’s a big deal. It’s huge. And it’s first. Plus, we, people, are very much interested in ourselves. Therefore, since Adam and Eve are part of the creation narrative, it gets even more important to us.

But even something like the flood, in Noah’s time, has science-related issues within it. For instance, is it even possible that a global flood could occur?

Since everything pretty much began in Genesis, it is tempting to think science in the Bible is limited to creation. And to the extent that things are still being created, new species, new discoveries and theories about the universe, etc., it sounds reasonable that everything about science is contained within the creation topic.

But why should we put ourselves in a box? Why put limits on science and the Bible? We’ll consider all sorts of things.

And we’ll have some fun. One of those things will be a look at the chicken and the egg problem.

Finally, there’s a lot to consider about denominational beliefs regarding science and the Bible. We’ll get into them as well.

Conclusion – Who’s afraid of science? Is the Christian church? You? God?

So, who’s afraid of science?

Are you afraid of science? Each of us must answer that for ourselves.

Is the Christian church afraid of science? In some cases, I believe the answer is yes. We’ll look at that. Try to figure out the reasons for this apparent fear. And examine the reasons for those fears as well as, I presume, why those apparent fears aren’t really something we should be afraid of.

Is God afraid of science? Why should He? God created everything. God created science. And defined the laws of science. We’ll get into it, but here’s a thought. We know just how fragile our world is. The conditions for life to exist here are incredibly complex. So complex and so unlikely that I believe it takes more faith to think our world and its life came to exist by random chance than it does to believe God created all of this.

So, if you’re interested in this topic, please subscribe to this site using the link at the top right (or towards the bottom if you’re on a cell phone) to receive an email whenever a new article is published on this site.


Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay


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