Science and Christianity - Are they in conflict?

 

There has been a lot of conflict between Science and Christianity historically. Why do they clash? Are they contradictory to each other? Or can they coexist?

Bible says that human being has a Body, Soul and Spirit (1 Thessalonians 5:23).  

Science deals with the physical aspect of life. It is in the pursuit of finding laws that govern the physical world. Be it an atom, molecule, force or heat, they are of the physical world. They are tangible, quantifiable and measurable. They are what we see, feel, smell, taste or hear. Therefore distance is measured in Meter and force in Newton. Heat is quantified in Joules as well as Energy.

Soul is beyond the scope of Science (Physics, Chemistry, Biology or even Mathematics). Fear or faith has no physical unit attached to it. There is no unit of will power either. There are no global standards of happiness. Faith cannot be captured in a test tube and put to test. Neither do we have a subject that deals with the fear levels of people. 

Behavior of soul is subjective and different people use those faculties at different levels. Behavioral Science attempts to study the factors that cause motivation, depression, influence sub-conscious mind…….etc. All that is an attempt on the study of the soul of man. Science is grappling with this subject since long.

Spirit is simply beyond the scope of science. It does not even recognize it. You do not see the term "spirit" used in a spiritual sense in secular syllabus.

Bible says that God is Spirit (John 4:24). Spirit is beyond the physical realm. Physical world cannot detect spirit in a lab like the way we do gravitational waves that come from a distant star. We read that God calls into existence things that did not exist (Romans 4:17). So creation happened from “nothing”. Here the nothing refers to the physical "nothing". In the beginning God created heavens and the earth (Genesis 1:1). But from what? From the physical? No, if it is from the physical it is no more the beginning. The Spiritual God created the physical. 

So science has a limitation to step out of the physical and step into the spiritual. Hence science is still looking for answers to explain the beginning of the universe.

We need to acknowledge that the purpose of science is to explain the physical laws and not the spiritual laws. So the conflict between Science and Christianity needs to be seen in the context that science deals only with one-third of this universe created by God.

Science is a progressive subject. It is factual; It creates theories based on the current availability of facts. New facts and observations delete the old theories and then new theories emerge. It changes with the  growth of our understanding of this universe. Atom once considered indivisible is said to be divisible. Mass once considered constant is now believed to be relative with speed. Scientists use facts, observations and calculations to create scientific laws.

Spiritual (Biblical) laws are eternal and not progressive. This is why we do not see the term theory in Bible and truth in Physics. Spiritual laws need to be believed before we could see the results. Human beings can make progress in their understanding of it by believing in it. Because they are unchanging and eternal. That is why Jesus says, "if you believe, you receive" (Math 21:22). So you believe in the law first and then you will experience the evidences. 

Bible says, “the righteous shall live by faith” (Romans 1:17). It does not say that righteous shall live by evidences. Evidences would follow the faith and strengthen it. This is the reverse of scientific approach and therefore science cannot deal with this. 

Jesus said, “heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away” (Mathew 24:35). So all the physical laws would lose its relevance when the physical vanishes. So physical laws are not eternal even in this perspective. What would you do with the theory of gravitation when the mass itself disintegrates? Hence Paul says “what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal” (2 Corinthians 4:18).

Science would continue to strive to explain the physical laws through the five physical senses and they should be encouraged to do that. But the purpose of science is not to prove or disprove the existence of God. This would be futile for God is spiritual and science is just physical.

 

Prakash T John

Pune, India

prakashtjohn866@gmail.com