Does Science Contradict the Bible?
These 3 videos are part of a series designed to get folks thinking about the relationship between science and the Bible. Here is a summary of each one:
Part I: What is Science? What is the Bible? These might seem like basic questions, but most people don’t ever stop to think about them. The Bible, being God’s inspired Word, is “revealed truth” that is independent of man, and is not contingent on anything in nature to be true. Science, however, is a community activity of fallen and fallible individuals that is based, not on revealed truth, but on reasonable consensus. And unlike the Word of God which standeth fast forever, science is continuously changing as our ability to make physical observations about the universe improves. In order to demonstrate the tentative and progressive nature of scientific knowledge, I run through about 6,000 years worth of astronomy in 15 minutes. By my count, there have been at least 5 major revolutions in astronomy that have completely changed man’s concept of the heavens. There was the ancient Near-Eastern flat-earth cosmology up to 240 B.C., the Ptolemaic theory through the middle ages, the Heliocentric model of the 17th and 18th centuries, the steady-state model of the 19th century, and the big bang theory of the mid 20th century. Yet through all of this scientific “progress” the heavens have always declared the glory of God!
Part II: What kind of “Science” does the Bible teach? Many people say that the Bible is not a science textbook, which is true. Clearly, the focus of Scripture is the story of Creation, the Fall, and Redemption through Christ. But this amazing story could have played itself out on any cosmological stage. So upon which scientific model of the universe does this drama of redemption unfold? The ancient Near-Eastern flat-earth cosmology? The Greek Ptolemaic model? Galileo’s heliocentric universe? Modern big bang theory? Which is it? Well, if we are willing to set aside our modern 21st century understanding of the heavens and the earth and see the Bible as the original audience would have understood it, the answer to this question becomes clear. In fact, every time one of the biblical authors makes a reference to the physical universe, it provides us a window into what constitutes a truly “biblical” cosmology. That is the easy part. The hard part is trying to figure out what to do with the biblical model of the cosmos. But the way we answer this question will determine how we treat all of the natural sciences, so the question is of utmost importance!
Part III: How should Christians treat the natural sciences today? Like I said in Part II, our response to the biblical model of the universe will affect how we treat the natural sciences today. Should we dismiss the Bible as an irrelevant fairy tale, or at least label entire passages as simply figurative, metaphorical, or phenomenological? Should we attempt to manipulate the meaning of the text so that it is more relevant to 21st century Christians? Or perhaps we should develop a completely alternate “Christian” version of science that accommodates a verbatim application of biblical cosmology for today? These are the typical approaches, but if we correctly answered the question in Part II, then none of these will be necessary. So what is the right approach? Well, for that - you’ll just have to get the book!