Big Questions Section
This section includes answers to some big questions. We don’t claim to have the answers (only God has all the answers!) But we hope and pray this helps you and the young people you work with. These are not definitive and you may way disagree or be able to add more, but they hopefully act as an inspiration or starting point.
There are 18 questions answered here. We must credit “When Skeptics Ask” by Norman Geisler and “Cosmic Codes” by Chuck Missler, “It makes sense” by Stephen Gaukroger and the website http://carm.org/ (Christian Research and Apologetics Ministry). The science page also has information from ‘Jesus Among Secular Gods’ by Ravi Zacharias and Vince Vitale. We’ve tried our very best to give easy answers to the questions and then more advanced / detailed answers and even further study.
Has Science disproved the Bible or God? Do science and the Bible go together?
The Bible and true science are not against each other. There is much science that directly supports the Bible. Nor has science disproved the Bible or disproved that there is a God! Some people say this or think this. But this is not true at all. Science cannot prove there is no God. In fact, much of science points to God, including new disciplines like quantum physics. Many scientists, all the way to the very top, are Christians. And it is established fact that many early ‘modern day scientists’ were active Christians, believed the Bible and it was their faith and the solid logical foundation of a Christian worldview that informed and inspired their science.
Science can answer many great questions but there are huge and deep questions and issues that science can never answer. Even the great scientist Albert Einstein was clear that science cannot and does not answer every question. Science is not the complete answer in life’s big picture. Science is simply one part. When science tries to go past science questions, it becomes like a religion (‘scientism’) and starts to go wrong.
It’s also important to remember that most science isn’t against the Bible or about the Bible. Most scientists are working hard to search for evidence, truth and to do their jobs with excellence. Most of science is doing a great job. But this ‘questions section’ is about science that wants to try to disprove God or the Bible.
First of all, be aware that much of science and other professions don’t have the Bible as their starting point. Some scientists have even said that they will never accept that there is a God or that the Bible is true and will do anything to say that it is not true. In other words, some people are so opposed to the Bible that they will never accept it is true and won’t even be scientific about it.
Normally science takes evidence and then decides what conclusions come from the evidence. But when it comes to science and the Bible, things are often different. Some people decide what to believe because of their starting point. So if I believe that there is no God, then I will look at evidence and make my decisions from what I believe, often to support what I believe. But if I do believe in God then I what I believe will be seen with this kind of perspective. So you may have two people with the same evidence but they will say opposite things… Not because the evidence is not there or because it’s different. Instead it’s because they have different ideas and different beliefs which inform their decision.
Many times when people say the Bible opposes science, they say this because their belief is already that there is no God. And in many nations, if you stand up as a scientist and say you believe the Bible or oppose certain ways of thinking, you risk losing funding and even your job, such is the pressure to conform. So because something is called ‘science’ or ‘scientific’ it doesn’t necessarily mean it is. Because science is always adapting to new discoveries, there are areas of science that we can’t yet fully understand or trust the conclusions of. But the Bible, properly understood, has proved completely trustworthy and totally reliable.
When it comes to the creation of the earth, some scientists try to use ‘historical’ science (that means science we can’t evidence because it’s in the past) to prove their theories, rather than observable science that has proper evidence (so science that makes repeatable experiments to test and prove/disprove an idea). So it is not true science and cannot be fully trusted. Only the Bible dares to give an account of the start of time and the Bible has proved itself trustworthy in its accuracy, history, archaeology, prophecies.
If people looked at the Bible without bias, they would find that time after time the Bible is completely accurate. Science cannot answer every question – it can only answer science questions. Science is also wrong at times because of people’s beliefs, their agendas, their desire for funding etc. Science also often disagrees with itself – the same evidence producing different conclusions. People claim that science is always based on evidence and the search for truth and that the Bible is not. But this is completely untrue. Discovery after discovery have proved the Bible’s claims – in archaeology, in documents discovered and even in science. The Bible and science are not opposed to each other. They are different at times but they are not opposed. They look at life through differing but compatible lenses.
It is amazing how often people look at science or at the creation or the universe and say the universe happened by chance. But for our world to exist as it does so perfectly and in such a balance and for life to continue with that perfect balance, the chances of that happening are so impossible that it is beyond science’s own loose definition of what is impossible. One scientist has said that the chances of the universe accidentally forming life and coming together in perfect harmony is the equivalent of a tornado blowing through a scrap yard and perfectly assembling a Boeing 747 plane. It is impossible. But with God, a power that is above and beyond our understanding, this is perfectly possible and is what happened!
Did you know our world is uniquely finely tuned for life and the only explanation is a creator, God. So many elements have to be present in our universe and our world in order for there to be life. And earth is completely unique. For life to exist, there has to be a beginning. Someone has to start that beginning. It cannot be that nothing exists and then suddenly becomes something! Any creation also needs information put into it, in order to develop. A lifeforms needs information (such as DNA) in order to exist and to tell it what goes where. That information has to come from somewhere. It can’t form out of nothing. It needs to have the information put there. Some anti-God scientists have suggested aliens came and put that information into humanity. Amazing they are prepared to accept this idea (for which there is no evidence) but not the idea of God (for which there is masses of evidence). But if people don’t want there to be a God, they will believe anything but God.
The Bible tells us that the devil has blocked people’s minds against God and that there are people who want to take away your belief in God. If you don’t believe this, then ask yourself when you last saw programmes that say the Bible is true or that tell you about the tens of thousands of discoveries that confirm the Bible. Instead, you see people who doubt the Bible making programmes that doubt the evidence mostly. So we can understand why people around, science and scientists sometimes seem to be against the Bible. But there are hundreds of thousands of Christian scientist all around the world who believe in God, believe in the Bible and are brilliant at their jobs!
So next time someone tells you something that is supposed to prove there is no God or that the Bible isn’t true, ask yourself some questions… First, where is this person coming from in terms of what they believe? Second, what is the starting point of how they interpret the evidence? Thirdly, are you being given the complete picture? Fourth, are they applying real science to what they say? Fifth and most important – what does God say? He is the one who created the world and the only one who was there at the beginning of the earth and universe! God created the materials that made the world – something that science cannot do. God and the Bible are completely true and perfect. Science can never be perfect.
We also have to be careful of people who argue against what they say the Bible says, rather than what the Bible actually says! You see, if people are wrong in what they think the Bible says, then they are also wrong in what they say against the Bible.
Advanced Answers
Some people are so against God that they are more biased and unscientific in some of what they say, than the Christians they accuse this of. Much of what atheists say is more ‘evangelical’ and ‘religious’ than some of what Christians say. Many scientists are more religiously dogmatic than. I once read a scientist accuse ‘religious people’ of trying to distort evidence to fit into their own world view. But if anyone is creating contorted justifications to prove a per-existing belief and coming with a closed mind it is those who are opposed to God. They don’t realise it but their eyes, hearts and minds have been closed by a satanic deception that is itself the main opposition to God and the Bible. It’s often dressed up as science and good writing, but it’s origin is actually evil and against God. So don’t listen to those whose minds are already closed.
Other times, scientists will use what’s called ‘straw man’ arguments. They say that the Bible says something and then they make an argument against the Bible. But the thing they say that the Bible says is not true in the first place, so their argument is also wrong. So you need to listen carefully to what people say and then think about whether the Bible actually says this or not, or whether the person has taken things out of context. A good example is that some atheists have said that God commands we demand ‘an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth’ and then go on to make arguments against God. But while the Bible does say this, it is within a very specific context and was in the Old Testament in a very different time and place before Jesus came and died to take away our sins, made active if we believe in him. So when people say these things, because the context is wrong, the argument against what they say about God is wrong. So we really need to know our Bible!
And be very aware that when people start talking about God and the Bible, especially those who are against God, they will get increasingly worked up many times, moving towards abuse, lies, personal attack and hatred. This is not because of them, it is the satanic influence behind them. So they’re not getting at you personally. But their arguments often don’t follow their own principles of science, rationale or evidence.
For much more info, we suggest you go to our Talks > God vs Science page.