3-19-2019

Science, the Bible, and Me

In my thoughts, study, and writings I just came upon something that really bothered me.  As a Christian do I need to defend the Bible? Probably just as important, can I?

Science disputes the Bible in relationship to the Bible’s truth about creation, history, and the existence of a divine entity. How can I believe in the Bible and maintain a sense of reasonableness for science?

I read too much to not be aware of the intellectual and scholarly battle science and religion wage. I feel, and sort of know, where I am in this immense and historical war of the minds. I am a naive and undereducated outsider. That is true, but I still have my opinions and have spent a lot of my 75 years thinking and writing my thoughts. Those opinions have always been to myself and unshared, except for more recent attempts to type and utilize the internet to record my ideas. Strangely, I now write to be read.

I just read an article (2-19-2019) “Can Christians add the Big Bang to the Bible?”. It exposed the apparent discrepancies of Genesis’s timeline of God’s 6 day creation to the Big Bang Theory. From a personal side, the article exposed my shortsightedness in the Bible and science. I pulled the article today because I just happened to be writing and thinking about the “singularity” of the Big Bang Theory. I have always felt open to criticize science theories but the bothering question was do I critique the Bible?

I have an answer, of sorts, that I should clarify to myself. This is scary because I have easily said, “I will trust God to help me discern the truths in the Bible”. I also readily acknowledge to myself that there is much I don’t understand in the Bible or about God. My prevailing bale out is I will leave the things I question in the Bible for God to enlighten me about, or, I just won’t know. This is not very acceptable because I never go against the Bible, even when I don’t understand it, but will vigorously dispute science’s claim on truth.

So let me try to be honest, at least to myself. If you take a claim that Genesis says the Sun and moon were created after the Earth, and compare it to all the cosmological data of formations of solar systems, Genesis seems very wrong. I really don’t think science is wrong about the way planets are formed, so is the Bible wrong in my eyes? My normal “I don’t know” is a good answer. To be more honest, I must admit that the way creation is described on day 4 makes no sense. I will examine what the phrase “makes no sense” means to me in relationship to the Bible.

I am not an advocate of the idea that the Bible is the inerrant Word of God. At least not the Bible we have. This makes me a bad Christian, but I have studied the Bible hard enough, and argued about interpretations frequently enough to feel there are contradictions. Many of these are product of flaws in translations, or maybe flaws in my interpretations. However, I think it is very naive to think that the canonization of the Bible was flawless or totally inspired by God, or that transcription errors were not made. I think what makes me a good Christian is that I believe the Bible reveals who God is and what His plan of salvation is through Jesus. What “makes sense” to me is I know of God and Jesus through the Bible, and believe.

If you ever hear a man say believe me because I’m perfect, or a scientist say believe me because I’m smart, beware. If the Bible says every word in the Bible is true, are you so conditioned as to believe it just because that’s what it says? I am not sure when we started to call the Bible the “Word of God”. Was it before Revelations was written, or after? I’m not sure that what we call the scriptures is exactly what Jesus or the apostles call the scriptures. I wish I knew for sure who wrote Genesis because it doesn’t sound the same as the other books of the Pentateuch. There are so many hard to believe stories in the Bible. I have trouble with God using the rib of Adam for the formation of woman, or the Tower of Babel, or Sampson’s long hair as the source of his strength, and probably many others if I think about them. I don’t really think about them because the Bible is an amazing book of God, definitely inspired by God, not necessarily written by God, and one source God uses to reveal Himself to humanity. I do believe God reveals Himself in many other ways, one of which is science. If I were to say I am a Christian because I believe Jesus is the Son of God as revealed in the gospels, is that enough? Do I also have to say, without a doubt, I believe every word in the Bible?

I need to follow up with a clarification. I don’t think the Bible disputes science much. I have a strong tendency to feel that science needs to defend science much more than a Christian needs to defend the Bible. The history of theories is not good. Science’s defense of theories seems so desperate and, at times, contrived. I defend the Bible because it may be a vehicle for the salvation of the scientist. The scientist defends for the sake of their own sense of rightness. I will ask the scientist denying God, do I need to believe you so my ashes will rest in peace?