Science And The Bible
In all the argument about whether science and the Bible are compatible, it must be remembered that some very basic questions can’t be answered by science and yet they are by the Bible. For example, Who is God? Who am I? Why am I here? The scientific revolution of the last 200 years would surely have provided more and more evidence that there is no God, that the Bible is not true- if these things were actually factual truths. But in fact belief in the Bible, at least in the ex-USSR, has increased over that period, despite the great progress in science and knowledge. In fact it could be argued that the growth of both science and historical research has exploded many of the myths which stopped people from believing in the Bible before. Scientific progress has also strengthened us because, due to it, we have come to see that parts of the Bible must be interpreted more symbolically, e.g. those passages which seem to say the earth is flat. Science hasn’t disproved the Bible, rather has it helped us to interpret the Bible better. Instead of trying to read all in the Bible literally, scientific discovery has led us to understand that we must interpret metaphors, find the meaning of symbols etc, rather than read everything just as it is written. So all things have worked together for good so that people in our age can have a reasoned faith in God through the Bible - if they want it.
Scientists have been held to account by society. False science has been identified. People these days are more demanding before they believe things. There is less belief in myth than there previously was, and a greater interest in truth, as we live in a scientific age where facts must be proven before they can be built upon further. From our point of view, this scientific age is not a bad thing. Politically, in our part of the world, Marxism and Darwinism went together as brothers. The idea of the development and mutation of ‘cells’ was used politically by the Communist party, as a reflection of the evolutionary ideas of Darwinism in the context of life and biology. The failure of Marxism has led to doubts about Darwinism, and the scientific evidence against? atheistic evolution is now being recognized.
On the other hand, the Bible is full of descriptions of “the last days” which mean it will be a terrible struggle for us to maintain our faith. But God has given us the potential to maintain it. It all depends if we wish to accept the encouragement He gives us, or go the way of the world
Bro. Gennady (Poltava, Ukraine)
