21. Creation: Science isn’t your enemy

Episode Summary

This week’s episode dives straight into the connection between science and faith. This is one of the key areas where the idea that "All truth is God's truth" is most valuable. It is important to recognize that by “all truth” we must mean things which are genuinely true (and hence were made that way by God) rather than mere scientific consensus, or popular opinion. The fact that there is good harmony between scientifically discovered truth and divinely revealed truth does not preclude the possibility that mistakes can be made in both scientific research and reading the Bible. Thus, there may be occasions where we have understood the science correctly, and we need to modify our understanding of Scripture instead of rejecting the scientific consensus (for example, when the Church eventually modified it’s official stance regarding the heliocentric model of the solar system).

Ultimately, the truth will fit together, and there's no need to fear or dismiss either God's word or scientific research.

The Doctrine of Creation: The doctrine of creation states that God created the entire universe out of nothing, it was originally very good, and he created it to glorify himself. The Bible's teachings on creation are unique, stating that God created the universe out of nothing, unlike most religions which thought the universe was eternal or cyclic.

The Bible describes God as being outside of time, with passages such as Job 36:26 and Revelation 18:8 suggesting that God's eternity is an incommunicable attribute that sets Him apart from creation. In distinction from that, the Bible claims that the universe, including matter, had a beginning and was created by God. Humans, as the (now, very flawed) pinnacle of God’s creation, have a special role to play on Earth, with the potential to destroy it, and a responsibility to tend to it according to God, with the concept of a good rule being to take care of creation.

Recalling the doctrine of the sufficiency of scripture, we can humble ourselves to recognize that God told us what we needed to know, and some questions (especially somewhat trivial ones, like whether Adam had a belly button) may not be answered in the Bible and don't have significant bearing on our lives as Christians.