I start this blog with a bold statement:  There is no conflict between the Bible and science.

Let me explain that further so that you will understand a Biblical and Christian way to look at both the Bible and science. (Of course, if you disagree with me as some do, at least you will understand how I look at things.)

I want to clarify that there is no conflict between the Bible when correctly understood and with science when correctly understood. The Bible is not a science book, though it contains scientific statements. And science, though it attempts to answer all questions, is not able to answer the fundamental questions of God and morality. Human beings need both—and we always have.

Human beings have always been both people of faith and science. The earliest farmers had faith that God (at least a God) would give them the rain they needed. They also used scientific and observational data. They studied seed, rain patterns, climate, and soil to provide and increase the yield of the food they needed. They believed in a God, and they used applied science to help them. 

Faith and science are not mutually exclusive. They are a part of human life.  They always have been.

I consistently rely on both.  Many years ago, my 17-year-old daughter was diagnosed with a very deadly form of bone cancer. I relied on God and consistently prayed for her healing and health. I also took her to the best doctors I could find and followed their advice, which was based on incredible scientific studies, research, clinical trials, and even some experimental techniques that were under study. Today, she is a healthy adult. I thank God and I thank the good doctors at Phoenix Children’s Hospital.

Faith and science. Both are needed, especially in today’s world. 

Obviously, I have a built-in bias—God is real. He is the Creator. He is deeply interested in our lives. That belief system helps me put faith in the Bible and a belief in science together in the way I look at life.

The Bible is a book that comes from God and that reveals God to us. Science is the study of what God has done and how God has done it. Honest pastors like me may easily make mistakes on how best to understand  and interpret the Bible—I know I have, for correctly understanding the Bible is not always easy. Honest scientists also make mistakes that lead to faulty conclusions due to limited data, incorrect observations, built-in bias, or by not asking the right questions. Both honest Bible teachers and honest scientists are doing their best to correctly understand all that we can and our understanding changes over time.

So I read the Bible regularly and consistently and the teachings of the Bible form the foundation of my faith, my beliefs, my morality, and my life. I also read scientific studies, articles, textbooks, and magazines regularly, and the things I have learned have helped me personally understand me, other people, and the world I live in. Science has added to my understanding of the things of God taught in the Bible.

I know that there are seeming contradictions between the Bible and science. To be honest, there are even seeming contradictions within the Bible and between the Old and New Testaments. I ponder these things, study these things, and do my best to figure them out. I’m not always able to reconcile them in my mind. Maybe I’m not smart enough to understand them. Maybe I’m reading the Bible incorrectly. Maybe science is incorrectly interpreting data. Scientists are still learning, and I freely admit that I have much yet to learn. 

I’m writing this blog as I do my sermons on a computer that was envisioned by scientists and designed by engineers. I came to my office in a vehicle that has incredible innovations based on science and engineering that I don’t fully understand. I could usually “fix” my first car—a 1966 Dodge—when it needed it. I can’t even begin to work on my 2020 Ford Pickup. 

I’m writing this blog on the hottest day of the year (it’s 117^O outside) and yet I’m not sweating, thanks to the air conditioner in my office. The air conditioner is—to me and other Phoenix-area residents—a marvel of scientific and engineering advancements that makes life in the desert bearable.

Because I am a daily recipient of scientific advancements, it would be hypocritical for me to dismiss scientists as many believers do. Some do so for what they consider–incorrectly–to be Biblical reasons.  Many today do so for political reasons.  Some do so for philosophical reasons.  Some are just lazy thinkers, and they blindly follow bloggers, vloggers, politicians, preachers, and influencers who reject science.

It’s wrong. We need faith in God and in the Bible He has given us. And we need scientists to study what God has done and made. Their study can help us solve many of the issues that we face. 

There is no contradiction between faith and science.  God is real, and He made the universe.  It is completely proper—and even Christian—to study the things God has made and draw conclusions from them. 

I encourage believers to accept science.   Analyze widely accepted scientific truths to make sure that the conclusions are valid.  Think about them and contemplate how science impacts your faith.  Seek to understand what the scientists are—and aren’t—saying. 

Many conclusions are overwhelmingly accepted by scientists, and I accept them. Climate change is real.  Vaccines work. The universe is very old. Medicines and medical procedures heal disease and lengthen quality lives. Masks help contain communicable diseases. Blood transfusions are often medically necessary and are safe. There are many more. 

These truths are still being studied and refined so we can understand them better, as they should be.

But Christians should not deny the very legitimate study of what God has done and made. None of these scientific truths are in any way a contradiction to the Bible when properly understood.

William Jennings Bryan wrote the following words in preparation for a famous court trial in 1925—100 years ago. Due to some legal maneuvering, he was never able to speak these words in court, but they have been preserved in his writings:    

“Science is a magnificent force, but it is not a teacher of morals. It can perfect machinery, but it adds no moral restraints to protect society from the misuse of the machine. It can also build gigantic intellectual ships, but it constructs no moral rudders for the control of storm-tossed human vessels. It not only fails to supply the spiritual element needed but some of its unproven hypotheses rob the ship of its compass and thus endangers its cargo. In war, science has proven itself an evil genius; it has made war more terrible than it ever was before. Man used to be content to slaughter his fellowmen on a single plane–the earth’s surface. Science has taught him to go down into the water and shoot up from below and to go up into the clouds and shoot down from above, thus making the battlefield three times as bloody as it was before; but science does not teach brotherly love. Science has made war so hellish that civilization was about to commit suicide; and now we are told that newly discovered instruments of destruction will make the cruelties of the late war seem trivial in comparison with the cruelties of wars that may come in the future.”

You may disagree with some of Bryan’s specifics and conclusions, but I agree with his overall philosophy. Science is a magnificent discipline, but we need more than science. The study of science can lead to significant advances or horrible destruction. In itself it is not enough. 

We also need faith in a Creator and moral teaching—and these things come from God.

Read science and learn from it. But for the answers to the important questions of life and death and morality, read the Bible. 

And learn from them both.