Science and the Bible Ross McKenzie revelation4-11.blogspot.com

My story •  Becoming and being a Christian •  Becoming and being a Scientist •  Researching the amazing world that God made •  Using quantum theory to understand properties of complex materials revelation4-11.blogspot.com

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Outline •  •  •  • 

What can science achieve? What can science not achieve? Science is not philosophy Examples of the power and limitations of science •  What can the Bible tell us? •  What does the Bible not tell us?

God’s two Books •  There is only one truth: God’s truth. •  God’s two books – Book of Scripture and Book of Nature. •  Book of God’s Word and Book of God’s works. •  Both books have the same ultimate author. They cannot contradict one another. •  God reveals himself in complementary ways through the two books. •  Both books require careful interpretation. We are fallible human interpreters.

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What is science? •  Science is a fairly systematic procedure for obtaining reliable and reproducible (but approximate) knowledge about the material world. •  Scientific theories should be experimentally testable. •  The best theories are quantitative, have predictive power, and are falsifiable. 5

Science is not philosophy •  Hypotheses concerning the philosophical interpretation of theories in the physical sciences, particularly on questions of meaning and purpose, cannot be tested by experiment. •  Hence, philosophical claims associated with a successful scientific theory should not be given the same truth status as the actual content of the theories. 6

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Science is not philosophy Science: The earth is not the centre of the solar system. •  Philosophy A: Humanity is not special. •  Philosophy B: Geographic location is no measure of significance.

Our galaxy

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Science is not philosophy Science: The sun is just one star among 200 billion in the Milky Way galaxy, which is just one galaxy among 170 billion galaxies. •  Philosophy A: Humanity is totally insignificant in the universe. •  Philosophy B: Human life is just a highly improbable accident. •  Philosophy C: Human life is highly significant because it is so unique and improbable.

Are we significant? LORD, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! You have set your glory above the heavens. …. When I look at the heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, What is man that you are mindful of him, And the son of man that you care for him? Psalm 8

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Science is not philosophy Science: The DNA of humans and chimpanzees is about 97 per cent the same •  Philosophy A: Humans are no different from animals. •  Philosophy B: Animal life is equally valuable as human life. •  Philosophy C: The 3 per cent difference highlights just how unique and special humans are.

Important distinctions about evolution 1. Microevolution Small changes occur over time within a species Directly observable in the lab. 2. Macroevolution New species arise over long periods of time. Cannot be observed directly, but substantial indirect evidence. 3. Philosophical Darwinism Life arose as an accident and has no purpose. Scientific validity of 1. or 2. does not imply 3. is valid.

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Examples of both the power and limitations of science •  Einstein’s theory of gravity •  Theory of Quantum Electrodynamics •  What can science actually achieve? •  What can’t science achieve?

1. Example of the power and limitations of science •  Einstein’s theory of gravity. •  Einstein’s mathematical equations Rµ ν – R gµ ν = G Tµ ν •  Many predictions have been confirmed to a precision of better than 1%. •  The theory requires that space and time cannot be viewed separately. Furthermore, space is curved. •  Limitations: it is just mathematical equations. It cannot answer questions of meaning and purpose, such as ``Why am I here?’’

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Matter causes space to be curved: light does not travel in straight lines

Can we find meaning in science? “I consider myself an atheist. But I have a feeling of disappointment because the hope for contentment and a peaceful outlook on life as the result of pursuing a goal has remained largely unfulfilled…. I simply don't have that sense of harmony which I'd hoped for when I was young. I've persevered in science for over fifty years.”

S. Chandrasekhar Nobel Prize in Physics, 1983

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2. An example of the power and limitations of natural science Theory of Quantum Electrodynamics (Feynman, Schwinger, Tomonaga, 1950’s) •  The power: Predicts value of magnetic moment of electron. Experimental value is 2.0023193043766(8) •  The limitations: Yet the philosophical interpretation of quantum theory is highly debatable, particularly with regard to the role of probability, randomness, determinism, and realism.

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Schrodinger’s cat is dead and alive at the same time!

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Two important points •  Just because natural science can explain something without reference to God (e.g. the Big bang, evolution of life) does not mean that God is not involved in the process. •  Just because science cannot explain something now does not mean that it necessarily requires an explanation involving God.

The God of the Gaps "There is no 'God of the gaps' to take over at those strategic places where science fails; and the reason is that gaps of this sort have the unpreventable habit of shrinking.” Charles Coulson (1910-1974) Professor of Theoretical Chemistry, Oxford

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More limitations of natural science •  Science cannot explain why it works. •  Science cannot explain the purpose or meaning of things. •  Science cannot tell us how to live our lives. •  Some prominent popular science authors disagree (Dawkins, Atkins, Hawking, Weinberg, …) 21

The Bible answers questions that science cannot •  Why does science work? Because both humans and the natural world have the same Creator. •  What is the purpose of humanity? To live in a covenantal relationship with our Creator and glorify Him.

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Who is the Creator & Redeemer? ``[Jesus Christ] is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones of powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him….For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.’’ 23 Colossians 1:15-20

What do we learn from this? •  God made everything through Jesus Christ •  God sustains everything •  God is just as involved in natural processes as in supernatural processes •  The same God is the Creator, Redeemer, and Reconciliator.

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Summary •  Science is about reliable and testable knowledge about the material world. •  Deducing life philosophies from scientific knowledge is problematic. The claims of any such philosophy are not testable and so are quite different to the scientific knowledge. •  Science and the Bible answer different questions. •  Meaning and purpose are not found in science but in the message of the Bible.

revelation4-11.blogspot.com

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Recommended websites •  Faraday Institute for Science and Religion, Cambridge www.st-edmunds.cam.ac.uk/faraday •  Biologos Foundation www.biologos.org •  Test of Faith www.testoffaith.com •  Christians in Science cis.org.uk

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•  •  •  •  •  • 

Genesis 1-3

How do these chapters describe God? How do they describe the natural world? How do they describe humanity? How do they describe the relationship of God with humanity? How do these chapters fit into the rest of Genesis? How do these chapters relate to the rest of the Old Testament? •  How do these chapters relate to the New Testament? •  What literary genres are present here? Poetry, history, parable, myth, law, science, journalism, polemic? •  What do I learn about thinking and acting in a manner that is pleasing to God? Reference: Tremper Longman III, How to read Genesis (IVP, 2005)

Recommended books •  Michael Poole, “A User’s Guide to Science and Belief” (Lion, 1990) •  Francis Collins, “The Language of God: A Scientist presents evidence for belief” •  Denis Alexander, “Creation or Evolution: must we choose?” (Monarch, 2008) •  Rodney Holder, “Nothing but atoms & molecules? Probing the limits of science” •  Kirsten Birkett, “Unnatural Enemies: An introduction to science & Christianity” (Matthias Media, Sydney, 1997)

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Some ideological abuses of Darwinian evolution * Herbert Spencer used evolution as a ‘theory of everything’

* Karl Marx used evolution in support of socialism

* Rockefeller used evolution in support of capitalism

* Scientists in the 1920’s/30’s used it to support eugenics

(breeding humans for racial purity) Charles Davenport

Hitler used it to justify the ‘final solution’

of exterminating the Jews

* Richard Dawkins uses it as an argument for atheism

Slide from Dr. Denis Alexander, Faraday Institute, Cambridge

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Four models for the relationship between science and religion •  •  •  • 

Conflict Independence Fusion Complementarity and Dialogue

Barbour, Issues in Science & Religion, 1966 Denis Alexander, Faraday paper no. 3

Conflict model •  Science and religion contradict one another. They are competing explanations. Only one of them can be true. •  Advocated by some atheists [Dawkins, Hitchens, …] and some religious fundamentalists. •  Focuses on certain historical incidents [Galileo, Darwin, Scopes trial].

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Independence model •  Science and religion are really about completely different topics. They can both be true. •  NOMA = Non-Overlapping Magesteria [Stephen Jay Gould].

Fusion model •  Science and religion are really about the same thing. They need to be combined and changed so they are consistent. •  Example: interpreting Genesis in terms of scientific knowledge, identify “days” with geological epochs.

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Complementarity and Dialogue •  Science and religion are complementary to one another. They are different ways of looking at the same thing: reality •  They can learn from each other through dialogue.

Limitations of science: different interpretations of quantum theory •  •  •  •  •  • 

Copenhagen interpretation Consistent histories Many-worlds ``No interpretation’’ Decoherence, Bohm, Transactional…. Disagree about what is ``real’’, about determinism, and how many universes! •  Currently no known way to experimentally distinguish between these interpretations. 36

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2. Example of the power of science: the genetic code in molecular biology In biological cells the information needed to make a specific protein (a unique sequence of 20 different amino acid molecules) is encoded in a sequence of 4 nucleotide molecules (ACGU) in RNA. 37

Limitations of natural science: the genetic code in molecular biology * Your genetic makeup (and thus your personality and medical history) can be reduced to an apparently random sequence of molecules (A C G T). * Only 4 per cent of the genome sequence of the chimpanzee is different to that of humans. What can we conclude from this? 38

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Science as a philosophy •  Naturalism is the philosophy that only natural (i.e., not supernatural or spiritual) laws and forces are at work in the world. •  Materialism asserts that there is only matter and not souls, spirits, or deities in the world. The physical universe is all that exists. •  Practically speaking science is naturalistic. 39

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