“Science says... the Bible says”

The God who wrote the bible also created the laws of science

How many times have we heard one of these two phrases being used during a scientific or theological discussion with the idea that a superior authority is being brought to judge between two positions? After all, what Christian wants to appear as contradicting the Word of God? And what rational and modern human being wants to be caught on the wrong side of the latest scientific discoveries? But there is more than meets the eye in these two simple phrases.

1. “Science says...”

Most people would be surprised to learn that this phrase is an anachronism in a certain sense. Scientists themselves today are not as dogmatic as the layperson considers them to be. Gone are the days at the beginning of this century when Newtonian mechanics and Electromagnetism explained everything and there seemed to be nothing left to discover. But today much water has passed under the bridge and the water has names: Einstein’s Laws of Relativity, Heisenberg’s Uncertainty Principle, Chaos Theory, Quantum Mechanics, all of which put definite limits on the amount of information even the best instruments and human knowledge can wreak from nature. And this is not a limit put on science by non-scientists; it is one they themselves have discovered exists.

On the other hand the idea of objectivity and impersonality which has been ascribed to science traditionally has to be discarded also. Today it is perhaps more exact to say: “Scientists (or some scientists, or the majority of scientists) say...” than: “Science says...” History is too full of examples of mistakes and prejudice shown by some scientists in their specific field of knowledge to accept a scientist’s opinion blindfolded. What we really have is human beings with all their load of humanity which they cannot avoid taking to their lab or to their research paper. After all, what determines the particular subject matter a scientist chooses to investigate? What happens when the results of an experiment do not agree with what he believes? Does he sweep it under the rug, perform it again, reassess his theory? What happens if a generous grant hinges on his success in proving a particular theory is correct?

2. “The Bible says...”

Surely this is conclusive proof that something is either right or wrong, isn’t it? I mean, if the Bible says Jesus rose from the dead – for example – that puts an end to any discussion among Christians. Why shouldn’t it do the same when we are dealing with the age of the Universe, or how long it took God to create everything, then?

What we have to realise is that unfortunately we really don’t have direct access to the message of God contained in the Bible. To get to it we first have to overcome a series of obstacles and “filters” that colour our perception of the message. Mind you, this is not necessarily bad, it just means we have to be more careful in our reading and study of the Bible and – alas! – put some more effort into doing so.

2.1 Obstacles and Filters

Let’s look at one of the obstacles we face every time we want to study the Bible. We have to dedicate time specifically to the matter under study, reading all the passages related to it. If this is not done the “study” of the Bible is as fictitious as running quickly through a newspaper while riding a bus. It appears to be study but it isn’t really. How many times have we finished our reading or study time with the nagging thought that nothing has gone into our head (or nothing has left it). We have just pretended to study, we have gone through the motions. But perhaps our mind was elsewhere, our spirit was not ready to accept instruction or our mind was resistant to new ideas.

When we consider the filters between us and God’s message, we find right at the beginning the question of language. Unless your native language is Hebrew or Greek or you have taken a fairly thorough course in these languages it will be very difficult to get the exact idea of certain words, phrases, and situations. The best you can do is compare several translations from these languages with your own and try to make a picture from the different connotations implied. But it is not and can never be the same thing as the original impression. It is only an approximation.

The next filter would be our culture. We often forget the stage on which the Biblical dramas were played. At least 2,000 to 6,000 years separate us in time. Furthermore, if we belong to a Western culture we have the additional distance in lifestyles. We have to make an effort to imagine ourselves in the situations described by the Bible, and often we have to rely on commentaries and other helps just to understand what is the meaning of the passage. Fortunately this never happens when dealing with the main doctrinal matters.

Then we all have our prejudices and preconceptions. We may have been brought up in a denomination or a church that holds to a certain “official” explanation of a Bible passage, over which we later find a different interpretation. So it will demand an extra effort on our part to disengage ourselves from our initial beliefs and assume new ones. In some cases it might even mean discussions and problems with brothers in Christ and it will require love and tact to avoid making this a matter of division.

In the end it all boils down to the all-important question of interpretation. What does it mean? The Bible says this and that, but what does it really mean? Why were the words written down and what is the meaning for me today? Since we read and study the Bible to search for meaning and instruction for our daily lives we cannot rest until we are ready to answer these questions.

2.2 No excuses

We also need to realise that often when we say “the Bible says...” we may be covering up deeper problems or barriers that are keeping us from receiving God’s message:

• It is no use saying “the Bible says...” if we are covering up laziness. This is a special temptation for those who have been brought up with the Bible or who have an extensive knowledge (or memory) of the Holy Book. Often it is too easy to quote a verse in a sort of reflex action without giving much thought to the real question that is being put before us. It might look very spiritual and smart from our side but it could appear to be completely irrelevant and irreverent to the other side.
• It is no use saying “the Bible says...” when we are covering up our fear. We could be suffering from what has been studied in psychology and that has a very technical name: cognitive dissonance. It simply means we tend to reject what doesn’t fit into our mental structure, for fear it will do further harm and will even lead us to change deeper convictions.
• It is no use saying “the Bible says...” when behind it all there is ignorance. And this has nothing to do with lack of education or knowledge; it has more to do with what the Bible calls wisdom. We need to realise that some matters can be answered in a sentence, a paragraph, or a simple article. But there are others that require gathering data, comparing opinions, evaluating options. Hard work, in short.
• The previous point is closely related to another fault we can have: pride. And we have to very careful here, because there is the pride of the learned who thinks he can use his knowledge to question areas where only God can provide information; but there is also the pride of the ignorant - people who haven’t taken the trouble to investigate a subject and feel they have the right to discuss a subject to which other people may have dedicated their whole lives.

3. How do we reconcile apparent differences?

The problem that appears repeatedly is: What should we do when our mind is faced with differences between what the Bible says and what science says?

Let’s start off by noting a very important word: ‘apparent’. If we believe the same God who wrote the Bible created nature and gave us the capacity to observe it and discover the laws and constants that make it work, we have to reject the idea of inherent differences in the two messages we perceive. The problem is in us, not in the Bible or in science. But let’s go through the different alternatives which are open to us:

1. Ignore the differences – this probably is the main attitude we find in ourselves and in the majority of Christians. “If something isn’t too clear and it involves hard work to find out what is wrong, I’ll just leave it for some time in the future when I have more time or somebody can explain it to me. Especially if the subject is scientific, it may be better for me to spend my time on something more spiritual.”
2. Keep the different fields of knowledge in separate compartments, to be used at different times. For example, we might have a certain set of data in our mind to be used on Sundays and Saturdays or in religious activity, and another one from Monday to Friday when we carry out our secular activity.
3. Say “Science is wrong” – When we are confronted with data science has provided that doesn’t match our interpretation of the Bible we simply write it off by claiming science is surely wrong.
4. Say “the Bible is wrong” – We can say that since the Bible is a book whose main value is in “spiritual’ areas – faith and practice – it is not necessary to expect it to be completely accurate in “practical” areas – history and science.
5. Attack the person or institution that has confronted us with this bothersome problem, disqualifying them without even looking at the data presented to us.
6. Take time and effort to rethink our ideas in both fields to see what adjustments we need to make in order to keep a unified field of knowledge that agrees with a single Creator of all knowledge and revelation.

I believe the only mature and courageous way to face this problem is the last alternative. After all, isn’t this what we do when we go through intense trials and we find out we had a very limited and partial view of God and His plans for us? If we are ready to re-examine our thoughts we are sure to come out with a better view of who God is and what He wants from us. But if we refuse to rethink our ways we will empty the trial of meaning and purpose and will be left where we started off.

We humans were not made to have a divided mind nor do we feel comfortable with a double life. But when the tension appears – in fields of knowledge or in our daily life – we need to rejoice in the sense that it is through these experiences that we grow and mature. This goes for apparent discrepancies between the Bible and science too, since once we go through the work of wrestling with the problem we are sure to gain a better view of the Bible, of science and – above all – of Him who created both.

Alejandro Field 1998