As I have traveled to many places in the world, I have had a terrific opportunity to speak to many groups of young teenage Christians. Out of my own curiosity, I have asked every one of these groups a question. One that usually takes them by surprise. “What can you tell me about cavemen?” Then I sit back and listen to all the knowledge they can spout about the prehistoric human race they have studied in school since preschool. I hear descriptions like they were unintelligent, had no intelligible language, that fire was their greatest discovery, lived in caves because they did not know how to build dwellings etc., etc., etc. Since these are all teenagers who are also Bible-believing Christians, I ask them one more question. “How does the Genesis account of Adam and Eve fit with everything you just told me about cavemen?” Almost every single time, the room goes silent because, for the first time, they have been forced to try to make what they have learned in a school classroom harmonize with what they have learned in Bible class. At this point, they are left with a decision as to which account of history they are going to believe.
We must understand that the Bible is not a science textbook, which is a good thing because textbooks have to be updated every year to correct the mistakes and inaccuracies due to the most recent discoveries in various scientific fields. When you look at the Bible, you are not going to find equations for special relativity or quantum mechanics because the Bible was not written for that purpose. It was written to proclaim God’s plan for reconciling humanity back into a proper relationship with Him since sin has separated all men (Romans 3:23) from Him. However, when the Bible touches on issues that relate to science, like the origin of the universe or the origin of life, we know we can trust it because it has been confirmed over and over again. So, while science textbooks have to be revised and rewritten on a regular basis, the Bible has never had to change one single thing as it relates to scientific issues. True scientific discoveries have been validating what the Bible has said for hundreds of years. At least until recently. So, what has changed?
Today, people use science to beat up the Bible and Christianity. They try to convince you that you must take one side or the other. You must either choose religion because that is only for religious people, or you must choose science because science is for reasonable, rational people who focus on the facts of the world and who are not given over to the fantasies of religion. The popular atheist debater Michael Shermer regularly makes the claim, “I used to believe in the Bible, but now I believe in Science.” So, is it true? Do I have to choose between my faith and science? What surprises many people, because they never hear about it in the media today, are the hundreds, if not thousands of scientists who believe that what they study in their various fields is the creation of God.
The book, “In Six Days,” by John F. Ashton, Ph., is a compilation of essays written by fifty scientists of various disciplines who all agree that the evidence they see from their research agrees with the Bible, that everything has a design that points to the literal six days of creation as seen in Genesis 1. You will not hear much from these experts because evolutionists want you to believe that science can only work in a godless world. They think that if God is involved, then it is not real science. As soon as you bring God, the one who created everything scientists study in the universe, into the equation, they will tell you it is no longer science. You are just doing religion. In most scientific fields, if you are a Christian, you are told that your science must be done in a God-free, Bible-free laboratory and that you must leave your religion at church.
Why, if you bring God into the conversation, has it become a “science-stopper”? Historically, God being in the conversation was a “science-starter.” So, what has changed? For hundreds of years, scientists began their scientific experimentation with a centralized understanding that God created the universe. They approached all their research as a means by which they were able to study and learn more about God by studying how He designed everything and how we can use God’s designs to improve our lives and technology. These were some of the greatest scientific minds like Newton, Pasteur, Faraday, Mendel, and Francis Bacon, whose discoveries led to uncovering things like the laws of gravity, biogenesis, and thermodynamics. They believed science was a way to know and understand God better because they were studying the craftsmanship and ingenuity of the Creator Himself. So, historically, there was never a conflict between the methods of science and a belief in God and religion.
This conflict has not come from the scientific method because when scientists used Biblical principles in their scientific methods, they accomplished the greatest discoveries science has ever produced. The conflict had to come from somewhere else. When you look closer, you begin to see that in recent years, there has been a movement to try to redefine “science.” Originally, the scientific method was set up as a proven system to achieve an outcome that was experimentally repeatable. Today, however, science is viewed more as a philosophy, which is referred to many times as materialism. Materialism is the assumption that everything existing in the universe is made up of physical material. This is all that has ever existed, and all that ever will exist, and nothing else has ever affected it other than natural processes. In other words, supernatural events like the Biblical creation or flood could never be figured into the new scientific philosophy’s calculations. Scientists today, as well as college, high school, junior high, and even elementary students, are all taught that while you are using the old scientific method, if the results of any research or experiments do not agree with the materialistic philosophy, it cannot possibly be good science.
This is all based on the assumption that there is no God. When experiments produce results that point to a design that could not happen naturally, it is either scrapped or reinterpreted with materialistic theories. The Bible only has a conflict with science because they have created a conflict, not because it actually exists. As Christians, we must insist that the evidence be seen for what it is. It is time to insist that they let the science speak.
Steve Schinnerer
Steve Schinnerer was raised in the church in Scott City, KS where his father served as an elder for 25 years. Steve attended Oklahoma Christian for one year where he met his wife, Jennifer, of Yukon, OK. Steve and Jenni have four children: Ajay, Jagger, Liberty, and Jase, they also have 4 grandchildren. Jenni is a stay-at-home mom where she homeschools and is focused on raising her children in the Lord.
Steve and Jenni both attended Bear Valley Bible Institute of Denver where they graduated: Steve with a Bachelor’s degree in Biblical Theology, and Jenni with and Associates degree in Bible.
Following Bear Valley, Steve and his family moved to Porter, OK where he served as their pulpit minister for six years, and then another six years as the pulpit minister for the Cherokee Hills church of Christ in Oklahoma City before coming to Cave Springs in the fall of 2013.
Steve and Jenni have a passion to teach the saving message of Jesus Christ and do so whether it be in their home congregation, at summer camps, gospel meetings, lectureships, or in the foreign mission field. Steve has been able to preach in eight different countries around the world with most of his time abroad spent in Africa and Australia. Steve and Jenni have recently been focusing on young families, trying to help strengthen marriages, encouraging parents to utilize Biblical discipline and training with their children and especially in helping men in their battle to become the husbands and fathers that God desires for them to be.