THE FAITH THAT THINKS: WHY TRUE SCIENCE HONORS GOD
Christianity and science are not strange bedfellows. They are not enemies glaring at one another across some imagined battlefield. They are, in truth, great partners. Each—when rightly understood—leads the honest heart toward the glory of God.
Real science is a good thing. I’m not afraid of it, and no Christian needs to be. The same God who wrote the Bible also wrote the laws of nature. He is the Author of both revelation and reason. Science, when it is true science, helps us to understand God’s created order. It shows us the precision, the beauty, and the intelligence behind what we call “the natural world.”
The Psalmist said, “The heavens declare the glory of God and the skies show His handiwork” (Psalm 19:1). Paul echoed the same truth when he wrote, “Because since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead” (Romans 1:20).
When we look through a telescope, we see the craftsmanship of God on a cosmic scale. When we look through a microscope, we see the same glory at the cellular level. There is no contradiction between faith and fact, between creation and discovery. The God who made the atom also made the galaxies, and both obey His voice.
But here is where the trouble comes. The problem is not with science itself, but with philosophy masquerading as science. When unbelief dresses itself in a lab coat, it becomes deceitful. Science, as a method, is the process of observing, measuring, testing, and repeating. It deals with what can be verified and demonstrated. True science is humble—it admits what it can and cannot do.
When men step outside those boundaries—when they try to explain ultimate origins, eternal purposes, and moral truths—they are no longer doing science. They have crossed over into philosophy or theology, and often bad theology at that.
No scientist can run a laboratory test to determine where the universe came from. No one can recreate the beginning of all things. The scientific method requires controlled experiments and repeatable results. But creation happened once. There is no “control group” for Genesis 1. You cannot put eternity in a test tube.
That’s why theories about the ultimate origin of the universe or of life itself belong partly to philosophy rather than pure science. They involve assumptions about the unseen past. You may have heard of the Big Bang theory or of the idea of evolution as an explanation for all life. These ideas use scientific observations, but they also include philosophical interpretations about what those observations mean.
For example, scientists can observe microevolution—small variations and adaptations within species. That is genuine science, based on real data. But macroevolution, the claim that all life arose from a single ancestor through unguided natural processes, is not something that can be tested or repeated. It is a historical inference about unobserved events. Such theories may use scientific evidence, but they rest on philosophical assumptions—especially the assumption that no divine cause was involved.
Science, by definition, cannot determine whether God acted or not. It can only study how things behave in the present. Therefore, when someone says that science “proves” there is no Creator, they are no longer speaking scientifically—they are speaking philosophically.
The Bible begins with certainty: “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth” (Genesis 1:1). From that single declaration flows all true knowledge. “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom” (Proverbs 9:10). When man starts with God, his thinking becomes clear. When he starts without Him, confusion follows.
Isaac Asimov observed that science is built on curiosity and humility—on the willingness to admit ignorance and seek understanding. The Christian can go further still. He seeks knowledge not for pride, but for praise. Every discovery, every formula, every new element of understanding becomes another reason to worship.
The more deeply we study nature, the more we stand amazed at the wisdom of God. True science magnifies the Lord; false science magnifies man. One bows in reverence; the other struts in rebellion.
Paul warned Timothy about this very thing when he wrote, “Guard what was committed to your trust, avoiding the profane and idle babblings and contradictions of what is falsely called knowledge” (1 Timothy 6:20). The Greek word there for “knowledge” is gnosis—what we might call “science.” Paul’s warning still echoes today: beware of false science, the kind that claims certainty about questions it cannot actually test.
Real science never contradicts Scripture, because both come from the same God. When there seems to be a conflict, the issue lies in our understanding, not in the truth itself. The Christian should never fear to learn, to study, to think deeply. God gave us minds not to suspend but to sanctify.
When we explore the laws of physics, we are uncovering the order of God. When we study biology, we are examining His artistry in life. When we consider the vastness of the cosmos, we are glimpsing His majesty. As the old hymn says, “This is my Father’s world.”
Science can show us the hand of God, but only faith can bring us to His heart. The microscope can show His design, but only Scripture reveals His desire—to save sinners and restore creation through Christ Jesus our Lord.
At the cross, we meet the greatest revelation of all—the wisdom of God that confounds the wisdom of this world. Paul wrote, “For since, in the wisdom of God, the world through wisdom did not know God, it pleased God through the foolishness of the message we preach to save those who believe” (1 Corinthians 1:21). Science may tell us how the heavens go, but the Bible tells us how to go to heaven.
So, let us love truth wherever it is found. Let us honor honest science, and let us reject proud speculation. The same Christ who walked on water also made the laws that govern it. He is the Lord of all truth, whether revealed in Scripture or discovered in nature.
When we see clearly, when we think rightly, and when we worship humbly, we find that faith and reason are not enemies but companions on the same road—each leading us nearer to the God of all creation.
Lord of all truth, teach us to think as Your children. Help us to see Your wisdom in every law of nature and Your beauty in every living thing. Guard us from pride and from false knowledge. Give us the humility to learn and the faith to worship. May all our study lead us to Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. Amen.
Bryan Dewayne Dunaway
