Earth seen rising above the moon on December 24, 1968. As Apollo 8 orbited the moon that day, in their broadcast back to earth, the astronauts took turns reading from the first chapter of Genesis.
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(…continued) Now, it must be said that in order for the scientists to do much of their work, and for scientific method to work at all, it does have to be done without reference to God. For example, if I am sick and go to the doctor, I don’t want him to read me Bible verses about how suffering produces character, how God afflicts us for our own good, and how we should turn to God in our time of tribulation. I know all that, I believe in all that, that might even be the main reason why I am sick, and if it is God’s will that I not ever get better, there are promises in the Bible to give me hope and spiritual strength to face such a time. But there are always two levels to these things, and I expect my doctor to deal with the physical, scientific level, and with what he can see– be it germs, broken bones, or a tumor. That’s the only way the scientific method can work. But this method has its limits, and we must not let anyone give us the impression that science can tell us more than it can ever know.
Bill Bryson’s book, like most scientific books today, makes no reference to God or any sort of creator. Bryson did use the word miracle twice to describe the miracle of how we are even here: how our planet earth is perfectly suited for life, how life itself began in all its complexity, and how life has developed into ever more complex forms right on up to the miracle of human intelligence. Bryson also admits that science is not getting any closer to understanding the origins of matter and energy, the universe, or life. He says, in fact, that the more we learn, the more we find out how complex everything is, and the farther away we get from thinking we will ever get it all figured out.
For example, the chance of even one DNA molecule coming together on its own is impossibly small. Bryson says that. In fact he goes to great lengths to describe the odds against that happening. And what are the odds? When all factors are considered, the odds are not one in a million, or one in a billion, or even one in a trillion. The odds against life coming together by itself, says Bryson, are one in ten to the 270th power. In case you don’t remember from math class what that is, that is one with 270 zeros behind it. A trillion has only 12 zeros, and that is an almost incomprehensible number. Ten to the 270th power, says Bryson himself, is a number perhaps greater than the number of atoms in the entire universe! And yet, he is still able to say cheerfully, “Well, we are here, so it must have happened somehow.” That’s not good enough for me, and it is not good enough for an increasing number of scientists who are saying there must be an intelligent designer of some sort behind the creation of the universe and life.
C.S. Lewis was not a scientist, but for many years, he was an atheist. After becoming a Christian he said, “I felt in my bones that this universe cannot explain itself.” The natural laws we see and observe prohibit the belief that all this could come from nothing, and science has no tools to investigate beyond the observable, natural world. Steven Hawking was always an atheist, or at least an agnostic (one who says we can’t know if there is a God). For decades Hawking had been considered the Einstein of today. Yet, in a rare moment of candor, when for once he was not ridiculing religious belief, he said: “The odds against a universe like ours emerging out of nothing are enormous. I think there are clear religious implications whenever you start to discuss the origins of the universe. There must be religious overtones. But I think most scientists prefer to shy away from the religious side of it.”
As Christians, we must not claim to know more than we know. But we also must not be intimidated by those who are claim to know more than they know, and many scientists do just that. We are on solid ground with the first verse of the Bible: “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.”
No scientist has ever come up with anything nearly as believable as Genesis 1:1 to explain how we got here.
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Genesis 1:1 — In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
Genesis 1:27a — God created mankind in his own image.
Genesis 1:31a — God saw all that he had made, and it was very good.
Hebrews 11:3 — By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God’s command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible.
Romans 1:20 — For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.
Psalm 19:1-2 — The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they reveal knowledge.
Psalm 8:1 — Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! You have set your glory in the heavens.
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I believe in God the Father Almighty, Creator of Heaven and Earth.
–Apostle’s Creed, Article one
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