God's Book: An Honest Look at the Bible's Toughest TopicsНамуна

GOD IN THE NATURAL WORLD

There is a popular belief that the Bible and science are opposed to each other, and we must choose between them. The secular narrative goes something like this: In the past, natural phenomena were attributed to ‘God’ because we didn’t know any better. But now, we understand why seasons change, diseases spread, tides rise, and rainbows form. We no longer need the Bible to make sense of the world. Perhaps you’ve tried reading Genesis and wondered whether stories about Adam and Eve or Noah’s ark are for children. We can’t take them seriously as adults, can we?

We must remember that Genesis was written to make sense to ordinary people in the ancient world, standing on planet earth, without a microscope or telescope to hand, but wondering where everything came from and what it all means. Far from modern science undermining Genesis, many brilliant minds have discovered the opposite. The more physics, chemistry, and biology reveal the intricate conditions that allowed the universe to form and complex life to develop, the more they detect a mystery at the heart of reality, an inexplicable sense of design, direction, and purpose.

However literally we take the creation story, a basic conviction can unite us. In the end, there will be a perfect correspondence between the world God created (nature) and the words that God inspired (Scripture). On this basis, no Christian has anything to fear from accurate science, and no scientist has anything to fear from the true meaning of Scripture. When you stop and think about it, things we take for granted are nothing short of miraculous. The fact that there is something rather than nothing, order instead of chaos, conscious persons, not just inanimate matter. The more science expands our understanding of how the world works, the more it requires a fuller explanation. So, instead of feeling threatened, we can adopt a positive stance to both science and Scripture. We need both.

Today’s culture is constantly training us to see the world a certain way – through education, advertising, social media. That’s why we still need the message of Genesis. In the face of rival claims, it affirms that God made humans in his own image. Grasping this truth will impact how we see ourselves and others. Are we just primates competing to survive, or sacred beings loved by God? In Genesis, Adam and Eve are told to steward creatures on God’s behalf. We must decide whether the natural world is just ‘raw material’ to exploit or our heavenly Father’s handiwork. In Genesis, Adam and Eve listen to the voice of temptation. Whose voice will we listen to? Those who urge us to choose our own path, or Jesus Christ, who promises the kind of meaning and purpose that we cannot find on our own. In the end, the course of our lives will come down to which story we believe.

REFLECT: What metaphors does Psalm 19 use to celebrate the wonder of nature (vs. 1–6) and the words of God (vs. 7–14)? How would you respond to the claim that science and faith conflict with each other?