So if the “Literal Bible” and the “Liberal Bible” approaches aren’t very good, what is the better approach? Somewhere in the middle? A compromise? Not really. I don’t think it is wise or necessary to compromise scientific methodology, and I’m definitely not in favour of compromising the integrity of the Bible. To help you understand this third approach, I need that Canadian quarter I mentioned last time. Imagine you and I are sitting across the table from each other enjoying a cup of coffee. I pull out a quarter and hold it up between us so I’m looking at the back and you are looking at the front.
I ask you to describe what you see. The conversation might go something like this.
“I see a small circular object, it’s shiny with some raised lettering and a head embossed on the surface.”
I would of course agree with you and say that we are definitely looking at the same thing. Then I would ask you to describe the head in more detail.
“Well, it looks like a moose or maybe an elk, I can’t really tell the difference.”
I start laughing and wonder what the waitress put in your coffee, because it’s definitely not a moose or an elk, but a very regal looking woman. This is when you suggest my vision is faulty and insist it is definitely an animal not a person. So we start raising our voices, calling each other rude names and pounding the table until the waitress walks by, rolls her eyes at us, and flips the quarter over so you can see what I was looking at and I can see what you were looking at.
We then realize our mistake, apologize to each other and wonder why we got mad at each other. While we knew we were looking at the same object, and we agreed on almost everything we saw, we felt the minor differences were worth fighting over. And why did we see something different? Simply put, we were looking at the same object from a slightly different perspective. Now this is a simple example, and one that the waitress could solve very easy by simply turning the coin over, but I hope it gives you an idea of where I’m going.
When we view the miracle of Creation through the perspective of the Bible, it has the appearance of a relatively short event, but there are very few details. In my opinion, the Creation event is the single most incredible miracle ever performed by God (out of nothing He created everything), yet the Bible spends a relatively short time describing it. Perhaps it’s because the Creation of the universe is not the most important message of the Bible. (If you want to know the most important message of the Bible, you’ll need to read it on your own then come and talk to me in person about it.)
When we view the miracle of Creation through the perspective of science, it has the appearance of a very long event that took place a long time ago. There are lots of details, lots of ‘after the fact’ evidence, lots of theories (many that have been proven wrong or refined many times), lots of assumptions, but no firsthand accounts. No matter what science may say, all we will ever have regarding the origins of the universe and the creation of life are a set of theories that fit with observations we make today. We can’t observe the event first hand. We can’t re-create the conditions that existed prior to Creation in a laboratory and make another universe. We can’t conduct experiments to watch single celled organisms evolve into a fish – even the theory of evolution tells us this would take millions of years. But this is how science works. You observe evidence, develop a theory, then test the theory as much as you can. As long as you have no evidence that contradicts the theory, the theory stands and is accepted.
We should expect differences in these two perspectives – just like looking at two sides of the same coin. We should be slow to tell either side that what they observe is “wrong” if it if seems to contradict what we observe. Some of those differences might be resolved by finding the correct way to read a Bible passage (like the verses describing the movement of the sun being in contradiction with Galileo’s observations), others might be resolved through advances in science. But many differences will remain unresolved. I’m not expecting some breakthrough anytime soon that will show us how this all fits neatly together. We need to feel comfortable saying that we don’t know how they fit together and not be quick to make absolute statements that the science is wrong, especially if we have not fully researched and understand exactly what the science says (even many scientists don’t understand exactly what the science says or doesn’t say).
The great thing about science is that for the most part, it complements what the Bible tells us about our Creator. The Bible account of creation is pretty short on details. But when you add to that some of what science tells us, the miracle of creation becomes much larger, much deeper, much more “impossible” – it starts to add a sense of scope to how powerful our God must be. He didn’t create a single planet with a fabric sky with small dots for stars and larger ones for the sun and moon. He created a universe so big, so vast, so varied – it boggles our mind.
He didn’t create a few hundred or a few thousand different kinds of life – He created millions of types of life and we are still finding new ones in places where we didn’t think it possible for life to exist (the depths of the oceans near volcanic heat vents, under the polar ice caps, deep in rocks).
When you bring God into science, suddenly there is purpose and meaning for everything. The big bang was not a random event. Life didn’t just happen due to blind luck. I am not here simply to pass on my genes to the next generation. There is something beyond what we can observe in this reality – something much greater than we can imagine.
So what is a good response to someone who asks you how dinosaurs fit in with the Bible? Basically, my suggestion is to acknowledge that dinosaurs existed but there are differences between the scientific account of creation and the Biblical account of creation. We don’t know if or when those differences will ever be resolved, but we need to keep moving forward with both scientific exploration and understanding what the Bible tells us. We need to cooperate, not quarrel about who is right and who is wrong. We need to be willing to look at the miracle of creation from both sides, so it enriches our understanding of who we are and who God is.
Or you can pull a quarter out of your pocket and say – “take a look at this coin and tell me what you see”.
Questions and Comments?
- Was the coin illustration useful? Can you think of other examples where changing our perspective changes what we see?
- Are you willing to engage people in productive conversations about science and scripture, or will you still avoid them?
Jac
Great explanation, Jac!
ReplyDeleteJoel