For Generation Z (born between 1999 and 2015), “atheist” is no longer a dirty word: The percentage of teens who identify as such is double that of the general population (13% vs. 6% of all adults). The proportion that identifies as Christian likewise drops from generation to generation. Three out of four Boomers are Protestant or Catholic Christians (75%), while just three in five 13- to 18-year-olds say they are some kind of Christian (59%).
So what is causing this generational loss of faith? We’ve looked at two reasons already, so let’s turn our attention to science and how it allegedly refutes too much of the Bible. But what scientific discovery has ever disproved any Bible teaching? Many famous scientists from the past and today have believed the scriptural account of Genesis 1-11 which includes the creation and the Flood.
Some of the greatest minds in the history of science have believed in supernatural creation. Men like Newton, Pasteur, Kepler, Lister, Boyle, Pascal, and others — household names in science — were not atheists; they believed that science and creation were quite compatible.
A lot of people also believe that the current world structure is science vs. faith. But when you get into the hard sciences (astronomy, physics, chemistry, biology, etc.), science leads researchers toward faith as much as it leads them away from the faith. A poll done by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (definitely not faithbased) showed that 51% of scientists believed in some deity or higher form of power, and 31% of scientists believed in a personal God (not just a higher power). Only 7% responded that they didn’t know. Let that sink in. That means that a small minority of scientists were atheists! But if you listen to most people, that just isn’t true!
Ultimately the scriptures are either the history of the universe or they are not. They either give us the inspired record of God and His dealings with mankind or they do not. I either believe the first few pages of the Bible (that God is and that He created the world) or there’s no real reason to believe Him when it comes to the first few pages of the New Testament (the birth of Jesus and what He would do for mankind). So we need to understand what’s at stake when someone has a doubt-filled mind about the existence of God. It really casts a long shadow over everything relating to life and religious thought; i. e. why should I believe Jesus died for my sins and was raised from the dead?
A lot of people believe that science explains everything so we don’t really need God. But I’m convinced that the gospel, at its heart, does engage the mind (Matthew 22:37). The gospel is not anti-intellectual. No Christian should settle for shallow, subpar thinking when it comes to contemplating our physical world and God’s creation of it.
Furthermore, some think that believing in miracles is unscientific, but this is mistaken. The reason why is because science studies natural laws and the way the physical universe operates barring any outside intervention by a divine agent.
If God exists and is the author of these natural laws, God can intervene on occasion and provide an exception to the ordinary operations of nature to show that He is alive and active. This exceptional action no more undermines science than the exceptional presidential pardon undermines the legal system.
Sometimes people say “only science can give us knowledge” but this is self- refuting since there is no scientific experiment that can prove that statement. The Bible mentions several accurate scientific facts: food and sanitation guidelines (Leviticus 11:9-12, 24-43; 13:1-17), life in the blood (Leviticus 17:11), the shape of the earth (Isaiah 40:22), the suspension of earth by gravity (Job 26:7), and the number of stars (Jeremiah 33:22).
When the Bible does mention scientific facts, it is accurate. This shows that a biblical worldview, which existed long before modern science, is valid.
Creationists have an impressive arsenal of evidence to confirm the conclusion that the creation model better fits the available scientific facts than the evolution model. Darwinism is a merely materialistic philosophy masquerading as science, and people are recognizing it for what it is. Science, done right, points toward God. There is no war between science and religion; that is a myth. The positive case for intelligent design in the universe is totally compelling.
When you think about it further, science doesn’t extinguish God; it explains Him. Psalm 19:1-6 teaches that when you look up in the night sky, you know that our universe is beyond random chance. That holds true in a macro sense, and it also holds true in a micro sense (and I mean the cellular level). There is unbelievable complexity at every level. In fact, Allen Rex Sandage, who was the successor to Edwin Hubble, said that the world is much more complicated than can be explained by science. Stephen J. Gould said that science simply cannot adjudicate the issues of God’s possible superintendence of nature.
Humans inquisitively want to ask how, but we need to ask why as well. Why are we the way we are? But that’s not even good enough, for we should really ask the who as well. Does the universe, from the macro down to the micro, indicate that there is a who? Psalm 19:1-6 indicates that it does, and in the poll referenced near the beginning of this article, scientists tend to agree.
I will readily admit that faith doesn’t explain everything, but neither does science. At the macro and micro levels of the universe is a mystery. What is behind the mystery? Who is behind the mystery? What explains the unexplainable? A common argument is that one day everything will be explained. Okay, let’s say that one day everything will be explained — perhaps even in our lifetime. But who will be behind the explanation? Science desperately points beyond itself to questions it can’t answer. Even if you’ve fully answered what and how you haven’t begun to answer who and why. Scientists are seeing that nature could not have created itself. Only a supernatural force outside of space and time could have done that. Christians have known that through the declaration of scripture. But over the last several hundred years, science has to lead a lot of people to faith, not away from it (but that has not gotten a lot of “air time,” and I think that’s a travesty). Again, science does not extinguish God; it explains Him. Blaise Pascal wagered without hesitation that God exists, and I choose to as well.
Kyle Campbell
