Professor John A. Bloom makes a very simple but profound statement when he says, “In order to study the world fruitfully, you have to look at it the right way.”1 If you have a wrong worldview then you are starting out on the wrong foot and everything that follows will fail to view things correctly. The ancients believed in multiple gods and often deified nature and as a result they believed that the world was run by capricious gods and that objects were to be feared. Clearly under this scenario science and its advancement stood at a distinct disadvantage. Christianity, with its belief in only one God and its depersonalizing of nature, allowed science to function under the framework that there were fixed and regular patterns that God set in motion for our universe to function with and that objects didn’t rule the day.
Since our universe was governed by following regular patterns, scientists could now attempt to try to discover how and why things work the way they do. If you believe in a set of capricious gods then how can you even begin to make sense of how things work? But if our world runs in an orderly manner then the seeds are set for discovery of that order. Without an orderly universe science could not have advanced very much. Discovering that orderliness naturally was what our scientists set out to do. And as an extra impetus, the Christian scientist, had an extra motivation – to glorify God as they studied the genius of nature. Natural curiosity and a desire to glorify God led Christian scientists to lead the way in the advancement of the sciences.
Men such as Kepler, Boyle, Newton, Faraday, and Kelvin, in addition to being scientific geniuses, were sincere Bible believing Christians. Their advances in the field of science were not only motivated by a desire to make our world a better place to live in but to glorify the God of the universe. As one studies the history of scientific advancements it become clear that Christianity played a key role. Johann Kepler, the great astronomer, gives us a sense of what motivated Christian scientists when he said: “Since we astronomers are priests of the highest God in regard to the book of nature, it befits us to be thoughtful, not of the glory of our minds, but rather, above all else, of the glory of God.”2 One final quote, by Louis Pasteur, gives us a flavor for how great scientific men of God viewed nature: “The more I study nature, the more I stand amazed at the work of the Creator. Science brings men nearer to God.”3
1 John A. Bloom, The Natural Sciences A Student’s Guide: (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2015), p. 23.
2 AZquotes.com: https://www.azquotes.com/quote/659824
3 AZquotes.com: https://www.azquotes.com/quote/575514
This is so interesting, and educational!