When science and the Bible conflict what should our response be? Or to put it another way should we appraise Scripture by science, or vice versa? Well, considering the fact that the Bible is never wrong and many scientific theories often have to be totally abandoned, as new knowledge about how things work come on the scene, I for one always cast my lot with the Scriptures.
Just because scientists command an air of respectability doesn’t mean they are always right. In fact, these prestigious men down through the centuries have often proposed ideas that have been flat out dead wrong. John Ambrose Fleming, considered by many to be the father of modern electronics, was also a strong Christian apologist, who once made the following astute comment: “We must not build on the sands of an uncertain and ever changing science…but upon the rock of inspired Scriptures.”1 This humble man of God and great scientist understood the danger of elevating science higher than its past history warrants.
Any student of the history of science has to be impressed with the fact that this branch of knowledge has been incredibly wrong so often that one has to wonder if it really is science.
Down through the centuries so much of the discoveries of science have proven totally wrong, and many of its time-honored theories have been completely abandoned. Even hard facts (at least to their contemporaries) have been shown to be nothing more than hard fiction.
Today we treat our great scientists and men of medicine as if they were gods who have all the answers to life’s deep mysteries and problems. The reality of the situation is, however, that if we were to keep a scorecard over the past two millennia their marks would not pass the test of time.
Many of our greatest scientists have had the discoveries that made them famous proven totally wrong. Many others who proposed ideas and theories that would later change and revolutionize our world were, at the time they proposed them, thought of as crazy, foolish, and plain dead wrong. Strange how a field that prides itself on accuracy and wisdom can be in such a state of mass confusion and error.
John Lennox said it well when he shared: “Nonsense remains nonsense, even when talked by world-famous scientists.”2
As a modern day example take the theory of Darwinian evolution, which many scientists treat not as a theory but scientific fact. Despite claims by scientists there is absolutely no scientific evidence to support this scientifically and spiritually bankrupt theory. Quite frankly evolution is pure nonsense dressed up in supposed scientific clothes. Ray Comfort says it well: “Evolution is unobservable. It’s based on blind faith in a few dry bones and on unreliable dating systems in which the gullible trust.”3
In addition, Lee Strobel, the former hard core atheist, turned Christian apologist, lists six reasons why those who believe in evolution are living in the land of make believe: “Looking at the doctrine of Darwinism, which undergirded my atheism for so many years, it didn’t take me long to conclude that it was simply too far-fetched to be credible. I realized that if I were to embrace Darwinism and its underlying premise of naturalism, I would have to believe that: 1. Nothing produces everything 2. Non-life produces life 3. Randomness produces fine-tuning 4. Chaos produces information 5. Unconsciousness produces consciousness 6. Non-reason produces reason….The central pillars of evolutionary theory quickly rotted away when exposed to scrutiny.”4
Finally, the late Christian apologist, Ron Carlson, wittingly commented: “In grammar school they taught me that a frog turning into a prince was a fairy tale. In the university they taught me that a frog turning into a prince was a fact!”5
Fortunately for us the Holy Bible has withstood the test of time and not only hasn’t it changed one iota since it was completed 2,000 years ago but its message and teachings are timeless and totally up-to-date. God’s word should always be the standard and benchmark by which we measure science and not the other way around as many are trying to do today. As time marches forward scientific theories will continue to be modified and some even replaced, but rest assured the Holy Bible will continue to be the solid rock of timeless truth that it has always been.
1 Bible Quotes From Famous People (turnbacktogod.com)
2 Charlie H. Campbell, Apologetics Quotes (Carlsbad, California: The Always Be Ready Apologetics Ministry, 2020), p. 50.
3 Charlie H. Campbell, Apologetics Quotes (Carlsbad, California: The Always Be Ready Apologetics Ministry, 2020), p. 86.
4Charlie H. Campbell, Apologetics Quotes (Carlsbad, California: The Always Be Ready Apologetics Ministry, 2020), p. 8.