GOD AND SCIENCE

LESSON TWO: GOD, SCIENCE AND CREATION

Learning Intention: Christian teachings about God and creation form the foundational beliefs for
doing science.
Success Criteria: I can identify Christian teachings that form the foundation for doing science.

PART 1: BRAINSTORM!
1. What beliefs do we need to have in order to study the world using science? (Or, what links
do there need to be between the world inside the lab and the world outside the lab?)

[In order to study the world using science, we need to establish that the world is ordered and has
rules, so whatever is tested inside the lab is the same outside, and not just random.]

Consider the following quotes:

“It is indisputable that modern science emerged in the seventeenth century in Western Europe and
nowhere else.” The Foundations of Modern Science in the Middles Ages by Edward Grant
(Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996)

"However we may interpret the fact, scientific development has only occurred in a Christian culture.
The ancients had brains as good as ours. In all civilizations - Babylonia, Egypt, Greece, India, Rome,
Persia, China and so on - science developed to a certain point and then stopped. It is easy to argue
speculatively that, perhaps, science might have been able to develop in the absence of Christianity,
but in fact, it never did. And no wonder. For the non-Christian world believed that there was
something ethically wrong about science. In Greece, this conviction was enshrined in the legend of
Prometheus, the fire-bearer and prototype scientist who stole fire from heaven, thus incurring the
wrath of the gods.” Christian Belief and Science by Robert Clark, a British scientist.

2. Brainstorm some possible reasons as to why modern science emerged among those whose
beliefs were shaped by the Bible.

[This is because the Bible tells us that God made the world in an orderly and structured way, so
those who believe in the Bible believe that the world has constant rules that can be studied. This is
why those people study the rules of the world further.]

3. Read the Bible quotes at this link and complete the table on the relationship of God to the
world. Place all of these words in one of the two columns: physical, infinite, non-physical,
changing, temporal (existing in time), independent, finite, eternal, unchanging, dependent.

God The world

Infinite, non-physical, independent, eternal, Physical, changing, temporal, finite,

List of terms: – polytheism, atheism, pantheism, Biblical theism, deism,

[Deism] God made the world but is not personally involved in controlling it.

[Atheism] There is no God at all.

[Pantheism] God is involved in the world because God is not independent of the world
but rather a part of everything in it.

[Polytheism] There are many gods and what we see in the world are the results of their
many interactions (love affairs, battles, etc).

[Biblical theism] God made the world and so he is independent of the world and personally
involved in controlling it for his purposes

5. Which of the above ‘-isms’ do you think is best suited for science? Why? (make the
connection between your ‘-ism’ and science)

[I think that Biblical Theism is best suited for science because it establishes that there is a God that
created and keeps the laws of science.]

How does the Bible fit with science? The Bible provides the foundational beliefs that we need in
order to do science. The natural order means that there is natural cause and effect. Behind this is
God who is the ultimate cause, who orders all things and connects every cause and effect. There are
a few beliefs we already have, before we do experiments, that enable us to study science, including:
the world is ordered, the world is uniform in its laws of operation, the world can be investigated,
people are imperfect and so we have to check our findings. You can accept these things without
believing the Bible, but it was the Bible that provided this foundation and this ultimate explanation.
See also this video: ‘Proof’.

6. Science is the study of the natural world. In other words, it is the human activity of
expressing the order of the natural world in words. We might question whether such a thing
is possible or reasonable. How do these Bible quotes about the use of language help us to
understand the connection between God and science?

[These bible passages tell us that we should worship God’s creation, admiring the beauty of his
works and laying out the laws of creation. Therefore, science is merely a way of finding out more
about the world that God made.]

7. What do these Bible quotes say about the order of the world and the responsibility that God
has given to humans?

[These quotes say that humans have ownership over the earth and the living things in it, and that
God has put us in a position where we can study and find out about creation because of our
responsibilities over the world.]
 8. Read Genesis 2:19-20. The Bible says that Adam was the first human who ever existed. Why
could Adam also be considered the first scientist?

[Adam could also be considered the first scientist because he named all the animals and livestock on
the earth, observing them and therefore being like a scientist, observing the world around him.]

9. About three thousand years ago, King Solomon asked God for wisdom and God answered his
prayer. King Solomon became one of the wisest men and greatest scientists on earth. Read 1
Kings 4:29-34 and underline all the things that Solomon discovered and learnt about.

1 Kings 4:29-34 - God gave Solomon wisdom and very great insight, and a breadth of understanding
as measureless as the sand on the seashore. Solomon's wisdom was greater than the wisdom of all
the men of the East, and greater than all the wisdom of Egypt. He was wiser than any other man,
including Ethan the Ezrahite—wiser than Heman, Calcol and Darda, the sons of Mahol. And his fame
spread to all the surrounding nations. He spoke three thousand proverbs and his songs numbered a
thousand and five. He described plant life, from the cedar of Lebanon to the hyssop that grows out
of walls. He also taught about animals and birds, reptiles and fish. Men of all nations came to listen
to Solomon's wisdom, sent by all the kings of the world, who had heard of his wisdom.

10. To what extent do you think that science depends on the kinds of beliefs that the Bible
teaches?

[I think that science depends on biblical beliefs to a large extent because of the responsibility that
God has given us. He has given us wisdom to find out about the world around us, and therefore
science depends on the belief that God made the world and its laws in an orderly manner, and is
Lord over all the things in it.]

11. Which option out of the ‘-isms’ above (polytheism, atheism, pantheism, Biblical theism,
deism) do you most identify with? Why?

[I think that I identify as a Bible Theist because I belief that there is one God that made the Earth and
keeps it going every day. He wants a personal relationship with all of us, and reveals his existence
through his awesome and complex creation.]