{"id":13532,"date":"2016-08-03T18:22:00","date_gmt":"2016-08-03T18:22:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/reasons.org\/if-we-allow-science-to-correct-the-bible-doesn-t-that-make-science-god\/"},"modified":"2016-08-03T18:22:00","modified_gmt":"2016-08-03T18:22:00","slug":"if-we-allow-science-to-correct-the-bible-doesn-t-that-make-science-god","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/reasons.org\/religions\/belief-systems\/if-we-allow-science-to-correct-the-bible-doesn-t-that-make-science-god","title":{"rendered":"If We Allow Science to Correct the Bible, Doesn\u2019t That Make Science God?"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Many Christians, and for that matter many non-Christians, are uneasy about an alliance between science and the Bible. Non-Christians worry that the Bible will be allowed to trump or discount science. Christians worry that science will be permitted to trump or discount the Bible. An example of these worries is the following question that was posted on my Facebook wall. In my answer I attempt to alleviate the unease and worries about integrating science and the Bible.<\/p>\n

Q: If the Bible needs to be constantly corrected by science, does that not make science god along with everyone who works in science?<\/strong><\/p>\n

A: There is no doubt that many people in the twenty-first century consider science to be god and the practitioners of science as the high priests of that god. This worship of science explains much of the unease that Christians express about integrating science and the Bible.<\/p>\n

The Bible clearly and repeatedly exhorts us, however, to study the book of nature (science) to gain truth and revelation from God. A few such texts are Job 12:7\u201310<\/a>, Psalm 8<\/a>, Psalm 19:1\u20134<\/a>, Psalm 97:6<\/a>, Psalm 104<\/a>, and Romans 1:18\u201320<\/a>. These texts are the basis of the two-books doctrine codified in article 2 of the Belgic Confession of Faith<\/a>:<\/p>\n

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We know God by two means: First, by the creation, preservation, and government of the universe, since that universe is before our eyes like a beautiful book in which all creatures, great and small, are as letters to make us ponder the invisible things of God. . . . Second, God makes himself known to us more clearly by his holy and divine Word, as much as we need in this life, for God\u2019s glory and for our salvation.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n

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The Bible assures us that both the book of nature and the book of Scripture are utterly trustworthy, reliable, and inerrant. Neither one, therefore, can correct or falsify the other. What they can do is clarify our human interpretation of one or the other. What they can correct is our faulty interpretation of one or both books.<\/p>\n

Another way to look at the interface between the book of nature and the book of Scripture is to recognize that both books are perfect. That which is perfect cannot be more perfect than something else that is perfect. A useful analogy would be the 66 books of the Bible. Each one is the perfect, inerrant revelation from God. Each book has different content and addresses different subject matter. Each one, though perfect in what it reveals, is incomplete by itself. Likewise, both the book of nature and the book of Scripture are perfect and inerrant in what they reveal, but each is incomplete by itself, and even together they are incomplete.<\/p>\n

In giving us Scripture, God gave us 66 different books. The multiplicity of books, as we integrate their content, assists us in correctly interpreting each one. In the same manner, as we integrate the different disciplines of science, that integration helps us to correctly interpret each discipline. Similarly, as we integrate the book of nature with the book of Scripture, that integration helps us to correctly interpret each.<\/p>\n

In my opinion, the best guidelines for constructively integrating science and the Bible were codified by the International Council on Biblical Inerrancy (ICBI) in their Chicago Statement on Biblical Hermeneutics<\/a>. Their affirmations and denials relevant to science-faith integration (articles 19\u201322) are as follows:<\/p>\n