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 PrintableVersion God, the Big Bang and bunsen-burning issuesGetting scientificGOD, THE BIG BANG AND BUNSEN-BURNING ISSUES Jamie Whyte, in a recent Opinion article in The Times (September 16), wrote: ‘Many atheists behold the persistence of religion in the West with something close to incredulity. How can it be, they lament, that, despite the absence of any evidence for the central tenets of Christianity, despite the enormous progress of science in explaining the origins of the earth and its inhabitants, so many people continue to believe pre-Enlightenment gobbledegook?’ He added: ‘The persistence of religious profession is irritating. It is a sign of something intellectually unserious in the professor’. Well, Mr. Whyte, here are 15 leading, intellectually serious scientists (physicists, a mathematician, biological and biomedical scientists) who have convictions about both science and the Christian faith. God, the CreatorThe book comprises a series of interviews which first appeared in The War Cry, the weekly newspaper of the Salvation Army. Nigel Bovey, the editor of The War Cry, has certainly produced a book which will be accessible to more than those with an in-depth scientific knowledge. In most of the interviews there are questions about the origin of the world, creation of life and how should we read Genesis 1 and 2. If you are expecting answers to the question of origins consistent with Young Earth Creationism you will be disappointed. In fact, the overriding viewpoint taken by the men (not a female scientist in sight here!) is summarised on page 182 as follows: ‘Unanimously they believe that God created the universe. It is important to them that he did and that life is not the result of random chance. In a nutshell they combine insights from their faith and their science by holding that God created the universe through the Big Bang and that he sustains it through evolution. They also believe that God is continually creating. Therefore they regard themselves in some sense as creationists’. Dodgy partsTwo of the most illuminating contributions are from Alister McGrath and John Lennox, who have both engaged with Richard Dawkins and openly challenged The God Delusion / Darwinism-reigns-supreme dogma. Whether or not you agree with their interpretation that Genesis 1 and 2 are true, but not necessarily true at the absolutely literal level, we are indebted to them for taking up the challenge to confront Dawkins & Co. that science has disproved God. The fact is that Bible-believing Christians do differ on the interpretation of the early chapters of Genesis and yet remain rock solid on the saving work of the gospel. However, there are also views expressed that will cause an intake of breath. For example, one of those interviewed indicated that he had difficulty accepting the literal truth of the virgin birth (page 29), that hell is unbelievers being in heaven and simply not understanding why the others are having such a good time (page 30), and that scientifically there is no God before the Big Bang (page 34). So what are the essentials of the faith? Not all the questions are about the past and there are some very helpful, albeit brief, discussions on topics such as climate change, the morality of genetic engineering and stem cell research. A book of this size can only ever present a brief cameo of the views held by each of the contributors. It will certainly inform readers — but maybe the response should be to think about the answers that we would give to these important questions. David Back, © Evangelicals Now - November 2008 |
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