Mad Scientists (click to comment)

I love Science. And so do you. How do I know this? Well, without it you could not drive an automobile to work or warm up that cold casserole in 92 seconds. And you certainly would not be listening to my voice coming through that electronic thingy, or flying to Tahiti next January. Without science we wouldn’t know that the moon is 384,400 km from the earth, that every time you lick a postage stamp you’re consuming 1/10 of a calorie. How would we live without this knowledge?

Science is a scary word for some, but it doesn’t need to be. To the Christian, science is observing the universe that God set in motion and applying that knowledge. We owe much to science. Because of it, we know that it would take a Cray Supercomputer 100 years to simulate what occurs in the eye each second. Science helps me marvel at the awesomeness of God. But here’s something to remember: the greatest minds of science have been wrong about many things. Until Copernicus showed up, most scientists believed the earth was the center of the universe. Nikola Tesla, believed that he could build a death ray that could slice the earth in half. And William Herschel, the first man to discover a planet with a telescope, believed the sun was inhabited by people with enormous heads. But that was then, you say. Well, fast forward to the 20th century.

You’ve heard of nuclear radiation? Soon after scientists discovered radiation, manufacturers of toothpaste and laxatives were putting it in their products. Yikes. In 1977 Time had a cover story, How To Survive The Coming Ice Age. Asbestos wasn’t banned until 1978. And don’t get me going on cigarettes. Ok. You got me going. Remember the magazine ads with perky physicians in lab coats, puffing away? The caption said, “20,679 physicians say ‘Luckies are less irritating.” In those days the surgeon general smoked. We laugh at ignorance displayed in the past, but are we arrogant enough to believe that future generations won’t laugh at us?

“The wisdom of this world will always be out of date,” says Tim Keller: “The experts of this age will look as stupid to your grandchildren as the experts of the last generation look to you.” I applaud ongoing study, but new studies are always unearthing the bad science in past studies. “All that is not eternal,” wrote CS Lewis ‘is eternally out of date.” The one thing that stands the test of time is God’s Word. Jesus tells us in Matthew 24:35 that, “Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.”

Have you placed your faith in the wisdom of this age, or in the timeless word of God, and the Jesus it reveals? We love Science but it makes a flimsy religion. So open God’s book. Or that Bible app on your phone. What did I tell you? Isn’t science cool?!