Where Science And Christian Theology Meet Today

I do not know whether you are into the philosophy behind modern science. I suspect that most of my readers are not. Philosophy tends to be abstract, even arcane and modern sciences certainly require a background that many of us do not have. Nevertheless, I struggle with it, because I'm very convinced that Biblical theology must come to grips with scientific studies so that the message of Christ may be clearly presented.

AND . . . behind all science is some kind of philosophy. By philosophy I mean the study of the fundamental nature of knowledge, of what is real and of who are we as humans. Every scientist has some kind of philosophy behind his study, his work. It guides him, even controls him and keeps him focused.


That's why I'm reading a fascinating book. If you're into building a bridge between theology and science at all you need to read it. It is called  Information and the Nature of Reality, a series of essays by prominent scientists and theologians, with Paul Davies and Niels Henrik Gregersen as Editors.


In their introductory remarks Davies and Gregersen point to the concluding essays by Gregersen and Michael Welker. They point to the new scientific perspective of matter and information brought on by the pursuit of quantum mechanics and the possibility of quantum computing. In this perspective matter is no longer the foundation for reality, for what is. Matter is rather another name for the Unknown. "It is perhaps not an overstatement to say that the developments in physics briefly summarized here provide a powerful empirical refutation of that materialist world view"("Unsolved dilemmas" - Philip Clayton, Kindle location 1117).

Gregersen and Welker tell us that "The Johannine vision of divine Logos being co-extensive with the world of matter may be sustained and further elucidated in the context of present-day concepts of matter and information . . ."

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. ... And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. - John 1:1-5, 14 ESV

To say that the divine Logos of John 1:1-5, 14 is co-extensive with the world of matter is to affirm that when God became flesh in the person of Jesus of Nazareth He assumed not only the flesh of the boy from Nazareth, "but also a human being, an animal, and the material stuff itself. In Biblical language, God became a human being, a sparrow that flies and falls to the ground, became the green and withering grass, in order to become one with earthly matter (sarx). . . Logos is present—as Creator and as Redeemer—at the very core of material existence" (Gregersen). The "flesh" of the material world is saturated by the presence of the divine Logos. He has united himself with the world of creation. He creates differences. He shapes and reshapes the creation. He creates vibrations between organisms and their environments that enable them to absorb and connect. He makes meaning and communication possible. He is the One who enables us to "make sense" of things. God's creative power is at work in every and all levels of creation.

The letter to the Hebrews points to this amazing insight as it begins.

Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world. He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, - Hebr 1:1-3 ESV

Paul put another way in his talk with the Greeks at Athens when he quoted Epimenedes of Crete and  Aratus’s poem “Phainomena”:

And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place, that they should seek God, and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him. Yet he is actually not far from each one of us, for "'In him we live and move and have our being'; as even some of your own poets have said, "'For we are indeed his offspring.' - Act 17:26-28 ESV

The concept of Shekinah refers to this in the OT. Although it is not a word found in the Bible, Shekinah is a form of a Hebrew word that literally means "He caused to dwell." God's Shekinah-presence became evident to the Israelites led by Moses from Egypt in the pillar of fire by night and as a cloud by day.

And they moved on from Succoth and encamped at Etham, on the edge of the wilderness. And the LORD went before them by day in a pillar of cloud to lead them along the way, and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, that they might travel by day and by night. The pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night did not depart from before the people. - Exd 13:20-22 ESV

The amazing thing happening in our day is that this vision of God totally present to create the entire universe and to sustain and give meaning to all things —to be the source of all information—is where scientists are being forced to go by their studies of quantum mechanics and the foundational reality of information.

In The Beginning God?

A number of things came together this week, as they often do if I'm paying attention. It started with my son asking me if I'd read Ray Kurzweil's latest book, The Singularity Is Near. When I said I knew something of Kurzweil's work and views, but had not read the book, he ordered it from Amazon and had it forwarded to me.

Then after worship last Sunday Ryan, a college student, asked my views on creation versus evolution. We discussed the topic briefly and I promised to send him a paper I'd written a few years back about the age of the earth.

Finally, I read in the newspaper that Kurzweil and Apple's co-founder, Steve Wozniak, were among the speakers here at the Houston area's first Up Experience conference in Stafford.

Finally, my copy of God After Darwin:A Theology of Evolution by John F. Haught arrived in the mail and I began to page through it. You might want to read Michael Behe's review of the book.

So what ties all this together? A number of things.

Kurzweil is an out and out materialist. The universe (or multiple universes) is all there is. And it is because it is. How it came to be we may not know, but it is and we know it exists. We can consider God, he writes, to be the universe and this universe is not conscious. Being conscious is the same as being spiritual, which is to say that you or I have an awareness that we are persons. And ultimately, if I read him right, through the process known as evolution the entire universe will move toward greater and greater complexity, greater intelligence, greater beauty, greater creativity, etc. Thus the universe is on the path to becoming 'God'!

I must say that such thoughts make me weary and very, very lonely.

Oh, one more thing about Kurzweil. He says that the singularity we are approaching is that time when humans will transcend or go beyond biology. That's not to say we won't want bodies, but he claims it will be but one of many options as we move toward reverse engineering the human brain and body, depositing it into our computers. Aha! The day approaches when we'll be able to "Beam me up, Scotty" anywhere we like. Are you a Star Trek fan? We'll also be able to duplicate ourselves as many times as we may wish. Unfortunately, Kurzweil says, each clone will be just a bit different from the other.

Then, along comes Steve Wozniak at the Up Conference, saying that the days of robots that can do entire tasks on their own are far away. "I don't think we're close. I don't think we've gone one step." He was talking about artificial intelligence (AI), something that Kurzweil claims is but a couple decades away.

Well, who's right? And what do we make of all this? Enter John Haught. I've only begun to read his book, but he has some intriguing things to say. Neo-Darwinians don't need God to create life and consciousness. Life comes by chance over millions upon millions of years. Evolutionary time provides room, he says, for an unimaginable number of purely undirected genetic mutations to occur. Out of these many mutations natural selection (survival of the fittest) gradually brought about adaptive living beings. Eventually these beings included those endowed with minds and consciousness.

How's that for a statement of faith? Mind you, Haught is a creationist. He believes in a creator. However, he wants us all to be aware of what we're tackling when we take on neo-evolution. One of his major points is that a universe that evolves from "dumb matter" must be intrinsically pointless. Inanimate matter is the meaningless material under any so-called higher levels of life. So it finally is all meaningless. Like Solomon writes in Ecclesiastes, "All of it is meaningless, a chasing after the wind. I hated all things I had toiled for under the sun, because I must leave them to the one who comes after me."

Unless, of course, Kurzweil is right. He's been very busy taking care of his poorly evolved body so that in a couple decades he can download the whole thing into some wondrous computer and become eternal. He takes a whole handful of supplements every day to keep it functioning until the singularity arrives. He's hoping that Wozniak is wrong about AI not really even being at the beginning.



On the other hand, what if Kurzweil and his kind are wrong? What if there's more to it than the matter/energy universe? What if there really is a God who made it all and gives it meaning and purpose and directs it toward a goal? What if the human soul survives death and must stand before this God to give an answer to how he or she lived? What if?

I believe this second option is truly worth considering. Dr. Bert Thompson wrote "Creation—Will It Stand the “Test of Science?." You might want to read his article. He quotes Dr. Henry Morris: “The Second Law of thermodynamics requires the universe to have had a beginning.” That is to say that while quantity remains the same (First Law), the quality of matter/energy deteriorates gradually over time. How so? Usable energy is inevitably used for productivity, growth and repair. In the process, usable energy is converted into unusable energy. Thus, usable energy is irretrievably lost in the form of unusable energy. It's all winding down and it all had to have had a beginning. Nothing comes from nothing. What IS absolutely requires a Creator!

Well, there you have it. I'm winding down too--for today. Enough of this stuff. My energy is winding down. I need to eat something in order to keep going. And all of it depends upon the goodness of my Creator. Oh give thanks unto the Lord, for He is good and His mercy endures forever!