Bible Versus Science: What Should be Out Attitude?

Science is the result of man!s quest to understand the nature and the world around him.  The method of scientific investigation has been perfected and applied so much to study things around us that our scientific knowledge expanding at the rate of several tens of thousands of printed pages every day. This increase in knowledge has affected all the areas of our life, so that today all the spheres of our lives come in touch with science in some way or other.

Parents prefer to send students to science courses in schools and colleges.  Synthetic clothes have become so cheap that in most cases it is a luxury these days to wear cotton dresses.  Television, radio, medicine, and means of transportation are becoming more readily available even to the middle-class families. So the awareness is growing silently  that all the technically marvels of today are the result of scientific researches.  By implications, science represents knowledge and truth.  In fact, these marvels of scientific breakthrough combined with the present education system are giving the impression to people that scientific investigation is the only legitimate method to learn about the realities around us.  Evolutionists and rationalists have used this popular notion to attack the Bible.

Since educated people already have this notion that scientific investigation is the only way to investigate truths around it, it is easy to influence them in the name of science.  This has been done repeatedly by all sorts of critics who demand that everything in Bible should be subjected to scientific investigation, it is not to be believed.  This claim that not everything in the Bible can be verified by scientific tests.  This realization produces a great  conflict in the hearts of young people everywhere, and therefore we should definitely discuss the whole subject.  In fact the present day Christian society is full of people who will be greatly helped if someone is willing to discuss the whole issue.

There is no shortage of people who feel that all such discussion is futile because once faith is established and once a person becomes spiritually mature, he is no longer disturbed by these questions.  There is no doubt that once a person becomes spiritually mature, many things which previously troubled him cease to do so, but this is not the real issue here.  What the spiritually mature people have to understand and appreciate is that unless someone helps these people in doubt, they might never grow to a stage where they might become mature.  The nagging doubts which they are facing presently might completely distort and destroy their faith.

A problem never looks too serious or threatening to one unless he himself is facing it.  So a person who has never faced a problem related to science versus faith will never be able to appreciate the trauma of someone who is facing it presently.  So, instead of minimizing or understanding some problems which one has never faced, or which one is not likely to face, it will be much better if all the available energy is focused on solving the problems of those who are actually facing them.

There are others who dismiss the whole problem because of their fear.  Discussing science and its relationship with the Scripture is not an easy task.  It might require the knowledge of numerous fields of study. So out of fear of falling in the tough task, many people simply run away; they just claim that this is all an unnecessary and unfruitful exercise.  But this is not the Christian spirit.  Truth can always stand before any trail, the only care to be taken is to see that the trial is fair and objective.  A spirit of genuine enquiry  should prevail instead of a spirit of reaction or of preconception.

Every reader of this article can remain assured that Christian men of learning and scholarship are not silent on the face of criticism directed against the Scriptures.  In fact there are numerous societies and organizations throughout the world who are are trying to study and refute the attacks directed against the Bible.  As a result, anyone can get  a whole library full books which examine all aspects of the problems.  Christians have nothing to loose in discussing problems related to science versus faith.  On the contrary, the whole exercise will only strengthen the faith of the genuine enquirer.