Religion and Science

I don't understand the problems some people have with religion and science. Science, to me, is about uncovering the mysteries God built into the design the universe, this planet, and ourselves. Through science, we know God.

Some people believe this all a happy accident. The Big Bang that started the universe (which wasn't actually an explosion, but more like a balloon filling with air) means that our planet happened to get lucky and have all the right stuff for the creation of life.

I don't think so.

If you look at the construction of this planet, I think it's clear there is a design. The structure and function of the bodies of the creatures on the Earth (ours included) is a design. Evolution may happen randomly, but the idea of evolution -- the idea that only the strongest survive -- that's not an accident, that's engineering for the success of life. The fact that scientists over the millennia have resolved mystery after mystery with math, that's what computer geeks would call the "programming code" God used to write the blueprint for the universe. Tech is math. Facebook is an algorithm that determines what ads show up on your newsfeed, what stories show up in your Trending Topics. It's math. It's all math.

For those of you who are offended at the idea that we come from monkeys, relax. We don't. We share common ancestors with apes and monkeys. Those common ancestors we share are like the base of tree. It branched off in two different directions. One branch became man; the other, going in a completely different direction, became monkeys. The ancestors we came from were neither. They were before man, before apes and monkeys.

And no, the Bible doesn't say any of this, and for good reason.  No, that reason is not that the Bible wasn't divinely inspired or written. If you believe God wrote the Bible, I have no complaint with that. But how do you explain to quantum physics to someone whose math doesn't go beyond the third grade?  How do you explain evolution to someone who only understands reproductive biology in agricultural terms (at the time the Old Testament was written, people believed the man's "seed" was the whole baby and women were just the fertile soil where a man planted his seed)?  How do you explain genetics to people who just learned how to start a fire?

 How do you, as a higher being, explain to people what they are not capable of imagining?

Well, you simplify. Instead of evolution and quantum physics, you talk about two people who started the human race. Because you want people to understand the world was created to be a paradise, you talk about the Garden. Because you want people to understand the world is dangerous and you have to be careful even in paradise, you talk about the snake.

Nevertheless, the simplified version does not negate science. It's just that we've grown beyond the simple stories. We need facts, now. We have trig, calculus, and geometry. While we still aren't fluent, we can speak the language of math much better.

We need Priests, Imams, and Holy people to teach us the wisdom of these books, but we need scientists to teach us the Divine design with which God created the universe.

I personally DO want to see the blueprint of the universe -- even if I won't understand it (which I won't because again my math stops at fractions) -- because even the little parts we know of the blueprint now are spectacular and grand. I marvel at how well everything fits together, how our bodies can heal themselves, how love turns into a new life, how a big volcano erupting in the Pacific makes it snow in July in New York City (which if I recall correctly has happened twice in modern history).

I marvel at the intricacy, at the attention to detail, at the endless nuances in shade, color, light, beauty. I luxuriate in awe over all of God's creations (except spiders, who I would rather just not see, but who I do understand serve a valuable purpose). With each new scientific discovery, we should again and again be amazed at the power and glory of God's magnificence.

For me, there is no debate, no competition between God and science. We need the books to understand God's love. W need the science to explain God's perfect design of the universe.

Two sides, same coin.