When Science and Faith Team Up

Ever feel like science and faith are like oil and water? They just don't mix? Well, surprise! They're more like peanut butter and jelly. For years, people thought you had to pick one. But the truth is, they fit together perfectly, both showing us a smart Creator.

Let's dive in with some easy clues. I'll keep it light, like chatting over coffee.

How Science Got Its Start

Back in the 1600s and 1700s, science took off big time. Why? Smart folks like Galileo, Kepler, and Isaac Newton believed the world followed clear rules. And rules need a rule-maker, God.

C. S. Lewis said it best: People became scientists because they expected laws in nature, and they expected those laws because they trusted in a law-giver.

Newton didn't ditch God after finding gravity. Nope! He saw it as a sneak peek into God's clever design. His big book, Principia Mathematica, is like a map of a universe built by a divine builder.

Clue 1: The Universe Had a Start

Science says our universe is growing bigger all the time. If you rewind the clock, everything. Time, space, stuff, shrinks to one tiny point. That's the Big Bang.

But what started it? Science can't say, because it's like asking what was before "before." That's a job for big thinkers.

Saying it came from nothing is silly, like a cake baking itself. The best answer? Something outside time and space lit the spark. The Bible says in Hebrews 11:3: "By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God's command, so that what is seen was not made of what was visible" Boom!

Clue 2: The Universe Is Tuned Just Right

Think of the universe like a giant machine with a bunch of control knobs or dials that set how everything works. These aren't real knobs you can twist; they're the basic rules of physics, like:

• How strong gravity is (the pull that keeps your feet on the ground and planets orbiting stars).
• The power of the strong nuclear force (what holds atoms together so they don't fly apart).
• The cosmological constant (a fancy way to say the energy that makes the universe expand at just the right speed).

Imagine dials set perfectly for life. The chances of that happening by luck? Huge, like winning the lottery every day for a year.

This fine-tuning screams "plan," not "oops." Proverbs 3:19 says: "By wisdom the Lord laid the earth's foundations, by understanding he set the heavens in place." Sounds on point!

> FIG: The argument infographic

The Big Jump: From No Life to Life

A tuned universe is neat, but how did life begin? Evolution explains how life changes over time (cool with me), but starting life from scratch? That's tricky.

Evolution needs life to already exist to work its magic. Turning chemicals into a living cell? No one's done it in a lab yet. It's like expecting soup to turn into a chef.

DNA: Life's Secret Code

Picture this: Inside every tiny cell in your body is DNA. It's like a super-long instruction manual made of 3.4 billion "letters" (tiny building blocks called bases: A, T, C, and G). But here's the kicker, it's not just a bunch of chemicals hanging out. It's a full-on code, like a language that tells your body how to build and run everything, from your eye color to how you digest pizza.

If you uncoiled all the DNA from just one person's cells and stretched it out, it'd go for 67 billion miles. That's like 150,000 round trips to the moon! (Makes you wonder if God was showing off a bit, right? 😄)

Now, think about computer code, those lines of instructions that make apps work. They don't write themselves; smart programmers do. So, who programmed DNA's code? It's way more complex than any software we've cooked up.

Enter John Lennox, a sharp thinker who spots this gem: The Bible kicks off in John's Gospel with "In the beginning was the Word" (that's "Logos" in Greek, meaning a divine plan or reason). It's describing creation as something built on words—information and meaning.

Fast forward to today: Science shows us that life isn't just random stuff; it's "word-based." What does that mean? Simple, life runs on information arranged like words in a sentence. DNA's letters form "words" that spell out instructions for building proteins and keeping you alive. It's like the universe's original programming language!

This match-up between the Bible's "Word" and DNA's code? It's not coincidence; it's profound. Like finding out your favorite book was written by the Author of everything.

> FIG: Representation of a human cell

The Smart Guess: A Designer Did It

In life, complex things like books or engines come from smart minds. A chemist in a lab uses brains to make fancy stuff.

The world's wild complexity? Points to a super-smart Designer. This isn't filling gaps with God. It's seeing that codes and machines need creators.

Our Brains: Made to Figure It Out

We have a rule-following universe and code-based life. But the biggest puzzle? Us, humans who understand it all.

Einstein was amazed: "The only incomprehensible thing about the universe is that it is comprehensible"

Why can our brains, built for survival, grasp big math and space secrets? It fits if both the universe and our minds come from the same divine brain.

That Inner Voice: Right and Wrong

We all know some things are just wrong—like hurting kids or what Hitler did. It's not opinion; it's fact.

If we're just animals, why judge? Lions kill without guilt. Morals as "just what society says"? Then how call out bad societies?

A real, universal right-and-wrong points to a moral rule. Maker who put it in our hearts.

Like God's Mirror

Our smarts and sense of fair play make sense in the Bible's idea: We're made in God's image. That gives everyone value, no matter what.

It fights the idea that worth comes from what you do or own. Genesis 1:27: "So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them" Equal from the start.

> FIG: Human Race

From Far-Away Creator to Close Friend

Clues from space, life, and minds build a case for a smart, good God beyond us. But Christianity says: He's personal, and you can know Him.

Why? For a friendship. John 17:3: "Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent."

The Tough Question: Why Bad Stuff?

If God's good and strong, why evil and pain? No easy answer.

Christianity doesn't explain it away. It shows a God who jumps in. The key picture? Not a king on a throne, but Jesus on a cross.

God suffered too. He's not far off; He gets our hurt because He felt it.

The Hope That Lasts

The cross isn't the end. Jesus rising again is. It proves death loses, and wrongs get fixed.

This hope changes now: Say no to junk, yes to good living. Titus 2:11-12: "For the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people. It teaches us to say 'No' to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age,"

Science and Faith: Partners in Crime

Science asks "how". How stars shine, how DNA works. Faith asks "why". Meaning, purpose, hope.

Not enemies; best buddies for seeing the full picture.

The skies show God's glory, and science helps us read it.

If this sparks a "hmm" in you, chase it. The Maker isn't hiding. He's calling.

The Holy Spirit are knocking on you, perhaps

Grace and peace,
Richard ✝️