God & ScienceSample

Scientific or Spiritual?

I got an email from a Christian chemistry major: “How can I believe in creation and yet learn the science that directly contradicts such a belief?” She felt stuck between two communities—the scientific and the spiritual. In her life, some people prayed, went to church, and believed in God while other people spent time in labs, recorded data, and tested theories. Did she have to choose between the two?

How do God and science fit together? Maybe you’ve felt that tension too. Maybe it happened in high school science class. Or when visiting a museum that explains a world without God. Or during a Netflix special on our universe. Countless Christians have wondered if they have to choose between a Jesus-believing heart and a science-loving head.

While I can’t dig into every issue here, I can tell you this: “The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands” (Psalm 19:1). The Bible doesn’t tell us to shut our eyes to the evidence and “just believe.” Rather, it encourages us to open our eyes and see the intricate evidence of a glorious God.

No wonder so many scientists like God! In his study of Nobel prizes awarded during the 20th century, Baruch Shalev found that 73 percent of chemistry winners, 65 percent of physics winners, and 62 percent of medicine winners were Christian! 

Do you have to choose to be either scientific or spiritual? No. Just ask the psalmist... or that group of Jesus-worshiping, Nobel Prize-receiving scientists!