God & Galileo
Are Science and Faith Compatible?
(The Christian Worldview especially as it relates to science)
Sean Bird www.covenantchristian.org/bird
CYPU conference
December 28, 2005
Science vs. Religion
Is science diametrically opposed to faith?
Are the underpinnings of science
essentially at odds with faith?
Can one believe God created the universe,
and not be considered an anti-science
ignoramus?
Faith Defined

Faith is being sure of what you hope for and
certain of what you do not see.

But doesn’t science only deal with things that we
can see?
 Are
the philosophical underpinnings of
science diametrically opposed to faith?
On the contrary …
FAITH is REQUISITE
Science depends on
1.
2.
Law of Causality
Values
– Trustworthy reporting of data
– Honest analysis
3.
4.
Logic & Reason
Attainability of Truth
Are any of these empirically
observable?
Historic Presuppositions of Science
THE TRUTH:
1564 – 1642 AD
1.It was not an issue of
religion vs. scientific
evidence.
2. Galileo was not joining Copernicus
in dethroning man from his central
place in the universe.
These views are held by those who have not
availed themselves to the available research.
It “swept man out of his proud position
as the central figure and end of the
universe, and made him a tiny speck
on a third-rate planet revolving about
a tenth-rate sun drifting in an endless
cosmic ocean.”
Heliocentric
Geocentric
According to the
cosmology of the
Middle Ages the
center of the universe
was actually the
center of evil. They
placed hell at the
true center as in 13C.
Dante’s Inferno.
Water
Air
Fire
Earth
384 – 322 BC
Martin Luther
(1483-1546)
1564 – 1642 AD
(1509-1564)
1564 – 1642 AD
Protestant Reformation
Council of Trent
(1545-1563)
Copernicus
(1473-1543)
384 – 322 BC
Galileo
(1564-1642)
Newton
(1642-1727)
Kepler – Germany
(1571-1630)
384 – 322 BC
Common-sense objections to
heliocentric system in Galileo’s day
1. Throw object straight up and it would
have to land in a different spot – i.e.
Coriolis effect demonstrated by Foucault
pendulum 1851.
1564 – 1642 AD
2. Tycho Brahe argued that a cannonball
fired one direction ought to travel further
than one shot the other way.
This was answered by Galileo’s development
of an early form of relativity theory.
3. A slight change in position of fixed stars should
be seen when we are on opposite sides of the
orbit around the sun. – observed in 1838.
Also the positive evidence heliocentrism was nil.
384 – 322 BC
Heliocentric
In fact Copernicus’ system wasn’t
even all that mathematically simpler.
It only reduced the number of
epicycles needed to explain planetary
orbits from more than eighty to thirtyfour. Whatsmore, until Kepler, the
heliocentric model didn’t even predict
observed phenomena as well as the
geocentric model.
Indeed, it wasn’t till after Galileo’s
observations and Kepler’s Laws of
Planetary Motion either system was
simply dogmatically asserted.
Geocentric
Historic Presuppositions of Science
Three main assumptions that had to be in place for
science to develop
 The world is real


God is reasonable
The universe is ordered
Francis Schaeffer noted, “Christianity believes that
God has created an external world that is
really there; and because He is a reasonable
God, one can expect to be able to find the
order of the universe by reason”
Historic Presuppositions of Science
Schaeffer writes about Alfred Whitehead & Robert Oppenheimer,
“As far as I know, neither of these two men were
Christians or claimed to be Christians; yet both were
straightforward in acknowledging that modern
science was born out of the Christian world-view.
Whitehead was absolutely right about this. He was
not a Christian, but he understood that there would
have never been modern science without the
biblical view of Christianity.”
Historic Presuppositions of Science
The universe is ordered
As I try to discern the origin of that conviction, I seem to
find it in a basic notion discovered 2000 or 3000 years ago,
and enunciated first in the Western world by the ancient
Hebrews: namely that the universe is governed by a single
God, and is not the product of the whims of many gods, each
governing his own province according to his own laws. This
monotheistic view seem to be the historical foundation for
modern science.
Nobel Prize-winning biochemist Melvin Calvin
“The chief aim of all investigations of the
external world should be to discover
the rational order and harmony which
has been imposed on it by God and
which He revealed to us in the
language of mathematics.”
- Kepler (1571-1630)
Historic Presuppositions of Science
1.
The world is real – If one believes the world is not really
there, then there is not an incentive to investigate it. But the
Christian doctrine of a real creation provides an incentive (Gen 1:1;
Neh 9:6; Rev 4:11).
2.
The universe is good – Even with the Fall, this
goodness is not eradicated. This higher view of nature led to the
Christian belief that the material world is worthy of investigation
(Gen 1:31; Ps 111:2,3; 1Tim 4:4).
“There is need of art and
The early
Jean-Baptiste van Helmont
3. chemist
Creator/Creature
relationship
– Godtoilis in
more exacting
insisted that
the pursuitHe
of isscience
is He is over nature, not the same as
transcendent,
not created.
ordertotobegin.
investigate
the
it.
This
doctrine
enabled
scientific
studies
The
monotheism
“a good gift,” given by God.
motion
of the
stars, to
to enjoy
of the Bible exorcised the gods of nature,
freeing
humanity
and investigate without fear. When the
world is no
longer
an object
determine
their
assigned
of worship, then—and only then—could it become an object of study
stations, to measure
(Ps 102:25-27; Acts 14:14; Hab 2:19-20)
their intervals, to note
1580-1644
their properties.”
Historic Presuppositions of Science
4. Rational Universe –
So the Christian doctrine of a
rational God provides the basis for belief in a rational universe
(Gen 8:22; Ps 104:3-33; 148:6; Job 28:26,27; Jer 5:24; 31:35;
33:20; James 1:17)
5.
In the Image of God – Christianity teaches Imago
Dei humans are created in the image of God. And since God is a
rational Being, we are also rational beings. Even with the Fall, the
Imago Dei was not eradicated. So the Christian teaching of the
Imago Dei provides a basis to believe we can understand the
universe (Gen 1:26,27; 9:6; James 3:9).
6.
Creation ex nihilo – This phrase means God created
without the use of pre-existing materials. So God would not be
limited by any “inherent nature” in pre-existing substances in His
creating. He could create as He willed… Thus the application of
geometry and mathematics to the analysis of physical motion
rests on the Christian doctrine of creation ex nihilo" (Ps 33:6; John
1:3; Col 1:16; Heb 11:3)
Historic Presuppositions of Science
7.
Motives for science – The
Christian faith provided
motives to pursue scientific research.
i) The early scientists believed investigating God’s creation was a
way of glorifying and serving Him.
For instance, In one of his notebooks, Kepler broke spontaneously
into prayer:
‘I give you thanks, Creator and God,
that you have given me this joy in thy
creation, and I rejoice in the works of
your hands. See I have now completed
the work to which I was called. In it I
have used all the talents you have lent
to my spirit.’
“It is especially in sciences … that we
see the wonders of God, his power,
wisdom and goodness; … that is
why, since my youth, I have given
myself to the sciences that I loved.”
- Leibniz
“The most beautiful system of the sun, planets, and comets, could
only proceed from the counsel and dominion of an intelligent and
powerful Being…This Being governs all things, not as the soul of
the world, but as Lord over all; and on account of his dominion he
is wont to be called Lord God, or Universal Ruler…The Supreme
God is a Being eternal, infinite, absolutely perfect; but a being,
however perfect, without dominion, cannot be said to be Lord
God; for we say, my God, your God, the God of Israel, the God of
Gods, and Lord of Lords…”
-Newton (1643-1727) Principia
Newton explains God as being personal and
sustaining all things by his powerful word for the
purpose of His own glory. His dominion is evident in
creation.
And to see this was Newton’s purpose
for the work that he did.
Historic Presuppositions of Science
7.
Motives for science –
ii) "Christians found Biblical justification for an active use of nature
in the creation account (Genesis 1:28), where God gives human
beings ‘dominion’ over the earth. Dominion was understood not as
license to exploit nature ruthlessly but as a responsibility to cultivate
it, care for it, and harness its forces for human benefit."
“Almighty God, who hast created man in Thine
own image, and made him a living soul that he
might seek after Thee and have dominion over Thy
creatures, teach us to study the works of Thy
hands that we may subdue the earth to our use,
and strengthen our reason for They service; and so
to receive They blessed Word, that we may believe
Maxwell 1831-1879
on Him whom Thou has sent to give us the
knowledge of salvation and the remission of our sins. All which we
ask in the name of the same Jesus Christ our Lord”
Historic Presuppositions of Science
7.
Motives for science – The Christian faith provided motives to
pursue scientific research.
iii) Christians found significance in Adam’s naming of the animals.
In Hebrew, to name something is to assert mastery over it. Also, a
name expresses the essential nature of a thing. So Adam had to
carefully analyze the animals to give them appropriate names.
Thus Genesis gave divine justification to the study and analysis of
the natural world.
iv) Science was viewed as one way of alleviating the effects of the
Fall (Genesis 3). Thus science was permeated with religious
concern for the poor and the sick, with humanitarian effort to
alleviate toil and tedium.
This last point was particularly revolutionary. The idea of
improving one’s life cannot occur to people trapped in a cyclic,
fatalistic, or deterministic view of history. (Ps 19:1-6; 115:16; Ezek
34:4-Matt 25:32-45; Acts 20:35; 1John 3:17,18).
Unreasonable Faith of
Some Modern Scientists

“The universe was created by chance”
So is chance a scientific law?
Chance is not a thing. It has no being so it has
no power.
CHANCE CANNOT DO ANYTHING!

“In this day and age we no longer believe in spontaneous generation.
We now believe in gradual spontaneous generation.”
“One has only to wait. Time itself performs the miracle. The
impossible becomes possible; the possible, probable; and the
probable, certain. What begins as an impossibility becomes
certain through miracle. And the miracle is performed by the
causal agent time.”
Unreasonable Faith of
Great
Question
Some
Modern
Scientists
Time
+ Chance =
Personal
Universe
Impersonal
Which is fundamental?
Nothing + Nothing =
Everything
Foundation of science
1.
2.
Law of Causality
Values
– Trustworthy reporting of data
– Honest analysis
3.
4.
Logic & Reason
Attainability of Truth
Obligations and loyalties arise in the
context of interpersonal relationships.
Morality is covenantal in nature.
Conclusion



Therefore the ultimate authority is an “absolute
personality”
Accept the God of the Bible or deny objective
morality, objective truth, the rationality of man,
and the rational knowability of the universe.
Jesus demands all, not some of our loyalty
(Dt 6:4ff; Lk 9:23-26). That includes loving him with
the mind – which may well entail holding some
unpopular views on scholarly matters (1 Tim 6:20)
Now this I say and testify in the Lord, that you
must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the
futility of their minds. They are darkened in their
understanding, alienated from the life of God
because of the ignorance that is in them, due to
their hardness of heart. They have become
callous and have given themselves up to
sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of
impurity. But that is not the way you learned
Christ!-- assuming that you have heard about him
and were taught in him, as the truth is in Jesus”
Eph 4:17-21 (ESV)
What We Gather


It is quite obvious that the concept and
understanding of God presented scientists from
the time of the Protestant Reformation on with an
unsurpassed motivation to mathematically model
the world around them.
The idea of God as the Law-Giver helped give
weight to the theory that nature was created with
a set of its own laws. Job 38:32-33
Can you bring forth the constellations in their seasons or lead out the
Bear with its cubs? Do you know the laws of the heavens? Can you set
up God's dominion over the earth?

The Reformation restored the Biblical perspective
and thereby stimulated an interest in God’s
handiwork.
Atheistic scientists today are operating on borrowed capital.