As a biology major in college, I wrestled with how to reconcile the scientific observations and principles I learned in class with the Truth of God’s Word. I was also frustrated by some Christians who would evoke God as the explanation for everything, failing to acknowledge scientific observations and principles. I did not know it then but I was being confronted with the “God-of-the-gaps” argument.
This argument implies that any gap in our scientific knowledge can only be explained by God. If some event cannot be explained by natural phenomena, it must have resulted from divine intervention. God fills in the gaps. I viewed the argument as specious. It suppresses the truth and relegates God to the backup argument if science is currently unable to provide an explanation. If science did find an explanation, God would then appear to be fallible, not omnipotent and all-knowing. How could I reconcile science and God without falling into this trap?
During the age of enlightenment and the industrial revolution, mankind was emboldened by discoveries in science that were able to explain many natural phenomena. We later learned how the universe did not always exist but started at a definite point, dubbed the Big Bang. We no longer needed God for explanations, or did we? It is instructive that the Bible recorded that in the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. It was not called the Big Bang, it was called Creation!
So the LORD God formed from the ground all the wild animals and all the birds of the sky. He brought them to the man to see what he would call them, and the man chose a name for each one. He gave names to all the livestock, all the birds of the sky, and all the wild animals….
Genesis 2:19-20 (NLT)
God established the Truth from the beginning of His Creation and allowed man to participate in the discovery by allowing him to name each living creature. Understanding God’s Creation is complex and the more we learn, the more we realize there are deeper levels of understanding that we could scarcely comprehend even a few years ago. There will always be gaps in our knowledge of science but the most incredible fact, like the Big Bang, is how science increasingly demonstrates the Truth of God’s Word.
God is not the excuse to explain our gaps in scientific knowledge. God is the source of the gaps!
Amen!
Love and trust in the Lord; seek His will in your life.
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