Are Christians afraid of science?

Part of my journey as a questioner has involved moments where I feel desperate for “evidence” of God. And, something more than stars and flowers and the heavens declaring His glory. I have been extremely frustrated when I pick up a book about the evidence for God/Christ and open it only to find a list of scriptural references and a chapter devoted to the Bible being self-proving. I get it. I know. I am well aware that the Bible refers back to itself and “proves” itself and this is a well-established argument for the accuracy and reliability of the Bible. It’s also one of the things that I love about the Bible. It’s one of the things that makes studying it so much fun. (Yes, I said fun!)

BUT

I want more. I want something more than “because the Bible says it’s true.” I used to think it made me a bad person, an unfaith-full person. I so badly wanted to just believe, just accept. But I couldn’t. I can’t.

I’m married to an atheist who is also a hardcore scientist. He was once brought to tears as he tried to verbalize his intense desire to see the truth come to light. I think our conversation at the time was around vaccinations, but really, his arguments about how powerful and valuable science and scientific explanations are could be applied to nearly everything. The truth is important to him, and science – while not infallible or, these days, even trustworthy – has provided some powerful and valuable truths to our world. (The lack of reliability in science is also one of my husband’s sticking points – it angers him that scientists have seemingly forgotten that their career is about asking questions and not simply looking for specific answers.)

I am a firm believer that science and faith are not mutually exclusive; that what the Bible has to say about the world is not disproven or otherwise set aside by scientific discoveries.

Recently, in one of my regular internet searches for whether the Bible is true and if there is evidence for Christ’s existence (a post for another time), I came across a website that challenges Christians to re-think the relationship between science and faith.

The Steam Project through Fuller Theological Seminary has a ton of resources and encouragement for considering what faith can learn from science. I have barely touched the surface of what they offer, but I’m curious to go through their articles and videos and learn from them.

I have zero relationship or affiliation with them. I offer their website only as a resource for those of you who, like me, come up against the science/faith debate quite often, even if it’s only in your own head or heart. I have signed up for their newsletter and love that it is so conversational and not combative at all. Their aim is not to put down one or the other but to show churches and believers just how much science and faith need each other, and how the future of the church could really benefit from us genuinely engaging in the conversation.

Despite all my questioning, I keep coming back to the answer that God must have created it all. In my humble opinion, only a Higher Power could have implemented all of this. The way science has demonstrated the structure of the universe and nature… it all seems to defy chance or coincidence. The more that I read about scientific discoveries, the more it seems to lead to a higher design. I know that science’s purpose and faith’s purpose are separate and distinct. But, to me, science can illuminate my faith in really beautiful ways. Sometimes my doubt gets the best of me, and I can feel my faith start to crumble underneath the weight of questions like how to explain Adam and Eve, and did we really evolve from monkeys, and how old is the earth really? But, then, I consider how perfectly perfect the earth is situated and all the physics and chemistry and forces interconnected and those questions fall into perspective again. There can still be a knowing in the not-knowing.

What questions do you have around scripture? or about how science & faith intersect?  Is it easy for you to believe and accept the truth of scripture?