Does Science Need God?

by Dr. Jason Lisle on April 3, 2009

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Could science operate if the biblical God didn’t exist? Dr. Jason Lisle, AiG–U.S., shows why even atheist scientists unwittingly depend upon a God they don’t believe in.

The Bahnsen article made the statement “The Bible provides the only possible presupposition for all thought and science.” The ancient Greeks, with no knowledge of the Bible, determined that the Earth is a sphere with a radius of about 6,000 km rather than a two dimensional circle with no dimensions given. The Greeks also used scientific methods to correctly determine the approximate diameter of the moon and estimate its distance from the Earth to a high degree of accuracy while the ancient Hebrews with their scripture achieved essentially nothing in Astronomy. The Greeks also concluding that the Sun was larger than the Earth, were able to hypothesize the Earth orbited the much larger Sun. The Greeks also devised a means to determine the distance to the Sun that failed only because the instruments of the day lacked the capability of measuring very small angles. Clearly human reasoning proved far more valuable than divine revelation in the realm of Astronomy to the ancients.

—S.K., U.S.

An Eternal Difference

Hello Mr. Ham,

I am a second year ministry student training to one day become a pastor. My parents and I visited the Creation Museum [recently]. I was expecting to be impressed, but I was blown away. Everything was so impressive from the exhibits to the theater presentation. This museum is making an eternal difference in the lives of many people because of people like you and those that work with Answers in Genesis. I pray every day for this ministry and that people will come to the Savior because of AIG’s efforts. . . . Thank You and God Bless.

—P.I., U.S.

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Dr. Bahnsen is exactly right. “The Bible provides the only possible presupposition for all thought and science.” Only a biblical worldview can logically account for those things necessary for scientific inquiry, such as uniformity in nature (as shown in Evolution: The Anti-Science) and laws of logic (as shown in Atheism: An Irrational Worldview). Without these things, science could not proceed. And yet, these things are contingent upon the biblical God.

Did the ancient Greeks believe in laws of logic? Yes. Did they believe in uniformity in nature? Yes. So, the Greeks were borrowing from the biblical worldview (without acknowledging this, of course). Although they denied the biblical God with their lips, they were relying upon the biblical God with their actions. This is a behavioral inconsistency quite common in our modern world, too. Just like the Greeks, many scientists today rely upon the truth of the Bible while simultaneously verbally denying the truth of the Bible.

How did the ancient Greeks know about the biblical God that they might rely upon His laws of logic and His uniform sustenance of the universe? The answer is found in Romans 1:18–21. God has revealed Himself to everyone, and, so, everyone knows the God of creation. But because people have a sin nature, we are inclined to suppress our knowledge of God (Romans 1:18). The Bible tells us that there is no excuse for this (Romans 1:20). Everyone knows God and relies (to some extent) on biblical presuppositions, but not everyone acknowledges this (Romans 1:21).

So, the argument is not that people must profess a belief in the Bible in order to do science. The argument is that the Bible must be true in order for anyone to do science (whether people acknowledge it or not). Science rests upon the truth of Scripture. So, the fact that the ancient Greeks were able to do science demonstrates that the Bible is true! If the Bible were not true, the methods of science would not make sense; they would have no rational foundation. In other words, “The Bible provides the only possible presupposition for all thought and science.”

Dr. Jason Lisle