Revelation and Science

Science cannot prove or disprove how life originated. Any verification of what God did could be accurately obtained only from God Himself. God’s role could not be deduced from the evidence alone since the question of what God could have done has an infinite number of possible answers.

Whilst however science cannot prove or disprove God’s role in the origin and history of life, any revelation from God about the origin of life is of utmost importance to science. It alone can provide a realistic basis for the explanation of all the evidence. No other basis will be able to consistently incorporate all aspects of the evidence which are presently known or which will be discovered in the future. Jesus said, “When you become my disciples then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free” (John 8:32).

A word to Christians

Many non-Christians claim that they see nothing in the Bible to demand that it is the word of God. All too often Christians are prepared to accept that there is some justification in this claim. Many Christians even imagine they can find a “neutral” starting point for an argument with the non-Christian to prove the Bible is the word of God. From this point of assumed “agreement” a series of arguments can then be constructed which in the end might possibly prove that the Bible is the word of God. Unfortunately it might equally well prove that it is not. It will simply depend on who has the most convincing logic.

This whole approach however has a basic “danger point” which the Christian must avoid at all costs. Whilst your “neutral” starting point might be history, or archaeology or science, in using such a method you will unconsciously make your starting point an authority higher than God. You will attempt to make God conform to the believed facts of history, the popular facts of science, the current theories in archaeology. Such is foolishness. It is not God which must conform to the standard of the historian, but the historian who must conform to the standards of God (see Hebrews 6:16-18).

The Christian can have real confidence that any pursuit of truth in history or truth in science or archaeology will result in a view of the physical world which is totally in accord with God’s revelation. But beware! Any area of knowledge from or about the natural world which has been pursued by man is based upon observation. Never will it be possible to say that man is aware of all the observations which can be made. As the philosophers have said, “Only he who knows all can conclude.”

To put it bluntly, the Bible cannot possibly be proved to be God’s word by anyone or anything external to God Himself. This does not mean that the testimony of the Christian is useless, for the Christian must point out that the Bible is the word of God. But this is only possible because the Bible truly is the word of God.

But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him. (Hebrews 11:6)