Science is Not the Study of General Revelation

In 1993, Dr. N.H. Gootjes, then professor at the Theological College of the Canadian Reformed Churches, published a Clarion article entitled, “What does God reveal in the Grand Canyon?” You can find the article, and my Letter to the Editor, and his response, here.

This is an interesting throwback to my graduate student days, when I was an enthusiastic young-earth creationist wishing to share with readers of Reformed Perspective how the reigning paradigms of modern science were crumbling in light of recent discoveries (e.g. discoveries of stars older than the universe; see my piece “Is the Universe ‘Too Young’?”, Reformed Perspective, June 1993, vol. 12, no. 8, pp. 21-2). After this exchange between Dr. Gootjes and myself in the pages of Clarion, I had coffee with him on a visit of his to BC. I tried to clarify my points of agreement with him and push back a bit on the second-last sentence of his response to me: “For this reason I cannot agree that Christian scientists ought to share what they have found in creation about God (see my second point). Let them, however, by all means share what they have found in creation about God’s world (my first point).”

I actually agree that science is not the study of general revelation; I am thankful for Dr. Gootjes’s corrective to that aspect of what I thought 22 years ago. And I am glad Dr. Gootjes encouraged us to share what we find about God’s world (like the multiple independent converging lines of evidence that provide significant support to the current theories of cosmology, geology, meteorology, embryology, biology, more support than I thought in 1993).

But I still also believe that science can deepen our appreciation of some of God’s attributes, like his covenant faithfulness. For example, careful studies of light from distant stars indicate to a high degree of precision that the principles of quantum physics and general relativity apply equally well up there in “the heavens” as they do here on earth; God’s omnipresence and his sovereignty and providential care for creation extends to the far reaches of space and beyond. The cosmic vistas of the Hubble space telescope have deepened our sense of our physical and spatial insignificance, enhancing our appreciation of God’s special concern and care for humans beyond what David could in Psalm 8. Our growing understanding of deep time can strengthen our appreciation of God’s goodness, providence, and patience, as we learn about the amazing processes (like the special resonance of beryllium-8 God apparently provided as the way for stars to produce all the carbon atoms in our bodies) that God has directed to prepare a place for us to live. Our examination of the structure and functioning of DNA can deepen our appreciation of God’s wisdom and his meticulous providence. Our study of the relationships between electric and magnetic fields can deepen our appreciation of God’s love of beauty and symmetry. Surely you can think of more examples.I am not saying we learn new specific facts about God, but we can, also through our scientific investigations, more deeply appreciate certain of His qualities.

“Oh Lord my God,

when I, in awesome wonder,

consider all the worlds Thy hands have made,

I see the stars,

I hear the rolling thunder,

Thy power throughout the universe displayed,

Then sings my soul, my Saviour, God, to Thee,

How great Thou art,

How great Thou art.”

So I accept that science is not the study of general revelation, but of the world; after all, general revelation is revelation about God. But science can still give us as believers even more to praise and thank God for, and those of us who “look through the telescope” long to invite others to share in this experience.

Now, there is an interesting converse to this. Special revelation is not about the world, but about God. What God reveals to us in His Word is Himself, with much more specificity [hence: special revelation] than we could possibly find out from just considering the world. The purpose of the Bible is not to teach us cosmology, geology, meteorology, embryology, or biology, but to teach us about God. The Bible is not an encyclopedic answer book to which we can come with all the questions our modern scientific mindset encourages us to ask, like “How old is the universe?”, “What came first, plants or people?”, “Of whom was Cain afraid when God cursed him?”, “Did the layers of the Grand Canyon get deposited by Noah’s flood?”, “When did the previous 117 species of elephants roam the earth?”, “How does fossilization occur?” The Belgic Confession says as much: “Second, He makes Himself more clearly and fully known to us by His holy and divine Word as far as is necessary for us in this life, to His glory and our salvation” (Article 2). “We receive all these [canonical] books, and these only, as holy and canonical, for the regulation, foundation, and confirmation of our faith” (Article 5).

Gootjes concluded, “Let them…by all means share what they have found in creation about God’s world.” Scientists who are Christians have the ability and calling, if only we would be invited, to share our personal and communal experiences and observations with other Christians. We are familiar with the methods and results of science. We long to share our joy of discovery and our awe & wonder at what God has made. We can explain the limits of science, identify the non-scientific claims made by outspoken atheist-scientists, and offer correctives to over-zealous and well-intentioned claims of some Christians (which, like those I made myself in the Reformed Perspective article cited above, are all too often misleading and offer false comfort). For this, is the church confident enough in Jesus Christ the only foundation (see I Corinthians 3:11), and in God’s love and providence, His faithfulness and goodness, His truth and mercy, and His infallible Word?

Stephen Hawking’s “The Grand Design”

I am planning a longer review, but in case anyone is wondering what I think about Hawking’s new book, which is reviewed (e.g. here and here) with titles like “God did not create the universe, says Hawking”, let me just say for now, like one of my colleagues did earlier today:

“Hawking did not create the universe, says God.”

Stay tuned to hear more about the book’s dismal display of extreme philosophical and theological naïveté.

[Note - Quotes in my remarks below are from the pre-publication edition, and may be different from the published edition.]

For example, they characterize the notion that “the laws were the work of God [as] no more than a definition of God as the embodiment of the laws of nature.” (p. 29), “scientific determinism is the modern scientist’s answer” to the question of miracles (p. 30), “we are no more than biological machines and…free will is just an illusion.” (p. 32) Clearly the authors have never bothered to have even a quick glance in the pages of any academic journal on these topics, for they write, “philosophy is dead. …Scientists have become the bearers of the torch of discovery in our quest for knowledge” (p. 5) and ask very poorly formulated questions like, “Did the universe need a creator?” (p. 5)

Half of the The Grand Design’s chapter titles invite, but disappoint, the curious reader: The Mystery of Being, What Is Reality?, Choosing Our Universe, The Apparent Miracle. Hawking & Mlodinow approach deep spiritual, metaphysical, ontological, existential questions but instead of seriously engaging them, apply superficial physical-reductionistic answers. This is not surprising, given Hawking’s habit of ridiculing of religion as outmoded myth, but sad nevertheless as one could hope that he and Mlodinow could have learned from both atheist and Christian critiques of Dawkins and Hitchens. Apparently there remains a significant market for sloppy dismissal of anything to do with faith.

My review is planned for Perspectives on Science and Christian Faith.

Reformed Academic

Since 2007, I've basically stopped blogging, and moved over to Facebook.

But, there's a new collaborative blog I'm contributing to.  Check it out: Reformed Academic .  You'll have to scroll down to find the first post .

Joystick-Controlled Etch-a-Sketch

Today my son designed, built, and programmed a joystick interface for an etch-a-sketch using Lego Mindstorms RCX. What did you do on your summer holidays?

Total Lunar Eclipse tonight

Our family plans to get up in the middle of the night tonight (wee hours of Tuesday 28 August) to see the total lunar eclipse. Here are all the details. The moon enters earth's full shadow at 1:51am (PDT) and leaves again at 5:24am, being totally within from 2:52am to 4:22am. (See under "Lunar Eclipse Diagrams" for other time-zones.) The moon is expected to be red during this time, as it collects refracted light from all the sunrises and sunsets occurring around the world! You should also be able to see the curved shadow, and witness in one of the most direct fashions possible that the earth is round and not flat.

Enjoy, and give God the glory.

Making the Most of University

Some of my readers are university students (or perhaps, college students).  Let me highly recommend an ongoing series - called "Making the most of college" - in Comment, a newsletter of the Work Research Foundation.  This organization is driven by a desire to work out into daily life the many wonderful consequences of a Reformed, Christian worldview and philosophy.  Here are some titles in the series.  I haven't read them all, but I like what I did read, and you university students will appreciate and perhaps be challenged by them.

• Business, balance, and learning to live
• Appreciating the arts
• Courts, diamonds & gridirons
• The importance of dressing well
• Finding your coffee community
• Recovering the lost logic of church
• Learning with friends
• Preparing for leadership

The Sun Is Back

After about a week of rain and dreary cool weather, the sun is back! It suddenly came beaming in our front windows, and noticing the rain coming down, we expected - and found - a rainbow. A beautiful double-rainbow, a complete semi-circle as the sun was about to set. We ran out front to make a few pictures. Doesn't Valerie look happy?

Oma Timmerman - 1914-2007

Today, at the age of 92, my maternal grandmother ("Oma in Holland", Hendrikje Timmerman-Doornbos) completed this earthly journey and went home to be with the Lord. She's pictured here with three of her six sons (there were also three daughters, including my mother of course) and five of her over 50 grandchildren (I'm wearing the tie), on the last day I saw her, which was Sunday 14 August 2005, as I was in Holland for a conference. I visited her in 1994 and 2003 as well, but before that, from as early as I can remember (say, 1972?) until 1988, Opa and Oma came to Canada for six to eight weeks once every two years. I thank God for her, and for the many wonderful memories. We in Canada (only two of her children are here) were very privileged to have their frequent lengthy visits. After Opa's ill health, they didn't come to Canada together again, but Oma came to my oldest sister's wedding in '96, after Opa died in '94.

My Oma had long black hair, which only in the last few years included any signs of grey. She also had amazing abilities: she could tell body temperature by hand, as well as accurately determine the weight of bundles of newspaper (she helped us tie them up in the 70s and 80s when our Christian school in Fergus/Guelph made $50 (?) per truckload). Plus, she could "divine water"; in fact, reaching over from behind me, holding my wrists with her strong hands, the Y-shaped willow branch would turn when we walked past the waterline running from the house to the barn. She knew all kind of cures, including this one for my sunburnt & blistered back (I mowed the Bouwman's lawn with no shirt for three or four hours when I was about 14): a tea-towel soaked in buttermilk was placed on my back. And my favourite memory of Opa were his sing-song mealtime prayers in Dutch.

Praise God for her life and leadership and service!

Orchid blooming after a year

Last year on our fifteenth anniversary, I bought my wife a couple of orchids. Now, I must say the garden centre was somewhat reluctant to sell them to me, and at first claimed they didn't have any orchids. Well, I had my sister-in-law with me (who, of course, also grew up at Dufferin Garden Centre) to help me pick out the orchids, and she found some in a dark corner of the store. But, since they weren't blooming, they had figured no one would be interested. Far from it! Since my wife is a horticulturist, she would enjoy the challenge! So, 11 months later (about two weeks ago), the plant started to send up a flower stalk, and this morning, on her parents' 41st anniversary, the first one revealed its glory. Here's a close-up. The first flower still has a wee bit more opening to do, and the second is about a day behind the first. The other picture shows the full plant on the kitchen table, with slingers hanging on the ceiling to celebrate our youngest's graduation from single-digits, and the "grow-op" plant stand in the background in front of the patio door, above which is strung our stephanotis which hasn't yet bloomed since we moved back to BC from Iowa two years ago. You can also just make out two other orchid plants under the lights behind the railing.

Orchids are amazing! Instead of soil, they grow in a humid moss-mulch mix to mimic their natural environment in hollows of trees in tropical rain forests.

"If the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do?"

I have often heard this (Psalm 11:3) raised up as a banner by Christian organizations concerned about where culture, or the church, is headed. But today when we read it at lunch, I saw the context and realized that we have a simple response to this kind of appeal.

Here's Psalm 11:1-3 (NASB):

In the LORD I take refuge;
How can you say to my soul, "Flee as a bird to your mountain;
For, behold, the wicked bend the bow,
They make ready their arrow upon the string
To shoot in darkness at the upright in heart.
If the foundations are destroyed,
What can the righteous do?"

So, what should be our response when we're told, "If the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do?"

Simple: "In the LORD I take refuge - how can you say that to me?"

Conrad Black - dangerous criminal?

I haven't followed the Conrad Black story very closely, but with his guilty verdict, the sentencing is soon to follow.  Here's a post I submitted to CBC's Your View.

Here the concept of jail-time for white-collar crime comes up again.  Do we really have to lock up this dangerous criminal to protect society?  Instead of having him be served by the tax-payer for the duration of his sentence, let's have him pay restitution and serve others.  There should be plenty of community-service opportunities for him.  Take away his wealth, let him live in a little apartment somewhere, and put him to work - using his intelligence and skills - full time (for free) in the public library or a homeless shelter, and monitor his finances and his location to make sure he doesn't pilfer or enjoy exotic vacations.

Baby, It's Hot Out There

While the Fraser Valley is supposed by many to sport a mild climate, today's temperature reached 38 degrees Celsius here. Without air conditioning, but with a picnic blanket over my office sky-light, blowing in "cold" air since 5am, and then closing the windows at about 8am, we've kept the indoor temperature to a mere 28 deg! But, I must say, it's still much more comfortable inside and outside than a typically summer day in Iowa, where the humidity would be 60 to 80%.