Does God Exist, Free Course, Lesson 2

Science And God

Everyone knows that this is the age of science. The explosive growth of science and technology fills everyone with awe. Science has become a synonym for truth, and none can deny that science constantly strives to find truth. 

Since today science is man’s greatest endeavor to discover truth, people tend to equate science with truth and other kinds of knowledge with imagination. Atheists have used this mindset to their advantage by claiming that science has disproved God. If this statement is true, then Bible believers should surely suspect all what they believe. But has science really disproved God ? 

WHAT IS SCIENCE

Present-day science is a tool developed in the last four hundred years with the purpose of studying nature. Historians of science say that the Protestant Reformation was the movement that promoted this development. 

Three things go into the development of science : logic, mathematics, and repetitive experiments. Logic provides the rules to discern between the true and the false. Mathematics provides the tools to express things quantitatively. This makes possible exact measurements and comparisons. 

Inferences are drawn from experiments using these two : mathematics and logic. For the inferences to be correct, the object under investigation should be available in a laboratory for repeated experimentation and verification. It should be possible to measure its mass, size, temperature, and other similar physical properties. 

If a particular object is not available for repetitive experimentation and observation, then it is not possible to study it scientifically. If it lacks the physical properties of matter and energy, then it does not come in the realm of experimental sciences. Sciences cannot investigate it. Further, things that have taken place only once come under historical and legal investigation, and not under scientific (experimental) investigation. Also, if a particular thing does not lend itself to measurement by laboratory tools, then it cannot be studied by sciences. 

Scientific truth is often expressed in terms of hypotheses, theories, assumptions, observations, data, facts, and laws. These categories are necessary to express the varying degrees of certainty with which we understand the behaviour of matter. These can roughly be classified into two categories. Facts Of Science, and Theories of Science. “Facts of science” refers to all that information that is known to be sure, free from error, and having no exceptions. “Theories of science” represents all that information that is still incomplete, uncertain, and prone to be altered. Of these two, only facts of science have a lasting value. Theories do not last much as they keep appearing and disappearing. 

Whenever anyone conducts an important scientific investigation, he publishes the results in standard scientific journals. Researchers all over the world have access to journals in their fields, and they constantly appraise the new developments. This is the way how results of scientific investigation are communicated to the scientific community. 

THE AIM OF SCIENCE

The aim of science is to investigate matter and energy. To discover their properties and behaviour pattern. If a particular thing is neither matter nor energy, then it cannot be investigated in a laboratory. For example, love is a fact of life, but since it is neither matter nor energy it cannot be investigated by science. There is no gadget to measure the mass, length, breadth, or temperature of love. 

The aim of science is not to investigate all reality, but rather to investigate those realities that are seen in the form of matter and energy. The investigation takes place with the help of repeated experiments. All negations and affirmations depend upon experimental observations, and nothing can be established without relevant experiments. 

Physics investigates the physical properties of matter and energy. Chemistry, biology, astronomy, and the various scientific disciplines known to us investigate the physical behaviour of things pertaining to their respective fields. 

LIMITS OF SCIENCE

Science is a tool, a methodology, developed to study matter and energy. It, therefore, is able to investigate truths only in this region. If there is any truth in the world besides matter, 

science is not able to investigate it. One should not be surprised at this. 

Science was developed to study and investigate only nature, and therefore it cannot be used for other things. For example, science cannot pronounce any opinion about the existence of king Ashoka. A historical person or incident cannot be brought into the laboratory for experimental investigation. The maximum that science can do is to provide tools to study the material objects discovered by archaeologists. But conclusions of history depend upon techniques of historical investigations, not on techniques of natural sciences. 

In the same way, truths about people and their relationships cannot be investigated by science. No equipment can measure love, hatred, or fear. These are realities, but since they are neither matter nor energy they are beyond the scope of science. Love is not a property of matter, nor is anything else connected with human relationship. 

Science can investigate matter and energy, but nothing more. Historical realities are studied with methods of historical investigations, while truths related to individuals can be investigated only by methods of relational verification. One has to enter into a personal relationship with a person to verify truths that are relational in nature. 

HAVE SCIENCES DISPROVED GOD

It should be clear by now that the purpose of science is to study matter and energy, and nothing beyond that. Even if someone tries to broaden its boundaries, that is not possible. All affirmations and negations have to be established only on the basis of repetitive experimental observations. 

God is neither matter nor energy. Therefore the methods of experimental sciences cannot be applied to disprove His existence. Nobody in the world has devised an experiment that can disprove God. 

If anyone claims that sciences have disproved the existence of God, he must be asked to defend his position. He has to explain the experiment, the place where this was performed and the place where the results were published. Anyone can make any claims saying that science has demonstrated this or that fact, but then he should be able to support his claims by pointing to relevant experiments. 

No one claiming that science has disproved God has ever come up with experimental evidence to support this claim. This is because they are using the name of science to intimidate the ignorant. There is no truth in their claims, but they will continue repeating this false claim as long as they can successfully disturb people. 

If anyone claims that science has disproved God, he has to describe the experiment that finally disproved God. Discussing anything else is irrelevant to the argument. 

HAS EVOLUTION DISPROVED GOD

On talking of science and experiments, some might think that the theory of evolution has disproved God. This is false. 

First of all, The Theory Of Evolution is only a theory. It is a mere hypothesis or supposition. It is not a law of science, nor is it a fact of science. If it were a law, they would have called it the LAW of evolution. But the scientific community itself accepts that it is the THEORY of evolution. 

The theory of evolution needs first to establish itself, and then only it can question the existence of God — if it has any bearing on the subject. Till then you need to remember only this much: a hypothesis or supposition is not a fact of science. 

If anyone claims that sciences have disproved God, he has to demonstrate that experiment which has achieved this feat. Appeal to evolution, which is a mere theory
, will not do the job.