“God created…” Genesis 1:1

In my previous post, Agree Then Disagree, we looked at the first three words of the Bible: “In the beginning.”  We found Science and the Bible agree that there was a beginning to the universe as we know it.

The second thing we now read in Genesis 1:1 is that God was there at the beginning.  Here the approaches of science and the Bible move in different directions.

Science begins with what we can prove, then works on what we can’t yet prove.  The Bible tells us things about God we cannot prove, then asks us to look for proof of his presence in the world.

These different approaches make it hard to find common ground.  Any conversation seems to quickly become an argument, but it doesn’t have to be.

Science is not a threat to what we believe about God.

God’s existence is entirely outside of ours. Our efforts to expand what we know of our existence do not in any way take away from his.

Scientists generally reject the explanation that God created because it leaves too many questions that science can’t answer.  One of those questions is “What was there before any of this?”

The Bible tells us that God created at the beginning, which means he was there before the beginning.  Somehow, God exists outside of the limits of time and space.  (For more on this, see my post, How Old Is God?)

Science starts from within space and time, and works to push our understanding outward.  Many believers also have a desire to know as much as possible about the universe, because they believe it will help them know the God who created it.

Good science is not an enemy of faith, as in many ways, it points to the existence of God.  But for this conversation to take place, both sides must accept their limitations.

Science has theories of what may have existed before space and time, yet science has limited itself to knowing what exists within space and time.  Therefore, science cannot prove the God of the Bible doesn’t exist.

The Bible states God exists, and offers that as an explanation for everything we observe.  The Bible can tell us why things are the way they are, even though it doesn’t tell us exactly what they are.

The most important thing the Bible tells us is that we were created with a purpose, and that purpose has been frustrated by sin.  That’s why this conversation is so difficult.

But God tells us that, by trusting in him, we can renew our purpose.  And we can express that purpose in how we study the world God created.

That is an unexpected, but important place for a believer to be.