"Science and God are mutually exclusive and cannot co-exist"
"You must choose between science and God."
"God cannot exist, because science has disproven Him."
I have heard all of these multiple times throughout my education and career. You cannot surprise me with any variation on the theme or general condemnation of faith because science (usually referenced as a whole in vague generalities) proves faith foolish. I have heard it. I have listened. I have studied science through two (and a half) graduate degrees and a growing career in the field. I understand the argument.
And I reject it.
I have lived on both sides of the Science-vs-God battlefront -often simultaneously- and risen through the ranks in both camps. At some point years ago, I had a life-changing revelation about the great battle: There is no battle at all.
You cannot have a war unless at least two sides fight. If only one side is fighting, that becomes an invasion, not a battle. It is an encroachment, typically because one side feels threatened. If science disproves God, then it stands to logic that God would be very anti-science, and science very anti-God. This is how it is portrayed in society writ large in our science classes, media, classrooms, churches or temples, etc. We are taught this at a very young age and both sides present good cases, so that at least one is convincing enough for almost anybody to believe one or the other holds exclusive ownership of "truth," relegating the other to the depths of complete falsehood.
This mentality does us a huge disservice, however, so let me take the opportunity to take a second and potentially blow your mind with an important fact: God is not anti-science. In fact, God Himself mandates that every human created becomes a form of scientist in one way or another. Don't take my word on it, though- I'm a scientist, so I like seeing and presenting evidence. There is a slightly more in-depth look at the evidence here, but for now, let's quickly look at Romans 1:20, straight from God's word itself:
"For since the beginning of creation, God's invisible qualities -His eternal power and divine nature- have been clearly seen from what has been made, so that men are without excuse."
I think we can all agree that Science is the study of "what has been made". God is not only saying here that He isn't threatened by science- He is mandating His followers study it in some capacity. Not all will become scientists in profession, but he is telling us that studying His creation, or practicing science, is a lifestyle and a lifelong method to learn about Him. He says that, as science has made Him so abundantly clear, we have literally zero possible excuses for not seeing and learning about Him through it.
Science isn't God's enemy. Science is a calling for every person ever created.
I have addressed in a separate post the effect of this on fellow believers, so today I'll address my fellow scientists, engineers, mathematicians, critical thinkers in any professional field, etc.
If you spend your life with science or people in any capacity and don't see God, there is no excuse for missing the most important part of the creation you are studying- its creator. Now that you know that God is pro-science, let's think about it logically together: If science disproves God, why is God mandating that all humans he creates studies it in some manner? If science disproves God, there are only a few options:
1) God is fictional, and He is also fictionally suicidal. This just... doesn't follow any sense of logic.
2) The people who created the idea of God and wrote His "words" were just really stupid and didn't catch the glaring mistake. It is unlikely that people capable of creating something so intricate and thorough would miss something so apparent.
3) They were playing a joke on future people groups, keeping track of how long it took people to read this verse and realize that it makes the whole thing self-contradictory and proves its falsehood. If that's it, these people are long gone, so I think that data is no longer trustworthy or useful at all.. and they would have had to know that.
Perhaps, though, it is something far more simple: God is pro-science because even science cannot make truth false.
As truth cannot be disproven, truth itself does not have to be concerned with further inquiries into seemingly competing ideas. God has no problem with science because science cannot possibly disprove God. Creation cannot possibly disprove its creator. Any contradiction that arises is due to a lack of understanding of science, God, or both. God is pro-science, and he is pro-scientist. We also have no excuse to be deep into creation and not see Him. If we don't, it shows a lack of understanding on our parts.
And don't worry- it isn't just the hard sciences that teach of us of God.
So...What now?
Truth cannot be made false, and, thus, God is a strong supporter of scientists and critical thinkers everywhere. What happens, though, when there arises a situation where science and God seem to contradict? How can this possibly do anything but prove one false? Easy- we do what we do every other day of our lives- we improve our understanding until we see the truth. We hypothesize. We test. We figure out the truth. This means continuing to learn about both science and God directly until we fill the empty gaps in our knowledge. We dig deeply and change the variables until we get the right equation. We learn to ask the right questions. We never, ever settle for what we're told without investigating it ourselves.
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