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A medical research firm for which I worked was moving to a new location and contractors were still working on our new facility as we were trying to settle in. One of the contractors asked what we did, and in response to someone’s answer of “medical research,” the contractor replied that he had always wondered what kind of people did medical research. The reply to him was something to the effect that we were nothing special. This little conversation, in a way, shows how science is something mysterious to many people and this aura of mystery can extend to scientists themselves.
It is an objective fact that science has generated a huge store of knowledge that has vastly improved the condition of people around the world. The combined efforts of scientists, engineers, technicians, and many others have brought to us wealth and comforts that were the stuff of fairy tales a bare couple of centuries ago. But like everything else in this fallen world, nothing is as good as we would like. Every human activity, not just science, has a cost and unwanted side effects. Thus, we are always making mistakes and suffering from unforeseen and unintended consequences. We fix those and the cycle repeats. But on the whole, science has been a great God-given blessing to the world.
But sin is always a problem for every single human being: “As it is written: ‘None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one. Their throat is an open grave; they use their tongues to deceive. The venom of asps is under their lips. Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness. Their feet are swift to shed blood; in their paths are ruin and misery, and the way of peace they have not known. There is no fear of God before their eyes” (Romans 3:10–18). In every trade and profession, there are both people of at least outward50 integrity and there are dishonest people, cheats, and criminals. Every profession and every social group has its special set of temptations. Science is no exception, and scientists, like all human beings, have the problem described in Romans 3:10–18 above.
Thus, we need to have care and be fair; but we do well to expose deeds of darkness. “Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them” (Ephesians 5:11). Biblical Christianity is unpopular in today’s culture, and even more so in academia generally. The “received truth” in science includes belief in Big-Bang cosmogony and Darwinism. Darwinian evolution is considered a central unifying and organizing principle in biology. The Big Bang theory of the origin of the universe and its implications not only dominate astrophysics, but greatly influence geology and many other areas of science. To go against the prevailing culture in any business or institution can be detrimental to one’s career, and this can be especially true in academia. Scientists working in private industry have more freedom but are still under much peer pressure to conform. Since textbooks and other science educational materials embrace Darwinism and Big-Bang cosmogony, students are saturated with these false teachings. Science publications targeting general readers also peddle these false ideas. The commitment of both scientists and providers of grant money to evolution and Big Bang theories is perhaps reflected in the large amount of time and energy spent on research into the origins of the universe, life, and humanity. It is therefore worthwhile to explore the origin and nature of these false theories of Big-Bang cosmogony and evolution further.
First, much outward sin is simply a matter of the sinner having the ability and opportunity to pull it off. “And Achan answered Joshua, ‘Truly I have sinned against the Lord God of Israel, and this is what I did: when I saw among the spoil a beautiful cloak from Shinar, and 200 shekels of silver, and a bar of gold weighing 50 shekels, then I coveted them and took them. And see, they are hidden in the earth inside my tent, with the silver underneath’” (Joshua 7:20–21). Had Achan taken a different route through the city or never found himself alone in order to do his deed in secret or been too ill to participate in the raid, his heart would have been no cleaner in God’s sight, but he perhaps would not have entered the select list of biblical bad boys.
One day when I was a child, I took a shortcut on my bicycle through a muddy field, bringing home some of that field on myself and bicycle. My mother demanded an explanation. I did not know that telling the truth would have brought any punishment, but why take a chance? I said that a car had come over the hill on the wrong side of the road, so I sought the muddy ditch for safety. Problem solved. Now notice that I did not mention leprechauns or flying saucers. Also, the supposed threat was an automobile, not a jet fighter plane on full afterburner. Nor was it an elderly pedestrian. The relative speeds of the supposed threat and a boy’s reaction time more or less fit together. My explanation fit the world we actually observe and live in. Also, notice nobody could prove me wrong; there were no witnesses, and nobody had a “time machine” with which to view the past. This story, with limitations, illustrates much of the reason why Darwinism, Big-Bang cosmogony, various Framework Hypotheses, and “long-day creationism” have come into being.
Scientists who are able to get their advanced degrees have the smarts and proper training to concoct theories of origins that are based on good science; the theories thus fit the observed world in which we live. Like Achan, they have an opportunity not all of us have. Although their false theories fit our observed universe in many particulars, they willfully reject the clear evidence of God’s designed and built creation. “Claiming to be wise, they became fools” (Romans 1:22). “The fool says in his heart, ‘There is no God.’ They are corrupt, doing abominable iniquity; there is none who does good” (Psalm 53:1). Like all of us, scientists live according to the religion they truly believe in their hearts, and their words and deeds reflect their hearts. The false theories of origin are merely highly sophisticated versions of the lie I told my mother about the mud. In both cases, the idea is to hide the truth by giving an alternate plausible explanation that is consistent with known science and the observable world. Theologians who develop any version of a Framework Hypothesis are guilty of the same thing.
To be fair: every human knows there is a Creator God in his or her deepest heart. But the level at which people are routinely conscious of their suppression of the knowledge of God is quite variable. Some people have driven this knowledge deep down into their subconscious, and, on the other hand, there are people who are fully conscious of God’s existence but hate Him. For this reason, while all who deny the God of the Bible are lying, the magnitude and culpability of the sin of lying is quite variable. Thus also, not everyone who deceives himself or herself into believing the lie should be branded a liar in human society the same way we brand burglars as criminals.
Second, not only scientists, but people in general understand the devil’s logic: “I like to sin. I do not want to obey God. Therefore, I will find ‘proof’ that a Holy God is not needed to explain life and the universe.” (Of course, there are many other excuses also.) So, like a small child at night hiding from imaginary monsters under a thin bedsheet, people use Big-Bang cosmogony and Darwinism to try to shield themselves from God. Or so they think. On Judgment Day, these flimsy false theories will make the child’s thin bedsheet look like battleship armor.51 “And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account” (Hebrews 4:13). Long days of creation, Darwinism, and Big-Bang cosmogony are only imaginary clothing that the naked users of it pretend to be wearing; it will no more shield them from the wrath of God than a bedsheet will stop a sixteen-inch armor-piercing shell.
Because most people would rather sin and pretend to be their own bosses than obey and submit to God, they are happy some scientists do the dirty work for them. “But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction” (2 Peter. 2:1). “For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions” (2 Timothy 4:3).
An important point must be made here. As stated above, to go against the prevailing culture in any business or institution can be detrimental to one’s career, and this can be especially true in academia. That is just one example of an excuse to sin. The use of such excuses changes absolutely nothing; God must be fully obeyed. The Lord Jesus said, “So everyone who acknowledges me before men, I also will acknowledge before my Father who is in heaven, but whoever denies me before men, I also will deny before my Father who is in heaven” (Matthew 10:32–33).
We have seen that science is not some kind of infallible truth-generating system. Science, as an institution, is composed of humans who have all of the problems common to mankind, including sin, refusal to submit to God, and valuing self above God. Thus, because they have the ability, they concoct theories that deny God and His work, and many who do not have that ability are glad of it. The next sections will show why their theories cannot disprove the Genesis account of God’s creation. But first, we should consider a little history.
50By outward integrity is meant a generally moral life motivated by self-respect, public image, a desire for a clean conscience, and so on. But if this is all someone has, without a regenerated heart that inwardly trusts in and is dedicated unconditionally to Christ, that someone is bound for Hell. Please see Appendix B if this applies to you.
51Armor on the USS Missouri was hardened steel up to 14.5 inches (37 cm) thick.
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