Is religion just a smaller part of science, or is science a smaller part of religion?

4/4/18     Gustavo, about 30

When Jesus was being tempted in the wilderness, the devil told Him to throw Himself down from the top of the temple in order to prove that he really was the Son of God.  Jesus answered with a quote from Deut. 6 – “Do not put the Lord your God to the test.”

Today, many people also want to put God to the test, requiring that He pass their scientific tests and prove Himself to them before they will believe in His existence.  But although God refuses to be subject to our demands for evidence, this doesn’t mean He doesn’t provide any evidence on His own terms.  

I was talking with Gustavo, on break at McDonalds from his job at a nearby grocery store.  He told me about an experience with his deceased uncle in what he believes was more than a dream, that he actually communicated with his uncle’s ghost.  Whatever the explanation for this experience, it has led him to be torn between a belief in a spiritual dimension to existence and a devotion to science that would deny that dimension.  Over the years, science is winning out over spirituality as the memory of that experience fades for Gustavo and our culture’s emphasis on science negates even his belief in God.

But does science really negate God, or is there a better way to look at it?  I asked Gustavo “Is religion just a smaller part of science, or is science a smaller part of religion?”  In other words, should we look at religion as just a human phenomenon explainable by science, or could science be just one part of a larger quest for truth that also includes religion?

 

Would we really want to believe in a sort of god who could be measured and tested by our scientific methods?  If we could conduct experiments that show God acting in predictable ways, would we not say that the law is greater than the lawgiver?  Wouldn’t science become greater than God?

No, God has created an ordered universe, and for that reason science can be used to discover ways in which it is ordered.  Science has limitations, however, in what sorts of truths can be discovered.  Science can’t exist without God, but God can certainly exist without science.  

Gustavo had to get back to work, but I tried to leave him with the challenge to think outside of the box of his own scientific requirements to believe in God, and to be open to God revealing Himself on His own terms.

See our conversation at https://youtu.be/njSOZ-OLHkA on my YouTube channel.