How does modern Science show that there is a God?
The Bible promises that anyone who searches for God will find him
You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart. (Jeremiah 29:13)
Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. (Matthew 7:7)
This includes the search through scientific investigation, indeed there are many areas of modern science that point to the existence of the God of the Bible (some of which will be discussed below).
Can science see, detect or measure God?
Despite its great successes there is a limit as to how much science can tell us. Science is the study of the material world around us, its aim is to provide an explanation for the way the physical world works. God does not fit into the realm that science is able to directly study: for God to have created space and time, He must exist somewhat outside of it. A study of God is largely spiritual, and an exercise in faith – faith is the assurance of things hoped for, a conviction of things not seen. Belief in God and what he has done for us requires faith and trust in Him. This does not have to be “blind faith” with no intelligent thought involved, however, there is still a necessary step of faith. If a person has rejected God and hardened their heart to Him it would be difficult to change their mind based on the scientific evidence alone, but for those who are willing to look, God has left his fingerprints all over creation for us to find:
The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork. (Psalm 19:1)
.. his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. (Romans 1:20)
In fact there are many scientists who have sought to find God through studying the world around them and come to faith in Jesus as a result (e.g. Dr Hugh Ross (Co-founder of Reasons-to-Believe)).
The discussion of science and God is such a vast one that many books continue to be written on the topic, and I’d encourage Christians and non-Christians alike to investigate the subject. Many people have objections to faith based on the common mis-conception that science and Christianity are at odds with each other. This is not the case, areas of contention are often resolved by new scientific data or in some cases by people re-examining a poor interpretation of a passage of scripture.
Science can give us an insight into the way God has created.
Scientific studies to date have revealed a little of just how amazingly beautiful and complex the world around us is, all of this points to an amazing God who is all the more amazing to have created it in a way that we are able to study it, and enjoy it.
An Example from Astrophysics:
An obvious place where religion and science do overlap, is the question of creation itself: “Where did the universe come from?”. Until the mid 1900’s much of the scientific community believed that the universe was static and eternal, clearly in disagreement with the account in Genesis. In 1916 Einsteins theory of General Relativity highlighted the theoretical difficulties with this view of the universe, and indicated an expanding universe with a beginning. In 1929 Hubble provided observational support for this new model. Measurements of distant galaxies show that they are receding from us with increasing speed the further away they are. If everything is moving apart, things must have been closer together in the past. Taking this idea back far enough leads to a very dense and energetic beginning to the expansion- An event now known as the Big Bang.
Many independent observations of the Cosmic Microwave Background, and chemical abundances in the universe have resulted in the Big Bang model being almost universally accepted. The model very successfully describes the history of the universe back as far as the first 10-43 seconds, but as far as the absolute beginning goes, modern science can say nothing. It appears to be creation from nothing, with a cause that may be outside the view of scientific study. A Nobel Prize winning physicist Arno Penzias said of the Big Bang: “The best data we have are exactly what I would have predicted had I nothing to go on but the first five books of Moses, the Psalms and the Bible as a whole.”
In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. (Genesis 1:1)
It also appears that the universe we live in is incredibly fine tuned in order to exist for any length of time let alone to support life (known as “The Fine Tuning Problem”). There are a vast number of physical parameters (the speed of light, the strength of gravity and various aspects of electromagnetism to name a few) that all have to be precisely the value they are, or else we would not exist. There is no reason to suggest that these values should all arise naturally, in fact it is highly unlikely, many people see this as very strong evidence for design, and therefore an intelligent creator.
Suggested books to start with:
The case for a Creator - Lee Stroble
The Language of God: A scientist presents evidence for belief - Francis Collins
God’s Undertaker: Has science buried God? - John C. Lennox
