Sitting in my office one day, I got a visit from a gentleman who wanted to join one of our classes at Hilbright. He was convinced that he should become a scientist. He was so convicted of his passion that I was curious to know why? His response was precise and unwavering, “I am tired of this idea of God, I just want to follow science!”
Well, he did not know I was a pastor then, neither was he aware of the fact that the school he was intending to join takes more time to teach of God behind science than science itself. I asked a few questions to the young science aspirant. “how did you choose Hilbright Avondale?” His responses were sharp and quick, “because Hilbright does not waste time on other things, it focuses on science.’’ Meanwhile, I nodded my head and smiled. After a round of random questions, I discovered that he had been raised I a Christian family, why He had turned his back on the God of his father, I could not tell but perhaps I shall know soon. I thanked the Youngman and prayed for him in my heart, I did not want to scare him away too soon. Fascinating of my discourse with him are the men of science he listed as his models, “Sir Isaac Newton and one Dimitri Mendeleev.
After work that day, I researched on these two men, here is what I found out. Isaac Newton, the father of universal gravitation could be of the most influential scientists of all time. In 1661 at the age of 18, Newton took interest in mathematical theory that would later become calculus. Among others, he dabbled in calculus, optics, the law of gravitation as well as alchemy. He worked at Cambridge as a professor of maths and later invented one Newtonian telescope. Though he was and still is renowned for his scientific pursuits, Newton was a serious student of the Bible and published several theological works. Even in his jammed principia, Newton exhibited his dedication to God. “The most beautiful system of the sun, planets and, could only proceed from the counsel and dominion of an intelligent and powerful being. This Being governs all things, not as the soul of the world but as the Lord over all, and an account of his dominion he is to be called Lord God”
Scientific inquiry, we then existed as natural philosophy, could only exist due to a ‘maker’ according to Newton, in fact, science is a perfect real to discuss God. Of views later propounded by Darwin, Newton had this to say, “Blind metaphysical necessity, which is certainly the same always and everywhere, could produce no variety of things. All that diversity of natural things which we find suited to different times and places could arise from nothing but the ideas and will of a Being necessarily existing’’
Ironically Mendeleev believed almost the same too. Mendeleev is one of the men behind the periodic table. Coming from a religious family, Mendeleev naturally viewed the world as an orderly system amenable to scientific discovery.it is believed that he got the idea of a periodic table in a dream and on the next day working out the pattern. As he was building the periodic table his beliefs that the pattern he saw emerging would continue, led him to take as intellectual leap of faith by leaving gaps blank in the table, believing that elements would be discovered to fill in the blanks. For example, he predicted the existence of gallium, germanium and scandium.
If studied well, science brings one closer than away from God. By hiding from God in science, that gentleman who walked into my office was merely standing behind the purple tulip in his front yard. Psalm 139vs 7-10 “Wither shall I go from thy spirit? Or wither shall I ascend up into heaven thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, behind thou art there if I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea; Even there shall thy hand lead me and thy right hand shall hold me.
My favourite writer Ellen White had this to say about Science and the Bible,
“Science is ever discovering new wonders; but she brings from her research nothing that rightly understood conflict with divine nature. The book of nature and the b=written word shed light upon each other they make us acquainted in God by teaching us sometimes of the laws through which he works.” Ellen White Education.
Real science should be studied from a Godly perspective. For that reason, before we open the book of nature, we open the book that explains nature and praise God. My prayer is that student who walked in for assessment should enroll with us soon. This is the best place for him.