“The grass withers, the flower fades,
But the word of our God will stand forever.”
Isaiah 40:8
Question: Should science be the final authority in our lives?
Answer: No, the Bible (Holy Scripture inspired by God) should be our final authority for faith (what we believe about God and ourselves) and practice (how we live and make decisions).
Many millions of people all over the world have accepted “science” as the final authority in their lives. But what is “science?” Science is a method for making a hypothesis about the physical world and testing that hypothesis to see if it is correct or incorrect. Controls are in place, instruments are used, calculations are made, and conclusions are drawn. This is the process of science. Are all conclusions from all experiments of such importance that they should shape our lives? No. Can conclusions from experiments be wrong or incorrect? Yes.
In science, authority comes from many scientists agreeing with each other after many experiments. The agreement of scientists with each other is the basis of advancement in science. As experiments are conducted and knowledge is gained, later scientists build on that knowledge to make further advancements. As Christians we should celebrate and enter into the scientific endeavor. In the past, some of the greatest scientists have been devout Christians, rightly seeing no conflict between their Christianity and scientific experimentation and advancement. Some such examples are Robert Boyle and Sir Isaac Newton who along with their ground-breaking scientific advancements also extensively wrote Christian theology. Johannes Kepler, Jan Baptist van Helmont, and Blaise Pascal filled their scientific journals and personal papers with prayers, praise, and theological musings. Science is an important endeavor that should be pursued with passion by those with disciplined minds, but scientific experimentation is not our final authority.
Why not? First, there are many things that can enter into the scientific process to corrupt the final conclusions. Second, there are many important aspects to the human condition that science cannot reach or quantify.
First, let’s explore how conclusions can be corrupted, and the “authority” of agreement led off track. Scientific experimentation can be corrupted by money and market forces. Wealthy companies can, and do, commission scientists and studies that seek out and find conclusions that “prove” their products are scientifically superior. Baby food formula companies is but one example. They convinced a generation through science that artificial baby formula was healthier for children than breast milk. This was later proven false, but only after many years of counter advocacy. This type of science continues in our day through big pharma and industrial farming. These scientific endeavors have led to western culture being heavily drug and GMO dependent.
Scientific experimentation can also be corrupted through political ideology. During the Presidency of Woodrow Wilson, the scientific community was convinced that eugenics would best help propel the evolutionary advancement of humanity. This ushered in an age of abortion, forced sterilization, and further ingrained racism in America. Eugenics was later proven false and phased out, but not without a steep price. Political ideology continues to corrupt scientific conclusions in our day especially in the area of human sexuality. Secular science allows for the killing of fully formed and viable babies that exist inside the womb instead of externally, refusing to recognize their life. Secular science refuses to recognize the basic biological reality of the sexes, giving approval to surgeries that attempt to physically alter the sex of a person – including minors.
Today, market forces, human greed, and political ideology continue to taint, corrupt, and confuse scientific conclusions. In our era, the most respected way of recognizing a scientific conclusion as true is to have that conclusion published in a peer-reviewed journal. Publication in a recognized scientific journal is supposed to mean that other respected scientists have reviewed the findings and agree that the experimentation was done correctly, and the conclusions are accurate. This is no longer the case. Money, market forces, and ambition have corrupted this historic tradition. Many articles have hit the news cycle recently concerning falsified, plagiarized, and wholly fabricated findings published by formerly respected scientific journals.
One recent instance of this relates to the firing of Stanford University president Marc Tessier-Lavigne. Stanford is a highly respected scientific university, but Tessier-Lavigne was eventually forced to resign by the trustee board after investigation revealed that 12 journal articles authored, or co-authored, by him contained data that was falsified, digitally altered, or intentionally taken from other sources without attribution. Tessier-Lavigne claimed to be a scientific authority and claimed to have the authority to train a younger generation of scientists but was himself a fraud corrupted by ambition and wealth.
On May 14th of this year, the Wall Street Journal published a significant study related to the corruption of scientific journals. The story outlines the thousands of fake or corrupted studies published in leading scientific journals. The studies were published because the journals are a for-profit industry, to the tune of $30 billion dollars a year (yes billion with a ‘b’)! Wiley is the largest publishing conglomerate of scientific journals publishing over 2,000 major scientific journals. Wiley has been forced to retract 11,300 supposedly peer-reviewed scientific journal articles in recent years. So many articles were retracted that 19 historic journals were shut down for complete loss of credibility in the face of large-scale fraud. Wiley was discovered to have published 900 fraudulent scientific papers in 2022 alone. In short, academic scientists are under pressure to publish papers to retain their academic positions. Wiley profits from publishing scientific papers. So, Wiley publishes whatever is turned in, gives it an air of scientific legitimacy, and the general public is none the wiser. The practice has become so bad that journals have been flagged for soliciting payment to publish supposedly scientific articles. Fees for publication can range as high as $8,500 per published article with no review for accuracy.
The purpose for highlighting this reality is to help you understand that science is an educational discipline, not a source of final authority. Conclusions often conflict, presuppositions vary widely, politics and greed insert false conclusions for profit. The landscape is always shifting and will supply no certain ground for the belief structure of your life. Besides this, science can tell you nothing about the soul or the nature of God. Those fully committed to the authority of science often outright deny the existence of the soul or God. Despite the authoritative voice and titles of such people, their naturalistic message will never win the day, because only a fool says in his heart there is no God (Psalm 14:1). Everyday people feel the moral weight of their soul and long to pray during times of trouble.
The Bible has stood unchanged for many thousands of years. It gives us a worldview that fits with the world around us and fits with the world within us. The God who speaks has revealed Himself to humanity and there is no final conflict between biblical revelation and authentic scientific conclusions.
May the Bible stand as our final authority of faith and practice,
Pastor Vic