Is belief in God scientific?
If the inquirer is asking, “Can the existence of God be PROVEN scientifically?” I would say NO. A scientist is NOT going to “discover God” through scientific research. In fact, if one is depending solely on their human intellect and reasoning powers they will have the OPPOSITE RESULT, for instead of concluding that God exists they will deny His existence. The Apostle Paul declared, “The world through wisdom did not know God” (1st Corinthians 1:21…NKJV). In that chapter Paul was reproving the saints at Corinth for turning to the “wisdom of the world,” for he knew that man’s wisdom would not bring him CLOSER TO GOD, but it takes him AWAY FROM GOD. In fact, it will make an atheist out of him!
How does God reveal Himself? There are TWO ways in which God has revealed Himself, through CREATION and through HIS WORD! Regarding creation, consider the following passages: “The heavens DECLARE the glory of God; and the firmament shows His handiwork. Day unto day utter speech, and night unto night REVEALS knowledge. There is no speech nor language where their voice is not heard. Their line has gone out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world” (Psalm 19:1-4). This portion shows us clearly that God has REVEALED Himself to Mankind through the sun, the moon, and the stars. All one has to do is LOOK UP during the day or at night to see that there is a mighty Creator-God! The universe, with its billions of galaxies made up of suns, moons, stars, and planets, all join to tell us THERE IS A GOD! The Apostle Paul knew that men would refuse to accept this grand testimony of creation so he wrote these condemning words in Romans 1:19-20, “Because what may be known of God is manifest in them, for God HAS SHOWN IT TO THEM. For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, SO THEY ARE WITHOUT EXCUSE.” Men will be held accountable for the witness of Creation. No one, on the Day of Judgment, will be able to say I couldn’t believe in You, for You didn’t reveal Yourself to me.” They will have no excuse in that day!
Now let’s consider God’s greatest revelation to man; the WORD of God. As we saw from Romans 1:20, God’s “eternal power and Godhead (Divinity)” is revealed in Creation. But it is through His written Word that He is fully revealed, for the Bible also reveals God’s NATURE of HOLINESS and LOVE. 1st John 1:5 declares, “God is LIGHT and in Him is no darkness at all.” The Ten Commandments had also revealed God’s holy nature and His hatred of sin, but when His Son became Incarnate and walked among men they saw, with their very eyes, God’s holiness on display. 1st John 4:8 states, “God is LOVE” and here too it was especially revealed through His Son. The next two verses confirm this, “In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sin.” How we can thank God for inspiring men to write the Bible (see 2nd Timothy 3:16 and 2nd Peter 1:21) so we could come to know God in His fullness.
But in order for us to “believe in God,” we must have FAITH in God’s Word. How is faith produced? Ah, the Bible Itself will bring us to faith, as we see in Romans 10:17, “Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God.” So, we began by asking if belief in God can be acquired through science and we saw that science will NOT produce faith in God. Now we see that one must come to faith in God through His precious Word. Creation is God’s “unspoken Word to men,” but it is the Bible, God’s “written Word to men,” that gives the greatest light and causes faith to spring up in our hearts.
I’d like to close by making a simple point based on what we have learned. The light of creation is enough to give men the knowledge that there is an Almighty Creator, but it is the light of His Word that ASSURES us of this blessed truth. I’d like to put three verses together to illustrate this. ,“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth…For He spoke, and it was done…By faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible” (Genesis 1:1; Psalm 33:9 and Hebrews 11:3). Scientists throughout the ages have been trying to “figure out” the origin of the universe, yet as we saw they will NEVER “discover God as the Creator” through their own human intellect and reasoning power. Yet the simplest soul that comes to God’s Word with an open and an honest heart, can take God at His Word and come to a true, heartfelt “belief in God.” They will know Him as their Creator, and through the gospel of Jesus Christ they will also know Him as their Redeemer! (298.9) (DO)