All literary works have to meet the author's objectives. The author in his or her work usually has a specific message they want to convey to their readers for a desired outcome. Literature on Leonardo Da Vinci as an artist for example, cannot therefore be used to authenticate the civil engineering inventions or work of his time even though he obviously lived in a time when civil engineering was a part of his society and environment. The piece of literature might contain elements of civil engineering through Da Vinci’s associations with his environment but its key objective would be to portray Leonardo as an Artist.
The bible's objective is not to explain the laws of general relativity, angular momentum or thermodynamics. It wasn't written to explain the scientific working of the physical world yet in its simplicity it narrates how everything came into being. It simply lays the background for a more exigent narrative that would soon take centre stage. Morden day scientific theory and philosophy is not causative, in other words the universe doesn't exist because of the theories predictions and calculations but rather those theories are postulated in an attempt to explain the beginning and functioning of the universe. Most of those supposed functions being mathematical projections which in some instances have turned out to be wrong such as the 20th century theory of the expanding earth. That’s the reason why there are a number of theories that have been postulated such as the Big bang theory, steady state theory, the Kalam theory, White hole relativistic cosmology theory, old earth creationist theory, young earth creationist theory e.t.c. The bible does not present us with mathematical equations and formulae for the physics and chemistry of the cosmic world neither does it try to explain the nature of and substance of the stars and galaxies we observe because they had nothing to do with the Author’s main objective and that is salvation!
The earth is the focal point of the
bible’s narration and more precisely mankind.
Instead of revealing Himself with algorithms and complex equations the Creator
of the nebulae and all matter chose to reveal Himself as Love to creation that had lost hope and in dire need of redemption. Sin was the problem and He
worked out an equation (the most beautiful of all) that substituted us so that
the end result could be simply awe inspiring! Like a father whose son had
fallen into a dark pit, He chose not to explain to him about the substance or
dimensions of the pit but simply throw down the rope to pull him out. It would
be of no consequence for the son to know as much as he can about his “pit”
without knowing about the father’s love for him and how much he wanted to
rescue him.None of our inventions and devices can ever save us from the grip of sin and death. “What would it help you to gain the whole world but lose your own soul?” that’s a succinct example of the critical questions the bible asks, its language simple for every man to digest. Its message is beautifully written like a love letter and indeed it is. The message the Author of that piece of literature is communicating is that of grace, love, forgiveness, restoration, hope. Peace and victory among other wonderful things. It seeks to genuinely engage with the heart and mind of the reader who don’t have to postulate any theories regarding the Creator’s love for them but simply to accept its truths concerning what He has already done for the earth he created. The bible is not a mechanical book. It is for ordinary men and women and therefore cannot be used to explain, defend or refute string theory for example although some theories would be refuted in key cosmological principles that are revealed in it.
God is beyond intelligent as we understand intelligence and he has not stopped us, the creatures created in His image, from exercising our own intelligence however limited. In fact the bible says “in the end day’s knowledge shall increase and men shall run to and fro”. In that increase of knowledge, the bible has never been more attacked on all fronts all in the vain of denying that God is the Author of the universe. Beautifully imagined postulates have been proposed even though they have revealed more problems than solutions; still many cling to them even when they are clueless. In His immeasurable intellect and wisdom God designed every galaxy, every cosmic body and set them in orbit and “none departs from the path He has set for them”. He knows the stars by name and he designed the human body with its symmetry and superb function, even the beautiful and orderly pattern on a butterfly’s wings which my mother always admired. Nothing was left to chance and in any case simply put disorder could never form order without an outside agent acting on the disorder isn’t that what the law of entropy would predict and is it not one of the most important laws of thermo dynamics?
The bible's objective is to tell that story of love and sacrifice. When we fail to see that and use it only as a tool to disprove and prove theories, we miss the rope! I believe it to be imperative for every follower of Christ to study and understand how things work through physics, chemistry, philosophy or any other discipline so that they get an appreciation of the marvelous works of God. That is science yet any compromise to the Eternal truth of the Word of God should be refuted at all costs because when you really want to take a closer look, the bible makes more sense than a theory that postulates multiverses as an explanation for the coincidences you encounter in life which sometimes are really miracles!!
M c N O R R I S
