The False Religion of Science

by Pastor Paul Wolff

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• Is science a religion?
• The scientific method
• Science is based on objective observation
• Science is not the source of all knowledge.
• What is religion?
• How to distinguish religion from science
• Science and the Christian worldview
• Do you believe in science?
• Charles Darwin: scientist, or religious zealot?
• The documentary evidence for God
• Evidence in nature that God exists
• The problem of the religion of science
• The end of the world
• A sampling of Scripture passages affirming God’s creation of everything
• Marching for science as a religious rally
• Can monkeys produce Shakespeare?
• The temptation of the religion of science
• The problem of rationalism

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Is Science a Religion?

The false religion of science feels greatly threatened by the Biblical account of the creation.

Science is not a religion. Science is merely a systematized method of learning about the world around us. However, much of what is popularly believed to be science isn’t real science, but is actually a religion which uses the language of science and has rituals which make a pretense of scientists at work, but is not really scientific inquiry. You see this most often when true scientists are ridiculed and dismissed as “unorthodox” or “heretical” when they question popularly held beliefs despite the fact that the scientific method actually requires scientists to question and test theories and try to disprove them. You should note that when you are talking about “belief” you are talking “faith language” which signifies religion, not science.

The Scientific Method

True science is based solely on the Scientific Method, not on consensus, not on political ideology, not on popularity, and certainly not on wishful thinking. The scientific method has built into it a means of questioning and rethinking its findings when new evidence is found which contradicts what is believed to be a solid hypothesis. The Scientific Method says that the original hypothesis may have to be revised. This is why scientific findings are often a fluid, moving target. As we learn more about the world, we find that it isn’t exactly what we thought it was, but is considerably more complex. Here is one way the Scientific Method is described:

Question – How does the world work? 
Research – Learn what information has been observed about the particular phenomenon which interests you. 
Hypothesis – Make an educated guess concerning the issue at hand. 
Experiment – Test your hypothesis to see if it accurately describes the phenomenon. 
Analyze – Does the data you collected in your experiments support or contradict your hypothesis? You may find that your experimental results do not give enough information, and either need to revise your experimental procedure or revise your hypothesis. 
Conclusion – Review the data and check to see if your hypothesis accurately described the phenomenon you observed. You may need to reformulate your hypothesis and experiment and analyze more to describe the world in the most accurate way.

Science is Based on Objective Observation

Movies are a kind of optical illusion where a series of still photos shown in rapid succession simulate motion.

I remember visiting the Toledo (Ohio) Art Museum back in 1991 for a special exhibit of Impressionist art. As a friend and I were walking around the museum we saw a painting on a wall which looked like it was a three dimensional multimedia sculpture with part of it projecting out into the exhibit hall. As we got closer we saw that it was just a clever painting which was made to look like part of it was projecting out of the wall into the room. We had a good laugh that we had been fooled, and we appreciated the skill of the artist to create this visual effect in something which was otherwise fairly abstract. This work of art was not what it appeared to be at first glance. Only an objective observation (from a different perspective) showed what it really was.

We all have seen optical illusions, which are images which fool the eye in one way or another. There are many kinds, and I am sure that a quick Internet search can find many optical illusions. These illusions work because through experience we have preconceived notions about what it is that we are seeing. This has to do with how we recognize what we see. Optical illusions play with how our eyes see, and how our mind recognizes what we are looking at. In other contexts we might call this prejudice. That is to say that our minds pre-judge what we are seeing so as to make recognition easier in most circumstances.

This is drawing has been around for many years. The duck is facing left, and the rabbit is facing right.

Science, however, is all about accurate, objective observation, or it isn’t science at all. When science is working well the scientist must look beyond his prejudices and preconceived ideas about how he thinks his experiments ought to work out and he must carefully observe how things really are in the world. The problem is that scientists are sinners just like everyone else, and they bring with them prejudices which obscure their observations of the true way the world works in favor of how they expect the world to work.

The history of science is filled with stories of how scientists had observed a particular phenomenon repeatedly, and they either ignored it – because they didn’t understand it – or were unable to accurately describe it because their preconceived ideas got in the way. Only when someone was able to recognize the prejudice and view the phenomenon from a different perspective were the great scientific discoveries made. Those people who were able to do this are the ones we often describe as the great scientists and discoverers. They often didn’t really discover the phenomenon first, but they were the ones who were able to objectively describe what it was they were observing.

Science is Not the Source of All Knowledge.

Science can reveal some truth, as far as it goes, but it is not, and never will be, the source of all that is known. It is quite a myopic view that says that science is the source of all knowledge. Science does not tell us about the lives and accomplishments of people such as Alexander the Great, Plato, Aristotle, and Martin Luther, to name a few examples. History provides us with that information. Even the great scientific achievements of the twentieth century cannot wholly be explained by science alone. For example, science can tell us how to send a rocket with astronauts to the moon and bring them back safely, but it cannot tell us why we would want to do such a thing, or why we might prefer to refrain from attempting such a journey. Why did we send men to visit the moon? Was it curiosity? There was curiosity, but no, curiosity wasn’t enough. Nor was it enough to desire scientific knowledge about the moon or about other planets in our solar system. The scientific investigations that went with the moon landings were pretty much afterthoughts. The men who rode the rockets to the moon weren’t primarily scientists, they were military pilots.

Why did we send men to the moon?

Why did the U.S.A. send men to the moon? The reasons were political. We wanted to show the world that our free, democratic, Christian society was better than the totalitarian, socialist/communist, atheist society of the Soviet Union, which it was in nearly every way. Could science have predicted that politics would be more instrumental in advancing science than any pure scientific curiosity or societal need? I don’t think so. Is politics the only motivation that can succeed in sending people to the moon? I don’t think science can answer that question. There are some businesses that have expressed desires to send people to the moon, but it is likely that after the first mishap where paying customers are killed that will quickly end the attempts. Religious concerns might possibly motivate people strongly enough to attempt such things, but most religions have no need or desire to send people to the moon. The religion of “science” is a possible exception, but most (if not all) religions that want to send people to the moon have such serious issues with the truth that they would never be able to gather enough sane people or resources to accomplish the task.

What is Religion?

Theology is the study of God. Religion is theology which is put into practice in a person’s life. This is true for all religions, both the true religion and the false religions. Whatever someone thinks of God affects his life in many ways. Religion is a way to serve God and it encourages the person to try to be like his God (or god). Even atheists practice religion. Every atheist or agnostic has a god (see below), though usually their god is themselves, and they try to live according to how they think a god ought to live. If atheists think a god should be benevolent, then they might have a civil righteousness and live as fairly decent people. If atheists think that god is cruel and capricious, and they have a propensity for psychopathy then they can become mass murderers. These are extremes, though most atheists and agnostics fall somewhere in the middle.

All people want to be like their God. If they view God as a vicious warrior then they will try to be like him and will live short, but cruel, violent lives. If they view God as merciful and forgiving, then they will be kind and easy to get along with. This is the essence of all religions. If your God is the true God, then your religion will be true. If your god is false, then your religion will be mostly false, though it may contain some fragments of truth mixed in with the false teachings. This doesn’t mean that anyone always practices true religion. All people are sinners and no one obeys God perfectly. Some people point to Christian sinfulness and say that we are all hypocrites, but that is not true. Christians are susceptible to hypocrisy just as much as pagans and atheists, but Christians aren’t hypocrites just because we are sinners. Christians ought not claim perfection for ourselves, though some false teachers do. Christ is perfect, and He lived perfectly for us, but He did that to redeem us from our sin. Christians repent of our sins and trust in Jesus to forgive us, but we should not claim perfection for ourselves. “If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, (Jesus Christ) is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” (1 John 1:8-9)

How to Distinguish Religion from Science

In Luke 2, Jesus went to the teachers to learn, not to teach. His questions impressed them by showing His understanding. This depiction, and those like it, are wrong.

In Martin Luther’s Large Catechism (1529) he wrote: “A god means that from which we are to expect all good and to which we are to take refuge in all distress, so that to have a God is nothing else than to trust and believe Him from the [whole] heart.” If you trust in the true God to provide for all your needs then you have a true religion and you have faith in the true God. However if you trust in a false god or some worldly thing other than God to provide you with all good and for comfort in your distress, then that is your god and your religion.

Many people these days put their trust in science to answer all life’s problems and to provide comfort and rescue in times of trouble. When people do this they have made science their religion and their god. Understand me correctly that I am not saying that science is not a useful tool to learn about how the world works. However, those who make science their religion lose their objectivity and ascribe to science certain attributes which are only applicable to God, such as: infallibility, omniscience, holiness (in one way or another), and others. It is clear to see when people have turned science into a religion when they reject legitimate scientific inquiry into a hypothesis and say, “You can’t question that. It is proven science.” We also see people who have turned science into a religion when they state as fact unprovable assertions which are based on many assumptions, each of which can be questioned by science and other means of inquiry, such as, “The universe is (insert your favorite number here) billion years old,” and “science proves god doesn’t exist.”

Science and the Christian Worldview

In Genesis 1 God created light three days before creating the sun and moon. This shows God created the universe, not natural forces.

We should note here that the Scientific Method not only does NOT contradict Christianity, it also CANNOT do so. Science is limited in what its sphere of observation may be. Only those things which can be repeatedly observed and experimentally tested may fall under the purview of science. Non-repeatable events, and acts of God (such as creation and miracles), or even what God said to the prophets and apostles which they wrote down, cannot be tested by science, and cannot be proved or disproved because of it.

We should also note that science, and the scientific method, assumes the Christian worldview (or one exactly like it). It was Christians who developed the scientific method as we know it because they trusted that God is a rational God, and that He created the world rationally, and so that it normally obeys orderly laws (which are often called the laws of nature). One doesn’t have to be a Christian to be a good scientist (though it always helps), but one must hold to a worldview which is compatible with the Christian worldview, which holds that God set the world to function according to certain laws.

You don’t get the scientific method from some theory like the latest revision of Darwinism, in which the primary agent of change is “accidents” which by their nature, are not repeatable, and rarely observable. If your worldview is based on non-repeatable “accidents” then it is, by definition, non-scientific. Remember that science is only able to describe those things which are testable according to the scientific method. Those things which are not testable are not provable by science, but fall under some other category. To be perfectly honest, this doesn’t mean that they didn’t happen, but you must use some proof other than science. It could be history, it could be a myth, it could be a lie, but if it can’t be tested and proven by the scientific method then you can’t call it “science” nor say it is verified by science.

Do You Believe in Science?

It is a very strange question when people ask if you believe in science. If you answer the question (either “yes” or “no”), then you are speaking the language of belief, not science. If science is something you believe in (or not) then that is your religion. On the other hand, if you define “science” by the scientific method, then science has little to do with belief. Proper science only speaks about physical laws which can be proven by experimentation, and it shouldn’t have anything to say about what cannot be proven experimentally.

Science cannot have all the answers to everything, It only provides insight into those things which can be shown experimentally. Not everything can be shown experimentally. For example, what is the meaning of life? Science has no answer, or if you think science does have an answer, you are missing out on a whole lot of data that science has no way of dealing with. As every scientist knows, if you don’t have all the data, or if you ignore important relevant information, then you will not find the correct answer to the question.

Scientific inquiry is important to our society, but there is more to life than science. However, some people have taken science too far, and have turned it into their religion and their god. People turn science into their religion when they put their trust in science above all things. What is worse is when people think that science says things that aren’t proven by science, and think that it has been proven. Such things include the existence and identity of God. Science also does not prove a materialistic worldview which believes that there is nothing in the universe besides physical things which are governed only by physical laws. Science is limited to observing physical things in the world, but that doesn’t mean that those are the only kinds of things that exist.

Charles Darwin: Scientist, or Religious Zealot?

One main reason for the shift from science to religion-masquerading-as-science was the popularizing of Charles Darwin in the 19th and 20th centuries. You don’t have to look too far to find people who consider themselves scientists who say that Darwin proved that God does not exist. This is completely false. Darwin neither proved the non-existence of God, nor did he prove that evolution accurately describes how life came to be as it is now. In fact, Darwin assumed the non-existence of God, and then he wrote a book which described this fictional world where God did not create everything.

Remember that in science, whatever is assumed is not proven. You cannot say, “Let’s assume there is no god. Therefore God does not exist.” That is neither logical, nor scientific. It’s just a joke. What if your initial assumption is wrong? Since, by definition, God is above the “natural laws” (because He created them in the first place), science cannot prove, nor disprove the existence of God. For that you need to examine other evidence. When people make statements like, “science proves there is no god” then they have departed from science, and have moved into the realm of theology (at best) or wild speculation (at worst).

Contrary to the wild pronouncements of activist atheist scientists, there is evidence to support the existence of God. Leaving aside (for now) the evidence in the natural world, the best evidence for the existence of God is the historical documentary evidence. Though I can hear now the objections forming in the minds of unbelievers, let’s be scientific for a moment and keep an open mind. Though one might be tempted to think that since most writings about the gods are false mythologies, that they are all false, but that does not follow logically. Just because one claim (or even many claims) about God is false, doesn’t mean that there doesn’t exist a true claim about God. In the same way one could look at science: just because all of the claims about the origins of man cannot be proven scientifically, it doesn’t mean that man does not exist.

Here I will add that it is a silly argument which I have heard that because man exists, therefore evolution is true. The mere existence of something does not prove a particular hypothesis about how it came to be. Evolution is one hypothesis, but there are others, and one or more of these may better explain the available evidence. Prove it if you can. This is yet another example of why people don’t “believe” in science. When scientists make such silly unscientific claims, they destroy their credibility. In doing this the “scientists” show themselves to be religious zealots who really don’t have a clue. Those who claim to be scientists must use good logic or they just show themselves to be untrustworthy. This also goes for religion. People must use good theology, or they also show themselves to be untrustworthy.

The Documentary Evidence for God

Jesus made the teachers angry by showing them that He is the fulfillment of God's promises in the Bible.

In the Holy Scriptures, God has told us who He is, and what He has done for us. The Scriptures tell us how God created all that exists in the physical and spiritual realms. He did it by the power of His Word. The Scriptures also tell us how God acted in specific points in history to bring about our salvation from sin, which we inherited from the first people, Adam and Eve. The Scriptures are not a scientific text book, but the Bible does not contradict any true scientific findings. The Scriptures also are history and theology.

If you compare the Christian Scriptures to any other religion’s holy book, or any book of myths, and you will see that there is a clear difference. The Christian Scriptures are not mythical, but when they speak of historical events, it is detailed, and factual. The Christian Scriptures do not idealize the saints, but show them as flawed sinners. Archaeology also supports the Biblical history 100%. Though some archaeologists don’t want to believe the evidence confirms the truth of the Bible, a fair and complete reading of the archaeological evidence has always (yes, that is 100%) confirmed the Biblical account against the skeptics – and that is using the same evidence.

Evidence in Nature that God Exists

Many people would be surprised to learn that there is evidence in nature that strongly suggests (though does not prove) that God exists. The order in the world, and what we call the “scientific laws”, are reflections of God’s rationality and power. God, as He has revealed Himself in the Holy Scriptures, is a rational being. There would be no orderly universe if God hadn’t ordered it by His command. Science itself, is a reflection of the Christian worldview that God is a rational being who set in place natural laws to govern how things work in the world. Remember that those who created science as we know it in the Enlightenment period were Christians. They assumed that God is rational (as He describes Himself in the Holy Scriptures), and that He created an orderly universe which ran according to natural laws which could be discovered by investigation. You cannot get rational science from a Darwinistic or naturalistic worldview where things happen by accident. Where is the repeatability and orderliness of accidents? It is not there, and therefore it is not scientific.

The existence of life on earth provides many features which support God as creator of the world. The complexity of life is so great that it cannot have arisen by accident. Just look at the complexity of the DNA molecule which determines the physical structure and functioning of every living thing. The DNA molecule is a marvel of complexity which encodes many hundreds of thousands of base pairs which describe the unique person. The molecular structure of DNA forms a coded program which absolutely cannot have arisen by accident. The replication of the DNA in cell division also includes sophisticated error correcting mechanisms which are extraordinarily resistant to mutations. Though mutations can happen occasionally, they result in tragic consequences (i.e. death), not evolutionary consequences.

The Problem with the Religion of Science

One problem with turning science into a religion is that it becomes your god, and when you trust in science as you ought to trust in God, then when someone questions your scientific understanding (as is proper and necessary according to the Scientific Method) then those questions not only challenge your view of the world, but also your view of your god. We see this by the fanatically zealous way that so-called “scientists” reject any investigation into the validity of the prevailing theories of macro-evolution and the big-bang. Those who question the orthodoxy of the prevailing views on these topics are branded “heretics” (essentially) and their credibility is called into question, and all this without even examining the scientific value of their experiments. This kind of zealotry is usually reserved for religious beliefs, but because science has become a religion to many “scientists” we see it among those who otherwise would like to claim to be scientists.

To “believe” in science is to put your trust in the creation, rather than in the creator. However, you should remember why there is science in the first place. Science was developed in order to understand how the world works. We don’t fully understand how everything works. It is also true that we don’t (and can’t) fully understand God, either, but if we can admit that we don’t understand the world, then we ought to be able to (at least) leave room in our world for God, who created the world. If atheists were honest they would admit that their non-belief in God is just wishful thinking. Atheism is not natural among people. We all know that there is a god, even if some don’t know who the true God is.

The End of the World

Whether you believe in God, or believe in the currently favored natural explanation of how the universe came into being, you know that creation came into being in one day, and it will end in a similar way. The current explanation of the naturalistic creation is a “Big Bang” as a creative event. I can’t really take scientists seriously when they say things like that. Surely they can do better than that! Explosions are destructive events, not creative ones. Every explosion ever has proved this again and again. The fact that every computer model of the “Big Bang” has failed demonstrates that the universe was not created by an explosion. Do not take comfort in the idea that the computer model programmers have claimed to have gotten to within a fraction of a second of the beginning of the “Big Bang”. All that means is that their model has failed to show the creative nature of the explosive event, which is what we always observe. If the first few milliseconds of the “Big Bang” goes wrong, then everything afterwards goes wrong, too.

However, the atheist should not take comfort that he won’t be around to see the end because he will have long since passed into non-existence by that time. God has told us how things will end, and because Jesus Christ has destroyed the power of death for all people, and has promised to raise us all on the last day for judgment, we all would be wise to, at least, take some time to consider the claims of Christianity. Scripture describes the last day as a day of resurrection like this, “We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality.” (1 Corinthians 15:52-53) Then will proceed the judgment. It is not a judgment based on works. It is a judgment based on trust in Jesus as your savior from sin. Salvation is not based on merit, but salvation is the gift of God in Christ Jesus (see Ephesians 2:8-9). It couldn’t be any easier. Accept the gift and enjoy the blessings of salvation, or reject the gift and live in eternal regret and torment. (For more on this, see my article answering the presumptuous question: Why Does God Condemn Unbelievers to Hell?)

On the last day there is no option of non-existence. Christ has destroyed death for all, and gives salvation freely. All who reject Christ’s salvation choose to live in torment with the devil, whether they understand the choice or not. On the last day when we see Christ come in His full divine glory there will be no one who will fail to acknowledge Him as Lord and God. Those who belong to Christ through faith will rejoice that Christ has come to save us. Those who belong to themselves and to the devil through unbelief and rejection will mourn that they ought to have trusted in Jesus to save them, but did not. Either way, on the last day, there will be no denying that Jesus is God, and that His judgments are righteous and true, whether He judges to save you or to damn you.
 

A Sampling of Scripture Passages affirming God’s Creation of Everything

Genesis 1:1 
“In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.”
 
Job 38:4-13 
The Lord said, “Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundation? Tell me, if you understand. Who marked off its dimensions? Surely you know! Who stretched a measuring line across it? On what were its footings set, or who laid its cornerstone while the morning stars sang together and all the angels shouted for joy? Who shut up the sea behind doors when it burst forth from the womb, when I made the clouds its garment and wrapped it in thick darkness, when I fixed limits for it and set its doors and bars in place, when I said, ‘This far you may come and no farther; here is where your proud waves halt’? Have you ever given orders to the morning, or shown the dawn its place, that it might take the earth by the edges and shake the wicked out of it?”
 
Psalm 19:1 
“The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands.”
 
Psalm 95:6-7a
“Oh come, let us worship and bow down; let us kneel before the Lord, our Maker! For he is our God, and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand.”
 
Proverbs 14:31 
“Whoever oppresses a poor man insults his Maker, but he who is generous to the needy honors him.”
 
Proverbs 17:5 
“Whoever mocks the poor insults his Maker; he who is glad at calamity will not go unpunished.”
 
Proverbs 22:2 
“The rich and the poor meet together; the Lord is the maker of them all.”
 
Isaiah 40:28 
“Have you not known? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable.”
 
Isaiah 51:12-15 
The Lord said, “I, I am he who comforts you; who are you that you are afraid of man who dies, of the son of man who is made like grass, and have forgotten the Lord, your Maker, who stretched out the heavens and laid the foundations of the earth, and you fear continually all the day because of the wrath of the oppressor, when he sets himself to destroy? And where is the wrath of the oppressor? He who is bowed down shall speedily be released; he shall not die and go down to the pit, neither shall his bread be lacking. I am the Lord your God, who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar – the Lord of hosts is his name.”

Marching for Science as a Religious Rally

It is interesting that as I was working on writing this article, on April 22, 2017 there was a series of protest marches in several cities in the United States, and across the world that billed itself as a “March for Science”. In reality it was a religious (and political) rally for atheists, which was actually against real science. Marches are done to affect political change through educating voters about the value (or lack thereof) of their cause. This is not how science is done. Science is not done by political means, but by experimentation and showing the evidence. One of the stated reasons for the protest was to combat skepticism about “global warming”. This is anti-science also, because according to the scientific method, scientists are supposed to be skeptical about scientific hypotheses (like the claims of the global warming fear mongers), and must try to disprove the hypothesis in order to confirm or deny its validity.

One of the prominent speakers at the Washington D.C. march was the popular children’s TV celebrity, Bill Nye. Bill Nye is one of the most prominent high priests of the new atheist religion. Nye is infamous for saying that religion (specifically the Christian teaching of God’s account of the creation in Genesis) should not be taught to children because he thought it held children back in learning science. That was not a scientific statement either, but a religious statement. Nye is in favor of indoctrinating children in atheistic materialistic evolution (even though that is far short of being on solid ground scientifically), but he is completely against indoctrinating children in Christian doctrine which does not contradict true science. Nye has no problem with the teaching of science as long as it promotes atheistic evolution, but he doesn’t want the teaching of science if it shows that creation more likely happened as is described in the Book of Genesis which Moses wrote down 3500 years ago.

Can Monkeys produce Shakespeare?

The works of William Shakespeare are the product of a brilliant mind, not monkeys.

There is a funny hypothesis that an infinite number of monkeys with infinite keyboards (and time) will produce the complete works of William Shakespeare. This has been proven false experimentally. Mathematically it is theoretically possible, but experiments have shown that in reality the true probability is exactly zero. Monkeys may peck at the keys of a typewriter or computer keyboard for a while, but sooner or later they will destroy it. That is what monkeys do. Monkeys, or chimpanzees, or great apes are not made to write poetry. You will never get Shakespeare from a monkey.

Scientists and mathematicians are really not concerned about the writings of William Shakespeare. Shakespeare’s plays and sonnets are no threat to science. What they are really saying when they say that monkeys can produce Shakespeare is that the Bible is a book of fiction, or man-made myths (or worse), and that it cannot be trusted. Here again we can see that many atheist scientists are blinded by their religion. The historical truth of the Bible has been proven time after time by archaeology and other sources, even by skeptics who try and fail to prove the Bible wrong and become convinced that it is true. Since the Bible is historically true, then at least some thought should be given to the idea that it is also theologically and Spiritually true.

Since it is true that you cannot get Shakespeare from monkeys, then it is even more true that you cannot get the human genome from monkeys (or any other simple or complex organism). The ordering of the base pairs in the DNA molecule shows extreme complexity. Using only four “letters”, the DNA sequencing of even the simplest organism is at least as complex as a Shakespeare play, and more precise, because Shakespeare might have misspelled a word here and there and his meaning would still have come through, but a misspelling in the DNA sequence could mean the death of the organism. Wikipedia references a 1996 speech by Robert Wilensky, who stated, “We’ve heard that a million monkeys at a million keyboards could produce the complete works of Shakespeare; now, thanks to the Internet, we know that is not true.”

The idiocy of uneducated (or ill-educated) people on the internet may not actually disprove the religious zealots who fashion themselves as “scientists”, but it does confirm what the Holy Bible says about original sin. The Bible says that we are all alike conceived and born as sinners and are in need of forgiveness and redemption. However, God, has humbled Himself and entered our world as a man, Jesus Christ. He did this to redeem us from the guilt of our sin by fulfilling God’s Law on our behalf with His life, and also by offering His life in payment for ours. All who trust in Him to save them belong to Him and will receive His salvation. This is not a scientific fact, but a historical fact. God has had it written down and preserved for our benefit so that we may hear and believe. This doesn’t prevent Christians from learning and marveling at the mysteries of God’s creation, but it gives us great hope when this sinful world causes us sorrow, suffering and death. That is something that no amount of science can do.

The Temptation of the Religion of Science

The devil's temptations often seem very rational

The temptation to turn science into a religion plays on the pride of intellect. People who are interested in science like to find out how things work and they often take great pleasure in learning and discovering new things. That is, things which are new to them. There really isn’t anything new, but if I am learning them for the first time, then it seems new to me and I feel a sense of discovery. If I do this often enough I can take great pleasure in this and place more importance on this than is deserved. In doing this I will take pride in my intellect and think that I am really something. This pride leads to idolatry. First I begin to think that I am smarter than other people because I enjoy learning new things and maybe I know something that they do not. Then I will think that I am better than others because I am smarter than them. Then I will think that I am more valuable then others, and they are worth less. Then I will think others are worthless, and eventually I will appoint myself as my own god. This is what leads people to Gnosticism.

Gnosticism is a worship of knowledge, usually a secret kind of knowledge like what scientists claim for their discoveries. The religion of science is a modern form of Gnosticism. You will often hear scientists talking about discovering the “secrets of the universe.” When you view science like this, then it easily becomes your religion. If you think you know the “secrets of the universe” then you believe you know things that only God knows, and if only you and God have this knowledge, then you feel like you are equal to God and can judge God and you probably think that you are smarter than God. You can see how this can be very tempting. Who wouldn’t want to be smarter than God so that you can tell Him that He is wrong. This was, in essence, the temptation which brought down Adam and Eve when they were still holy and perfect, and so the sinful children of Adam and Eve have little chance to resist such a strong temptation.

“Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you.” (1 Peter 5:6)

The Problem of Rationalism

Some people may think that if an argument is rational then it must be true. This is false. Every false teaching in history has begun by people trying to rationalize the Scriptures, but instead of finding the truth, they only come up with heresy. For example, even though the Triune nature of God can be found in both the Old Testament and the New Testament, it doesn’t make rational sense because it concerns God’s nature. Throughout history people have tried to rationalize the doctrine of the Triune nature of God and have come up with the false teachings of Arianism, docetism, modalism, and more.

Jesus gives His body and blood with the bread and wine of the Sacrament. This can only be true if Jesus is God.

Another example is when Reformed Christians make the argument that because the resurrected and ascended Jesus sits at the right hand of God, the Father (Acts 2:33), then He cannot give His body and blood in the Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper to communicants. This contradicts the words of Jesus in Matthew 26, Mark 14, Luke 22, and 1 Corinthians 11, and the explanation of St. Paul in 1 Corinthians 10:16 which explains that the body and blood of Jesus are truly present in the Sacrament wherever and whenever it is observed. The Reformed argument also ignores Christ’s promise of Matthew 28:20, “I am with you always, to the end of the age.” The problem with this argument is that it makes a rationalized assumption about what it means that Jesus “sits at the right hand of God, the Father” and then their false rationalization causes them to ignore other clear passages in Scripture.

Another example is when people try to rationalize why some people are saved, but not others. The Scriptures teach that Jesus gave up His life to pay for the sins of all people and all who believe in Him will be saved, and all who reject Him will be condemned (John 3:16-17 and others). In this way Jesus is the cause of all who are saved, and the people themselves are the cause of all who are condemned. This doesn’t sit well with rationalists who don’t like the idea that there are two different causes for these opposite outcomes. Some rationalize it by saying that God is the singular cause, and He chooses some to be saved and some to be damned. This makes God to be evil because they are saying that He intends for some people to be condemned. This contradicts 1 Timothy 2:3-4 (and many others), “God our Savior … desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.” Other people rationalize that God can’t be the cause of both salvation and damnation, but that we ourselves are the cause. They say we must make the choice, and our choice determines if we are saved or if we are damned. This is nowhere taught in Scripture, and it contradicts John 1:12-13, “Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God – children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.” Salvation is not a matter of our will, but of God’s will. Damnation, however, is a matter of our will, should we choose to reject God’s gift of forgiveness and salvation in Jesus. It is a paradox, and it can’t be resolved. Those who try may be rational, but they are false teachers.

There are many more examples. You could go through all heresies taught in history and find a rational basis. No heretic ever starts out trying to teach something false. He first tries to make sense of paradoxes, or mysteries beyond our comprehension, and in making the rational argument he must ignore and contradict some other clear teaching of Holy Scripture so that his rational argument teaches something false.

True science is relentlessly rational. That is its strength when it is used properly. One must keep in mind the limits of scientific inquiry before venturing into speculative theory and other areas where science cannot find answers or has nothing to say. Theoretical science is not – strictly speaking – science. Theories are only one part of the scientific method, and theories (or hypotheses) come early in the search for truth. Hypotheses are often proven wrong by experimentation. It is a great temptation to think that science or knowledge or rationalism will answer all our questions and solve all our problems. However science cannot solve the problem of sin and death. Only Jesus can rescue us from sin and death.

The Holy Scriptures were not written as a scientific textbook, but were written to bring us salvation through faith in Jesus Christ. The Holy Bible does not contradict true science, but rather encourages us to learn about the world that God created for us. We can never have all our questions answered because we are limited, and we can’t know everything. God does know everything, and he has given us the Scriptures so that we would put our trust in Jesus for our forgiveness and salvation. Science is only one of many gifts that God has given to us to make our lives better in this world, even though some use God’s gifts for evil. Don’t be led astray by those who make science into some godless religion. That is not what science is for. Don’t be led astray by those who say that the Bible isn’t true because it is not scientific. That is not what the Bible is for. The Holy Bible is to tell you what God, in Jesus Christ, has done to save you from your sins.

Number Symbolism in the Bible

by Pastor Paul Wolff

There seems to be different ways that people interpret symbolic numbers in the Holy Scriptures. I have studied the symbolic use of numbers in the Bible and I have found some very consistent interpretations for the numbers which make more sense than many interpretations I have heard. This is not to say that these interpretations are original to me, but that these are the best interpretations of how the Scriptures use numbers as symbols.

Not all the numbers in the Scriptures are used symbolically. A good part of the Scriptures are simple historical accounts and the numbers are simply counting things accurately without symbolism. A good example is the 153 fish (John 21:11) caught by the disciples after Christ’s Resurrection. There is no deep significance about this number except that it was a large number and the disciples must have felt the need to count them because they were impressed by this miracle that Jesus did for them. Another example is the seven days of creation. Although seven is used elsewhere symbolically, the creation account in Genesis 1 clearly describes each day as “evening and morning the (n^th) day” so this is not symbolic, but descriptive.

The proper interpretation of symbolic numbers is not difficult when you use a little common sense. When numbers are used symbolically they always refer to something concrete – something in history or everyday life that is easily recognizable as having something to do with a particular number. The numbers aren’t chosen at random, nor is there some great secret as to how the symbolic numbers get their meaning.

1 – The number “one” is not usually used symbolically. It is mostly used to describe a single solitary thing or person. When “one” is used symbolically it is used in much the same way as its descriptive use, which is to describe something or someone unique or particular. It is also used to describe unity of essence or purpose. I love it when the Old Testament describes God’s people acting under God’s direction “as one man,” which is to say that the whole people of God are acting to fulfill God’s Word as if they were all one person, or they are all together doing God’s work as he would do it.

God is described as “one,” which is descriptive, and not symbolic, even though God’s Triune nature (Father, Son and Holy Spirit – see “three” below) is shown even in the Old Testament. Right from Genesis 1:1 when the generic word for God is used to refer to the one true God it takes the plural form (“Elohim” usually means “gods”) but it takes masculine singular verbs. Also there is the triple “Holy” of Isaiah 6:3 “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of Hosts; the whole earth is full of His glory.” These are some ways the Old Testament testifies to the Triune character of God, yet there is still only one God – God is singular (“is” not “are”; & “His” not “their”).

from Holy Cross Lutheran Church, Detroit, Michigan

3 – The number “three” refers to God, or things having to do with God, when used symbolically in the Scriptures. For example, the three days Jonah was in the belly of the fish is descriptive, and not symbolic, but it is also used prophetically to point to the three days (also literal, and not symbolic) Jesus was in the tomb. However, even these examples can be viewed symbolically as the work of God to bring salvation. First, Jonah, himself, is saved from God’s wrath and drowning by the fish, then Jonah is sent to bring salvation to Nineveh, which all points forward to the work of Jesus to pay for the sins of the world by his death and burial. The three days being important so that Jesus fulfills the Sabbath day rest by being in the tomb for the whole Sabbath day (see “seven” below).

4 – The number “four” refers to the world, or creation, or mankind when used symbolically in the Bible. We can think of the four points of the compass (north, south, east, west) to describe the world.

6 – The number “six” is very interesting when used symbolically in the Scriptures. “Six” doesn’t seem to have a particular meaning on its own, but only in its relation to “seven” (see below). The symbolic use of “six” describes something incomplete – as if it were trying to reach “seven,” but missed the mark or fell short. The most famous symbolic use of “six” actually triples the digits to “666” in Revelation 13:18. The tripling of the digits suggests that this has something to do with God (see “3” above), but it falls short in every way. This makes sense in Rev. 13 because this number is the number of the blasphemous beast which was allowed to make war on God’s saints for a time. The number of the beast is “666” because he tries to portray himself as if he were God, but he misses the mark in every way. The world may follow the beast, thinking he is a god, but God’s people are not fooled (see Matthew 24:24).

7 – The number “seven” refers to Christ when used symbolically. “Seven” represents Christ because he is both God (“3”) and Man (“4”) in one person (3+4=7). John addresses his revelation letter to the seven churches not just because they are seven particular churches, but the Revelation of Jesus is to go to all Christians because the Christian church is Christ’s church. The comfort of the Revelation is for all who belong to Christ in the church, wherever they are.

Even in the creation we can see it pointing to Christ. Although the seven days of the creation are literal seven days (see the introduction above), the creation culminates in a day of rest from work to the glory and worship of God. God didn’t need to rest from His work of creation, but He knew we needed both a day to rest from our work, and a day to worship Him and study His Word. The Sabbath day’s rest was fulfilled when Jesus rested in His tomb the whole Sabbath day after He died, and before He rose from the dead on the first day of the week.

The number “seven” is very often misinterpreted as a symbolic number in the Scriptures (according to my understanding). Interpreters often say that “seven” is a number of completeness, but I don’t find that in the Scriptures. The only way this would be a number of completeness is if it referred to a week (or a number of weeks), but I don’t really find it used that way symbolically. There is a better number which is used for completeness much more clearly (see “ten” below), and “seven” makes much more sense when we see it as symbolically referring to Christ and His work. Though you may see above that I mentioned above that “six” was incomplete in relation to “seven” that doesn’t necessarily point to “seven” as the number of completeness. I still see “seven” as symbolic of Christ and His work, which certainly is complete in all that He set out to do, but the symbolism refers to Jesus, and not to completeness as “ten” does.

10 – The number “10” (and multiples) signifies completion, or perfection, or fulfillment. Just as ten fingers or ten toes are a complete set for a normal person, so the number “ten” signifies the full number of something when used symbolically in the Scriptures. Many times this number is intensified to 1,000 (10³) which symbolizes the fullness of what God intended, as in Revelation 20 where the 1,000 years are not literally 1,000 years, but the fulfillment of the whole time which God has ordained for these events to unfold.

The Last Supper window from Holy Cross Lutheran Church, Detroit, Michigan

12 – The number “twelve” represents God’s people, the church. In Old Testament times the church was the 12 tribes of Israel (after the days of Jacob’s 12 sons, of course). In the New Testament Jesus chose 12 disciples, and after His ascension Matthias was chosen to take the place of Judas, who killed himself, so there would be 12 Apostles to proclaim the Gospel beginning at Pentecost to make disciples of all nations – which continues to this day.

40 – The number “forty” is used quite frequently in the Scriptures, and it usually is not symbolic, but descriptive. However, it does show up many times in Scripture, and may have symbolic meaning behind it. If we apply my above descriptions to “forty” we might see it as 4×10 which is a completion of something having to do with the world. In Exodus the Israelites were made to wander in the wilderness for 40 years, which was a time of testing and learning to rely on God for their sustenance, protection, and salvation. Many of Israel’s faithful kings were given reigns lasting 40 years, which seemed to show God’s favor for their faithfulness by their being given a “full” reign. Jonah’s message to Nineveh was that God’s judgment would come in 40 days, which was a time of testing that they used to good effect by repenting of their sins. In the Gospels, Jesus fasted in the wilderness 40 days, and had to rely on God, the Father, for survival, and He was also tested and tempted by the devil.

144,000 – The number “one hundred forty four thousand” in Revelation 7 and 14 is symbolic of all the people who receive the salvation won by Christ. We know this number is symbolic because in Rev. 7:9 John describes the 144,000 as “a great multitude that no one could count.” Since they can’t be counted then they must be more than 144,000 that he just described and so that number is symbolic. “One hundred forty four” is 12×12, which symbolically represents the Old Testament saints and the New Testament saints, and this is multiplied by 1,000 which is 10³, which is the number of completeness raised to the third power. This symbolizes the complete number of God’s people in both the Old and New Testament times, which is the whole Christian Church.

Much more could be said about symbols in the Scriptures, but this is just a brief explanation of the way I view how numbers are used symbolically in the Holy Bible. Just because numbers are sometimes used symbolically in the Scriptures does not mean there is some mysterious “secret code” which must be discovered for understanding. The Holy Scriptures were written for our understanding, not our confusion.  The main thing to keep in mind when trying to understand the Bible is that the whole of the Scriptures point to Christ as our salvation from Sin (see John 5:39) so that we might believe in Jesus and receive God’s gift of forgiveness and eternal life (see John 20:30-31 and John 3:16-17).

A Sabbath Day Rest

Jesus teaching in Nazareth from Emmanuel

Thus the heavens and the earth were completed in all their vast array. By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work. And God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done. (Genesis 2:1-3)

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To tell you the truth, Emmanuel Lutheran Church in Dearborn, Michigan doesn’t have a window depicting the Seventh Day of Creation. Perhaps the church itself is a representation-in-action of the day that God blessed as holy. The window pictured here is a depiction of Luke 4:16-21 where Jesus was preaching on the Sabbath Day in a Synagogue in Nazareth early in His ministry and proclaimed that the prophesy of Isaiah concerning the Messiah was fulfilled by Him that day.

There is a lot of talk about a “six day creation” in the debate over the creation. What gets lost in this description is the very important Seventh Day of Creation. Though God rested from His work and did not create anything new, this day seven is a very important part of God’s creation.

When I teach this story to children they often ask the obvious, but impertinent, question, “Was God tired that He needed to rest?” The answer is “No.” God is almighty and created “life, the universe, and everything” (if I can be so bold as to quote the late Douglas Adams, who was often blasphemous before his untimely death) perfectly in only six days by merely saying, “Let there be …”, so clearly God does not need to rest. It was no great strain for God to create everything. He did not rest on the Seventh Day for His needs, but for ours. We are the ones who need the rest, so God led by example (to begin with). Ever since then God has been working on the Sabbath days serving our needs.

Angels worshipping at the cross

Most people think that worship is what we do to please God. This is a pagan idea, but it is not uncommon among those calling themselves “Christians”. The Holy Bible never says that we should try to please God. Scripture says, “Be holy because I, the LORD your God, am holy.” (Leviticus 19:2) Unfortunately, as sinners we cannot be holy no matter what we do. This makes it seem like salvation is impossible as Jesus’ disciples once realized when they asked Him, “Who, then, can be saved?” Jesus replied, “With man this is impossible, but not with God; all things are possible with God.” (see Mark 10:17-27)

If God had left our salvation in our control then none of us would have a chance of salvation. However, God didn’t leave it up to us to save ourselves. God worked out our salvation himself so that we all could be saved. Even before sin came into the world God set aside one day out of the week so we could stop and remember just how much we need God.

People reject Sabbath worship because we want to think that we don’t need God. It is humbling to have to rely on God to provide salvation, but most people don’t realize that it is far more humbling to try to save yourself – and fail.

“Christ is Risen” - From Emmanuel

Because God sanctified the Seventh Day of creation making that a holy day, the Old Testament people of God set aside that day for worship. Yet, today the vast majority of Christians now worship God on the first day of the week. The reason for the change is, of course, Jesus.

From the very beginning the Sabbath rest was a typological prophesy about Christ. Jesus fulfilled the promise of the Sabbath when He rested in the grave on the Saturday after He died. Jesus was in the grave part of Friday and part of Sunday, but He had a full Sabbath day’s rest from His work of salvation. Then He rose from the dead on Sunday to proclaim our salvation. Since then we remember Christ’s victory over sin and death for our sake when we go to worship every Sunday.

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The Seven Days of Creation

In the Beginning
The Orderly Creation
Distinctions in Creation
The Center of the Universe
Designed by God
The Crown of God’s Creation
A Sabbath Day Rest

The Crown of God’s Creation

Creation Day Six from Emmanuel

And God said, “Let the land produce living creatures according to their kinds: livestock, creatures that move along the ground, and wild animals, each according to its kind.” And it was so. God made the wild animals according to their kinds, the livestock according to their kinds, and all the creatures that move along the ground according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good.

Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.”

So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.

God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground.”

Then God said, “I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food. And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds of the air and all the creatures that move on the ground–everything that has the breath of life in it–I give every green plant for food.” And it was so.

God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning – the sixth day. (Genesis 1:24-31)

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On the sixth day of creation God created animals and man. One might be tempted to say that on the sixth day God just created all kinds of creatures, but that is not how the Holy Scriptures tell what happened. It is true that man is certainly a creature created by God, but there is something very special about the creation of man that distinguishes us from everything else that God created.

When God had made nearly everything in the universe and had come to the last part of His creation He said, “Let us make man in our image, in our likeness….” So God created man in His image. This is special because God did not do this for anything else in creation. Man is the “crown of God’s creation” because God made people in His image. What does it mean that man is made in God’s image? It means that Adam and Eve were made holy, like God. They were made immortal because death only came after the fall into sin as a punishment for their disobedience. The image of God is also seen in verse 26 in the passage above where God gave Adam and Eve the authority to rule over the earth and all other creatures just as God has authority over us and ultimate authority over all things.

We should also see that it wasn’t for Adam and Eve’s sake that God made them in His image. Yes, God loved them dearly, but He also knew that they would rebel against Him, reject Him, become His enemies, and face His wrath and condemnation. Instead, it was for the sake of Jesus that God made man to be the crown of creation. Even before anything was made, God knew that He would need to become incarnate as a man to redeem his beloved, but rebellious people. Saint Peter wrote, “For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect. He was chosen before the creation of the world, but was revealed in these last times for your sake. Through him you believe in God, who raised him from the dead and glorified him, and so your faith and hope are in God.” (1 Peter 1:18-21) This shows us that God had planned to save us before the creation of the world. It was for the sake of His beloved Son (Jesus) that God made people the crown of creation, though because of Jesus, God did this for our benefit and eternal joy.

Saint Paul also said much the same thing when he wrote “For he chose us in (Christ) before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will-- to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace that he lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding.” (Ephesians 1:4-8) Here again we see that it was according to God’s plan of salvation from eternity that He created us in His image, but it was for the sake of Christ, who redeemed us that we might be “adopted as His sons”. Strictly speaking, Jesus is the crown of God’s creation, but because of Jesus, we have been redeemed through His blood, forgiven of our sins, and adopted into God’s family so that through faith in Jesus we can share in the glories of His eternal inheritance.

There is so much in the creation account that I can only begin to describe the importance of it in this short essay. It is important to note that the creation account in chapter one of Genesis is not the only information we have on the creation of people. Genesis chapter two gives a more detailed account of what God did when He created Adam and Eve. Some people try to discredit the Biblical account of creation by saying that the stories in chapter one and chapter two are different stories, but that is stretching the text too far. It is very clear that the account in chapter one is a general summary of God creating man, and then chapter two gives more details about the creation of man on day six. There is nothing in chapter two that contradicts chapter one, it only expands on the details.

We see in the creation of man that God also created marriage. Eve is described as Adam’s “wife” just as soon as she is formed out of Adam’s rib and given life. Here is the answer to all who would redefine marriage as something other than the lifelong union of one man and one woman. When God created people He also created marriage and blessed this union and commanded them to be fruitful. We also see that the woman is not a lesser being to be dominated, but a true partner, as Adam declares that this woman who was formed out of his rib is “bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh.” (Genesis 2:23)

Nevertheless, there is still a hierarchy in the order of creation of the husband and the wife. The wife is to submit to the husband as the husband is to submit to God, but this doesn’t mean that the woman is the man’s servant or property. After sin came into the world man started getting some strange notions about the roles of husband and wife and twisted around God’s good institution. However, people who take seriously the Genesis account of creation have throughout history have had a higher view of marriage, and women in those cultures have enjoyed greater protections and stability than those cultures which either put women down to the level of servant or property, or those which raise women up to a level of superiority over men.

In the New Testament Jesus acknowledges the sanctity of marriage when He was asked a question about divorce in Matthew 19:1-9. Jesus references the creation to show what God intended and says that marriage is “what God has joined together” so that no one should separate those united in marriage. Saint Paul also gives a bold endorsement of marriage in Ephesians 5:21-33 even though he remained celibate in his life. Even though Paul’s words have been twisted throughout history he gives a beautiful picture of marriage where the wife submits to the husband, and the husband loves his wife and submits to God. If you read Paul’s words carefully as written you see that he does not give the husband the authority to dominate his wife, but requires him to give his life for his wife as Christ gave His life for the church (all believers). So if the husband loves his wife enough to die for her, then he will not dominate her, but will care for her as he ought.

We see God with us in the account of creation in that He not only made all things for our benefit, and made us in His image, but also in what God did for us when we rebelled against Him and became His enemies through our disobedience. God could have destroyed all people for their sin. He maybe should have, but out of love for us creatures God came to earth Himself as one of us. Jesus came to keep God’s law, which we are unable to do, and also to endure the punishment for sin as our substitute so that we are freed from that threat of punishment. This is what Jesus did out of love for God’s disobedient creatures.

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The Seven Days of Creation
In the Beginning
The Orderly Creation
Distinctions in Creation
The Center of the Universe
Designed by God
The Crown of God’s Creation
A Sabbath Day Rest