THE SCIENCE OF GOD

            I have already stated that science is incapable of proving or disproving the existence of God,* so, it may appear that I am contradicting myself by writing an entry entitled, “The Science of God.”  Sorry – I just can’t resist, and I hope you will cut me a little slack with the title and read on.

            As I have stated, science is a tool for gaining knowledge.  The practice of science involves (1) gathering data in a systematic fashion, (2) formulating theories – mental constructs that fit the data, approximating reality to some degree, (3) designing and conducting more experiments to gather additional data, and (4) using this new data to perfect our theories or construct new theories.  Science is a powerful tool.  With it we have amassed enormous amounts of information about the universe, our earth, and life as we know it.  God, however, is not made of matter and energy as we know it.  He is transcendent, so science as we practice it – the natural sciences including astronomy, geology, biology, chemistry, and physics - are not capable of gathering data about God.  Simply put, He cannot be seen with a telescope or a microscope, He cannot be weighed or measured, and He certainly cannot be put into a test tube.

            But, if science is a tool for gathering information, then I do in a sense practice the science of God – and so do others.**  I have in fact made the science of God the most important field of study in my life.  No, I do not perform experiments on God.  It would be more correct to say that God performs experiments on me.  I stated in my previous entry, I live in two worlds.  I see God as truly as my eyes see this paper while I scribble out a draft of this blog entry.  As I seek a deeper knowledge of Him, He reveals Himself to me.  In practicing the science of God I do not gather data and formulate theories, I gain understanding about God as He reveals Himself to me.  My understanding about what He is like is constantly being refined.  He is what He is – calling Himself in the Old Testament “I am”.  I have not created a god to fit my needs or my expectations.  He is not what I want Him to be, and He is not what you want Him to be.  He is what He is, eternal and unchanging.  He can be known, and I am on a quest to know Him.  I am practicing the science of God.

*See my earlier entries entitled “The Artist”, “More on the Artist”, and “The Science of Biscuits”

**Karl Barth writes in his Evangelical Theology, “Theology is one among those human undertakings traditionally described as “sciences”.  Not only the natural sciences are sciences… The word “theology” seems to signify a special science, a very special science, whose task is to apprehend, understand, and speak of “God”.”