One of the great lies that
our culture has come to believe is that science and faith in God are somehow contradictory.
Therefore, no analytical, thinking man or woman can be a true follower of
Christ. The idea of an all-powerful God, the reality of miracles and the claims
of the Bible are good things if they help us get through the difficulties of life,
but they can’t be taken as fact. Like one of my skeptical university professors
suggested, “If you are a man or woman of science then you may as well take your
brain out at the door before you go to church.”
The reality couldn’t be further
from the truth. Did you know that some of the world’s greatest scientists were
also committed Christians? In fact, some of the most important scientific discoveries
were inspired by scientists who studied “the book of nature” in one hand and
the Word of God in the other.
Dr. James Simpson
(1811-1870) developed the formula for chloroform. Before his work there were no
reliable methods for putting patients into a painless, unconscious state for surgery.
One day, the Scottish physician was reading in Genesis 2:21 where we learn
about the first surgery in history as God put Adam into a “deep sleep” to
remove a rib. Dr. Simpson was inspired from this passage to develop a way to
help patients stay sedated while he operated on them. In 1847 modern
anesthesiology was born when Simpson released his formula. Dr. Simpson was a
man of God and a man of science and if you’ve ever had your wisdom teeth
removed or surgery of any kind then you can praise the Lord for His commitment.
Simpson later said his greatest discovery was that, “He was a great sinner and
Jesus a great Savior.”[1]
Dr. James Simpson
Then there is Matthew Maury
(1806-1873). One day while studying Psalm 8:8 he came across this peculiar phrase,
“whatever passes along the paths of the seas.” It struck him that there
could be paths in the seas, but if God’s word said then he decided to believe
it. Gripped by this truth, Maury decided to devote his life to finding them. Over
the next 19 years Maury studied the winds, clouds, weather, and ocean features.
To learn about the speed and direction of the ocean currents Maury set adrift
weighted bottles known as ‘drift bottles’. These floated slightly below the
surface of the water, and thus were not affected by wind. Instructions were
sealed in each bottle directing anyone who found one washed ashore to return
it. From the location and date on which the bottles were found, Maury was able
to develop his charts of the ocean currents—the ‘paths’ of the seas—which
greatly aided the science of marine navigation. In 1855 Maury published the
first textbook on the subject of oceanography.[2]
Matthew Maury
George Washington Carver (1864-1943)
was born a slave in the Deep South. Probably no other scientist had to face as
many social barriers as he did. As a young man, Carver discovered the promise
of James 1:5, “If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives
generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him.” Carver took this
literally and so he bowed on his knees in prayer. He later wrote, “When I was
young, I asked God to tell me the mystery of the universe, but God answered,
“That knowledge is reserved for me alone” so I said, “God, tell me the mystery
of the peanut.” Then God said, ‘Well, George, that’s more nearly your size,’
and He told me.” Carver revolutionized agricultural science with his
cultivation of soil-enriching crops, such as peanuts and soybeans, to revive
earth that had been depleted of nutrients from cotton farming. He discovered
over 100 uses for the sweet potato and 300 uses for the peanut, including
beverages, cosmetics, dyes and paints, medicines, and food products.[3]
George Washington Carver
Our modern scientific
world owes its existence to many other men and women of faith. In the words of
astronomer Robert Jastrow, “For the scientist who has lived by his faith in the
power of reason, the story ends like a bad dream. He has scaled the mountains
of ignorance, he is about to conquer the highest peak; as he pulls himself over
the final rock, he is greeted by a band of theologians who have been sitting
there for centuries.”[4]
-DM
[1]
Henry Morris, Men of Science, Men of God (Green Forest, AR: Master
Books, 1988), 52.
[2] “Matthew
Maury’s Search for the Secret of the Seas,” Creation 11, no. 3 (June
1989), p. 30.
[3]
Robert J. Morgan, My All in All: Daily Assurances of God’s Grace (Nashville,
TN: Thomas Nelson, 2008), June 9.
[4]
Robert Jastrow, God and the Astronomers (New York: Norton, 1978), 116.
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