I am not a scientist. I am a theologian.
I was watching a scientist on YouTube railing against pseudoscience. By “Pseudoscience,” I mean the stuff people try to pass as science that is nothing of the kind. Like people who talk about the “proof” aliens are among us, stories of Bigfoot tramping through the forest, miracle cures made from bee toe jam, etc.
Then he began to talk about Christians. He ripped through, “Creation Science,” miracles, prayer and many of the things we hold dear. I was ticked.
But the truth is, he was right.
He had apparently been listening to Christians trying to talk science from the Bible. He had heard people explain the mechanics of miracle. He had read people who explained how to work prayer. He rightly called it pseudoscience.
We believe the Bible to be God’s revelation to us and we believe it to be true. It is the paradigm with which we view the world. It is not, however, science.
Christianity does not explain how the world works. It doesn’t give secrets that unlock astronomy or hidden insights into nuclear medicine. It doesn’t do science. It doesn’t even try. When we push it into the realm of science, we take it where it does not belong.
This scientist went on to wax eloquent about the meaning of life. He talked about how life all just winds down and there is nothing more to it than biology. There is no God and there is no meaning to any of it. I was ticked again.
Christians may be guilty of pseudoscience, but he was guilty of pseudotheology.
I ought not attempt to make the Bible try to explain science. I am not a scientist. He ought not try and make test tubes explain theology. He is not a theologian. His test tubes say as little about God as the Bible does about quantum physics.
Christianity is not science. Christianity is faith in God. Science is not theology. Science discovers how things work. Faith gives life meaning. I trust science to tell me about plants, rocks, space and biology. I trust God to give meaning to all the things science explains.
My soul craves purpose, which is why I am a theologian, not a scientist.