In the last century
Christians and scientists have been puzzled by the origin of life and how the world came into being. As a result, the relevance of the beginning of the universe to both scientists and theologians will be discussed in this paper, as well as why we must consider and take suffering in the world seriously to understand God and how the convergence of religion and science leads to a better understanding of the essence of the universe.
Struggle of Christians
Christians have struggled to reconcile their faith in the Scriptures with scientific evidence. For example, the Bible says that Adam and Eve were our first parents, but according to evolutionary science, all living things developed from a single speck of life. Further, the evolutionary theory claims that it once existed a very old universe between 13 to 15 billion years ago. On the other side, Genesis 1 clearly indicates that the original creation came into existence much more recently, it further portrays a thoughtful reading which depicts a sounding literal creation story, and although we often read with limitations “you can’t take Genesis literally”. To intermarry the two aspects, the anthropic principle which supports the two aspects signifies the importance of the beginning of the universe and how it is able to sustain itself (Dawkins 168). Understandably, a number of Christians borrow a theistic evolution as the only way of reconciling science with Christian faith. However, it is within science and religion that provides a benchmark for understanding how the universe came into existence. Basing on the principle, the examination of scientific and religious views in reference to Barbour’s works explains the idea that the universe is more responsible for the life within its existence (Barbour 378). Scientists have developed theories which they base their assertions that a reaction between atoms through collisions can cause a result that could develop a life supporting within the universe due to the reactions within the collisions, on the other hand theologians believe that it is through God’s initiation that the universe came into existence, through his supreme being he created life and sustained it forever (Ferngren and Gary 65).
Cosmological Theories
As much as humans have been trying to derive the sense of how the universe came into existence, they have been developing cosmological theories. Religions such as Christianity and others believe that there is a transcendent and Supreme God who brought the universe into existence and continually sustains its existence. According to (Cohen 282), it is because of the supernatural cause that the universe exists, as Newton also said, “not blind and fortuitous, but very well skilled in Mechanicks and Geometry”
Haught’s Argument
His focus is on the understanding of the truth of our own minds because of some external forces that clearly portrays that there is a supernatural force that exists within the universe. The creatures in the universe are bound to know naturally that there exists a force that sustains the whole universe at all angles, from a theological perspective, God’s Supernatural presence within the living creatures and the universe was, is and will always be in existence as long as life can be supported.
Understanding God
To restore the connection between God and Human being, God is presented as the center of human existence and thus the suffering is meant to be the course (Haught 208). From a religious perspective, understanding God requires some level of seriousness in how one understands him through the Bible, it is in this book that one gets to understand who God is and his ways of relating to human beings. Therefore, humans have no control over what happens to them externally, all they can do is to choose how they will respond internally, the goal being not let such to bother them. Darwin asserts that aspects of life can be understood in natural terms and no reason to depend on obsolete religious thoughts. He further explains humans can respond and understand the fact of suffering by themselves. Darwinian biology perspective explains that the sensation of pain by all living things through suffering is an adaptation that has the possibility of survival and reproductive success. Terming it as life’s warning, this intermarries with the biblical contexts, that the disastrous natural happenings are as a result of the wrath of God against the disobedient humans, this shows that his presence holds nature as he is able to keep it constant or alter it to influence human experience (Haught 221). The 1940 Gifford lectures by Sir Charles Sherrington gives an example of how a lowly fluke-worm adapts to its existence at the expense of suffering in higher organisms, he further writes that life’s prize is awarded to the aggressive and the only inferior of life. Darwin rejected the idea of divine design after learning such indecencies in the biological world. Humans are encouraged that in the end there will be no more pain and death, but now the evolutionary biology has provided the naturalistic answer to the suffering that occurs to the sentient life giving examples of the ichneumon wasps, fluke worms and other nature’s indifference instances to suffering.
The Bridge between Religion and Science
The bridge between religion and science is based on human experience since it is the only way the existence or non-existence of God is ascertained. Human suffering is an instrument that can be used to close the gap between science and religion (Nicole 706). Both scientists and theologians seek to find ways to curb and hopefully eliminate the suffering of human beings. The fact that the two opposites have a common ground, this shows that science and religion can be integrated to provide solutions to difficult human experiences. Both concepts reconcile human to nature, although their methods differ, their intentions and objectives are similar. This integration depicts that there are no significant differences between theology and science when it comes to the fundamentals of life which are the core subject according to the anthropic principle. Barbour explains that the Darwinian theory of evolution offers an insight into the life of the universe with respect to animals and plants. This idea merges with religion where the beginning of the cosmos is the start of a continuous process of evolution (Barbour 434). This integration shows that science and religious beliefs share a common concept of life and how it changes over time. The perception that living things undergoes evolution is cemented by the anthropic principle because theologians and scientist agree that condition that supports life in the universe contributes to its evolution.
Conclusion
It is clear that God as the designer provides a better explanation as per the design evidenced by life over the theory that needs transitional forms directed by natural selection. Having gone through all the Christianity and Science contents, we realize that the teleological argument portrays the best evolutionary theory critique. The belief surrounding the notion that God created all human beings in his likeness requires faith, but for the evolutionary theory, it requires much more faith simply because evolution depends on science, for example, historical fossil records. Many scientists still hold to their theories desperately because of their origin that is based on nature and not God. They cannot accept the fact, the existence of supernatural being as they believe in their explained natural terms.
Works Cited
Dawkins, Richard G. The Blind Watchmaker: Why the Evidence of Evolution Reveals a Universe Without Design. , 2015
Barbour, Ian G. When Science Meets Religion. San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, 2000. Internet resource.
Ferngren, Gary B. The History of Science and Religion in the Western Tradition: An Encyclopedia. New York, NY [u.a.: Garland, 2000. Print.
Cohen, I., 1978. Isaac Newton’s Papers and Letters and Natural Philosophy and Related Documents, Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Haught. John F. Is Nature Enough?: Meaning and Truth in the Age of Science. Cambridge [u.a.: Cambridge Univ. Press, 2007.
Nichols. L. Terrence. Miracle in Science and Technology. Journal of Science and Religion, Vol. 37, no.3, 2002 Pp. 703-716
