God vs Science: The Ultimate Creation Showdown?

To assume that one must choose science or God is really a false dilemma. After all, God made the universe, and science is our attempt to understand the creation. There is nothing intrinsically wrong with that. The mistake some scientists make (not this one, by the way) is the same mistake humanity has been making for thousands of years (See Romans 1:25), namely they worship the creation instead of the creator. This can be seen in modern environmentalism and other such religions. If you look back at the history of science, you will find that the overwhelming preponderance of scientists, prior to about 30 years ago, were religious, and regarded science as a means to understanding God. This would be similar to looking at all of the art you could find from Da Vinci to try and understand who he was as a man.

Many people believe that God set the rules in the beginning and then has been hands off since then. It is possible that this is exactly what happened.

Unfortunately, it's not scientifically viable. The reason science rejects this thought is because there is no evidence for God (which is what one would expect if God set the rules from day 1, or 6, whatever, and then didn't touch anything after that). Since there's no evidence for it, it's an extra term. The theory without God produces exactly the same result as the theory with God included. Therefore, God is a useless addition to the theory, doesn't contribute anything to the theory, and can be cut out.

It definitely is a nice way to mesh the the two schools of thought in your head though, it's just not following the scientific method.

(PS the first form of life theorized is not a complete cell)

That's one heck of a stretch, apparently intended to rescue the false Biblical creation story. The assumptions are false:

- Science does not say that we are copies of the first cell of this planet. We're quite different from that cell, in many many ways. There are some similarities, but not enough to suggest that we are "in the image" of that cell.

- The religious statement that we are "in God's image" is really vague, so much so that it can't serve as evidence that Moses was really smart (I'm not sure what Moses has to do with this anyway).

The bottom line is that the Biblical creation story is not in any way an accurate telling of the origin of man or of the universe. You may choose to believe that it is, but you will need to find faith, rather than trying this hard to find evidence.

As a scientist I would take issue with the postulate:

Science states:

Humans are complex(evolved) copies of the first single cell of this planet.

"Science hypothesizes" would be more correct.

Science has never proven any model of origins and has never claimed so to do. The main model of stellar evolution (Big Bang) contains so many assumptions to make it work that the science world is suggesting that serious research into alternatives is necessary. Darwinian evolution is merely the most widely accepted model of origins but has many variants and is even rejected by some scientists.

Creationism and Intelligent Design are minority views but do have a fair number of successful scientists who subscribe to them.

People of faith claim another approach other than scientific method ie divine revelation from a deity. This cannot be either proven or disproven to any disinterested observer.

So, please realize that science rarely deals with absolutes but hypothesis and models - it is nowhere near as all-knowing as the general population think.

Yes, the Bible states that man is created in God's image but because we are physical beings and God is a spiritual being we are fundamentally different. Therefore, the image spoken of cannot be in a physical sense and the Bible tells us that our thoughts are not God's thoughts, Isaiah 55:8, so the process of elimination brings us to our qualities. We were created with God's qualities...love, wisdom, justice, etc. Because we are human we are imperfect so we don't develop or use these qualities very well sometimes. Some, like Moses are willing to submit to God's Will and are instructed and used by Him. If you read the account in Exodus 4:10-17, you will see that Moses was not a good speaker and he felt inadequate. He asked God to send someone else but was told that his brother Aaron was a good speaker and Moses could tell him what to say and Aaron would be his spokesman. Each of them gave God the credit for what they were able to accomplish. They didn't do it by their own will but through God's. We all have God's qualities but not all are willing to submit themselves to His laws or principles. Those that do reap great rewards and by studying the Bible we can learn of those who did and those who didn't and the different results, Romans 1:20-23..

The Bible states in Genesis that God created all the animals, plants and trees, and that they should reproduce each "after it's own kind". That's the key term there "after it's own kind". God didn't say He was going to create pond scum, and let it evolve into something else.

The reason all life reproduces after it's own kind, is because the building blocks of life, the DNA, is in a digital code. Digital make the DNA unique. To give an example, say you had two numbers, a 7 and an 8. You can't combine those two numbers, and get a 71/2. Those numbers are unique to themselves, and only have a value that was assigned to them by a designer. That's why no missing links have ever been found.

When scientist discovered that the DNA code was a digital code, it put the final nails into Darwin's coffin.

you've touched on an interesting point. Most people see Evolutionary theory and Creationism as mutually exclusive, but they really aren't (Darwin himself was a devout Christian).

The main Creationist arguement is the "watchmaker" analogy: if you have a watch, which is complex and precise, then there must be a watch maker, i.e. how could something so complex and precise as the Earth's ecosystem and living creatures come about by pure happenstance?

Wouldn't it make sense then, if you have this omnipotent force creating this huge system, wouldn't the "watchmaker" provide a method by which that system could adapt and advance? The Earth changes constantly, why can't living creatures? Does it really make sense that an all-knowing God would create delicate, static forms of life incapable of change and put them in an ecosystem that changes constantly? It doesn't.

It would seem to me that Evolutionary theory would only re-enforce the arguement of God's wisdom, rather than counter it

True science isn't at odds with God.

Evolution has underlying it the idea that we are becoming more complex and organized, but in truth, that never happens, ever, cells never randomly organize themselves into higher forms, not ever documented, regardless decades of looking for an example. Evolution is a farce, an unfortunate left over from a racist trying to justify his shortsightedness. Read Darwin himself, he believed his theories proved that white people were superior.

God created everyone equal, that is the idea, and since the fall, we have all been devolving, suffering ever more disease and disorder, and waging ever more evil on each other.

Funny contest:

God: imaginary ancient social construct.

vs

Science: methodology for investigating the world around us.

Am I getting you right. Are you calling God an Amoeboid protozoan? That's a novel insult to be sure, and likely to cause some debate :)

Science states:

Humans are complex(evolved) copies of the first single cell of this planet.

Religion states:

The soul(the source of free will) of humans and other beings decided to take on a physical manifestation when they decided they needed to learn.

Conclusion:

Humans are complex(evolved) copies of the first single cell of this planet who get their free will from a soul that took on a physical manifestation because it wanted to learn.

Therefore:

The purpose of life is to learn.

:)

- 16 yo Pagan