Session 3 — Does Science Conflict with Christianity?
Have you ever heard someone say, “I don’t believe in God—I believe in science”? Or maybe, “I’m not religious because I’m all about evolution”? These kinds of statements might make it sound like faith and fact are forever at war. But as Christians, we don’t run from truth or plug our ears when new findings arise. Because if the gospel is genuine, then it shines all the more brightly under the lamp of honest investigation. God created all that exists, so there can be no ultimate conflict between the God who made the universe and the facts we uncover in that universe.
I want to spend some time today showing why biblical Christianity is not threatened by real science. Far from it: the more you learn about the cosmos—its origins, its delicate structure, the reality of moral law—the harder it is to make sense of it all without God. So let’s walk through this by exploring a few core ideas.
The Christian Approach to Truth
One misconception is that Christians only believe ideas stated explicitly in Scripture. But that’s not how we live. Think about it: the Bible never tells you your exact birth date, yet you believe you were born on a particular day. That information can be verified by birth certificates, passports, or testimony. As Christians, we affirm that everything in the Bible is true, but not all truth is in the Bible. We accept plenty of truths about science, history, or everyday life that Scripture doesn’t specifically mention. If gravity accelerates objects at 9.8 meters per second squared, you won’t find a verse for that. It’s still true.
Because God’s Word is true, we aren’t afraid that some new archaeological dig or scientific discovery is going to pop up and destroy the Christian faith. If the gospel is real—if Jesus truly is the resurrected Son of God—then every bit of reliable data or evidence will ultimately harmonize with Him. In fact, a Christian worldview has no need to fear any truth, since every truth in creation is God’s truth.
Romans 1:20 declares that even “the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made.” That means we don’t even need a Bible to know there’s a Creator. The sheer existence of the universe, and the intricacy of nature itself, shout that there’s more going on than random accidents. While we do cherish the Bible as God’s inspired Word, Paul reminds us that God has also left an unmistakable witness in creation, so none of us can claim ignorance.
The Cosmological Argument: A Universe That Began
If you watch a scratch magically appear on your car door, you’d never say, “I guess the paint just decided to peel itself!” You would look for a cause—maybe another car backing out, a bicycle handle scraping by. Likewise, the very fact that the universe exists begs the question: What caused all this? You can’t have an effect without a cause.
Historically, some philosophers, like Aristotle, suggested the universe had always existed. But modern science has essentially abandoned the view of an eternal, unchanging universe (the “steady state” theory). Today, the mainstream scientific consensus is that the cosmos had a beginning—the Big Bang, or some event marking the universe’s start. But if the universe began, then it must have a cause beyond itself. Nothing just pops into existence from pure nothingness. The very evidence of cosmic expansion and background radiation testifies that our universe had a starting point in time.
This is precisely what’s laid out in the Kalam Cosmological Argument, which goes like this:
Everything that begins to exist has a cause.
The universe began to exist.
Therefore, the universe has a cause.
That’s a neat, logical chain. If you try to deny the conclusion, you have to dispute one of the premises—and good luck finding convincing evidence that the universe never began or that something can spontaneously appear without a cause. Indeed, the more we discover, the more we see how firmly the evidence points to a definite beginning—and thus a cause outside the universe.
The Teleological Argument: Fine-Tuning Everywhere
If you stroll onto your driveway and find a bunch of leaves arranged into the words “Will you marry me?” you won’t think, “Wow, the wind must blow in very strange patterns here!” You’d instantly see it as purposeful. Why? Because design implies a designer. Messages imply a mind.
In the same way, the world displays staggering evidence of fine-tuning—of being carefully calibrated to allow for life:
The laws of physics (like gravity, the strong and weak nuclear forces, and electromagnetism) are exactly balanced within extremely narrow ranges.
Slight deviations could mean no stable atoms, no stars, no heavy elements, and no possibility of life.
Think about balancing a pencil on its sharpened point after tossing it up in the air. It’s theoretically possible, but if it landed perfectly upright on that tip, you’d suspect a trick or hidden magnets, not blind chance. Well, the universe is infinitely more precise than balancing a pencil. Scientists sometimes propose a “multiverse” to dodge this. They claim maybe there are countless universes, and we happen to live in the one that’s fine-tuned. But that simply multiplies the difficulty: What caused all these infinite universes? And since other universes would be by definition unobservable, it’s a “theory” you accept purely on faith, not evidence.
For an honest inquirer, the elegant order we see in physics points compellingly to a divine Mind behind it all.
The Existence and Emergence of Life
The same kind of design logic applies to life. Even the simplest living cell is astonishingly complex. You only need to look at how improbable it is for one functional enzyme to form by random processes. The numbers spiral into absurdity—probabilities like 1 in 10^40,000—which dwarfs the number of atoms in the entire known universe.
We do observe microevolution or adaptation—animals can vary in size or color, or we can breed dogs to get new breeds. But that doesn’t prove all species share a single common ancestor or that life popped into existence from nonliving chemicals. At best, survival of the fittest explains how existing life forms adapt within their genetic limits. It can’t explain how life arose in the first place from non-living matter. “Arrival of the fittest” remains unsolved by purely naturalistic theories.
To say everything started by random chemical reactions is like claiming an explosion in a print shop produced a flawless dictionary. That’s not an explanation; it’s an admission that something is missing. The more we learn about DNA, cellular machinery, and the intricate coding within living organisms, the harder it gets to pretend it’s all an accident. Rather than science contradicting God, it’s shining a spotlight on the creativity of the One who said, “Let there be life.”
The Moral Argument: Right and Wrong Point to God
Beyond the cosmos and biology, there’s another signpost: the moral law. Almost every human being recognizes some actions as “good” and others as “evil.” Consider Corrie ten Boom, who risked her life hiding Jewish people from the Nazis. She acted heroically, even though it caused her immense suffering. Meanwhile, the Nazi regime committed horrific atrocities. We don’t just say, “That’s how they survived.” We say, “That was morally evil.”
But if there’s no God—no transcendent standard beyond the human mind—then what’s “evil” beyond personal opinion or social convention? We don’t judge eagles that catch fish as evil, because they’re just acting out an animal drive. But we do judge genocide as intrinsically wrong. That moral knowledge points to a Lawgiver above us. If we are simply products of random mutations, then moral outrage doesn’t make a lot of sense. Yet it’s undeniably real, and that sense of real good and evil testifies that we’ve been fashioned with a conscience reflecting the character of God.
Common Objections and the “Conflict” Myth
Some people see these compelling clues—fine-tuning, life’s complexity, moral law—but still want to maintain there’s no God. They sometimes say things like “Well, we got here by chance,” or “Multiverse explains it,” or “Morality is just a social construct.” But as soon as you scratch beneath the surface, you realize these objections fail to explain origins convincingly. They’re attempts to dodge the otherwise inescapable conclusion that a mind beyond nature made the universe.
Meanwhile, you’ll hear the phrase, “Science and faith are oil and water. Keep them separate.” But that’s not at all the biblical perspective. Scripture says, “The heavens declare the glory of God” (Psalm 19:1). Real science is the study of God’s handiwork. Not everything you discover in physics or chemistry is stated in your Bible. But everything that’s truly discovered—every phenomenon carefully measured and verified—will not contradict God’s Word. Because truths can’t fundamentally clash. If they contradict, at least one isn’t true.
When I hear folks worry that reading too many books or digging too deeply might erode faith, I want to reassure them. If Jesus is Lord, and the Bible is His Word, we won’t uncover any fact that truly proves Him false. Christians have historically led the way in science precisely because they believed in an orderly universe that could be studied and understood. So let’s not fear learning.
Living as People Unafraid of Truth
As believers, we should adopt an attitude of confidence. We don’t hide from new information, because God is the Author of all truth, revealed in two major “books”: the Book of Scripture and the “book” of Creation. Each testifies to Him in its own way. The grand drama of Scripture gives us God’s saving message in Jesus Christ. But the cosmos itself, from the largest galaxy to the smallest strand of DNA, is also proclaiming the reality of its Maker.
Here’s what that means practically:
Study without fear. If there’s a new discovery—some cosmic event, or a fossil find—examine it with care. If it’s authentic, it will fit into God’s truth, even if we haven’t immediately figured out how.
Engage with honest questions. People will sometimes present “science” as a reason to reject Jesus. Don’t shrug that off. Ask them which specific scientific finding they think disproves God. Often, you’ll find out they have more philosophical or emotional objections.
Point to Christ as the ultimate revelation. Even after talking about fine-tuning and design, we remember that knowledge of God’s existence alone doesn’t reconcile us to Him. The fullness of God’s revelation comes through Christ—His sinless life, sacrificial death, and resurrection. That’s how we’re saved, not by simply believing a cosmic “Force” exists.
Reflection
When we gaze at the night sky, we are invited into worship. The stars blaze out the majesty of a God who is both infinitely powerful and intensely personal. And as we dive into the complexities of biology or physics—whether it’s the structure of DNA or the laws governing planetary motion—we see traces of His brilliance. If your faith feels rattled by someone claiming, “Science makes God unnecessary,” just remember: the deeper you go into legitimate scientific evidence, the more you find signposts pointing right back to the Creator.
There’s a reason Scripture insists we’re “without excuse” (Romans 1:20). Creation’s testimony is loud and clear. We don’t need to see a parted Red Sea or witness water turned to wine to suspect a supernatural intelligence is behind it all. But God, in His grace, provided even more than the silent witness of the universe. He gave us His Word, and He gave us His Son, our Emmanuel—God with us. This is the God who not only fine-tuned the cosmos but also stooped down to rescue sinners like us.
So take heart. We don’t pit reason against revelation; we embrace both. We know that the sum of all new discoveries will still align with the unchanging truth: “In the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth.” Let that reality stir your confidence, deepen your curiosity, and draw you into more awe-filled worship of the One who holds galaxies in His hand and yet cares intimately for you. It’s His world, and we are joyfully invited to explore it, knowing that every genuine insight ultimately draws us closer to Him.
