The Christian Worldview of Science and Technology

The Christian Worldview of Science and Technology

On July 4, 1986, a large group of Christian leaders presented a document to President Reagan in Washington, D.C. This lengthy document, which had been laboriously and meticulously drawn up over the last several years, attempts to define the Biblical world view in all areas of life, as divided into 17 “spheres.”

The Coalition of Revival (COR), under the directorship of Dr. Jay Grimstead, has brought together Christian scholars from all over the country to prepare these carefully worded “sphere” documents — each based on the infallible and inerrant Word of God, and each attempting to define the Biblical world view in that discipline. A further attempt was made to show how that Biblical world view should be applied by Christians in their everyday lives and professions. Each participant in the lengthy writing process had to sign a very specific and straightforward statement of commitment to the Word of God and its major doctrines, including Creation, the Fall, and the Flood.

Several ICR scientists participated on the committee dealing with science and technology. The resulting document on science and technology, reproduced below in a slightly abridged form, presents a strong creationist and Biblical witness.

Preface

The world and its inhabitants were created supernaturally in a state of perfection by a transcendent and personal Creator God (Genesis 1, 2). Because of the willful sin of the first man, Adam, mankind fell and the creation was subsequently cursed by God (Genesis 3). Hence, both man and the universe exist to this day under a law of death and decay (Romans 8:20, 21). Nevertheless, God providentially and lovingly sustains both.

In response to God’s commands to subdue the earth and to exercise dominion over creation (Genesis 1:28), man has developed science and technology. Science is man’s attempt to observe, understand, and explain the operation of the universe and its inhabitants. Technology is the use of the knowledge gained by scientific research for mankind’s practical benefit, bringing portions of the universe under his control.

In order to understand the created universe truly and to use the knowledge gained from scientific research properly, a man must pursue science and technology in the light of the Word of God. Because of the Fall, and because most men are either ignorant of or choose to be disobedient to the revelation God gave in the Bible, fallen men inevitably arrive at divergent views of the origin and operation of the universe. Only by diligent study of the Bible can man come to a true understanding of the origin, purpose, nature, and behavior of himself and the universe.

Statement of Affirmation and Denial

1. We affirm that Christians must obey a Biblically centered world and life view in their understanding, development, and application of science and technology (Colossians 2:3). We deny that the understanding and application of science and technology are morally neutral and thus unaffected by one’s world and life view (Genesis 6:5; 1 Timothy 6:20-21).
2. We affirm that there is a single truth, God’s truth, revealed both in His written revelation, the Bible, and in nature, His created universe (Psalm 19:1-11). We deny that there are any real conflicts or contradictions between God’s Word—the Bible—and the truths revealed in nature (John 3:12).
3. We affirm that God has empowered and commanded man to study, to understand, and to exercise dominion over His creation (Genesis 1:28; Titus 1:7). We deny that there is anything inherently evil in the nature of the physical universe or in science and technology (Genesis 1:31).
4. We affirm that man is a steward of all of God’s creation and as such is responsible to Him for both the preservation and the productive use of all the world’s resources to the benefit of man and the glory of God (Genesis 1:28). We deny that pollution and mismanagement of resources are necessary results of man’s attempt to obey God’s command to subdue the earth and rule over it (Revelation 11:18).
5. We affirm that Jesus Christ alone is the Savior of the world (John 14:6). We deny that we can save ourselves through science or technology or through any other human endeavor (Acts 4:12; Titus 3:5; 2 Peter 3:10).
6. We affirm that God is transcendent beyond, immanent in, and sustaining of, His creation (Colossians 1:15-17; Hebrews 1:3). We deny that God is in any way synonymous with nature, and that nature is self-sustaining (Hebrews 11:3; Psalm 33:6).
7. We affirm that the natural laws and processes now operable in the universe were created by God and are discoverable by man (Jeremiah 27:5; Nehemiah 9:6). We deny that God is bound by the natural laws He created, and that miracles do not or cannot occur (Jeremiah 32:17,27; Matthew 19:26).
8. We affirm that many attributes of God are clearly discernible in the things He has created, so that those who deny or doubt His existence, His power, or His creation are without excuse (Romans 1:18-20). We deny that the origin and operation of the universe are results solely of properties inherent in matter and energy (Acts 17:28; 2 Peter 3:7).
9. We affirm that the physical universe of space, time, matter, and energy has not always existed but was brought into existence by a transcendent, personal Creator God through an act of creation using special processes not now in operation (Genesis 2:1-3; Hebrews 4:4). We deny that matter and energy have always existed, and that the universe was brought into existence by some natural evolutionary process, whether by the so-called Big Bang or by any other mechanism hypothesized by the human mind (Genesis 1:14-19; Jeremiah 10:12).
10. We affirm that each biological life form was specially and supernaturally created by God as a definite kind, and that all natural variations in life forms have been and are limited to variations within that kind (Genesis 1:11,12,21,24,25; 1 Corinthians 15:38,39). We deny that life arose from non-life through any evolutionary process, and that the various basic types of plants and animals have arisen from a common ancestor (Psalm 104:30; Acts 17:25).
11. We affirm that Adam and Eve were specially created by God and were the first human beings, from whom all other humans are directly descended (Genesis 1:27; 2:7,22; Acts 17:26; 1 Corinthians 15:45). We deny that mankind arose from apelike ancestors through any evolutionary process, and that Adam and Eve were figurative and thus merely symbolic of a human species that had evolved from lower animal forms (Mark 10:6; 1 Corinthians 15:47).
12. We affirm that the Biblical record of history in Genesis 1-11 (including the creation of the universe and its inhabitants in the six days of the Creation Week, the Fall of man, the worldwide flood of Noah’s time, and the origin of languages and the dispersal of mankind from the Tower of Babel) is an accurate and historical account (John 3:12; Acts 17:26). We deny that the contents of Genesis 1-11 were recorded merely to give a spiritual message and are devoid of historical content.
13. We affirm that the Genesis flood was a worldwide aqueous catastrophe that overflowed the entire world that then existed and destroyed all land-dwelling, air-breathing creatures except those on the ark of Noah (Genesis 7:22; Luke 17:26). We deny that the Genesis flood was a local catastrophe of limited extent and effect (Genesis 7:18-20).
14. We affirm that most sedimentary rocks and the fossils in them may have been deposited during and, to a lesser degree, after the flood of Noah’s time (2 Peter 3:6; Genesis 7:11). We deny that sedimentary rocks and the fossils in them demonstrate evolutionary development through eons of time.
15. We affirm that the genealogical histories recorded in the Bible, as well as many physical time clocks, indicate that the earth is young. We deny that Biblical history and empirically verifiable physical processes establish an age of either the earth or the universe on the order of billions of years (Luke 3:23-38).
16. We affirm that both the universe and life have been impaired such that disease, death, extinctions, imperfections in structure, and other such phenomena are the results of changes in properties and processes decreed by God upon an originally perfect universe because of the sin and Fall of man (Genesis 3:14-19; 1 Peter 1:24-25; Hebrews 1:10-12). We deny that the universe and biological systems are becoming more ordered or improved through time as a result of natural processes (Isaiah 40:7,8; Psalm 102:25-27).
17. We affirm that God controls the destiny of man and the universe and has provided for their redemption and restoration to a state of perfection (Ephesians 1:10; Revelation 22:3). We deny that the universe is proceeding inexorably toward a final state in which all activity and life will cease due to irreversible natural processes (Romans 8:21; Revelation 21:4).
18. We affirm that ultimate meaning and purpose exist for both man and the universe and are revealed in the Bible, and, hence, that teleological considerations are appropriate to scientific studies (Psalm 19:1; Romans 8:28). We deny that man and the universe are without meaning or purpose, and that man may establish or declare for himself his own significance, meaning, or purpose (Romans 9:20; 11:33).

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The areas covered in the seventeen sphere documents are: Arts and Communication; Business and Occupations; The Christian Family; Economics; Educating Christianson Social, Political and Moral Issues; Education; Government; Helping the Hurting; Law; Local and World Evangelism; Local Body Unity; The Making of Disciples; Medicine; Pastoral Renewal; Psychology and Counseling; Re-directing and Revitalizing our Seminaries and Christian Colleges; as well as Science and Technology. These documents may obtained by writing to:

Coalition on Revival
89 Pioneer Way
Mountain View, CA 94041