CHRISTIANITY & SCIENCE

Common Christian Questions: Can I Be a Christian and a Scientist?

Can Science and Faith Co-exist

By Kelli Mahoney

Christian Teens Expert 

Over time people have tried to separate faith from science, but in truth, the two can co-exist. A scientist can have faith in God while still trying to explain the world around him through the logic of scientific study. The two do not contradict, nor should they cause a crisis of faith.

Understanding Science and Faith

We are curious creatures. For most of us, we are not satisfied with "just because" as an answer for our daily lives.

water boils at a certain temperature, why some trees grow in one state, but no in another, why some babies have blue eyes and others have brown. Out of our innate need for understanding came science. Scientists study the world around us to explain things. They look at the world through impartial eyes to see how things work. From those studies have come wonderful things like medicine, airplanes, cars, etc.

Faith, meanwhile, is also a way to explain everything, but it gives a different sort of explanation. To Christians, God created the universe. Though we cannot see Him, He is in everything and knows everything.

We have one, true God that provides and gives us a sense of order. Faith gives us the idea that there is order to the universe, because God created it. However, faith does not always give us detailed answers as to how things work. We know things work, we know things have relationships, because God created the world that way. This aspect of our faith is important in understanding how faith and science can go hand-in-hand.

Why Some Want to Keep Them Separate

Some people in both communities think science and faith should never, ever co-exist. They think it is impossible that the two go together. Some feel like they have to choose one over the other. Others believe that faith is a crutch people use when they have not studied something enough to give a scientific explanation for an occurrence. Some just feel like science challenges their beliefs too much and feel it is the enemy speaking to them to pull them away from God, saying that science does too much to question God. They often feel a need to guard their hearts from things that pull them away from faith.