NASA Astronaut Says the Bible and Science Don't Conflict: 'God Is the Creator'

…He acknowledged there is a "public perception that science and the Bible are in conflict."

"So early in my career, even back in the 90s, I spent a lot of time studying the theme. … Modern science as we know it, really came out of the conviction that the Bible was true and that God is the Creator, as He has revealed Himself in the Scripture," Williams told Christian Headlines. "And in that creation, He provisioned it and ordered it."

Williams said he has been impacted by the "order" of math, physics, chemistry and music.

"And then bearing the image of God, we're given this ability and actually mandate to subdue the creation right there in Genesis 1," he said. "Those are the elements that fed my understanding, my worldview, and actually substantiated what I believe has been the calling of the Lord in my life, in this job that we call astronaut. So [faith has] only substantiated my understanding in that."

The earliest scientists, he noted, were "driven by their faith." He mentioned Johannes Kepler, Isaac Newton, Michael Faraday and James Clerk Maxwell.

They were "theologians first and driven by their faith," he said.

"And that's what gave rise to modern science," …






https://www.christianheadlines.com/contributors/michael-foust/nasa-astronaut-says-the-bible-and-science-dont-conflict-god-is-the-creator.html







He’s exactly right! I’m glad that he’s speaking out about this. God is real. He is our creator and the creator of the entire universe.

 

Psalm 14:1 ESV / 16 helpful votes
The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.” They are corrupt, they do abominable deeds; there is none who does good.

Psalm 53:1 ESV / 8 helpful votes
according to Mahalath. A Maskil of David. The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.” They are corrupt, doing abominable iniquity; there is none who does good.

Proverbs 1:7 ESV / 7 helpful votes
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction.



That says it all but of course there is more of the same available.

 

It’s great to see one involved in modern science recognize Who it all points to.

 

That's because they keep re-writing the Bible every time it contradicts science. Modern science arose DESPITE the Bible, not because of it. There's a reason why almost every modern scientific discovery was originally regarded as heresy by Christians -- the shape of the earth, the age of the earth, heliocentrism, etc. etc. etc.

 

Actually some basic modern science, medicine etc were already known in the ancient world. Greeks, Aristarchus had already worked out heliocentrism following a concept propsed a century earlier by another Greek, the earth as a sphere, distances and approximate sizes and a pretty accurate circumference of the Earth. In the 5th century another 2 Greeks had to same idea - though they thought the earth revolved around somy mystical central fire.
The Egyptians had a good idea of basic anatomy, simple surgery and knowledge of how the body works. In the Bible we read of Elijah? throwing himself full stretch on a 'dead' and performing a simply form of artificial respiration. Something that the Egyptians practised. Hydrology was known and described in the Bible. It's description denies the possibility of Noahs 'mountain covering' flood. Had these people the facilities we have today ,who knows where we might be. Knowledge/writings were lost over the centuries and we now only know things second hand. Another religion that their Prophet claims all these things for his religion. Many centuries later.

Perhaps I'm an oddball but I believe we are not the first civilisation on this earth - but there you go.

 

I am all for adapting interpretations of god to match scientific data. Anything that prevents religious people from being phobic of science is good. It is good when religious people accept that dinosaurs are real and existed millions of years before people.

I am against adapting data to fit an interpretation of god though. It is bad when religious people claim dinosaurs aren't real, or that they lived with humans 5000 years ago.

 

Sure. One could say they are not in conflict. The Bible provides no empirical evidence for supernatural claims. Neither does science provide any evidence of the supernatural.

Modern science did not come out of the conviction that the Bible was true. Modern science came out of the development of the scientific method in the 19th century. How does the Bible factor into or have anything to do with the following.

 

He can "recognize" the supernatural but can he provide any empirical evidence of the supernatural? Of course the answer is no, he cannot. Science requires empirical evidence to support claims.

 

These three statements are classic examples of ad hominem fallacies.

 

I am shocked that you would pick an astronaut as your theologian.

And, I'd point out that the scientists whose names we know made their lasting contributions based observation, not theology.

In fact, many got in serious trouble from Christian prelates who claimed THEY were the ones who know how this universe works - NOT those who made the lasting advances that we know.


This is true today, too.

There are many scientists who are Christians. But, the minute they add their theology to their work, they aren't scientists anymore.

 

The earliest scientists, he noted, were "driven by their faith." He mentioned Johannes Kepler, Isaac Newton, Michael Faraday and James Clerk Maxwell.

The earliest scientists were the Greeks and the Egyptians BCE and they were not guided by religion.

 

It is possible to be a scientist and believe in god, sure. People can be selectively rational so that they can lie to themselves and find comfort.

But I will say that a literal interpretation of the bible is regularly in conflict with science, and one would think a divine document ordained by a perfect god would not be so imperfect on facts as to dissuade those who actually think critically. It's almost as if the bible was written by regular people, and not guided by a higher power.

 

The earliest scientists, he noted, were "driven by their faith." He mentioned Johannes Kepler, Isaac Newton, Michael Faraday and James Clerk Maxwell.

The earliest scientists were Greek and Egyptians BCE and they were mainly athiests.

 

You can talk about whether the Bible factors in or not, but the topic is whether there's a conflict. Real life there's religion, there's philosophy, there's science, and they all search for different kinds of truth. There are a few overlaps, nicely addressed here:

 

If you want to call the big bang "god" then yes...these two ideas merge. However the entire hell/heaven/ moses flood and all that other nonsense written by man for man to explain ****?

That's all bs.

 

I think he is right as well, though I think he IS the universe and all of creation, as are we and everything in it. Nothing exists but god. We are all just little sparks of consciousness, god experiencing himself.

 

I agree with him that some people of faith saw stuff that conflict with their beliefs and studied it as they were losing faith, and many felt studying it more would restore their faith, like the earth being the center of everything, etc - are they motivated by faith, or their fear of losing their faith, depends, sure both is true, sometimes their religious bias got in the way, other times others biases got in the way, but science keeps going on, even if it ultimately differs from the bible

 

God and Science are the same thing. Science is just our current (probably poor) understanding of God, even though we ourselves are also sparks of God's consciousness. The Bible was mostly a tool of a Roman emperor to unify his empire, though some wisdom can be found there. Jesus tried to show people truth, though his apostles immediately missed the point and then started a religion that also missed the point, and became tools for control of the masses, though some people are able to find truth and wisdom there, distorted though it may be.

 

I claim that the universe is a simulation, and I come from outside of it. By definition, I come from the creator race, and therefore, per your argument, the creator is God!

Why aren't you worshiping me as a God? Because I'm not a God, you foo.

Why do you need a God?

The original Gods were literally stone statues, and their worshipers actually thought that those idols were gods. Not depictions of the gods but the actual body of that god. And that includes the God of the Bible.

I leave you a link to a video on YouTube for those who want to look into this idea:
Meet The Real God of The Bible | Francesca Stavrakopoulou PhD

 

we are talking about the Bible though, not God

I could agree with a universal God that we are all a part of

 

Thanks for the daily joke.

There may be over 2 Trillion galaxies in the observable universe, each containing hundreds of billions of planets. But the God you claim to exist only gives a damn about 2 square inches of dirt on a tiny planet in the whole universe. Your favorite ethnocentric religious fairytale is too silly to ever be taken seriously by a reasonably intelligent person in the 21st Century modern world.

 

There are no fools, and there's nothing to fear. We incarnate to have the experience of being able to claim whatever we think is right. The many roles played by all the people in this illusory world brings spice to life.