Only fools say in their hearts, 

“There is no God” 

– Psalm 14:1

The progressive (pun intended) march of science and technology is a popular topic these days. In advertising, we should probably expect this sort of thing. After all, it’s the goal of a manufacturer and advertising agency job to sell product . But perhaps we should be a little suspect of the claims of scientists and the reports that are quick to tout the value of “science”. 

Now before this gets out of hand, I’m not here to claim that we should stop experimenting, investigating, and dreaming. Far from it. Only by challenging ourselves can we continue to evolve. I’m only claiming that we are, perhaps, getting a little ahead of ourselves. 

To illustrate, think of the Dan Aykroyd and Jane Curtain skit, Point/Counterpoint, from the early Saturday Night Live episodes: 

Point: The future of transportation is self-driving cars and autonomous mass transit. 

Counterpoint: Maybe we could get a usable backup camera in vehicles first. 

Point: Health and health care will be transformed by sensors, implants, and nutrigenomics. 

Counterpoint: Maybe we could find a cure for common infections first. Then we wouldn’t have to treat infections the same way we did 110 years ago.  

Point: The future is artificial intelligence and a robot workforce. 

Counterpoint: Maybe we could secure the existing cyber-infrastructure first to prevent data breeches and identity theft, Also, patches developed to prevent these events should install and work as expected. 

Point: Our climate models are so good, we can predict the highest temperature on a given day 50 years in the future. 

Counterpoint: Maybe we could make that work for this coming Saturday first. 

Again, I’m not advocating a feudal society. I’m only suggesting caution in bowing to and trusting in science. “Scientific studies” may be rooted in scientific method… or not. If I walk into an independent firm and say “I have $5 million and would like to prove the existence of climate change”, what do you think happens? 

Strangely (or maybe not), many of the same folks that commend science deride the Bible. This despite science being well behind the curve, including but not limited to:

• The Bible declares that visible matter is made of invisible elements (Hebrews 11). 
• God provides the ideal dimensions for a stable water vessel, still followed today, to Noah (Genesis 6). 
• The Bible declared mountains (Jonah 2) and springs (Job 38) on the ocean floor, significantly pre-dating the relatively recent “scientific” discoveries. 
• The Bible commandments prescribes the necessity of a sanitation industry (Deuteronomy 23). 

If you really want to do some science, try math. Math is beautiful in its simplicity and brutal honesty. There’s a right answer and a wrong answer. At least there used to be. 

Take a trip (if necessary) and look at the Rocky Mountains. Estimate the odds that the Rockies happened by random chance from a small, incredibly dense chunk of matter (that no one can explain). Multiply those odds by the Andes, Alps and Himalayas (to name a few).  

Then go to the beach and watch the sunset and consider the great beaches of the world. Then go to the desert, any desert, and look around. Watch closely and see life thriving in one of the harshest environments imaginable. While you’re in the desert, look up (if you’re not within 100 miles of Las Vegas) and check out the Milky Way. Calculate the odds of each event happening by random chance and then multiply to calculate the odds that they ALL happened by chance. Hint: It’s a really, really, really big number against. 

Science and a spiritual life can, and should, co-exist. Because we have such limited understanding and capacity to understand (we are fools to think otherwise), maybe we can shorten the learning curve by living through God’s word.