Theologians have historically categorized the Bible and nature as “two books,” which when read side by side combine to reveal the God of creation. The first book, comprised of the inspired Scriptures of the Jewish and Christian faith, is called “special revelation.” Its combined influence extends all over the world and stands at the heart of Western culture, making the Bible the most widely translated, circulated, and studied book in history. The Scriptures are considered special, in part, because if God had not chosen human writers who were inspired by the Spirit of truth to disclose this unique and specific knowledge, we would not be aware of it.
The second of God’s two revelations is the book of nature, termed “general revelation.” This is the implied record about our Creator that is discovered in the natural world around us. It is considered general in that it is a disclosure of reality that has been generally available to all people throughout the ages. It showcases the handiwork of God in the creation, and it serves as the record of His direct and indirect actions on the earth and in human history. So, according to the Bible, God reveals Himself not only through the inspired words of Scripture, but also through the book of nature.
The apostle Paul wrote, “Since the creation of the world [the Creator's] invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead” (Rom. 1:20). The Hebrew author of Psalm 19 expressed a similar observation when he wrote, “The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament shows His handiwork. Day unto day utters speech, and night unto night reveals knowledge. There is no speech nor language where their voice is not heard. Their line has gone out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world” (vv.1-4).
General revelation, then, which is readable to anyone willing to consider it carefully, makes known God’s glory (splendor and riches), His handiwork (creativity), His everlasting power (including His moral perfection and His capacity to control and alter natural forces), and His divine nature (realities that show He is worthy of our worship). Together these disclosures demonstrate that the natural world contains a vast collection of good gifts that reveal to us a great deal of truth about the personhood, intelligence, and character of our Creator. The creation not only shouts “God,” it declares, “He is powerful, wise, and wonderful!”
Reading Both Books
Science, at its best, is an attempt to read and understand the book of nature (or God’s works). But at its worst, science takes its finite and materially limited findings about nature and turns it into a naturalistic faith and philosophy that ignores or denies an infinite and materially unlimited supernatural Creator.
As a result of its naturalistic focus and because of the ascendancy of Darwinism within the scientific community, science has often been dominated by agnostics or atheists—even though a majority of scientists might admit some level of faith in a creator God. Before Darwin, however, it was the dominant belief in a Creator separate from His creation that actually gave rise to the sciences, and Christians were in the majority. In fact, it was belief in a rational, intelligently planned, and orderly creation that went a long way toward making modern science possible.
Many of the pioneers of science—Kepler, Bacon, Newton, Pascal, Faraday, and others-were devout believers of the Bible who considered both the supernatural and natural revelations to be witnesses of the truth about God and His creation. In an oral essay on National Public Radio, Joseph Loconte pointed out that “too many skeptics have forgotten the massive historical debt they owe to the Jewish and Christian belief in an orderly cosmos. They cast religion as the enemy of science and progress, when in fact it was the religious [biblical] worldview that helped launch the scientific revolution over three centuries ago.”
Scientists of past generations had no problem studying the quantifiable facts of general revelation (nature) while accepting the truthfulness and authority of the Creator’s special revelation (the Scriptures). More than a few scientists and great thinkers of the past have walked in the tradition of men like Moses, David, and John the Baptist who found, in nature and in the wilderness, a sanctuary where the books of God’s special and general revelation spoke in eloquent harmony.
See you outdoors
Dean
November 2nd, 2008 at 10:36 am
“Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.” Psalm 46:10 just about says it all because God will be known through the earth and all that comes from it. He will have the final word, from the final authority, Amen.
November 2nd, 2008 at 1:27 pm
Dean -
I’d like to suggest that it’s not the “ascendancy of Darwinism within the scientific community” but the reaction of certain groups purporting to represent all Christians that have caused the rift between these communities. I’ve even heard people say that you can’t be saved if you believe in evolution! (Which is pure heresy, in my opinion, because it is creating additional conditions that act as barriers to communion with Christ.) So, when a biologist hears things like this, his tendency is to believe that Christianity is not for him.
The reality is that there is nothing fundamentally atheistic or non-Christian about evolutionary biology. It does cause problems for one particular interpretation of the Bible, but many Christians reject that interpretation while fully accepting the Bible.
Sorry if this comment is too off-topic. Great post, as usual.
-Tyson
November 2nd, 2008 at 3:00 pm
Hi Tyson,
Since there are so many websites given over to the discussion of the creation/evolution controversy, we are avoiding that discussion here.
However, our RBC Discovery Series division just released a recently revised booklet that I have written on the topic. You can find it at this URL:
http://www.rbc.org/uploadedFiles/Bible_Study/Discovery_Series/PDF/genesis-account-of-creation.pdf
My comment on the “ascendancy of Darwinism within the scientific community” in this post was deliberately preceded by the important qualification that it is in conjunction with the naturalistic worldview, which precludes the existence of an intelligent and personal Creator.
There are indeed many scientists who teach in evangelical colleges who hold that evolution is just one of the many physical processes that the Creator planned and built into the natural world. They would agree with your point that there is nothing fundamentally atheistic or non-Christian about evolutionary biology. However, they would not hold to the naturalistic form of Darwinism that denies God’s superintendence in the creation of all things.
November 3rd, 2008 at 5:22 pm
I am glad that the “special revelation”, the Bible, has the last word on what the “general revelation” is. In other words, because of God’s written and infallible word, we can realize that the book of nature is His revelation too. Without the written word, we should know that there must be a creator, and that this Creator has infinite power, knowledge and existence just because of those creations we can experience. But we could never know His mercy, grace, and that He wants to relate to us on a personal level, if it were not for the “Special Revelation”.
As to the scientists or biologists who may be turned off of Christianity because of some who may misrepresent it, I wonder if they are really looking for truth or using those misrepresentors (is that a legitimate word?) as an excuse to dismiss Christianity. As I understand science, it is supposed to examine what it finds and logically document those findings. To me (and yes I am biased toward creation) there is only one reasonable explanation for what is. And that is God.
November 4th, 2008 at 11:02 am
When you look at Romans 1:18-32, you realize that Paul is speaking of a progression downward from being able to see what God “made plain” to all people (namely, His existence, His eternal power, and His sole right to be worshipped). First, they do not give Him the glory for the creation, then they are no longer thankful to God for the creation, then their hearts become darkened to His existence, and finally their minds become depraved.
I once had the opportunity to hear a debate between Phillip E. Johnson and Niles Eldredge on naturalistic (no God) evolution. During the questions at the end, a very angry man stood up and asked if Johnson believed what Paul said in Romans 1:20. When Johnson said yes, he angrily asked if he also believed, then, what Paul said about those who deny God in the following passages. In his affirmative response to that question, Johnson was very gracious.
I feel that one reason God-denying scientists like Richard Dawkins are so adamant in their opposition to theistic science is that the Bible does not paint a pretty picture of the destiny of those who continue to deny the Creator.
November 4th, 2008 at 10:49 pm
rdcomp said:
“As to the scientists or biologists who may be turned off of Christianity because of some who may misrepresent it, I wonder if they are really looking for truth or using those misrepresentors (is that a legitimate word?) as an excuse to dismiss Christianity.”
That might be the case. But since those misrepresentors (I like that word!) have such a loud voice, and there are many competing voices from other belief systems, no one has time to research everything. How many Christians can say that they fully researched Buddhism, Hinduism, etc, before becoming Christians? Maybe it’s just that your understanding of those religions is mistaken?
So I suspect that many who reject Christianity do so based on faulty knowledge, but I don’t blame them for it. I blame those who imparted that faulty knowledge to them.
Dean – I’ve read that booklet. As with all of your work, it’s very well written. What I think it doesn’t address fully is the distinction between being truthful and being factual. I think that all of scripture is true, but I do not believe that all of it is factual. I think that it is a modern invention to treat it as such, and the original authors and audiences would not have done so. So I think an emphasis on the facts of Genesis risks missing the truths of Genesis. (You did address this, but I probably would put even more weight on this.)
But I am not particularly an Evangelical, so this probably wasn’t aimed at me. (I did enjoy your reference to Augustine as an “evangelical theologian” – I suspect that the Roman Catholic Church has a better claim to him than the Evangelicals do, since he pre-dates them by about 1500 years.)
Anyways, good discussion. I’m really enjoying this blog.
Peace,
-Tyson
November 5th, 2008 at 2:02 pm
Tyson, thanks for responding to my thoughts about this issue.
As far as finding out the truth about a particular religious system, I can only speak for myself, and I would not listen so much to a lot of voices which may or may not give me the doctrinal positions I would be interested in.
With all of the resources on the internet and if I were interested in say, a particular denomination, I would find that organization’s official web site and see if I could search for their “what we believe” section.
I guess what I am saying is that truth matters, and I want to know (as much as my little brain can take in) what the truth is.
As far as “must you believe in creation ex nihilo (out of nothing) as many of us do, the only condition for salvation is faith in Jesus Christ.” That is that since we all are sinners (Rom. 3:23), and cannot save ourselves, He died on the cross to pay the penalty for us. Trusting in Him alone for salvation is what saves. (no matter what those misrepresentors have said. Do you think we should submit this new word to Websters and see if they will incorporate it in their next edition of the dictionary?
November 8th, 2008 at 2:15 pm
Well then there now … I’m a Ph.D. Organic Chemist (retired) who was once a “God scoffer” believing in the Theory of Evolution and the “Big Bang” while having no interest in all things Biblical – preferring to believe that book to be just the ramblings of a few and not the Word of God. I was raised Lutheran but rejected it completely while becoming “educated”.
Things are different now, much different. I was just plain wrong and since I finally found out I could not ever explain things fully I began to open my mind just a little bit at a time. Then one night I simply gave myself over to Christ and joined a Christian Community church. I was baptized in 2003 and I haven’t looked back. The beauty of Creation has been most convincing and joyful beyond my best thinking. The Biblical Word of God is the only Truth worth following and I am today on the eternal path with Jesus as we walk toward an everlasting life worshipping Him in Heaven.