15. Geloof en Wetenskap
Ongelowiges stel geloof en wetenskap meestal teenoor mekaar, met ander woorde onversoenbaar. In hulle oë gaan geloof oor aannames en mites, terwyl wetenskap oor die logiese bewys van dinge gaan.
Gelowiges ontken glad nie die rol van logika nie. Dit word ook nie onderbeklemtoon nie. Inteendeel, logika is ‘n inherente komponent van ‘n wêreld wat ordelik geskape is. God het die wêreld wetmatig geskape. Dit is onderworpe aan reëls wat in logiese verband met mekaar in die natuur opereer. Die Bybel is baie duidelik daaroor. Die volgorde waarin die wêreld geskape is, maak hierdie wetmatigheid duidelik - Genesis 1.
Die aansprake op die wonderwerke van God word soms gebruik as argument dat die Bybel en geloof teenoor die wetenskap staan. Maar dit is baie ver van die waarheid. Die normale gang van sake is juis dat die wêreld deur die natuurkragte wat God geskep het, onderhou word. God gebruik wonderwerke om in die verloop van sake in te gryp en so sy almag te openbaar. As die werking van natuurwette nie die normale gang van sake bepaal en voorgestel het nie, sou wonderwerke nie kon plaasvind nie. Die vernaamste wonderwerk was die Skepping self waardeur die wêreld en die natuurwette ontstaan het.
Dit is ook moontlik dat bepaalde wonderwerke in die Bybel mettertyd deur die wetenskap verklaar kan word. Toe dit plaasgevind het, sou mense nie so ‘n verklaring verstaan het nie en het dit dus as ‘n wonderwerk ervaar. In so ‘n geval is die natuur juis op daardie stadium deur God ingespan om die mens te laat besef dat Hy in beheer is en die gang van sake bepaal. Hoe hierdie dinge gebeur het, sal ons eers later werklik weet.
Maar dat die wêreld ordelik (wetmatig) geskape is deur ‘n Skepper wat buite die wêreld en die natuurwette staan, is ‘n kernkomponent van die Christelike geloof. Die Skepper is nie self aan die natuurwette onderhewig nie en kan dit verander of ophef, tydelik of permanent.
Ons vind ‘n grondige uiteensetting van die wetmatige funksionering van stof, plant, dier en mens in die Wysbegeerte van die Wetsidee van die Nederlandse Calvinistiese filosoof, Herman Dooyeweerd.
15. Faith and Science
Unbelievers usually set faith and science against each other, in other words as irreconcilable. In their eyes, faith is about assumptions and myths, while science is about the logical proof of things.
Believers do not at all deny the role of logic. Nor is it underemphasised. On the contrary, logic is an inherent component of a world that was created in an orderly fashion. God created the world with laws. It is subject to rules that operate in logical relation to one another in nature. The Bible is very clear about this. The order in which the world was created makes this lawfulness clear — Genesis 1.
The claims about the miracles of God are sometimes used as an argument that the Bible and faith stand opposed to science. But this is very far from the truth. The normal course of events is precisely that the world is sustained by the natural forces that God created. God uses miracles to intervene in the course of events and so reveal his omnipotence. If the operation of natural laws had not determined and constituted the normal course of events, miracles could not have taken place. The foremost miracle was Creation itself, through which the world and the natural laws came into being.
It is also possible that certain miracles in the Bible can in time be explained by science. When they took place, people would not have understood such an explanation and therefore experienced it as a miracle. In such a case, nature was precisely at that stage employed by God to make humanity realise that He is in control and determines the course of events. How these things happened, we will only truly know later.
But that the world was created in an orderly (lawful) manner by a Creator who stands outside the world and the natural laws is a core component of the Christian faith. The Creator is not himself subject to the natural laws and can change or suspend them, temporarily or permanently.
We find a thorough exposition of the lawful functioning of matter, plant, animal, and human in the Philosophy of the Cosmonomic Idea of the Dutch Calvinist philosopher, Herman Dooyeweerd.