Genesis 1:1 – In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth

Science has brought humanity many benefits. We should be grateful, especially, for medical science, which has improved the quality of our lives immensely. Yet, science has limitations. It cannot reliably determine the origin of the universe because there were no human observers to collect and analyze the data. We can only extrapolate from current conditions what we suspect happened, and that must be based on a set of assumptions that may or may not be true.

The central paradigm of science today is naturalism, which essentially means “nature is all there is.” Naturalism is one of the assumptions that scientists use to extrapolate back into history to discover the origin of the universe. While science could profitably be pursued without naturalism as its basis, the combination of naturalism and scientific inquiry leads to the practice of scientism. Scientism states that science is the only path to truth and that science ultimately has no limits. However, science itself is founded on philosophy. It must be established on philosophical presuppositions such as 1) the world is an orderly and knowable place, 2) there is such a thing as absolute truth, 3) the laws of logic exist and are reliable, and 4) values are important to the accurate pursuit of science (i.e., no falsifying of data, etc.). Therefore, how could science be superior to philosophy?

Clearly, science is an imperfect hit and miss approach to truth. Christians have learned to accept and trust what we call “revealed truth.” If we truly trust revealed truth, it can guide us in our understanding of science, especially regarding origins. The Bible is believed by millions to be revealed truth, and it informs us that the universe came to exist in a directed process with a divine purpose – not the accumulation of random, mechanistic interactions of matter and energy. “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.”

There was a beginning for everything except God, Himself. Do we have to understand how He did it? Clearly not, but the Bible reveals, “God said.” The energy of His Word has creative power.

Psalm 33:6, 9 – By the word of the Lord the heavens were made, and by the breath of his mouth all their host. … For he spoke, and it came to be; he commanded, and it stood firm.

Can Christians prove that this explains the origin of the universe? Absolutely not, but our limited experience tells us that when we discover order and beauty, someone created it. If one finds a well tended garden in the middle of a wilderness, do we assume that it created itself? If we find sea shells on a beach arranged to spell out a message, did the waves do that by chance? A watch discovered on a mountain trail is immediately recognized as having a maker. How much more does the earth, with its beauty, order, life, complexity, and the ability of people to create poetry, proclaim the existence of a Creator?

No, there is no proof other than logic combined with faith.

Hebrews 11:1-3 – By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible.

Because “the heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork” (Psalm 119:1), we can know there is a purpose in life. It would behoove each one of us to seek to know our Creator, to understand His purpose for our own life, and to cooperate with a Being so powerful and benevolent. Many Christians attest that such cooperation can enrich our lives immeasurably.