Science Complex Hosts Panel on Faith and Science

As another fall semester and fall season begins again on the Andrews University campus, a new wave of Andrews preview weekends began this past weekend. Staff and graduating students from Seventh-day Adventist high schools, such as Spring Valley Academy, Union Springs Academy, and Andrews Academy, descended upon the Berrien Springs campus to experience different tours and presentations of what Andrews University offers them in their higher education journey. A part of the weekend’s experience was held in the Science Complex’s Chemistry Amphitheater on Friday. Students were presented with a thought-provoking panel discussion on the intersections of Adventist/Christian faith and scientific theory and fact. The panel consisted of four Andrews University professors: Dr. Tom Goodwin (Biology Professor), Dr. Ryan Hayes (Chemistry Professor), Dr. Anthony Bosman (Associate Mathematics Professor), and Dr. Gary Burdick (Physics Professor).

The questions the panel discussed were crowd-sourced from students interested in the intersections of faith and science, seeking to understand how Christian faith and science can interact and coexist with science without directly opposing it. The questions that were discussed included the following:

• How has religion influenced scientists in the past?
• Are miracles explainable within a scientific understanding that we simply don’t have yet?
• Do fossils provide better support for evolution or design?
• Is the geologic column evidence for or against a worldwide flood?
• How can the light of stars billions of light years away from the earth have reached us if the earth is only thousands of years old?
• Is there life on other planets?
• Where did dinosaurs come from, and where does the ice age fit in a young Earth model?

With the questions ranging from geologically based to theological to theory, the preview students and all others in attendance were blessed to have knowledgeable and faith-driven panelists to provide perspective. Although transcribing all the intricate answers to the complex questions above would make for too large of an article, several compelling facts and reasonings were shared to serve as food for thought. When addressing the first question, “How has religion influenced scientists in the past?” the presenters made clear that while religion and faith predate formal modern science, both have been able to coexist since the Garden of Eden. Instead of science replacing religion over time or being an alternative to science, it is human knowledge of faith and science that has increased. God made us curious creatures, which allows us to find the scientific reasonings within God’s creative design.

Dr. Bosman even provided a Biblical example of God working with science in the Exodus story of the Ten Plagues of Egypt. He explained that in Exodus 10, the locust Moses called upon through God was not an act of magic as some assert Christianity claims to it be. It was an “east wind [that] brought the locusts,” which we now understand was both sent by God and through wind currents and patterns that we have a better understanding of today through modern meteorology (Exodus 10:13). Another point that was brought up to illustrate how God and science work together was in the fact that Isaac Newton wrote about Biblical prophecy. According to the panelists, the famous father of gravity studied several beliefs around the prophecies that major figures in the history of the Seventh-day Adventist church, like William Miller, adopted.

After the hour-long program, students could ask a few questions to the panelists and learn more specifics about the research being done to validate many of the Bible's concepts and stories. Everyone was able to leave with confidence in creationists being a valid part of science and a greater appreciation for the world that God has left us to explore and learn more about.