• For most of history, up until the middle of the 19th
century, science and religion were viewed as co-workers in the human quest for
understanding, in which science served as an avenue to deeper faith in, and
appreciation of, the Creator.
• Science relied on the conviction that the universe
was rational, orderly, and intelligible throughout – that it ran according to
comprehensible and uniform laws that could be observed and discovered –
precisely because it was designed and ordered by a rational Creator. Logically,
if reality was ultimately chaotic and unintelligible, the universe would be
incomprehensible, making science impossible.
• Almost all the scientists of that period believed
that behind creation, there is a Creator. Galileo, Copernicus, Newton, Kepler,
Pasteur, and nearly all of the founding fathers of science were men of faith
who attributed their interest in science to their belief in God.
• The thoughtfulness and complexity with which the
universe was meticulously crafted, all the way down to the finest details,
pointed these scientists not only to God, but hinted at what kind of God He
must be. Sir Isaac Newton, the discoverer of the universal law of gravitation,
said, “This most beautiful system of the sun, planets, and comets could only
proceed from the counsel and dominion of an intelligent Being.”
• Because God is Perfect, His creations must be
perfect and operate according to uniform rules. Trust that there were
mathematical laws, rather than chaos, strongly motivated these scientists to
find them.