Polkinghorne on Science and God.......

I am not a scientist. But most scientists are not theologians, either.  Fortunately, in John Polkinghorne God has provided His kingdom with both!

In his book Quarks, Chaos, & Christianity Polkinghorne discusses the relationship between God and science.  Of course, from his perspective they are intricately interwoven.

Polkinghorne states that "The need to mix fact and interpretation, to survey the world from a chosen point of view, makes science more daring, and more precarious, than people often realize."

Later on he writes that he believes science "never succeeds in telling us the whole truth about the physical world - there are some new things to find out - but, surely, it tells us some of the truth."

To illustrate this Polkinghorne uses the example of a road map.  Scientifically, the map is merely a collection of atoms and molecules that make ink and paper.  But a map is more than than merely molecules and atoms.

In the same way, science can tell us that our bodies are made of quarks and gluons, but it can not tell us more than our physical properties or how they arrived.

Some modern atheists such as Dawkins, Hitchens, and others say that evolution has disproved God entirely.  These arguments should not even cause a moment's hesitation for the Christian.  Not only because evolution might not be the best possible explanation found by scientists in the future, but because this claim can not be postulated by science at all.

 The claim that "God does not exist" must be made on the basis of one's interpretation of the facts of science.  And this interpretation is subject to the criticisms of philosophy, theology, sociology, and other methods of knowing.

One can not look at a cake and say, "Ha, I have discovered the ingredients and formula for mixing the ingredients, therefore a baker never existed!"  You can not observe your cake, and lay theological claim to it as well.