The main debate between Biblical Worldview and Naturalism (aka the Science or “Scientism” Worldview) is the question of creation and who or what created the universe, earth, nature, humans, and animals. Based on the four worldview questions found in the Worldview Prepared Curriculum, the first question to ask in order to understand the foundational beliefs of any worldview is the question of identity: Who created us, and why are we here?
Since the Naturalism Worldview denies that any supernatural (spiritual) being or realm exists, it grapples with the very existence of the universe and humanity. How could life exist if there were no supernatural force to create it?
CREATION OF THE UNIVERSE
Proponents of Naturalism conclude then that it must have happened by cosmic accident. The Big Bang Theory is widely accepted in the scientific community as the origin of matter and energy. Some sort of “unstable energy,” whose origins are also unknown, is suspected of creating the Big Bang, leaving the original question of who or what created the universe still unanswered in the Naturalism Worldview.
Without the possibility of a supernatural being (aka God), Naturalism proponents are left to rely only on what they can see in nature, whether through a telescope or a microscope, and on scientific theories to answer the question, “Where did we come from?” They base their theories on their own interpretation of data, which may or may not be accurate.
In his book Cold-Case Christianity, J. Warner Wallace shares that what made him a successful cold-case detective was not having bias or a preconceived idea about the identity of a suspect. However, before his conversion to Christianity, when Wallace was still an atheist, he had his own bias about the supernatural existence of God. He recounts how he asked the question, “Does a supernatural being exist?” after already deciding it didn’t. In doing so, he excluded the possibility of anything supernatural existing, and formed his beliefs based on this assumption. It’s this bias of not believing in God that leads Naturalism proponents to create theories about not only the origins of the universe, but also humanity. Once Wallace opened his mind to the possibility that God could exist, he found the evidence he needed and is now a Christian.
The Biblical Worldview Perspective:
The Biblical Worldview looks to the Bible to understand the why of creation, and more importantly, the who. It answers our first worldview question, “Who created us and why are we here?” in Genesis chapter one.
In terms of the universe, Scripture says, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty …” (Genesis 1:1-2). In this verse alone, it’s clear that God exists outside time and space, and created the earth and everything beyond it in the universe. God must exist outside of the universe to create it, since within the universe there is space, time, matter, and energy. It is then reasonable to conclude that space, time, matter, and energy all began to exist at the point in which God created it, especially since Scripture confirms that the earth was formless and empty—nothing—before then. Since something cannot be created out of nothing, something or someone (aka God) must have created it.
Having a Biblical Worldview means actively searching the Scriptures for answers to our questions of creation, evil, family, relationships, holiness, conflict, sin, and any other questions we may have. The Bible provides answers and guidance on all of them.
CREATION OF HUMANKIND
The creation of the universe is not the only topic where the Naturalism and Biblical Worldview disagrees. The creation of humanity is the next major divergence between the two worldviews. Specifically, how did humans get here, and why do we exist?
Naturalism refers to “spontaneous” life and evolution as the way humanity came into existence. To start with, according to Khan Academy, some scientists conclude that non-living molecules under the right atmosphere and with the right energy can “spontaneously” create the amino acids necessary for life. From there, theories exist on how amino acids could “spontaneously” create proteins, which are also essential for life, and so on, with the central idea that something non-living created something living.
Evolution is the process that some scientists use to explain how these amino acids and proteins then morphed, or evolved, into human beings over a suspected billions of years.
Every cell of our bodies contains DNA, and that DNA determines if we are human or animals. DNA mutations, or “accidental” changes to DNA, can change the minor characteristics within a species, which are then passed down to that species’ offspring, called microevolution, which is not a heavily disputed concept. In this case, the changes do not add DNA information, as evolution would require. The changes only alter, reduce, or damage existing information.
However, Charles Darwin and other scientists have suggested that evolution did not just change the minor characteristics of a species from one generation to the next, but changed one species into an entirely new species, called macroevolution, requiring new information to be added to the DNA. For example, Charles Darwin suggested that humans evolved from a common ancestor of the ape.
Much of the Naturalism Worldview relies on “spontaneous” or “accidental” occurrences to make sense of creation. However, the number of accidents and spontaneity that would have had to occur to create a complex, intricate universe and humankind makes the probability of this non-existent.
The Biblical Worldview Perspective
The Biblical Worldview offers another answer to this age-old question of, “Who created us and why do we exist?” Part 1 of our Biblical Worldview, Creation, depends on God’s word which says, “God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them” (Genesis 1:27). Scripture also says God made each living thing “according to its kind,” whether it was a human male or female, an animal, or a flowering plant.
SCIENTIFIC FINDINGS
There is a popular narrative that faith and science are incompatible. Yet, from a Biblical Worldview perspective, faith does not exclude the mechanisms or processes by which God created the universe or mankind. In fact, it was Christians who first went into the field of science because their faith in God compelled them to better understand the world He created. In this way, we can see that some of the most prominent scientific discoveries, including the Hubble Telescope, Fine-Tuning principles, and DNA point back to the Genesis account of Creation.
- The Hubble Telescope Discovery – “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” (Genesis 1:1)
This means there was a point in time when the universe was created. With the Hubble Telescope discovery, scientists recognized the universe was expanding. Dr. Stephen C. Meyer explains that when scientists deduced that fact, they realized that if the universe was constantly expanding, it had to have a point when it all began. Science confirms what we know in Scripture: God spoke and the universe appeared. - Fine-Tuning Principles – “God’s invisible qualities, His eternal power and divine nature have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made …” (Romans 1:20)
The universe has been finely tuned for life. Meyer says, “There is compelling evidence of intelligent design [proof of a Creator] of the entire universe, and it comes from the ‘fine tuning’ of the laws and constants of Physics and also of the initial conditions.” Meyer shares that “even the rate at which the universe is expanding makes exactly the right conditions for life to exist. If the universe expanded even a tiny bit faster the heat and energy would dissipate too fast for life to be possible. If it expanded even a tiny bit slower, we would have been crushed by gravity. The fine tuning is exquisite. It is fine tuned to 1 part to 10 to the 60th power—like one dollar out of a trillion, trillion, trillion, trillion, trillion dollars. The tolerance for error is miniscule, the gravitational force constant (the gravitational attraction between objects with mass) is fine-tuned to 1 in 10 to the 40th power.”There are at least 25-30 other parameters that must be finely tuned for life to exist on this earth. The amount of fine tuning required makes it impossible to have happened by accident. Fine tuning is another stunning proof point that directs us to God as the Creator.
- DNA – God “knit me together in my mother’s womb” (Psalm 139:13)
Chuck Colson said in How Now Shall We Live, “DNA is like a language in the heart of the cell. The chemicals in DNA are grouped into molecules that act like letters in a message, and they must be in a particular order if the message is going to be intelligible. Now, in DNA, if the letters are scrambled, the result is nonsense. It’s unintelligible. It’s so specific that it would be impossible to produce a simple set of instructions telling a chemist how to synthesize the DNA of even a simple bacterium. You would have to specify every “chemical letter” one by one, and there are literally millions.” Now apply that to human DNA. Scientific discoveries continuously point to a Creator who created with intention, order, precision, and care, and “knit us together” in our mother’s womb through the process of DNA.
WELL-KNOWN NATURALISTS
Some of the most famous proponents of Naturalism who have advanced the idea of evolution are Charles Darwin, Richard Dawkins, and Stephen Hawking. Each of them is a brilliant intellectual, but they are also consistent in their disbelief in God. Let’s learn more about each of them.
Charles Darwin
Born in the early 1800’s in England, Charles Darwin became known as one of the most famous biologists and the father of evolution theory. While his dad wanted him to be a doctor, Darwin had other plans in mind. A five-year voyage in his early twenties, took him to South America and most notably the Galapagos Islands where he was to observe and collect specimens of plants, animals, rocks, and fossils. This trip had the most lasting impact on his beliefs, specifically his study of various birds, including finches and pigeons.
Darwin’s most famous theory came from these observations and is called the theory of evolution by natural selection. According to the Natural History Museum, Darwin’s “theory proposes that the fittest individual organisms – those with the characteristics best suited to their environment – are more likely to survive and reproduce. They pass on these desirable characteristics to their offspring. Gradually these features may become more common in a population, so species change over time. If the changes are great enough, they could produce a new species altogether.”
Charles Darwin married Emma Wedgwood when he was thirty. He died at the age of 73.
Richard Dawkins
British evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins was born in Kenya in 1941, over a hundred years after Charles Darwin. In 1962, Dawkins graduated from Balliol University in Oxford where he received a degree in Zoology.
According to Britannica, in “his first book, The Selfish Gene, he tried to rectify what he maintained was a widespread misunderstanding of Darwinism. Dawkins argued that natural selection takes place at the genetic rather than species or individual level, as was often assumed.”
Dawkins, a popular atheist, has also admitted to being a cultural Christian, meaning that while he does not believe in God or Jesus, he does appreciate the benefits Christianity has brought to society.
Stephen Hawking
British scientist, Stephen Hawking, was born in Oxford in 1942. Like Darwin, Hawking’s dad wanted him to study medicine, but instead he studied physics and cosmology, which is the study of the universe. His most popular scientific contributions centered on his research of black holes. While Hawking, a famous atheist, didn’t believe in God, his black hole discoveries did point to a singular point in time in which the universe was created as the Bible indicates.
In his early twenties, Hawking was diagnosed with Lou Gehrig’s disease, which eventually led to the loss of his mobility and speech, requiring a wheelchair and a speech generating device, respectively. Although doctors only gave Hawking a few years to live after his diagnosis, he lived for another fifty years and continued in the field of science. He died at the age of 76.
WELL-KNOWN CREATIONISTS
While some would have us believe that all science-minded individuals are atheists, that’s simply not true. Some of the most well-known Creationists who have advanced the idea of God as Creator are Ken Ham, Stephen C. Meyer, and Hugh Ross. Each of them is brilliant intellectually, and also consistent in their belief in God and Jesus. Let’s learn more about each of them.
Ken Ham
Ken Ham was born in Australia in 1951 and graduated from Queensland Institute of Technology. Earning a degree in applied science with an emphasis on biology, Ham started teaching after graduation. During his time as a teacher, he realized the negative effects evolution teachings in the schools had on student’s Christian beliefs. Students had not been taught critical thinking skills, to look at the Bible as the accurate Word of God, or to study it to discover answers about creation. Soon after realizing that students lacked the skills needed to think biblically, Ham quit teaching and he and his wife began a ministry to provide education resources for Christians to combat evolution and focus on God as Creator.
Now decades later, his ministry Answers in Genesis (AIG), has the Creation Museum in Ohio and the Ark Encounter in Kentucky, which boasts a life-size replica of Noah’s Ark. Both receive over a million visitors a year and continue the work of teaching Christians to search God’s Word for questions about creation.
Stephen C. Meyer
Dr. Stephen C. Meyer heads the Discovery Institute’s Center for Science and Culture which focuses on the advancement of intelligent design. In scientific circles, the term “intelligent design” is used to suggest that the universe was created by an intelligent entity, aka God. Meyer is a Christian and holds a Ph.D. in the philosophy of science from the University of Cambridge, and worked as a geophysicist and a college professor.
Through leading an organization, writing, and speaking, Meyer focuses on advancing the belief that the origins of life point to a Creator and dispute evolutionary claims. He also educates on the fine-tuning of the universe as proof of God’s existence.
One fascinating controversy that highlights bias against God as the Creator in scientific circles happened in 2004 when Meyer had an essay in a Smithsonian Institution-affiliated peer-reviewed biology journal, laying out a compelling argument for intelligent design (i.e., God). According to Meyer’s profile, “The journal’s editor…was punished by his Smithsonian supervisors for allowing Meyer’s article into print. This led to the investigation of top Smithsonian personnel by the U.S. Office of Special Counsel. The federal investigation eventually concluded that [the editor] had been wrongly disciplined and intimidated.”
Hugh Ross
Hugh Ross is a Canadian astrophysicist born in 1945 who came to know Jesus as Savior through his love of the cosmos. While he didn’t grow up in a Christian home, Ross was drawn to the universe and all the beauty it contained at an early age. At just seven years old he went to the library to learn why stars are hot and from there his fascination with the cosmos grew, prompting him to study physics, astronomy, and cosmology.
Ross recognized the universe had a beginning and concluded that something outside that universe must have created it. He searched all the old religious texts from various religions searching to see if God had communicated with His creation about His creation. It wasn’t until he read the Bible that he finally found the truth. In his own words, “From page one, this book proved an exception. Not only did it provide hundreds of statements that could be tested for accuracy, it also anticipated—thousands of years in advance—many facts of socio-political history and of nature that research would one day confirm…Through nearly two years of study this book’s predictive power [prophecies] persuaded me that it must have been inspired by One who knows and guides the past, present, and future. I had essentially proven to myself that the Bible is more reliable than the laws of physics I focused on in my university courses. The only reasonable conclusion I could see was that the Bible must be the inspired Word of God.”
Ross has been married for over forty years, has two children, and founded the apologetics ministry Reasons to Believe.
