Today on A Little Better, host Brad is joined by Josh Horn and Keith Horn, who both have a Ph.D in the science field, as they answer the following questions:

What is the proper role of science, and what is the proper role of faith?

Can science and faith work together?

What mistakes should I avoid when engaging with science?

What are some best practices for both Christians and skeptics to approach this issue?

Keith Horn has a Ph.D. in organic chemistry from the University of Illinois, years of postdoctoral work and leadership in industry research, and has been an associate dean of math and science at Houghton College.

Josh Horn has a Ph.D. in Biophysics, is the former Director of Outreach at Northridge Church, and the current Director of 441 Ministries in the Beechwood community.

Additional Resources Mentioned:

Keith alluded to some mistakes to avoid and practices to follow.  We mentioned some of them in the podcast but did not have time to address them all.  Here is Keith’s more complete counsel:

10 (mistaken) assumptions people make about science:

All scientists are atheists

What the media says is science is science

What scientists say is science is science

Opinions and hypotheses are science

It was published, therefore it must be true

Scientific consensus means the hypothesis and facts are true (may only be the best view now, many established views have changed over time)

Science can know everything

All new research is wrong (this skeptical view denies the order God expects us to find)

Science is free of all bias, opinions, influence, agendas and distortion

Science is only bias, opinions, influence, agendas, distortion and conspiracy

Bonus:  Believing in “scientism” instead of science

Guidelines for handling questions about science and the Bible:

Remember how God has worked in your life

Know that you will never know everything, nor will your atheist/agnostic friends/colleagues

Don’t bind the Bible tightly to what science says today.  Science may update scientific theories.

Remember science has been wrong and harmful at times (e.g. thalidomide was once given to pregnant women and caused birth defects and death) and has been right and extremely helpful at times (e.g. some diseases, like polio, have been cured).

Keep Searching

Ask the Holy Spirit for guidance

Find out what the Bible says

Study how the Bible says it (e.g. is this text literal or figurative?)

Read biblical scholars and scientists who are Christians