The Link Between Religion and Science

The Link Between Religion and Science

National Geographic magazine always had a dilemma whenever they publish articles about the rise of life on earth and the origins of the universe. They always spark debates and controversies from religious sectors that strongly adhere to their beliefs about Creation as depicted in the Book of Genesis. But the magazine sees to it that all their articles about the said subject matters are based on scientific facts. Scientists cannot question the faith of a devout believer, while the religious cannot deny that scientific facts are based on proven data and countless experiments.

But there are some who actually believe that religion and science complement each other. During the time of Galileo, everyone believed that the earth was the center of the universe. And then Galileo invented the telescope, and discovered that the earth revolved around the sun together with other planets. With his discoveries, he was excommunicated from the Church. But recent discoveries using powerful telescopes and modern instruments may actually prove that the earth may be the center of the universe, from our relative point of view, that is. Yes, the earth spins and revolves around the sun, but if a man is looking at space from a very powerful telescope, everywhere he looks he can see the farthest edge of the universe, which is therefore also the oldest part of the universe. So if another being from another planet in other galaxies will likewise look at a powerful telescope, he can also claim that he is at the center of the universe, again relative to him.

Herein comes the Theory of Relativity by Albert Einstein. In this theory, time is also a dimension. That is why when scientists and astronomers are measuring vast distances in space, they use light years, which is the distance traveled by light in one earth year. Therefore, if they theorize that the edge of the universe is 13 billion light years away, they could also mean the age of the universe, it’s as if we were looking back in time. A bit complicated, really. And then let’s read some passages from the Book of Genesis. In Genesis 2:4 , "These are the generations of the heavens and of the earth when they were created in the day that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens." Some say that omnipresence is one of the divine attributes of God, meaning He is present everywhere at once, every point in space at a given instant. So if He is omnipresent, He could also be there in the beginning and the end of time at any instant! The Alpha and the Omega. One earth day or even one human wink of an eye could easily be 13 billion years for God. He can listen to all our prayers at the same time, even a man praying a thousand years ago and another man praying a thousand years in the future, wherever he may be in the universe!