We go to church to learn about science

Science and the Bible, Clovis Church of Christ, Clovis, California
“We’ve got a loose one up here,” Steve Byrd, the evening’s speaker, said about the small child running toward the front. The mother corralled the kid; this hadn’t been a problem other times when Byrd taught the same material at Clovis Church of Christ. Before, he’s taught junior and senior highers; I’m sure that instead of one kid trying to run wild, there were many doing so. It was a Friday evening, and there was a good crowd with a wide range of ages to hear the first of two presentations on “Science & the Bible.”

Many people greeted us as we came in the building and even after we sat down. One of the elders, Scott Young, recognized us as visitors and gave us a visitor’s card to fill out. Scott also introduced Byrd to the congregation as a “member of the church” and a “Bible believer.”

“I’ve always wanted to present this material to everyone, not just the kids,” Byrd said as he got started. He mentioned that as a child he was fascinated with dinosaurs, as many little boys are. He thought he had to choose between dinos and the Bible.

He went on get his degree in biology at Cal Poly. “I’ve seen everything that evolution has to offer and everything that the Bible has to offer. And the Bible has more.” He said that he believes the Book of Job in the Bible even offers dinosaurs.

Though his expertise was in biology, he began by talking about archeology. He talked about the Mari tablets that mention names from Abraham’s family (though not Abe’s name), but then he discussed what he (quite rightly) called the greatest archaeological discovery of all time: the Dead Sea Scrolls.

Before 1947, when the scrolls were discovered, scholars of the historical-critical method had questioned whether the transcription of the Bible through the centuries was trustworthy. Made up of over eight hundred scrolls, written between 200 BC and 68 AD, the Dead Sea Scrolls contained portions and/or complete texts of all the Old Testament books except Esther and revealed that Scripture had been transcribed with incredible fidelity through the years.

Steve went on to talk about “finding these little nuggets of science hidden in plain sight in the Bible.” He believes that there are scientific revelations that prove that God wrote the Bible, arguing that there are two options, the Bible was either written by “Hebrew shepherds or by God.” I think that is a false dichotomy, perhaps even a slightly heretical. II Timothy talks about Scripture being God-breathed, people divinely inspired to write. Just as Jesus is understood by orthodox theologians to be fully God and fully Man, I believe the Bible is also fully divine and fully human. It is not an either/or.

I’m sorry to say the “nuggets of science” he found didn’t resonate with me. He talked about how in the last few decades, scientists have come understand that the sun follows a path in the Milky Way, making a rotation every 230 million years, then pointed to Psalm 19, which describes the sun running its course. He said this word choice indicated the course the sun makes in the Milky Way. That interpretation didn’t seem the most likely to me; instead, I think the writer was talking about the sun moving daily across the sky, which isn’t technically what happens (actually the earth moves) but it is true in the same way we all still talk about “sunrise” and “sunset.”

But despite my quibbles, it was good to see so many people coming to learn about Christian apologetics, to gain a greater intellectual understanding of their faith. And it was wonderful that they were so cheerful and welcoming while they were learning.