Over the last few years I have taken an interest in the never ending debate and relationship that exists between science and faith.

For some people science has replaced the need for God as we discover more and more about the world and how it works. There is a band of scientists who argue that science is now filling in the gaps of our knowledge that religion once held and so the days of religions are numbered. I do encounter this view from time to time in chaplaincy work among professional golfers.

Some scientists who are atheists accuse believers that their faith limits their scientific endeavours because they work within a closed system of presuppositions about God.

But it is interesting how a Chinese scientist who came to America found his ideas unacceptable because they didn’t fit the evolutionary framework of his audience. His comment was: “In china you are allowed to question your scientific methods but not the government, in America you can question the government, but obviously not the scientific methods”.

This example show that it works both ways, when it come to doing science everyone works from basic presuppositions or starting models in discovering how the world works.

Science and faith today is still polarised on the age old question of whether the world that we see and experience is the result of a creator or the result of natural forces working their own mysteries.

For those of us who believe in God there is a recognition that we are creatures made in the image and likeness of God, but that we are not God and are limited in our capacities. Our reading this week is one of the many references to our limits to understand the world in all its details. However this is not a reason for not doing science, in fact the amazing order of our world gives us confidence to study more of the world God has created. Such recognition draws us to God and is the one we ultimately put our trust in and follow.

For the atheist, the search continues to understand life in all of its detail, a search I believe will remain a constant one.

Prayer, Lord though our complete knowledge of the world and of you is limited, thank you for the learning and discovering that makes life so rewarding. We also rejoice in Jesus who is the wisdom of God who leads us in the knowledge of life that is eternal. Amen.