Daily Devotional – May 4

History

Have you considered that the primary motivation leading to the development of the scientific method was the sinfulness of man! Sixteenth century Reformers acknowledged man’s depravity and therefore understood that even his ability to reason could not be trusted to determine truth. Because of man’s sinfulness, he has an inclination toward twisting things for his own purposes. So, science needed repeatable experimentation if its conclusions were to be accurate.

The Reformers also took seriously the command that man was to have dominion over creation, which meant he needed to study and understand it. These two ideas, man’s sinfulness and dominion, birthed the scientific revolution, which produced the founders of the various branches of science. These Bible-believing scientists included:

• Sir Isaac Newton - physics, optics, invention of calculus

• Joseph Lister - antiseptic surgery

• Johannes Kepler - celestial mechanics

• Louis Pasteur - bacteriology

• Michael Faraday - electromagnetism

• James Maxwell - electromagnetic equations

• Lord Kelvin - thermodynamics

• and MANY others

These men were “Thinking God’s thoughts after Him” to produce much of the technology we have today.

Sadly, much of “modern science” has returned to biased opinion over observation. As D.J. Kennedy has said in his book, What If Jesus Had Never Been Born, “It is interesting to note that science could not originate in the philosophical view prevalent in the world today. The prevailing philosophy of the Western world today is existentialism, which is irrational.”

We move away from true science, founded on the understanding that creation exists because we have a Creator, to our detriment!

And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion… over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.

~ Genesis 1:28

Source: "Pearls in Paradise" by authors Bruce Malone and Jule Von Vett

References for this devotional.