Faith Vs. Science 3Rd Edition: The Unnecessary Dichotomy

By Jerome Goddard

Scientific advances over the past 150 years have created a dilemma for persons of faith living in an increasingly secular world. Many scientific findings seem directly opposed to religious faith. Further, recent technological advances such as cloning, stem cell research, and CRISPR-Cas9 technology pose moral and ethical questions. How do religious people respond to complex scientific facts which seem to contradict their faith? This book, written by a scientist, explains current scientific phenomena from the viewpoint of faith. Topics include:
- Both sides: science and religion
- Age of the earth
- Creation/evolution controversy
- Uniqueness of human spirituality
- Would human clones have a soul?
- Anthropic principle, string theory, and multiple universes
- Postmodernist thought affecting today’s science
- Is the Bible different from other secular or religious texts?
- What is faith?
- What does it mean to be a Christian?

• Language: English
• Publisher: iUniverse
• Release date: Jul 13, 2022
• ISBN: 9781663242266

Jerome Goddard

JEROME GODDARD is an Extension Professor of Medical Entomology at Mississippi State University. He has published over 200 scientific papers and 14 books. One of his medical textbooks, “The Goddard Guide to Arthropods of Medical Importance” is in its Seventh Edition and used by physicians worldwide.

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Copyright © 2022 Jerome Goddard, Ph.D.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

The first two editions of this book were published by Father’s Press, LLC, Kingsville, MO.

Cover photo by Rosella Goddard.

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ISBN: 978-1-6632-4225-9 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-6632-4226-6 (e)

iUniverse rev. date:  07/12/2022

CONTENTS

Acknowledgements

Dedication

Preface

Chapter 1Why We Need Prophets, Poets, and Philosophers—and Always Will

Chapter 2Does a Scientist Have to Commit Intellectual Suicide to Hold Religious Beliefs?

Chapter 3The Oddity of Reasoning and Rational Thought

Chapter 4Science and Religion: It’s Helpful to See Both Sides

Chapter 5How Did We Get Here? The Evolution/Creation Debate

Chapter 6A Working Model of Origins for Scientists

Chapter 7Isn’t the World Billions of Years Old? Doesn’t That Negate the Claims of Christianity?

Chapter 8What about the Floresian Fossils—Tiny Hobbit-like Humans in Indonesia?

Chapter 9The Anthropic Principle, String Theory, and Multiple Universes in Light of the Scientific Method

Chapter 10Why Do Parasitism, Struggle for Survival, Genetic Defects, and Widespread Human Violence Exist?

Chapter 11What is the Soul, and is it Separate from the Mind?

Chapter 12What’s the Difference between Humans and Chimpanzees?

Chapter 13Would Human Clones Have a Soul?

Chapter 14Are Humans Uniquely Gifted Animals or Broken Gods?

Chapter 15What’s the Big Fuss Between Science and Postmodernism?

Chapter 16Can a Person Have Their Own Truth?

Chapter 17Where Did God Originate?

Chapter 18Isn’t it Odd That God is Invisible?

Chapter 19How Can We Ever Understand the Concept of Eternity?

Chapter 20How Do We Know the Bible is Any Different from Other Secular or Religious Texts?

Chapter 21Doesn’t the Bible use Outdated or Ancient Imagery?

Chapter 22Wasn’t Jesus Just an Extraordinary Teacher Who was Later Deified by His Followers?

Chapter 23How Do We Reconcile the God of the Old Testament with the God of the New Testament?

Chapter 24What’s Wrong with the World?

Chapter 25What is Faith?

Chapter 26What Does it Mean to be a Christian?

Glossary of Christian Terms

For Further Information

References

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I am grateful to Drs. Alan Penman and Tom Brooks who taught me more about logic and philosophy in two years than I had learned in the totality of all years prior. My brother, Julian (Hule) Goddard helped immensely with the theological aspects of this book. Dr. John Oswalt, Wesley Biblical Seminary, Jackson, MS, read portions of the manuscript and provided helpful comments. Mallory Carter expertly edited this book from beginning to end and Laura McKee did a wonderful job with layout and design for the second edition. Lastly, some of the most insightful commentary about scripture in this book I actually owe to my wife of forty-three years, Rosella.

DEDICATION

This book is dedicated to Larry Cole, Riley Presley, and Jerry Beasley, who called me the philosopher decades before I ever was one.

PREFACE

I doubt many people will be pleased with this book. My scientist friends will think I’m crazy (or crazier than previously thought), and my Christian friends will think I’ve compromised my beliefs. However, I wrote it because I’ve struggled to understand the world around me and this is my story of that journey to understanding matters of faith and science, which—for the most part—simply cannot be resolved. Along this path, I’ve become convinced that there is a spiritual dimension to the world. Naturalism fails to adequately explain the universe. To me, the religious impulse, so pervasive in humans, indicates that we have a spiritual nature and a hunger for that realm. God has somehow put within us an awareness of this dimension. Believing is much more natural than not believing.

This is not a book on theology, nor is it a highly technical scientific analysis. It’s really just a conversation between me and a hypothetical, non-hostile unbeliever. My purpose is to help scientific people see that religion is not just for kooks and to help religious people see that science is not just for atheists. Persons skilled in debate will quickly notice that I have utilized a variety of methods to advance my arguments such as logic, rhetoric, presentation of scientific/experimental data, and even narrative. I realize this mixture of methods is in itself a fault and sometimes appears self-contradictory. However, keep in mind that this book is written in a conversational tone. In real life conversations, people utilize a variety of methods to make their points. That’s what I’m doing here—opening up a reasonable, educated conversation about God, science, and life itself in ways that work best for me.

Also, the book is not meant to be read cover to cover. It consists of essays on diverse scientific or religious topics, each of which could stand alone. Some of them are short (a few paragraphs) containing main thoughts on the subject at hand. I might suggest the reader just bounce around and read whatever interests him or her. I ask for mercy from theologians and scientists as they read these essays and ask that they not read this book as if they were grading an assignment or reviewing a paper for publication. Instead, I hope they will read it like a diary detailing one man’s search to understand reality.

Jerome Goddard, Ph.D.

Starkville, MS

SECTION I

Various Scientific Questions

From The Viewpoint Of Faith

CHAPTER 1

WHY WE NEED PROPHETS,

POETS, AND PHILOSOPHERS—

AND ALWAYS WILL

We live in an extremely technological age—a scientific era unlike any before. Up until about 150 years ago, it was not impossible, in fact, it was not even unusual, for a person to have a grip on virtually all the knowledge in the world. It was not so much that they could quote every fact of science or had full understanding of the arts and humanities, but they had been exposed to all the major lines of reasoning and knowledge that existed at the time. Also, it was not unusual for some (especially the British scholars) to have read every book of significance in the world. Even my grandfather, although not highly educated, could quote Homer, perform complicated mathematical equations, and identify constellations by name. There was only a limited amount of knowledge available, and every effort was made in a liberal arts education program to teach this knowledge to the citizenry.

That could never be true today. There has been an explosion of information since World War II. Consider the field of medicine. Medical student training (the four year standard course) has changed dramatically in the last few decades. The amount of basic biological information that each medical student is required to master in the pre-clinical curriculum has so vastly increased that coverage of many traditional, classical disciplines has been dropped to make way for voluminous information in rapidly expanding areas such as molecular biology, genetic testing/counseling, neuroscience, and pharmacology. The same thing holds true in almost every discipline. Volumes and volumes of information exist on every possible subject. It seems like every phenomenon of life can be explained. For example, current explanations of space (or more precisely spacetime) big bang, oscillating universe, dark energy, black holes, curved space, worm holes, and such—are shocking and almost beyond belief. This tremendous amount of information has forced Ph.D.s and M.D.s to be specialized. There are no longer any generalists. You would never hear of anyone called a general scientist, that is, someone able to field questions from all specialties. Nowadays, it seems that every scientist is forced to specialize into one or two tiny fields of knowledge.

Scientific facts are certainly not bad in and of themselves, but we have gone to so far as to say that if ideas do not fit neatly into a logical pattern, or if concepts cannot be explained technically, they should be shunned. We think they cannot be real since they cannot be explained, resolved, or understood. While refusing to consider anything beyond nature may appear to be the enlightened path, naturalism still leaves the average person with many gnawing questions.

Accordingly, throughout the history of humanity, prophets, poets, and philosophers spoke from another realm of life, from another side of the brain. It’s not that prophets, poets, and philosophers aren’t (or weren’t) intelligent, logical, or scientifically-attuned; it’s just that they spoke from another perspective. They spoke from the realm of why, the realm of beauty and aesthetic values, and purpose and meaning. Instead of looking at a bouquet of flowers and trying to determine why some of them are yellow, red, or orange, and the heights or diameter of the stems, a prophet, poet, or philosopher would convey the beauty of the flowers, or why the flowers are here, or the perspective of the flower’s place in the earth or position in the web of life, or the simple satisfaction of viewing the bouquet of flowers.

Prophets long ago spoke to people and to nations, admonishing them in regards to justice and injustice, encouraging them to do the right thing, and addressing the whys and wherefores of life. Poets have also spoken from this same realm. Almost everybody knows and can identify with feelings portrayed in poetry. There is often an inner satisfaction from reading poetry (You ever felt that from reading Science or Nature?). Henry David Thoreau said that most people live out their lives in quiet desperation. Look around: there’s truth in his observation. Whether we are rich, famous, infamous, or unknown, many of us live in boredom, desperation, depression, or aimlessness. It is to this condition, the human condition, that prophets and poets can speak. This is the realm of the soul (or spirit) and emotion.a

In the midst of this ever-increasing body of knowledge we must try to provide a safe, stable, civilized world for our children. And, in my opinion, one with purpose and meaning. Obviously education is an important factor in doing this. But, some people erroneously think all we’ve got to do to create a happy and civilized world is to teach everyone the facts of science, history, etc. Supposedly, if everyone gets educated, then there will be no more social problems. However, education and science are limited in their ability to address ethics, morality, and matters related to personal relationships. This is where the prophets, poets, and philosophers can speak to us.

What are the consequences if we continue the trend of teaching voluminous information without moral or ethical guidance? We, as humans, would be unbalanced and warped if we were to live solely in the mental realm without development of the spiritual (pertaining to the soul) and emotional realms. Can you imagine a child who grows up knowing encyclopedias of information, but has no sense of compassion, mercy, justice, faith, or other virtues? Humans are multi-faceted beings and we need to be balanced, not just creatures of one realm. Fifteen minutes in a cancer ward will reveal the inadequacies of the intellect alone. What good is a physiological understanding of the behavior of cancer cells for the person who is dying of cancer?

As part of a former job, I frequently visited the University of Mississippi Medical Center Library where I read all manner of scientific journals containing the latest information regarding science and medicine. Even today, I regularly read Science and Nature and other major journals and never cease to be amazed at the ever-increasing pace of knowledge; it seems to be snow-balling. The amount of information that comes out each week is overwhelming. As intellectually stimulating as it is for my mind, it does nothing to impact the rest of my life; it does nothing for the real me. What a refreshment it is to talk to a poet or to spend time with an artist or a minister. For a few years at my work, twice a month, several of us met for an informal, lunchtime philosophy club wherein we discussed the unanswerable questions of life. No, we didn’t all agree, but such meetings enriched my life by making me think about things I ordinarily wouldn’t have. My brother, a minister, once told me that he sets aside a Sabbath-like time each week during which he re-groups, re-evaluates, and prays in the silence. He said this time of solitude has tremendously enhanced his life.

Thousands of years ago our ancestors would look up into the stars at night and feel a sense of awe and the smallness of themselves in comparison with the stars. They even felt a sense of the supernatural. As best they could tell, the earth was flat and immobile, and the stars moved around on a ceiling way up high above the earth (later called the celestial sphere). Now, we know that was all wrong. The earth is not fixed with the stars moving around us; instead, the earth is moving around the sun, and our sun and planets are part of a huge galaxy. And that’s just one galaxy; there are literally trillions of galaxies. We know so much more about the earth, stars, galaxies, and those kinds of things than our predecessors ever did. However, nothing is really different. Most anyone who goes out on a cold winter night and gazes up into that sea of twinkling lights will still feel a sense of awe, a sense of the numinous, a sense of the supernatural. This is precisely why we will always need people who speak to us from the other side of the brain and/or the realm of soul, spirit, and emotions. No, we shouldn’t renounce education and digress to the middle ages. We should embrace the ever-increasing sphere of science and technology insofar as it is beneficial to society. But we must remember and keep in mind (for perspective) that science is not everything. Scientific facts are, in and of themselves, neither good nor bad. But what we do with scientific information—the causal basis of our decision-making—is influenced by myriad factors originating from various realms of our lives. Let’s not neglect those unique aspects of humanity.

CHAPTER 2

DOES A SCIENTIST HAVE TO

COMMIT INTELLECTUAL

SUICIDE TO HOLD

RELIGIOUS BELIEFS?

For some reason, many intellectuals think that holding religious beliefs is incompatible with having an analytical, scientific mind. To them, everything has a perfectly natural explanation completely devoid of supernatural elements. They cite the fact that human history is filled with instances in which unexplained phenomena were originally attributed to the faith realm but later examined in light of science and found to have naturalistic explanations. For example, primitive humans thought volcanoes were where the gods lived. I mean, what else could be in there causing all that fire, smoke, and earth-shaking? In addition, lightning was considered to be fire from heaven sent to show the power of the gods or to punish people. Of course, we now understand the natural mechanisms behind such phenomena. But does that then mean that everything can ultimately be explained by natural causes? I don’t think so.

Look around. Even if the big bang explanation of cosmological origin is true, where did the stuff come from? Who/what lit the fuse?