How God Interacts with the Physical World: A Scientist’s Perspective

By Timothy Wong

This book distinguishes itself from traditional works on science and theology by not attempting to merge Christian faith with science or provide interpretations of the creation account in the book of Genesis. The focus lies on discerning God's providence through scientific insights, offering readers a deeper understanding of his interactions with the world. This book also addresses the issue of how God can maintain control while granting us free will. How does God influence the course of history and interact with us? A fresh model for understanding how God interacts with the physical world will be introduced.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Resource Publications
• Release date: Nov 10, 2023
• ISBN: 9781666785319

Timothy Wong

Timothy Wong obtained his PhD from the University of Cambridge. He works in the semiconductor industry and is the VP of engineering in a semiconductor metrology company.

Book preview

Introduction

I became a Christian while I was in high school. My friends often asked me, Isn’t believing in God unscientific? Why would a student of science choose to believe in God? My answer was something like this: science deals with how, while religion deals with why. For example, suppose you ask why the kettle is boiling. I can explain the scientific process behind it, of how the electrical current turns into heating energy, increasing the water molecules’ temperature. Since the heating element is at the bottom of the kettle, water molecules near the heating element will transit into gas form earlier, hence forming bubbles. Still, the answer can be as simple as I want to have a cup of tea. We are dealing with problems from two different perspectives, so there should not be any conflict. However, deep down in my heart, I am dissatisfied with this answer. I know there has to be a better answer to satisfy both my heart and my intellectual curiosity.

I became interested in the interaction between science and theology when I entered the University of Cambridge for postgraduate study. That same year, Stephen Hawking, a professor at Cambridge, published his book A Brief History of Time. Discussions about his book, the nature of the universe, and the role of God in it, were all over the campus. I must admit I never bought nor read his book in its final form because I was one of those early computer hackers who knew how to download and read the lecture notes on which his book was based.

Around the same time, I met Professor John Polkinghorne, a renowned high-energy physicist who later became an Anglican priest and taught in the theology school at Cambridge. At Cambridge, a graduate student can sit in on any lecture if the lecturer consents. With his consent, I spent two terms sitting in his class, and it turned out that more than half of the students in that class were students who, like me, were not from the divinity school. Professor Polkinghorne had a profound influence on my thoughts on science and theology. I told him during a one-on-one conversation that I wanted to translate his books into Chinese (my mother tongue), but he encouraged me to write one myself. It has been a while since we had that conversation, and since then, many books have been written on science and theology, so the project was put on hold. I didn’t think I had anything original to say. However, three years ago, I was asked to give Sunday school classes on science and theology. This allowed me to revisit the subject and study it more carefully, and I found something new and original to say.

I’m not a biologist or a cosmologist. I’m just an experimental physicist looking at things at the practical level. This book is not about integrating our Christian faith with science or interpreting the creation account in the book of Genesis. My main concern is not about creationism, the origin of the universe, and human beings. This book explores whether we can use science to gain insights into how God interacts with the world. I hope to show that understanding how God works with the natural world demonstrates that believing in God is not irrational. He is not a distant God who created the world and let it run freely on its own, nor is he a God who only comes back now and then to fix things when they go wrong. The God I worship is a God who loves us deeply, interacts with us all the time, listens to our prayers, and provides a place for us in heaven. God created a desire in our hearts to understand where we come from and where we are going. Both science and theology seek to address the human need to answer those questions and to gain a deeper understanding of the universe from different perspectives. I do not see theology as a direct competitor with science. Instead, they both should help us find answers that our hearts and minds desire.

I make no apology for assuming that God created the universe using the big bang or for using a process similar to evolution to create humans. The big bang and evolution are scientific theories but not scientific laws. A scientific theory begins as a scientific hypothesis, which is an explanation of some phenomenon before any testing of that explanation has been done. If that hypothesis has been repeatedly tested and confirmed via experimentation or observation, then the hypothesis becomes a theory. But the possibility remains that, one day, a new piece of evidence might lead to rejecting that theory. On the other hand, a scientific law summarizes consistent patterns observed in the natural world, patterns that will always be true under particular conditions. Newton’s law of motion is a good example of a scientific law; no matter how many times you repeat it, it still shows the same pattern. While anyone can create a scientific theory, not everyone can formulate a physical law. The exact mechanism by which God created the world and human beings is not critical to the main arguments of this book. Evolution is a good working model that can explain many things, but it may be only part of the truth. I still have many reservations about evolution. When we discuss how God interacts with the physical world, I will present some objections and explain why I believe God created the world through a process similar to evolution. Even if you disagree with evolution, I hope you will be patient and allow me to explain my thinking. I hope this book will help you understand how God interacts with the world. For those who want to know more about how the created world came into being, there are many books on that subject. Please refer to the list of books in the bibliography.

Recently, there has been much discussion about cross-cultural theology. This study focuses on understanding how the Christian faith and teachings can be effectively communicated and contextualized in different cultures. The goal of cross-cultural theology is to develop a theology that is relevant and understandable to people from diverse cultural backgrounds while also remaining faithful to the teachings of Christianity. In the same way, we need to have a theology that is suitable for communicating the Christian faith to the scientific community, showing them that faith is not against science, and I hope this book is a good beginning.

Nicene Creed

Discussions in science and theology can often lead to heated debates. Though not written as responses to modern scientific controversies, the creeds of the early church outline basic statements of faith in order to defend against heresies. The Nicene Creed is the most authoritative of the ancient creeds, and Christian churches today still widely recite this creed.

We believe in one God,

the Father, the Almighty,

maker of heaven and earth,

of all that is, seen and unseen.

We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ,

the only Son of God,

eternally begotten of the Father,

God from God, Light from Light,

true God from true God,

begotten, not made,

of one Being with the Father.

Through him all things were made.

For us and for our salvation

he came down from heaven:

by the power of the Holy Spirit

he became incarnate from the Virgin Mary,

and was made man.

For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate;

he suffered death and was buried.

On the third day he rose again

in accordance with the Scriptures;

he ascended into heaven

and is seated at the right hand of the Father.

He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead,

and his kingdom will have no end.

We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life,

who proceeds from the Father and the Son.

With the Father and the Son he is worshiped and glorified.

He has spoken through the Prophets.

We believe in one holy catholic and apostolic Church.

We acknowledge one baptism for the forgiveness of sins.

We look for the resurrection of the dead,and the life of the world to come.

Amen.

The Nicene Creed asserts that God is the maker of heaven and earth, but nowhere does the Creed defines how God created the world. Many things that we thought were important to our faith are often traditions or worldviews from a particular denomination. I should stress that none of the arguments in this book are against the Nicene Creed. I hope you will have an open mind and listen to different ideas if they do not conflict with the essential Christian faith outlined in the Nicene Creed. The church’s unity is very important; it is not worth fighting about the details of the creation.

Science recognizes that absolute truth is impossible to achieve, and any scientific theory can only provide an approximation of the truth. Scientific theories are susceptible to change as we acquire more knowledge about the universe. Similarly, theologians have a limited understanding of God and do not possess all the answers. There is often a wide range of viewpoints, and theologians frequently disagree on various topics. In the same way, theology must continue to evolve along with our expanding comprehension of God’s work. It is crucial to be more accepting of those with beliefs and viewpoints different from our own. Ultimately, we hope to reconcile our differences face-to-face with God in Heaven.

Outline

This book is written for the layperson; it is not meant to be an academic tone. I put only a few cross-references in the book to make the arguments flow better, knowing that many references are difficult to find in