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Science or the Bible?
by Ken Ham & Terry Mortenson, Ph.D.
June 14, 2007
Ever heard one of these claims? Perhaps you’ve even said one yourself. Over the years, we’ve heard them all—but they’re all false, or at least they imply a falsehood.
Common claims by non-Christians:
“Science proves the Bible is wrong.”
“Evolution is science, but the Bible is religion.”
“Evolutionists believe in science, but creationists reject science.”
“I believe the Bible over science.”
“Creation is religion, but evolution is religion, too.”
“Creationists believe in the Bible and reject science.”
Secular scientists claim that their view of beginnings (evolution) can be tested in a laboratory, so their view is scientific. For instance, they point to mutated fruit flies or speciation observed in the field (such as new species of mosquitoes or fish).
But this is where many people are confused—what is meant by “science” or “scientific.”
It is helpful to distinguish between operational science and origin science, and compare how each one seeks to discover truth.
Defining Science
People are generally unaware that dictionaries give a root meaning, or etymology, of science similar to this one from Webster’s: “from Latin scientia, from scient-, sciens ‘having knowledge,’ from present participle of scire ‘to know.’”
And most dictionaries give the following meaning of the word: “the state of knowing: knowledge as distinguished from ignorance or misunderstanding.”
Although there are other uses of the word, the root meaning of science is basically “knowledge.” In fact, in the past, philosophy and theology were considered sciences, and theology was even called the “queen of the sciences.”
But over the past 200 years, during the so-called Scientific Revolution, the word science has come to mean a method of knowing, a way of discovering truth. Moreover, many people assume that modern science is the only way to discover truth...