In ancient times, there were numerous individuals who, in one way or another, made significant contributions to the development of science and the modernization of society up to the present day. Although not all of them were Christians, they all lived within the frameworks of thought created by Christianity.

Many of these scientists made important discoveries for their time. Some examples include: Galileo Galilei, a physicist, mathematician, and astronomer who determined the movement of the stars and supported Copernicus’s theory of the Earth’s rotation around the sun. Blaise Pascal, a mathematician, writer, and inventor of the hydraulic press, worked with arithmetic and the equilibrium of liquids. For him, humanity was of utmost importance since Jesus had agonized on the cross for its cause. Other important names include Isaac Newton, Francis Bacon, and Michael Faraday, just to mention a few.

It is said that scientists of the 17th century were interested in the how of things, but not the why. However, this statement is partially incorrect, as for them there was no problem concerning the why, since they started their analysis from the premise that God exists and is personal. He is a moral absolute who had created the Universe, and therefore, there was great interest in the Bible as it contained His revelation, and it had been a gift to humanity. A significant number of these scientists would have been confused by anyone obsessed with the how without starting from the premise that the why had already been revealed.

Interestingly, for these pioneers of modern science, humanity is not alone, and the biblical teachings regarding history and the cosmos were taken seriously. God, as the creator of humanity, gave people the capacity to develop in the arts and science itself. This gave a strong impetus to creative changes in science, not to be something merely transient, but continuous. God Himself had benevolently given dominion over nature to humans, and for Francis Bacon, for example, science was part of this. Investigating the world was valid for all of them because it meant exploring, that is, pondering over God’s marvelous Creation.

Just like any coin has two different sides, the modern scientific era has been the opposite side of everything mentioned above. Here, science has been the result of relativism, where these other scientists did not see an ordered universe based on the creation of a moral and absolute God, but rather a world of cause and effect. Humanity and nature were at the center of everything, and God had been forgotten. This led to numerous atrocities in society, with a new type of humanist scientist arising who established that the fittest among humans should prevail. This favored the emergence of figures like Adolf Hitler, who, in attempting to create a superior human race, led to the murder and extermination of millions of human beings.

Thus, everything has resulted in a modern man for whom there is no marked limit between what should and should not be done, and therefore, does everything he can do. Any moral duty is only what is sociologically accepted at that moment. Unfortunately, we now live in a world where if you disagree with all these libertine trends, you are considered odd, where it doesn’t matter if your principles are God’s principles. It’s like the law of the jungle where the strongest prevails. A purely humanistic world where man is manipulated to try to change God’s creation and alter his way of thinking, seeing himself as his own God.

Today, we often hear the phrases: “You can do anything,” and: “You can be whatever you want to be if you set your mind to it.” I would call this: “The big lie.” We must understand that without a biblical foundation, without a moral absolute that is God, nothing would be achieved in this world. How clear those early developers of science were, who based their advancements on the Creator God of the universe.

I would like to recommend the documentary: How Should We Then Live?, in its episode 6 (The Scientific Age), based on the book of the same name by writer and lecturer Francis Schaeffer. This will help delve deeper into the topic we have discussed here.

Author: Julio Hernández