Does science contradict Christianity?

A little deeper

It doesn’t have to.

Here’s a simple way of thinking about it. Imagine there’s a car on your driveway. You could study that car until you understood almost everything about it. You could understand the engine. The electronics. The materials. How combustion or the electric motors work. How every component was assembled. But understanding how the car works wouldn’t necessarily answer another question: why does this car exist — and is there intelligence behind its design?

For many Christians, science and belief in God work something like that. Science is extraordinarily good at investigating how the universe works. Christianity asks another kind of question: why is there a universe at all?

That doesn’t mean science proves Christianity. It doesn’t. And Christians shouldn’t pretend that it does. Scientists themselves include Christians, followers of other religions, agnostics and atheists.

There are also genuine disagreements among Christians about Genesis, evolution and the age of the Earth. Some interpret the creation account very literally. Others believe Genesis communicates profound truths about God and humanity without being intended as a modern scientific account. Many Christians accept evolution and an ancient universe. Others don’t.

Christianity’s central claim ultimately isn’t about the age of the Earth. It’s about Jesus.