The scientific method is fairly easy to define, but the definition is sometimes forgotten. Scientific explanations are those which have been tested to such an extent that no alternative is possible. Furthermore, testing has to assume the possibility of falsification. If no combination of data can be contemplated which would disprove a theory, then it cannot be tested scientifically.
There are many examples of science claiming veracity when it should not; the supposed age of the universe is a good example - as evidenced by the observation that every decade or so it is revised in the light of some new 'discovery'. How reliable can the current estimate be if all previous ones have been already abandoned. How long will the present scientific view of the age of the universe last? Similarly with evolution: yes there are examples of small changes in the fossil evidence of some species; if you assume that progress is taking place, you line them up in a progression, dating the least developed as earliest and the most developed as latest; you could prove the opposite by the same method if you chose to, for rocks are only to be dated from the fossils found in them. Not many people realise how unscientific this is, as a method of dating, and those who do would face ridicule if they said so publicly. Psychology and psychiatry claim the endorsement of being 'scientific', despite the fact that in most fields quite contradictory views can be held, each claiming to be scientific. As Karl Popper observed, there is no potential falsification in this field at all.
No Christian can possibly be opposed to knowledge that comes from rigorous data collection, and well devised testing procedures. There is no threat from this kind of scientia (the Latin word for knowledge). But there are scientists who say that no truths exist outside those that can be established by the scientific method. This is an a priori assumption, an act of faith. This doctrine is best summed up as 'scientific materialism'. It is certainly materialistic. It is certainly not scientific.
Christians differ. We believe that there is more than what we mortals can view with our senses. This also is an a priori assumption, an act of faith. It is also more than an intellectual stance; it is an experience going beyond the five senses we recognise our bodies as possessing. We do actually experience that which is beyond the physical senses. In fact we Christians regard the world of the senses as essentially impermanent, a transitional state: so we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal. (2 Cor 4:18)
The essence of all this is that we believe that some truths can only be learnt from revelation. We believe that God has revealed Himself - to some very directly, and to others more indirectly as the accounts of these men and women are studied through the written record of these revelations. All scripture is 'God-breathed' (θεοπνευστος) wrote Paul to his younger friend Timothy (2 Tim 3:16), and in that single Greek word emphasised the nature of the Bible. It was written by humans (whose knowledge and experience and understanding of the world was not being suspended) being given insights into the nature of God they could not achieve on their own. Sometimes there were visions, sometimes even audible voices, but far more often simply the conviction that God was speaking through them. These are the Scriptures that Paul tells Timothy are able to make any one 'wise for salvation' (2 Tim 3:15), and also should be used to teach, rebuke, correct and train.
Such a doctrine is, of course, very dangerous. It has led some (in nearly every century of the church's history) to claim that they too have a special revelation, something beyond the writings of those specially appointed apostles who had the personal authorisation of the Lord Jesus Christ to be the channel of revelation. The New Testament contains several warnings that this would happen, and a stern prohibition in its very last book against either adding or taking away anything (Rev 22:18-19).
There is another sort of danger too: that of unwarranted literalism. We need to remember that each channel of revelation was a child of his time. Paul gave rules for the treatment of slaves, in a society where slaves were as taken for granted as machines are in our day; today we would want to teach about their liberation. Moses received ten commandments and many subsidiary laws and regulations that were couched in terms to be understood in a nomadic society, largely subsisting in herding of flocks, and soon to begin for the first time the experience of sowing crops. In those days it was right not to covet (desire to appropriate wrongly) my neighbour's manservant, his maidservant, his ox or his donkey. Only a fool would say that since my neighbour has no manservant, maidservant, ox or donkey, that commandment no longer applies. The principle applies; the detail is locked into a prior historical era. Much more of the Torah of Moses needs similarly enlightened updating, and one doubts the wisdom of those who follow their prescriptions literally when the passing of centuries has made that intial style of living no longer applicable. God invites us to worship Him with our minds too.
Finally we need to remember that what we have as revelation is incomplete. The best we can hope for, because of our own limitations, is to see 'a poor reflection as in a mirror.' (1Cor 13:12) Moses was reminded of this human limitation on the mountain of Sinai:
Then Moses said, "I pray You, show me Your glory!"
And He said, "I Myself will make all My goodness pass before you, and will proclaim the name of the LORD before you; and I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show compassion on whom I will show compassion."
But He said, "You cannot see My face, for no man can see Me and live!"
Then the LORD said, "Behold, there is a place by Me, and you shall stand there on the rock; and it will come about, while My glory is passing by, that I will put you in the cleft of the rock and cover you with My hand until I have passed by.
"Then I will take My hand away and you shall see My back, but My face shall not be seen." (Exodus 33:18-23)
The impact of this experience of Moses was to leave his facing shining impossibly brightly, to the discomfort of his fellows.
So we need always to remember that even a perfect revelation will have been received by an imperfect human, and will be understood differently and imperfectly by those humans who read of it in future years.
Nevertheless, God has spoken. Formerly by prophets, and latterly through His Son (Hebrews 1:1-2). Those of us given the faith needed to recognise Scripture as the record of revelation have a great responsibility. We must hold fast to what we have received. We must acknowledge the duty of understanding it with prayerful insight. We must communicate it both confidently and sensitively to others. We have this food for our souls, this doorway to the unseen world, these intimations of immortality and the sheer glory of the unseen world beyond our senses. Thanks be to God.
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