Teaching Science God's Way
This is “Education Month” on A Visit to the Pastor’s Study. Today let’s tackle the massive subject of science – and what it is to teach science under the Lordship of Jesus Christ and in a way that’s lined up with the Bible – the Word of God – our final authority for faith and life.
Let’s face it: The world of science is daunting. Earth science, astronomy, and biology aren’t too rough; but when we get into things like physics (and all the branches of physics) and chemistry (and all the branches of chemistry), the waters can get quite choppy – especially if you’re a home-schooling parent helping your child (or your children) through High School.
Then, on top of these technical fields, you have more basic questions that grow out of your faith commitment to God and His word:
- How do we deal honestly with the claims of those who believe that all things came into being by a “Big Bang” when we believe that “in the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth”?
- How do we reconcile the observations of those who believe that all things have developed by a process of macroevolution with the biblical view that God created distinct species – with a special distinction in the way that He made human beings?
- Should we believe that the earth is billions of years old, as modern science claims, or should we believe that the earth is relatively young, as the Scriptures would seem to indicate from the various genealogies?
- How does the modern, seemingly universally accepted, concept of relativity challenge the “fixed laws of science” that many believe grew of out of a Christian worldview? Or should Christians even be concerned by the issue?
Like it or not, we face these heavy-duty issues as Christians. And, however you’re educating your children – homeschooling, in a Christian school, or supplementing (and – when necessary - correcting!) what’s given in a public school – you need to know how to think through things like this – Christianly –
thinking under the Lordship of Christ.
How do you teach (and learn) science God’s way – especially in the elementary and secondary
levels?
Now when you have a person who understands science and has taught it at a respected Christian school, and then has gone to seminary to give intensive study to the Bible and then has gone on to be a pastor who guides people in things like education and educational choices that promote rather than detract
from Christian discipleship, you know that you have a special person to help us think through science as God would have us.
In 1980 Ned Suffern received a Bachelor of Science degree in chemistry from Grove City College in Pennsylvania. For his junior year of undergraduate work, he studied at the University of East Anglia in England. Following his graduation, he taught chemistry, physics, and Bible at the prestigious Stony Brook School on Long Island. He then pursued theological studies at New Brunswick seminary, where he graduated with his Master of Divinity degree in 1987. Following his ordination, Ned became Pastor Ned. He served congregations in New Jersey and Iowa. Since 2009 he has served as pastor of Redeemer
Reformed Presbyterian Church in Queensbury, NY – a congregation of the Presbyterian Church in America. My wife and I have been richly blessed by Pastor Ned’s passionate and faithful ministry when we are away in the Adirondack mountains of upstate New York on our vacation; but I’m tapping Pastor Ned today for something different than preaching and pastoring. I’ve asked him to reflect on his expertise in science and relate it to how he teaches and guides people as a pastor.
The question for Pastor Ned Suffern today is: How do you teach science God’s way?
Pastor Ned Suffern, thanks for being with us today on A Visit to the Pastor’s Study…
Here’s a link to the full program:
Yours in Him by whom all things hold together,
Pastor Bill