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Is faith scientifically irrational? Scientists say yes because it involves feelings. However, when we put the microscope to faith, we discover more than meets the eye. Faith, like science, is a quest for truth involving the unseen world.
Microorganisms, bacteria, and DNA would never have been known to exist if scientists hadn’t taken the leap of faith to more closely examine what their naked eyes couldn’t see.
Many technologies, inventions, and medical breakthroughs enjoyed today are the result of discovering and applying pieces of the unseen world. Abraham Lincoln once said, “To believe in the things you can see and touch is no belief at all, but to believe in the unseen is a triumph and a blessing.”
Eternity is a religious and scientific concept. Worlds without end are possible in Astronomer Edwin Hubble’s expanding universe, and science is conforming more and more to the ageless Latter-day Saint belief that God’s creations are endless.
The Church takes these ideas several steps further. It describes life beyond the grave, eternal life, and the Savior’s resurrection and atoning sacrifice.
There is no uncertainty about that wonderful concept to people of faith, and especially to children and to those with the faith of a child. There were more than a thousand people on two continents who saw the resurrected Lord. Their faith was transformed into knowledge.
Science begins as an act of faith. The scientific process of learning is first to hypothesize, second to theorize, and third to gain a factual knowledge. Hypothesizing and theorizing are acts of belief requiring some degree of faith in order to proceed to the next step.
Thomas Edison did not invent the first light bulb. However, he did invent what we would term the “modern” light bulb by making it long lasting and a much better alternative to the dirty and dangerous gas lighting most people used.
After testing thousands of filaments and making numerous alterations he created an oxygen-free light bulb that would last for more than 1,500 hours. A man without faith in his project would have stopped long before Edison found success.
“I have not failed,” said Edison. “I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.” He also said, “Many of life’s failures are experienced by people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.”
Putting the Microscope to Faith
Just as belief in the unseen applies to scientific discovery, so does it apply to religious faith and human spirituality.
The prophet Moroni imparts a quintessential definition of faith in the Book of Ether.
And now, I, Moroni would . show unto the world that faith is things which are hoped for and not seen; wherefore, dispute not because you have not seen, for ye receive no witness until after the trial of your faith.[1]
Alma provides a pattern of acquiring a testimony that very much resembles the scientific process of going from hypothesis to fact:
If ye will awake and arouse your faculties, even to an experiment upon my words, and exercise a particle of faith, yea, even if ye can no more than desire to believe, let this desire work in you, even until ye believe in a manner that ye can give place for a portion of my words. Now, we will compare the word unto a seed.Now, if ye give place, that a seed may be planted in your heart, behold, if it be a true seed, or a good seed, if ye do not cast it out by your unbelief, that ye will resist the Spirit of the Lord, behold, it will begin to swell within your breasts; and when you feel these swelling motions, ye will begin to say within yourselves –It must needs be that this is a good seed, or that the word is good, for it beginneth to enlarge my soul; yea, it beginneth to enlighten my understanding, yea it beginneth to be delicious to me. Now behold would not this increase your faith? I say unto you, Yea; nevertheless it hath not grown to a perfect knowledge.Therefore, if a seed groweth it is good, but if it groweeth not, behold it is not good, therefore it is cast away. And now, behold, because ye have tried the experiment, and planted the seed, and it swelleth and sprouteth, and beginneth to grow, ye must needs know that the seed is good. And now, behold, is your knowledge perfect?Yea, your knowledge is perfect in that thing, and your faith is dormant; and this because you know, for ye know that the word hath swelled your souls, and ye also know that it hath sprouted up, that your understanding doth begin to be enlightened, and your mind doth begin to expand. [2]
The Power of Faith
The scientist and the religious disciple practice similar learning processes. But faith and prayer are part of a dimension far beyond that taught in physics and chemistry classes. They are powerful media; of that there is no doubt.
Because they are spiritual rather than physical, their power almost defies scientific description. Faith is difficult to measure in any empirically logical way. Test tubes and microscopes are inadequate.
Faith and prayer involve a third party, God. He responds in ways strange and foreign to the atheist. His medium of communication – the still small voice – is often felt more acutely in the heart than in the brain.
Thomas Edison had strong faith in his abilities as an inventor, but his faith in deity – or organized religion – was mixed. On the one hand, he said, “I believe that the science of chemistry alone almost proves the existence of an intelligent creator . I know this world is ruled by infinite intelligence. Everything that surrounds us – everything that exists – proves that there are infinite laws behind it. There can be no denying this fact. It is mathematical in its precision.”
But on another occasion he also claimed, “Religion is all bunk.”
The reason there is order in the universe and infinite laws, spoken of by Edison, is because there is a God. But it’s up to each individual to decide to recognize the parallel between science and religion and accept the power of faith and prayer – to “prove me herewith” and try the experiment spoken of by Alma.
Science Flourishes in the Last Dispensation
Despite controversies surrounding science and religion, the following is undisputed: since 1830, there have been more scientific breakthroughs than in the previous history of the world.
Not coincidentally, in 1830 The Church of Jesus Christ was restored to the earth, ushering in the Last Dispensation. We live in the Dispensation of the Fullness of Times, when we behold the culmination of all previous dispensations in addition to the fruition of things never before accomplished.
Scientific discovery and invention are certainly among these accomplishments. As a marvelous gift to man and to fulfill his purposes, since the nineteenth century God has accelerated the number of scientific inventions.
Think of it – more scientific breakthroughs and inventions in the Twentieth Century than in all past recorded history; more breakthroughs in the past ten years than in the past hundred years. Innovations in travel (planes, trains, and automobiles) and media (GPS, television and internet) have reduced the size of the world; have brought people closer together so that they may receive the word of the Lord.
Scientists and inventors have made important contributions to mankind. But such works could have been performed in an earlier time if God had willed it, but he did not. Why? Because the Last Dispensation is now, not earlier.
God held back the best of his spirit children for this time – people who would be obedient and help usher in Christ’s Second Coming. [3]
It is a wonderful blessing to live in these latter-days, when many diseases of by-gone eras are eliminated; when communication is as close as a telephone or a computer; when man can remain healthy well into his nineties. These are gifts of God.
Scientists and inventors were inspired of Him to bring them forward. We have been allowed a glimpse of eternity – but the natural man doesn’t believe its originator was deity. Instead, men attribute scientific breakthroughs to their own genius.
Scientific advancements are like pealing off old wallpaper to reveal a treasure house of possibility. These God-given truths were withheld from man until now. Though always there, they lay dormant until the Lord saw fit to open our eyes of understanding, and we are just beginning to see.
Not Independent
Scientific results may seem independent of religious or moral considerations to those without understanding. But they are not.
The quest for scientific truth is a strong emotional one. If those searching for knowledge had not been inspired, they would hardly have been capable of that necessary untiring devotion that enables man to begin his search for scientific knowledge; to continue the journey of discovery despite failures and hardships; and, eventually, to learn some of God’s mysteries that were hidden for thousands of years, finally revealing something wonderful and useful that before was clouded from our imaginations..
Faith is required in science, as it is in discovering religious truths. In this way, science and religion walk hand-in-hand.
Great scientists believe in God. “The more I study science, the more I believe in God,” said Albert Einstein. Truly, God is the driving force behind all scientific achievement. That is more evident today than ever before.
About 80 percent of Americans believe the speed of new scientific discoveries will be greater in the next 100 years than it was in the past 100; as many (78 percent) think that the impact those discoveries have on the way we live and work will also be greater. [4]
Ninety-two percent of Americans say they believe in God, 85 percent in heaven and 82 percent in miracles, according to a FOX News poll. [5]
The fast expansion of knowledge continues to outpace our ability to use and appreciate it.
Human knowledge is doubling every ten years. More scientific knowledge has been created in the last decade than in all of human history. Computer power is doubling every 18 months and the Internet is doubling every year. [6]
Much of what we see today as scientific breakthrough is in technology and medicine. It would be incorrect to suggest an equality between scientific thought and religious thought. Not all thoughts are equal. As we partake of science and religion we must constantly prioritize between the good and the best. “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, sayeth the Lord.” [7]
Some of our technology is misguided or aimed at satisfying the sensual or recreational side of man. But all of true religion should be geared to the immortality and eternal life of man through Jesus Christ. That should be our thought priority but, sadly, for most people it isn’t. We are all part of something larger, more glorious. We have promise of immortality and life with God and, as a people, should spend more time in that priority. Thoughts do have different value.
The Lord God is the author not only of salvation and soul-saving principles, but also of all truth wherever it is found. Science is a manifestation of God’s divinity, for all things testify of Him. [8]
This is true whether the discovery is made by a true believer of Christ or by an atheist. God is no respecter of persons. He is the great enabler of all knowledge and technical breakthroughs, and he has a purpose behind every achievement. The world is being prepared for the Lord’s Second Coming, and science plays an important role in this preparation.
[1]. Ether 12:6
[2]. Alma 32: 27-29, 32-34
[3]. See D&C 86:8-11; Isaiah 49
[4]. Gallup Survey, “Poll Examines Effects on Voting Behavior in 2000 Elections,” Bayer Corporation, 11
July 2000 Press Release.
[5]. Dana Blanton, FoxNews.com, Friday, June 18, 2004
[6]. Michio Kaku, Visions: How Science Will Revolutionize The 21st Century and Beyond, Oxford
University Press, 1999, p. 4
[7]. Isaiah 55:8
[8]. Alma 30:41
