Meditating on God’s two books, the Bible and God’s creation, is one key practice for creating a scientifically engaged spirituality. As Psalm 19 proclaims, God is revealed both in Scripture and in creation.
Here’s what I’d like to hear when I tell friends and others that I bring science to church—“Wow! That’s amazing.”
And yet—to be honest—here is what I often hear—“What? Hmm… I’m not sure what that means.”
How has science impacted my prayer life? I remain confident that God can still answer my prayers. But I no longer pray the same way today that I did in my early years as a Christian, in part because of what science is teaching us about prayer and meditation.
Since the Enlightenment, a commonplace assertion has been that no one (in light of the lawlike nature of the universe discovered by science) has reason to believe in a God who answers petitionary prayer. I suppose, if we’re not bothered by this apparent conflict, we haven’t really listened to modern science and felt its implications. C.S. Lewis… did listen to these voices and was bothered.
Several years ago, a pastor asked me if the scientific study of prayer is legit. I replied, “That’s complicated.” At the time, I did not fully understand how true this is. Learn more about why in this post.