Q: I don’t see how anyone can be a scientist and still believe in God. Why believe in God, when science can explain everything that happens? I’m in high school, and I hope to major in medical research when I get to college.
A: Your interest in science shouldn’t keep you from believing in God—not at all. Over the years some of the most gifted people I’ve ever met were not only brilliant scientists, but also had a strong faith in God.
When I asked them about this, almost without exception they said that their scientific research actually had strengthened their faith in God. To them, the whole creation is a witness to God’s power and wisdom. Even the human body, they pointed out, is a witness to God’s love and concern. To believe that everything happened by chance, they said, takes far more faith than believing in God! The Bible says, “For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen” (Romans 1:20).
But let me point you in another direction. Yes, we see God reflected in the world He created. But most of all, we see Him in Jesus Christ, who was God in human flesh. Do you want to know what God is like? Look at Jesus—His life, His death, His resurrection. And when you do, you’ll not only realize that God exists, but He loves you and wants to come into your life.
Don’t let pride or anything else keep you from Christ. Instead, commit your life to Him, and then ask Him to guide you and fill you with His love and compassion and joy. Christ, the Bible says, is truly “the power of God and the wisdom of God” (1 Corinthians 1:24).
Q: My friend says that Jesus never claimed to be God, or anything like that. He says Jesus was on a spiritual search just like the rest of us, and what we basically learn from Jesus is how we can find our own spiritual path. Is he right?
A: No, your friend is not correct. Even before Jesus was born, an angel told Joseph that he should not be afraid to take Mary as his wife, because the child already growing in her womb would be called Immanuel—which means “God with us” (see Matthew 1:18-25).
One way Jesus demonstrated His divine nature was by His actions—and specifically, His miracles. We live in a world that has been ravaged by the forces of sin and death and evil. But Christ confronted those forces, and by His divine power overcame them. No wonder the crowds were “amazed and said, ‘Nothing like this has ever been seen in Israel’ ” (Matthew 9:33).
But Jesus also directly declared that He was the Son of God, sent into the world to deliver us from death and Hell and Satan. His enemies knew this, and when He was brought to trial, their main accusation was that He had claimed to be God as well as man. To His disciples He declared, “Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father” (John 14:9). On another occasion He stated, “I and the Father are one” (John 10:30).
Yes, Jesus was both fully God and fully man—and because of this, He alone has the authority to be our Savior. He did this by becoming the final sacrifice for our sins through His death on the cross—and He proved it by His resurrection from the dead. By a simple prayer of faith open your heart and life to Him today.
