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When Christians make a statement of faith about the Holy Spirit or say the lines from the third article of the Apostle's Creed: "I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy catholic Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting,” they are making a claim about how the third person of the Trinity works in the world. In short, the Holy Spirit is “the active presence of God in creation.”1 The Holy Spirit calls and gathers the church in faith to create a universal (or catholic) church, which is the body of Christ. In baptism, Christians, through the power of the Holy Spirit are given forgiveness. The Spirit is how Christians experience God’s force and power in the world and the promise of a life that is to come.
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When scientists make the claim for how there is activity in the world, they are also making a claim for how they believe forces or powers are at work in the natural world.
Science studies the cause and effect of actions and events to determine how the world works. |
But often, both groups become concerned when one or the other makes claims for how to understand the workings of forces and powers in the world. The question of whether or not God is the all-powerful force controlling the world or if natural powers or forces are at work has been debated for many years. Below is a link to a video clip that shows a scene from the movie “Bruce Almighty” that demonstrates this kind of debate. In this clip, Bruce is angry about the events of his life and blames the power and force of God for the outcome. Click on the link below to watch the video.
So why do some Christians and some scientists disagree so strongly about how powers and forces work in the world? To help us understand what is at the center of this issue, let’s take a look at the two claims. Click on the tab "The Two Claims," or the button below, to begin. |
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1 Rolf A. Jacobson, ed., Crazy Talk: A Not-So-Stuffy Dictionary of Theological Terms(Minneapolis: Augsburg, 2008), 92, 86.