Every time I look up at the night sky, I am overcome by a sense of vastness. How do those countless stars keep their places without ever losing their way? The seasons change with almost cruel precision, and a falling apple never once defies gravity to soar into the sky. The fact that this colossal, complex universe moves consistently—like a finely tuned piece of clockwork—evokes something beyond mere wonder; at times, it instills a sense of dread.
For a very long time, humans have yearned to uncover the "consistent rules" hidden behind this massive world. Perhaps, in an unpredictable life where tomorrow is never guaranteed, we desperately wanted to hold onto a single, immutable truth. What is fascinating is that the two greatest branches of human thought that attempted to define this absolute principle are theology and science—two fields that seem to be at bitter odds today.
Twins Born with the Same Question
People often view theology and science as oil and water. They appear to be at extreme opposites: one places faith in an invisible God, while the other believes only in empirical evidence right before our eyes. However, if we take a step back and gaze into the essence of these two disciplines, we discover they are twins so alike it is almost chilling. This is because both fields set out with the exact same question: "What is the ultimate law that permeates this universe?"
To begin with, both disciplines share a firm conviction that the world is by no means "Chaos." Theology posits that the universe is always harmonious because it was intricately crafted by an omniscient, omnipotent Designer. Science, likewise, believes in the existence of universal physical laws that operate identically, transcending time and space. Though they use different names, both operate on the premise that there is a "consistent order" that can be comprehended through human reason.
Divine Rules Written on the Canvas of Nature
In fact, for the great geniuses who altered the course of scientific history—such as Isaac Newton and Johannes Kepler—science was simply another name for faith. To them, research was not some grandiose, detached endeavor; it was akin to deciphering, line by line, the rules God had precisely written down on the canvas of nature. They peered through telescopes at the night sky and solved mathematical formulas to understand God more deeply. In their longing for the essence beyond the phenomenon—the "invisible general principle"—the hearts of both disciplines beat to the exact same rhythm.
Perhaps science, too, is a tower built upon a monumental "faith." The uniformity of nature—the belief that the law of gravity that held true yesterday will hold true tomorrow and a century from now—is not actually something that can be 100% scientifically proven. After all, no one can guarantee that the physical constants of the universe won’t suddenly shift tomorrow morning. Yet, the reason scientists can continue their experiments is due to a foundational belief, a kind of axiom, that "nature will not betray us and will remain consistent." This mirrors how theology presupposes the "goodness of God."
In the End, We Are Reading the Same Book
Regarding the relationship between religion and science, the German physicist Max Planck once remarked:
"For religion, God stands at the beginning; for science, God stands at the end of all thinking. In the end, both fields point in the same direction."
One chose to call the agent of the universal principles governing the cosmos a "personal Divine Providence," while the other called it "impersonal laws of nature." Ultimately, theology and science are two sides of the same coin, branching out from a single desire. They are the products of a yearning to find a single, unshakeable rule amidst a volatile life, thereby validating the meaning of human existence within this vast universe.
Looking at the rain falling outside my window tonight, I ponder. In this ordinary scene where clouds gather and rain falls, we still either feel the breath of God or read the beautiful formulas of gravity and thermodynamics. Though the languages we use to translate it may differ, the book we are reading is, in the end, the very same book—the one named the ‘Universe.’
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