FASTLY - Faith & Science Teaching

Natural Processes as God’s Tools

In Brief

Christian theology teaches that God is responsible for all that happens in the created order, whether God’s role is obvious or veiled. Contrary to the common assumption that God does miracles while natural processes happen on their own, this activity introduces the biblical idea that both are God’s work. It engages students in thinking through a demonstration that challenges how they see miracles in relationship to natural processes.

Goals

Students will understand the difference between the popular view of divine action as consisting only of, or mainly of, miraculous interventions and the Bible’s view of God’s involvement in all natural processes.

Thinking Ahead

Consider how your own classroom practices either perpetuate or improve on poor thinking in this area. Do you invoke God only in relation to surprising things or things that science cannot yet explain? Do you choose topics for classroom devotions that focus mainly or wholly on miracles and mysteries? Do you focus intentionally on how God’s greatness is revealed in what science can explain about nature, modeling wonder for the natural world as it is sustained in its regular daily processes?

Consider the challenge of changing what may be deeply habitual assumptions for some students about how miracles relate to science and natural processes. Plan to avoid simply stating conclusions yourself and focus on inviting students to think through the implications of the demonstration themselves.

Related Book Review: From Nature to Creation by Norman Wirzba.

Preparing the Activity

Needed:

• String

• A small mass

• An object to knock over such as a block or toy figure

• A sheet or card large enough to serve as a screen that hides your hand

• Dominoes or larger wooden blocks

• A cardboard box or other freestanding object

• A Bible or presentation slides

Directions:

• Tie the small mass to one end of a string. Have about 30 cm of string free of the mass, so you can hold it.
• Place a cardboard box or other free-standing object on a table top in front of the classroom to serve as a screen to hide your hand from student view.
• Set a small object such as a block or toy action figure on the table to be knocked over.

Teaching the Activity

Set the object upright on a visible surface at the front of the room and cover just the top of it with your card screen, so students can see almost all of the object but not your hand behind the screen. Tell the students to imagine that you and the screen are invisible. They only see the tabletop and object. With your hand hidden behind the screen, knock the object over. Ask students what they would see if you and the screen were truly invisible, and how this resembles what we commonly call a miracle. (In other words, God does something striking and visible, but we cannot see how he does it, such as Jesus walking on water.)

Now do the demonstration again, but this time use the mass, swung like a small pendulum, to knock the object over. Keep your hand holding the pendulum string hidden, but let the string and swinging mass be visible below the screen. Ask the students how this situation differs from the first one, and how it compares to what we call a natural process where we see an event and the chain of events and processes that causes it. An example is rain falling due to processes of evaporation and condensation, something we can study with science.

Explain to students that while in a naturalistic worldview the hand hidden behind the screen is solely a natural process, in a Christian worldview the hand of God is always at work, whether more evident in cases that seem to go against natural processes, or more hidden as in natural processes. Ask students to consider:

• Is God only involved in the miracle example, and not in the natural law example?
• Is God more involved in the miracle example and less involved in the natural law example?
• Why do we tend to think of miracles as involving God’s action but do not see him working in natural or scientifically explainable processes?
• How might something be seen as a miracle while at the same time being entirely explainable in terms of natural processes? An example could be something that happens with perfect timing in answer to prayer.
• Consider the origin of the materials of this activity. Can you explain why there is something, that is, material creation, rather than nothing? Why are there natural processes?
• Can only the “miracle” example lead us to worship, or could natural processes lead us to worship as well? How?
• How do the regularities of creation’s natural processes make worship possible?

Display and read, or have students read, the following passages from the Bible. Presentation slides are provided in Natural Processes as God’s Tools: Jeremiah 14:22, selections from Psalm 104, and Matthew 6:26-30. Ask what each passage says or implies about how divine action relates to natural processes. Do these passages suggest we should mainly praise God for the “miraculous”? Discuss briefly the pros and cons of using the terms natural and supernatural, natural process and miracle. Do the terms communicate something useful about how obvious or hidden God’s action is, or do they imply a false dichotomy in which God is involved in miracles but not in natural processes? Might this dichotomy, and the way Christians have accepted it, be part of why some Christians suspect science of being inherently atheistic, even when devoted followers of Christ are practicing it?

To check understanding, have students write a few sentences in response to the prompt: “What are the problems with thinking of miracles as the moments when God acts in the world?”

Optional Extra

Explore the difference between deism and biblical theism by comparing the pendulum-swinging natural process demonstration to the following activity. Set up a row of dominoes or blocks with an object at the end of the row to be knocked over. With your hand hidden by a screen, knock over the first domino, so all others fall and eventually topple the object. Ask students how the picture of God’s activity in nature differs between the pendulum and domino demonstrations. For example, in deism a remote God sets natural events in motion but is not directly involved afterward. This is similar to setting up dominoes and tipping the first one. Biblical theism represents God as intimately involved in all natural events for the sake of his creatures. Compare with this further activity about deism.

Miracles versus Natural Processes?

In Brief

This activity explores why we think of various events in terms of God’s participation in creation rather than in the two opposing categories of miracles and natural processes. This shift in thinking avoids building into our terminology from the outset the common assumption that God is involved in one set of events and not the other. It helps students to see how our categories and assumptions can make it either easier or harder to think about the relationship between faith and science.

Goals

Students will understand the difference between the popular view of divine action as consisting only or mainly of miraculous interventions and the Bible’s view of God’s involvement in natural processes.

Students will understand the relative merits of contrasting miraculous divine action versus natural processes and visible versus hidden divine action.

Thinking Ahead

This activity engages students in categorizing some biblical passages in ways that may challenge their habits of thought. As preparation for this activity, think about your own habitual choice of words when describing natural processes and your verbal practices as you talk about science and faith.

Does your language imply a closed world of “nature” in which things proceed deterministically or by chance, balanced by occasional “supernatural” events in which God is active? Does the way you talk about the natural world leave room for the possibility that God is involved in sustaining the creation even when we can scientifically explain how things work? Might there be a way for the everyday workings of creation to participate in and reveal the glory of God? Does it help to make a distinction between God’s action as being hidden versus discernible, and God as involved versus uninvolved? Do we need to separate the question of how to explain an event from the question of whether God is involved? For example, we do not need to invoke God to describe how photosynthesis works, but we can ask whether or not photosynthesis participates in God’s purposes.

Teaching FASTly involves intentional consideration of how our teaching practices invite or inhibit reflection on the relationship between faith and science, and between creation and the Creator. Consider what assumptions your students may bring to this activity, and ways in which they might struggle with the ideas. For example they may find it hard to separate God being hidden from God being absent. Avoid debating these points with students. Counsel patience and give them time to process the new ideas.

Related Book Review: Song of a Scientist by Calvin B. DeWitt.

Preparing the Activity

Needed:

• Bibles

• Technology to project Bible passages onto a screen or wall

Directions:

Be ready to display the following biblical passages which are listed in order by Bible reference. See Miracles versus Natural Processes. It will be useful to have Bibles on hand.

• Abraham’s servant finding a wife for Isaac (Genesis 24:10-21 selections)
• Pharaoh’s dream and Joseph’s release from prison (Genesis 39:20-41:40 selections)
• The immune system fighting off disease (Psalm 103:2-3)
• The development of a baby in the womb (Psalm 139:13)
• The water cycle producing rain (Psalm 147:8; Jeremiah 14:22)
• Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in the fiery furnace (Daniel 3:19-28 selections)
• Jesus healing blind people (Matthew 20:29-34)
• Jesus and Peter walking on water (Matthew 14:25-33)
• Jesus and the large catch of fish (John 21:3-6)
• Paul surviving a viper bite (Acts 28:1-6); Inform students that venomous snakes sometimes give “dry bites,” which do not release venom.

Teaching the Activity

First, explain to students that they are going to read extracts from various Bible passages for an overview of how the Bible presents God’s action in the world. This is important background for thinking about how God is related to the natural processes described by science. Then ask students to silently read each passage and decide for each whether they think the Bible says God is responsible for the events described. When the passages have been read, ask how many of the activities are presented in the Bible as examples of God’s agency. After taking suggestions tell students that the Bible gives God credit for every event on the list even though they do not feel the same. How do the events differ?

Tell students that they are going to make distinctions in the list in a different way, based not on which events God did, but on whether God’s agency is obvious or hidden. Have students work in pairs or small groups to arrange the items on the list in order from those in which God makes himself most obvious to those in which God remains more hidden behind familiar, stable processes. If students need clarification, model the decision-making process using contrasting examples from the list, for example, seeing rain fall versus seeing someone walk on water. Which of these draws attention to God’s agency? After a few minutes, have groups compare their lists with one another. Some variation is normal.

As a brief way of drawing the class’s findings together it may be helpful to create three columns on the board under the overall heading “God’s Actions in Nature.” Label the first column, “God Is Most Obvious,” the second, “In-Between,” and the third, “God Is Most Hidden.” Have each group suggest one clear example for any column until you have two examples in each column. Gather the examples quickly without much discussion.

Ask the class which of the examples should be called miracles and let students discuss this briefly. Point out the tension between wanting to label things that God does as miracles yet acknowledging that God is involved in ordinary processes. Similarly, ask which examples are natural processes, and discuss whether a miracle would stop being a miracle if we could show that God made use of some natural process to bring it about. The goal here is to help students see that Christian thought does not view God as only involved when the rules of nature appear to be broken, as if God is intervening occasionally but is otherwise absent. Rather, miracles are startling reminders that God is always in control of nature, a fact we easily take for granted. At the end of this exercise, if it has not been added to the list, ask the students to consider if God is most hidden or most revealed on the cross? Why? 

As a final prompt for small group discussion or individual journaling ask, “If God is involved in everything that happens in his creation, even when he is hidden, should we use the word miracle at all? If no, why? If yes, how?”

Regularity in Nature: Boring or Blessing?

In Brief

This brief, repeated activity seeks to engage students in thinking about how the regularity of natural processes reflects God’s consistent, gracious governance of creation rather than God’s absence. It offers a way of seeing natural processes as signs of faithful care that make space for creatures to participate in the life of God. The activity can also introduce or reinforce the concept of inertia.

Goals

Students are introduced to or review the concept of inertia.

Students reflect on God’s role in predictable natural processes.

Thinking Ahead

This activity is so simple it needs to be done with a sense of humor. It works best if the teacher is willing to be considered silly. If this is uncomfortable for you, consider finding a student who would enjoy the opportunity to do the demonstration each day. Once students understand the demonstration, this activity requires only a few minutes each day for the next several days. While the demonstration is lighthearted and brief, consider how it helps frame the science class as a place where practices include reflecting on how faith and science connect to reveal the glory of God. This is key to teaching FASTly.

If students have not already studied inertia, this demonstration can introduce the concept. In this case, the first time the demo is done should be for that purpose alone. Help students to understand that the coin’s mass resists acceleration and that this is called the coin’s inertia. An unbalanced force on the coin is required to overcome inertia and make the coin move sideways from rest. When the card is flicked out from under the coin, the unbalanced frictional force between the smooth coin and the smooth card is too weak to accelerate the coin as quickly as the card, so the card flies off alone and the coin drops into the cup. The coin will accelerate ever so slightly in the direction the card goes, but probably not enough to notice.

Related Book Review: Song of a Scientist by Calvin B. DeWitt.

Preparing the Activity

Needed:

• A clear plastic cup that is heavy enough to not tip over easily

• A coin

• 3×5 inch card

Directions:

Place the 3×5 card flat over the cup’s mouth and place the coin on the card, centered over the cup.

If students have studied inertia but not seen the demonstration, do it once and then explain, or have students explain it, before repeating it at the beginning of the next class. After students understand the demonstration, have it set up when they enter class each day.

Teaching the Activity

When you are sure students are watching, but without comment, flick the card out from under the coin. Do this several times in a row, looking as if you are waiting for something new to happen. When someone asks what you are doing, or after several repetitions, comment that you are wondering if God might make it work differently one time if you keep trying. He could, couldn’t he? He made and sustains inertia. Couldn’t he mix it up once and do something different? Maybe have the coin hang in the air, or shoot off sideways, or rise, or…? At this point, students might be rolling their eyes, but you will have invited a thought: Is God involved when things operate normally?

Do this for a day or two, quickly and without fanfare: “Hmmm. Same thing today. Ah, well.” Have fun and the class will as well. Be brief and it will not distract from the business at hand each day. After two or three days, raise a new question: “If God loves us, why won’t he give us a little treat and make the coin do something odd?” Just raise the question; don’t go further unless the class does. Even if the class picks up on the question, be brief. Let the question linger.

The day after you raise this question, add after the demo: “I wonder if nature’s regularity, the way God makes it operate so consistently 99.99999% of the time, reflects his love? Would we be in trouble if nature were not predictable? Would we be able to participate in God’s life meaningfully if the rules of the game changed every day? Why or why not?” Again, it is effective to let the question linger unless the class dives in. If the class wants to discuss it and you have time, see the ideas below.

After the demonstration the next day, or perhaps over a couple of days, it is time to ask, “What are some ways we would have trouble if things like gravity or Newton’s laws of motion were unpredictable from minute-to-minute or place-to-place?” Suggest examples such as, what if backpacks weighed 5 pounds in the classroom and suddenly rose to 500 pounds while going down steps, or if heads and torsos suddenly accelerated very differently while they were jumping off a diving board, or if gravity suddenly stopped working when outside in a thunderstorm, or if the plastic and rubber on electrical plugs insulated one moment and conducted the next?

Make the question more general: What would it be like to try to do science in a world governed by capricious, unpredictable gods like those of the ancient Greeks and Romans? Might the lack of novelty in how God operates his creation, and the rarity of those dramatic events we call miracles, be evidence of God’s loving and steadfast care rather than his absence or indifference? Point students to a few key Scriptures describing God’s faithfulness, such as Psalm 100, Psalm 111, Psalm 136, John 3:16, and Hebrews 10:19-15. This conversation need not take long each day to be memorable.

After a few days, the demonstration will start to wear thin and its point will have been made. Give it enough time to make a clear impression and then stop.