Amazing Truths: How Science and the Bible Agree

by Michael Guillen

Does science discredit the Bible, God, religious faith?

Absolutely not, says Dr. Michael Guillen, former Harvard physics instructor and Emmy-winning ABC News Science Editor. In Amazing Truths, he uses his entertaining, down-to-earth storytelling skills to reveal ten astonishing truths affirmed by both ancient Scripture and modern science that answer some of our biggest questions:


Can faith really move mountains?
Does absolute truth exist?
Are humans truly unique?
Is it possible to communicate with God?
How much about the universe do we actually know?
How could Jesus have been fully man and fully God?
In Amazing Truths, Dr. Guillen explains that faith is not some outdated way of thinking. Faith is a necessary part of science, Christianity, and any intelligent, comprehensive, coherent worldview--vastly more powerful than even logic.

Amazing Truths will expand your mind and bolster your faith. You will see for yourself what Dr. Guillen, a theoretical physicist and devout Christian, has discovered in a lifetime of serious exploration--that science and faith are not at odds. In fact, they're the ultimate power couple.

Genres: Science, Christian, Religion, Nonfiction, Audiobook, Faith, Christianity

208 pages, Paperback

First published February 9, 2016

About the author

Dr. Guillen taught physics at Harvard, was ABC News' Science Editor, is a three-time Emmy winner, a TV host, movie producer, speaker, bestselling author, and host of the internationally popular podcast "Science+God."

Reviews

[Andrew · Rating 1 out of 5]

I received a free copy of the book from the publisher through NetGalley.

I am a Christian, an engineer, and a fan of science. I thought that this book would be up my alley, but instead I was hugely disappointed.

The author tries to draw parallels between the physical world and the Christian faith. That sounds great but a lot of the parallels are awkward. For example, quantum entanglement is a metaphor for how God speaks to us in mysterious ways. Light is a particle and a wave in the same way that Jesus is God and man. (Too bad he didn't say that water is a metaphor for the Trinity. That's one of my favorites.) You get the idea. The theology was fine but the examples felt forced and superficial.

I'm also not sure who the intended audience is. Is this meant to convince skeptics or encourage those who already believe? If anything this book has made me more skeptical about books that try to synthesize faith with science.

[Michael K. · Rating 4 out of 5]

It is rather interesting when people say that the Bible and Science cannot coincide with one another, or they do not agree. This is blatantly false! While many times we cannot agree what the data may say, as it could go either way at times, but the fact is that science and the Bible do, in fact, live in harmony. It is man who cannot live with the fact that God, or Intelligent Design, are a valid possible alternative explanation with the fact that there tend to be fewer assumptions concerning science if God is in the mix. This was definitely a good book to read. Well written, well researched, and great arguments. Well worth the time to read and absorb it's contents.

[Joan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am not sure how to describe this book. I thought it was going to be one of apologetics, but it is not. It is more an explanation of Guillen's awe at correlations between biblical and scientific truth. There are correlations between the universe and Christian belief that are amazing truths.

Sometimes Guillen draws a lesson from science that is applied to Christianity. One example is dark matter. He gives the history leading to the postulation of dark matter and dark energy. Scientists now believe that only five percent of the entire universe is actually visible to us. He relates that to life after death. “Believing in an afterlife is consistent with believing there is a huge part of reality that is hidden from us.” That correlation breaks down a bit when one considers that scientists proposed dark matter and energy because they could see the effects caused by the invisible something. Belief in the afterlife does not have the same kind of origin.

I was most fascinated with his discussion on light and the nature of God. Scientists know that the speed of light is a constant in a vacuum. We know from Einstein's theories that the faster an object goes, the more time slows down. For a particle traveling 99.99999 percent the speed of light, a second stretches to a day and a half. For light itself, traveling at 100 percent the speed of light, time slows to a complete stop. Time doesn't exist. 1 John 1:5 tells us God is light. God is not bound by time. For Him, there is no time. He exists beyond time.

Another correlation Guillen covers includes the fact that the universe had a beginning and materialized out of nothing (energy?). He also has a good section on the limits of scientific “proof.”

He identifies the purpose of this book: “To urge you, when faced with complex issues, to consider thoughtfully both the findings of science and the teachings of Scripture.” He wants readers to see the agreement between the two. Many think that believing the Bible is stupid. Reading this book helps one see that the Bible should be treated with respect. It has insights science is now confirming.

I would recommend this book to those who are interested in the relationship of the Bible and science in general terms but not in specific instances. The correlations Guillen provides are in the realm of interesting and perhaps amazing but not in the realm of convincing proof. He also shares the spiritual applications of many scientific discoveries which is interesting but again, not conclusive proof of a specific correlation between science and the Bible.

I received a complimentary egalley of this book from the publisher for the purpose of an independent and honest review.

[Richard · Rating 1 out of 5]

1) write eloquently about a science theory.
2) ham fist it into a Christian myth - the bible is allegory for science, interpret Bronze Age legends in terms of quantum mechanics etc.
3) claim that no other religion can do this as well.
4) claim that your cafeteria version of Christianity is the correct version. Big Bang yes, evolution lite yes.
5) claim science has been wrong before but evidence caused it to self correct ( true)
6) completely fail to notice religions And their leaders ( except Dali lama and few others) do not move position in light of new evidence.
7) repeat with next theory

As a science teacher I had to break this book into small chunks to keep my sanity.

[Shane Phillips · Rating 1 out of 5]

I thought this would an interesting but then he starts out by taking an Einstein quote out of context as his support of science validating religion. He talks about the observational truths that science and religion have in common but then 2 hours in he literally says "observational truths are true because I believe them" WTF. Belief is not a basis for truth. Millions of people believe in visiting aliens but that does not make it true. Any way he also makes these weird "predictions/assocations" like the ancient Greeks talked about waves and particles so they foretold quantum mechanics. That makes no sense. I stopped 60% through as I had enough of those illogical connections.

[Josh · Rating 4 out of 5]

I appreciate Dr. Guillen's sincere attempt to reconcile what is seemingly 2 schools of thought that stand in contrast to one another.

The use of practical study from both human history and the modern age (this side of the 20th century) coupled with logic stands well.

I don't care for all his examples/illustrations. I also disagree with his use of Old Earth theory, suggesting that God created mankind as the pinnacle of Creation during a proposed 'Great Leap Forward' c 50,000 years ago. However, his purpose stands firm despite my personal grievances with his opinions.

If you are looking for a fairly easy read that gives a base level reconciliation of Scientific and Spiritual thought, consider this book. If you are looking for something deeper - keep looking.

[Marcas · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was drawn in by the premise, which I think is true but difficult to discern. Because we are dealing with many different types of knowing, epistemologies, hermeneutical concerns, historical nuances, and literary genres.

Amazing Truths is a good, more popular level book, which makes some interesting points about the nature of light, history of relativity, quantum mechanics, chaos theory, etc, how they sync with what the scriptures say, and play out in our lives and in the reality around us.

In many ways the author is right but probably won't convince entrenched opponents. This book is not the greatest apologetic work, as there are many prior and more substantial layers of difference and complementarity that he would have to reference first, deconstructing his opponents naivetés, and finding a language they would understand more cogently. In the manner that Jens Zimmerman does, Vishal Mangalwadi, Nancy Pearcey, Jonathan Sacks, Tom Holland, and others.

I would still recommend this book to the converted, as it were, and as a supplement, alongside more academic works by Wayne Cristaudo, Michael Polanyi, Richard Creel, J.P. Moreland, Thomas Torrance, James Hannam, Alvin Plantinga, and the likes.

[Blake Western · Rating 3 out of 5]

There are many interesting things about this book. Some of the explanations about science are rather tedious. The author contends that we should respect truth in both scientific discoveries and the Bible. He attempts to show parallels between scientific discoveries and the Bible. I found the comparison concerning the omnipresence of God to be quite inadequate.

[Brandy · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is about the hardest book to rate I've ever come across, because it completely eschewed my expectations. Based on the title, I was expecting something more apologetics-focused, but that's definitely not what this book was. I guess it's really more aimed at inspiring the Christian who aims to have a supportive view of science, rather than attempting to win over an atheistic scientist.

The oddity that makes it hard to review this book is that it's not exactly saying that science and the bible agree, even though that's what the title suggests is the subject. What it's really getting at is that the implications we draw from science and from the bible lead to the same sorts of conclusions.

It also uses science's conclusions to shed some light on some of the themes in the Bible, such as God being light. The book is well written theologically and has some very interesting points, but I feel like a good bit of its audience is going to see it as rather ham-fisted, because the connections it makes are often reaches that a person attempting to operate purely on logic would refuse outright. There's not a lot of concrete conclusions that make sense here, so it's more of just a thought exercise.

If I could give something 2.5 stars, this would be that book. Instead, I keep flip-flopping between 2 and 3, and am going to opt for the lower.

[Karina (Karina's Christian Reads) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Number of pages: 171

Genre: Non-fiction Apologetics

Series: N/A

Age recommendation: 16+; especially those interested in science (mostly physics)

Summary: In this book Micheal Guillen explains 10 paradoxical truths that are shared by science and Christianity, showing readers that the two are not mutually exclusive, but complementary to our understanding of the world.

My thoughts: I really enjoyed this book. I loved reading about the scientific discoveries that shook the earth (it kind of felt like reading a timeline of physics at times – in a good way) and it totally reminded me of my high school physics class. As someone with a basic knowledge of physics I found his correlations between science (mostly physics) and the Bible very interesting. I found he also explained difficult concepts such as the photoelectric effect, and wave particle duality very well, so that anybody could understand it.
I loved some of the points he brought out, such as just because something is intuitive doesn’t make it true. For example, there is objective truth above logic and understanding. You don’t believe in things like wave particle duality because you want to, you do it because it’s what you observed and you have no other options. It doesn’t make sense, but it’s nonetheless true. However, not everything can be explained by logic – every discipline of science from math and physics to psychology requires some amount of faith. I really appreciated that because I find sometimes people make it sound like science can definitively prove everything, but it can’t. Some things require faith.
I found it interesting how he brought in the verse in Romans (1:20) about God being seen through his creation. I thought it was cool how many of the aspects of God and His work that we don’t understand are often reflected in science and nature. Sadly, when it comes to God people are quick to dismiss things they don’t understand whereas in nature they accept the confusion we have.
What I didn’t love about the book, was how unclear the author’s stand was on certain issues (I couldn’t tell if he was saying “this is where scientists stand at this moment in time so I’m going to go along with it,” or “as of right now, to the best of my knowledge, I believe this”). Based on what he wrote I think he subscribes to the Big Bang theory and theistic evolution, both of which I believe have issues. However, I don’t find these to be a big enough deal to not read a book, or listen to what someone has to say, they’re just two things I don’t agree with.
Another thing that annoyed me was the way he sometimes treated the Bible and Jesus. At one point he says that Jesus almost sinned (implying that just as He was about to do wrong He caught Himself and stayed holy – or at least that’s how I took it). I understand he was trying to show Jesus’ humanity, but I didn’t like how he did it. In another place, he rewrites evolution by natural selection the same way as the biblical account, replacing God with “randomness and natural selection”. I don’t remember his point in doing this, only that I found it irreverent. Finally, near the end of his book he takes a verse from Hebrews that was clearly talking about Jesus and uses it about humans in general, when it didn’t apply at all.
Overall, I’d say it was a really interesting read with a lot of really good points (and a couple of things I didn’t like). I would definitely recommend it to anyone interested in science (especially physics).

My personal rating: 4/5 stars.

Link to blog: https://karinaschristianreads.wordpre...

[Eric Sullenberger · Rating 3 out of 5]

My relationship with science and creations is complicated. I was raised Christian, and as my faith grew I became convinced of a little interpretation on the book of Genesis and young earth creationism apart from my church, which probably held to the same tenants but didn't really teach it or expounce it. I know for certain that my mom hasn't put too much thought into it and that my dad doesn't believe in younger creations. He chose to go to a private Christian college for my undergraduate degree in science education. In the University claimed to teach both current science and young First creationism, but they definitely believed in young Earth and argued against science. Furthermore, their teaching the science of cosmology and evolution was outdated making it easier to argue against it. I felt prepared as an educator to teach the science side and was even asked about it in my interview. I told them I had no concerns about teaching the scientific version of things and was informed that most of the community probably leaned you on earth creationism. I still remember the day when I was teaching about the big bang and looking at the helpful deep field image, when it clicked that I believed in the science - and I felt my faith crumble in front of me. I stared at the screen in a panic not teaching and thinking that my students must be noticing the awkward silence and quickly decided that it was okay I could shove this and deal with the existential crisis later that night. That was close to a decade ago and I'm still working it out. I definitely believe in both and think that there is a way for them to find Harmony, but this book does a good job of presenting my views a hyphen even if I don't think it will convince many people on either side of the debate. I will say I didn't learn much from this book, although I think the comparison of her scientific understanding of the dual nature and timelessness of light / photons and the description of God as eternal and timeless go together very well and I need to do some more thinking and study and on. I do think that the two systems can agree, but don't hold to a younger view anymore. I don't pretend to have all the answers, nor does the doctor, but it is heartening to see someone working towards Harmony and a balance between the two systems of thought. I will say that I wish the author had spent more time discussing specifics instead of generalities, putting me to clear from the start that that was not his intention with this book. Also, I love the graphic on the cover. And this review was typed via voice to text, and has not been edited for proper spelling and grammar, some way apologies for any mistakes until I get around to that.

[Redeemed · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyable, although a little floaty.

This book is an enjoyable and encouraging read for both the science enthusiast and the science-adverse. Essentially, Guillen looks at ten findings that confound the expectations of the science community (that is: hard scientists, soft scientists, mathematicians, logisticians) and shows how those very things are lined up with the Biblical narrative. Some things are very clear and concrete, like the wonders of light, while things are a bit more abstract, like nonlocal communication. If you don't have a science background, it might be a daunting to read at first blush, but Guillen does well in getting to the point and summarizing what would be complex concepts.

Theologically, it is a bit hard to figure out, since the author praises both TD Jakes (a modalist; which is a Trinitarian heresy) and Charles Spurgeon (one of the greatest preachers of all time) within pages of each other. The author is nevertheless orthodox. You shouldn't be afraid of finding poor teaching in this book, but it's more of a casual science book than a serious theological treatise. But that's okay.

[Ben · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thesis again! This book provided me with many excellent quotes that were related to my thesis with which I prefaced each section of my paper. Some of the examples weren't the strongest evidence-wise, but I appreciated the style of friendly dialogue and wonder at the integration between God's Word and World. It's a book written by a physicist who came to faith in Christ that provides a solid philosophical argument for the integration of science and faith, starting from what they obviously share. Very application-oriented, and each chapter is pretty consistent in comparing (almost classically) Scriptural and scientific authorities on the topic being discussed.

[Joseph Peterson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing Truths is a very well written book. As a Christian I found it especially refreshing to find a book that argued for Biblical truths without being corny, overly reliant on faith, or mocking in tone.

If you are looking for a book to get quick facts to debate evolutionary theorists with, this is not for you. But if you are looking for a solid, thoughtful book on larger truths that you could easily use to open up debate with someone who would laugh at a book titled "10 Ways to Confuse Darwinists", this is for you.

[Josh Long · Rating 3 out of 5]

A strange little book. Although sometimes random, and arguably a bit of a stretch - there are some wonderful anecdotes in here that promote a compatibility of Biblical and scientific truths. I learned about a handful of random scientific facts and the author even goes as far to try and expose the fallacy of using logic as a universal foundation of truth. I enjoyed all that. However literary wise, it read like a travesty. I don't know what the author had in mind in terms of cohesion and flow. It almost felt like a multi-authored anthology - but not a good one.

[Victor Ramirez Urueta · Rating 4 out of 5]

It starts somehow slow, and then you get the point ok what exactly Guillén Is trying to do. Some chapters really blew my mind. Being an engineering and keen on science it's always hard to understand some aspects of religion. Some say that you the examples are forced. I did not feel that way, in the end the author is trying to somehow explain how science can explain some things the bible describes, but it's not a hard fact. I liked the way he talked about science then the scripture and then how they can relate for several items of our life and the universe. I'd recommend.

[Stan Bednarz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Twin Towers of Science n the Bible

Purchased it because too often I've heard in recent years from the younger generation and I quote, " I don't believe in the Bible, I believe in science. "It It appears to be a saying trending today. If you have floundered in your witness of the Word to others, this book will remind you that the Bible is ahead of its time, waiting for science to catch up. So loved authors testimony too!

[Kayla Chally · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found the correlations really intriguing! Where it doesn't give exact, concrete proof - it does correlate a few places where science and the Bible align.

I particularly found the light / speed of light correlation cool, and was intrigued about the quantum entanglement correlation.

Overall, I liked it, but I do wish there was some more black and white relationships between science and the Bible.

[Sunil Rajasekar · Rating 2 out of 5]

A book that shows the Bible and Science dovetail was an awesome premise and I was excited to read it. Sadly, it did not quite match the expectations. The format was good. Science overview of a topic, followed by Bible and then what it means to us. The science section of every chapter was great…sadly the other two sections did not connect or resonate and were too esoteric. It was a short read but still a bit of a slog for me.

[Andrea Montack · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good Read

I would recommend this book to anyone who wants an understanding of how science and the Bible support each other.
My main takeaway from this book is: Not everything spiritual is logical. To accept Christianity you have to accept that you are less knowledgeable than the creator and also that science is an evolving field

[Kevin Koppelmann · Rating 3 out of 5]

I like how he tied it all up in the end saying it's not a choice of which ONE to believe as they both can co-exist. I felt he dove to deep into the science in the beginning which could lose a lot of readers. I also wish he had looked at the idea that God could use natural selection as a way to move forward.

[michael rivera · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great Teacher

I really enjoyed how Mr. Guillen used simple analogies to explain complex ideas.
I was disappointed though that he concluded the book giving Science seemingly equal footing with Scripture.

[Michelle Cook · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent book to help non-scientists, like me, think about ways in which science and this material world points to a Creator. I found myself thinking about several different aspects of my faith in new ways.

[Jeannette Maxwell · Rating 4 out of 5]

Intriguing information

While some of the Science in the book was beyond my understanding, like Einstein’s Theory of Relativity, I was fascinated by the Authors ability to show the many ways in which Science and the Bible support each other.

[Mark · Rating 5 out of 5]

Enjoy

I enjoyed the time spent thinking through these scientific theories and their parallel or complimentary biblical truths. If you want to unlock the mysteries of the universe, don't stick your head in the sand and ignore half the clues.

[Jrbeers717 · Rating 5 out of 5]

Church and science together

I enjoyed this book. I like how it ties truths from science and The Bible together in ways I hadn't thought about before. I recommend this book of you are looking for something to make you think.

[Corey Friedrich · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was good. Dr. Gullen did a great job looking at commonalities between science and religion or maybe more accurately, in some chapters, how they compliment each other. Some chapters were more impactful than others. Overall, though, a very interesting read.

[Andrew Luce · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really grounded perspective, with a solid understanding of scientific theory and the Bible. The author covers basic ontological arguments as well as advanced discoveries beyond Newtonian physics. Some ideas I want to explore to better understand, but he makes so much sense.

[Pat · Rating 5 out of 5]

Engaging journey

Great trip through science history and Christian belief as outlined in the bible. Well written and thought provoking. I was sorry when it was finished. Thanks Michael

[S]

I bought this book as I wanted to understand the connection between science and bible, so far this book made me even more confuse. Maybe if I re-read it it will make more sense what Dr. Guillen is trying to share.