Faith and the Scientific Method

I (ME) am a biological engineer. It is an interesting cross between being an engineer and a scientist. This is my fifth year of doing research in my field of study. In my research I utilize the scientific method to discover truths. I think the best definition of science is that science is the search for truth.

As a freshman I worked in a lab with a post-doctoral student. He had his PhD in Biology if I remember correctly. I remember that we had a discussion about faith while working in the lab. His perception of faith was that it was merely a blind belief in something. We believe in something because maybe our parents believed in it, or maybe because it sounds like a nice thing to believe in. I tried to explain to him that there was a difference between Faith and Belief, but I had a difficult time articulating what I knew to be the difference. This is what I wish I could have said to him:

Faith is NOT a blind belief. Sometimes even LDS members fail to understand this concept. One of the most commonly used scriptures on Faith (in my church) is found in Alma 32:21 and it says "If ye have faith ye hope for things which are not seen, which are true." So does this mean Faith is blind? The rest of chapter 32 teaches us that Faith is built upon evidence. Hebrews 11:1 teaches us that "Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." And the Bible Dictionary teaches us that "To have faith is to have confidence in something or someone."

So Faith enables us to hope for things that we cannot see with our physical eyes, but this Faith is built upon evidence that we can observe. And the more evidence we collect results in us having a greater confidence or trust in how someone or something will behave. This is the same method that scientists use.

I was taught about atoms, protons, and electrons in 9th grade. It was taught to me as fact. Did you know that we have never been able to see atoms, protons, or electrons with our own eyes? So why is it taught as truth? Because there is overwhelming evidence that has been collected from experiments that gives us a great confidence that atoms, protons, and electrons exist. There is so much evidence, that scientists can say that they know they exist even though they have never seen them.

Faith and the Scientific Method work hand in hand. The Scientific Method encompasses the steps we use to discover truths in the scientific world. We develop our Faith by utilizing the same steps. These are the main steps involved in the Scientific Method:

1. Define the question
2. Gather information and resources (observe)
3 Form hypothesis
4. Perform experiment and collect data
5. Analyze data
6. Interpret data and draw conclusions that serve as a starting point for a new hypothesis.
7. Retest

Here is an example to apply to Faith. The question is "Does God answer prayers?" Step 2 would be to gather information about prayer. The scriptures teach that "If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God...and it shall be given him." (James 1:5) They also teach us that "if [we] shall ask with a sincere heart, with real intent" our prayers will be answered (Moroni 10:4). From this information we can form an hypothesis: "If I ask God with a sincere heart and real intent, then He will answer my prayer." Next we must perform experiments and collect the data. We pray with a sincere heart and real intent, and we are careful to observe the results of this experiment. Then we analyze the data. We decide if the results support our hypothesis or not and we draw conclusions based on that.

The last step is one of the most important and often the most forgotten. It is to retest the hypothesis. One experiment alone holds no weight. For us to be confident in our conclusions, we must perform the experiment many times over. It is only after thorough experimentation and results that we can be confident in our results.

In the lab, the most important item is your lab notebook. Your lab notebook is your record of the data collected and observations made during your experiment. This notebook is a collection of your evidence. Without this record, your findings are not considered valid.

I consider journals to be our "lab notebooks" in life. Building our Faith is a lifelong series of experiments. The results from some experiments are immediate, others take years. My journal is a collection of the evidence that I have gathered as I have experimented upon the Word of God. I have been fairly diligent in keeping a journal since I was 9 years old. As I have looked back upon the many observations I have recorded in the last 13 years, I have been able to analyze the data and conclude with complete confidence that God exists and that He is my Father and answers my prayers.

My journals are full of overwhelming evidence that the Atonement of Jesus Christ is real, and that it works! From the evidence, I can say that it is true that I am happiest when I keep the commandments of God. There is a direct correlation between our happiness and the level at which we are keeping the commandments of God.

President Gordon B. Hinckley at age 96 said "As I look back upon my life, I do so with a measure of wonder and awe. Everything good that has happened, including my marriage, I owe to my activity in the Church (May 2006 Ensign)."

Although I only have 22 years of experience, I too can say that every good thing that has happened in my life has been a direct result of my activity in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. My faith in my Savior Jesus Christ is not blind. I have not seen Him with my physical eyes, but I have seen the overwhelming evidence that He lives and that He atoned for my sins and shortcomings. I can testify Jesus Christ is the Son of God, and that He has shown us the path that leads to happiness in this life, and eternal life in the world to come.