Faith and Science- The Higgs Boson Particle

He [Jesus] is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.

¹⁶ For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. ¹⁷ And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together (Colossians 1:15-17).

     I still hear it expressed, although not as much as I used to, that science has disproved religion, and to be a person of faith is to deny science and the progress it has made in understanding the Universe.  As a person of faith and a lover of science and mathematics, I find just the opposite to be true.  Science is for me faith-building.

     I heard the idea of science’s incompatibility with religion most recently expressed around the discovery of a subatomic particle called the Higgs.  The Higgs Particle has long been predicted mathematically to exist, and in 2012 it was finally observed. (sidebar: The fact that Creation is so finely tuned and well-ordered that it can be described mathematically is, in itself, a mark of our amazing Creator.  This has been referred to as the “unreasonable effectiveness of mathematics.”) 

     The Higgs is an astounding particle that exists everywhere in the Universe, and as particle physicists understand it, it is responsible for giving matter its characteristic of “mass” (you can think of it as weight).  What this means is that, without the Higgs and gravity (an elementary force that scientist still do not fully understand), everything would literally not hold together. Some physicist somewhere has dubbed it the God Particle.  What is even more incredible, the Higgs is perfectly designed and tuned to do this very thing.

     So, let’s see if we have this right- Our Triune God creates a particle through which He holds the universe together.  Does not this not sound much like Colossians 1:17?