Christians welcome knowledge from every quarter.

Not knowing and not wishing to know are far different things. Not knowing, to be sure, springs from weakness; but contempt of knowledge springs from a wicked will.

  - Hugh of St. Victor, The Didascalicon

For I want you to know how great a struggle I have for you and for those at Laodicea and for all who have not seen me face to face, that their hearts may be encouraged, being knit together in love, to reach all the riches of full assurance of understanding and the knowledge of God’s mystery, which is Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.

  - Colossians 2:1-3

The Christian understands two things about knowing and truth: First, all truth is God’s truth. Whatever is true, whatever really explains or conforms to the way the world is, comes from God, and is therefore a means to knowing and worshiping Him. Science can be a valuable source of truth. Christians working in the sciences have an obligation, in seeking to bring the glory of God to light, to declare their findings in terms of how they help us, not just for our human purposes, but for knowing and glorifying God. The Christian working in the sciences – whether as researcher, practitioner, or instructor – has only fulfilled his duty to true knowledge when he has brought his work into the full, eternal light of the divine Creator.

Second, the Christian also understands that knowledge and truth can come to us by means other than science. In our day, science is looked to by many people as the arbiter and confirmer of things true. Other things may be interesting or entertaining – as in the arts and pop culture – or perhaps even mysterious and profound – as in religion. But they’re only regarded as true when they have passed the tests of science. Which means that a whole lot of stuff we tend to hold true may not actually be reliable, because it is not amenable to proof by science.

But the Christian is undaunted by the swaggering of secular science. We know that God speaks through divine revelation in His Word. We understand that the arts yield truth in a different way than science or Scripture. We know that we can learn from experience or even from the explanations of friends and trusted advisors, things true and reliable which science can never confirm.

So the Christian remains open to truth from all quarters, only insisting that nothing be accepted as true which does not cohere with the essential worldview outlined in the Word of God. In the light of God’s Word we expect to learn all truth and gain all understanding, regardless of its source (Ps. 36:9).

Paul acknowledged that even unbelieving pagans can discover truth (Acts 17). However, the real meaning of that truth awaited the apostle’s framing it within the revelation of the eternal mystery of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Christians do not fear truth; we seek it eagerly.

Only those with wicked and fearful hearts will close their minds to the possibility of truth from beyond their own cherished and familiar protocols and convictions.

But perhaps we can, by love and excellence and persuasion, help unbelieving scientists to see the truth of God as it comes from other quarters. We must be patient, but we must be firm. And if we are, we might be successful, either in creating a thin entering wedge for truth in further conversations, or in creating a sense of uncertainty about the exclusivity of science as the arbiter of truth, where such uncertainty never existed before.

Thus we might be able both to represent and to point to Him alone Who is the very embodiment of all truth.