{"id":37943,"date":"2020-09-25T14:24:00","date_gmt":"2020-09-25T14:24:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/relying-on-science-but-missing-truth\/"},"modified":"2020-09-25T14:24:00","modified_gmt":"2020-09-25T14:24:00","slug":"relying-on-science-but-missing-truth","status":"publish","type":"sermon-illustrations","link":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/relying-on-science-but-missing-truth\/","title":{"rendered":"Relying on Science but Missing the Truth"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The son of a scientist and a doctor, Jad Abumrad, is co-host of Radiolab one of public radio&rsquo;s most popular shows today. In a TED talk in 2020, Abumrad talked about his approach:<\/p>\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>From 2002 to 2010, I did hundreds of science-y, neuroscience-y, very heady, brainy stories that would always resolve into that feeling of wonder. And I began to see that as my job, to lead people to moments of wonder. Now, I love science, don&#39;t get me wrong. But there was something about that simple movement from science to wonder that just started to feel wrong to me. Like, is that the only path a story can take?<\/p>\n<p>\n\n<\/p>\n\n<\/blockquote>\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>Around 2012, I ran into a bunch of different stories that made me think, <em>No<\/em>. One story in particular, where we interviewed a guy who described chemical weapons being used against him and his fellow villagers in Laos. Western scientists went there, (tested) for chemical weapons, (but) didn&#39;t find any. We interviewed the man about this. He said the scientists were wrong. We said, &ldquo;But they tested.&rdquo; He said, &ldquo;I don&#39;t care, I know what happened to me.&rdquo; And we went back and forth and back and forth, and make a long story short, the interview ended in tears.<\/p>\n<p>\n\n<\/p>\n\n<\/blockquote>\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>I felt horrible. Like, hammering at a scientific truth, when someone has suffered. That wasn&#39;t going to heal anything. And maybe I was relying too much on science to find the truth.<\/p>\n<p>\n\n<\/p>\n\n<\/blockquote>\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading is-style-article-subhead2\">Possible Preaching Angle:<\/h2>\n\n<p><em>This same misplaced reliance happens in the arena of faith and science. Some trust so heavily in man&rsquo;s scientific wisdom, which can soon become outdated, that they fail to see God&rsquo;s eternal truth. As Romans says, &ldquo;professing themselves to be wise, they became fools (Rom. 1:19)<\/em><\/p>\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading is-style-article-subhead2\"> <\/h2>","protected":false},"author":30,"featured_media":0,"template":"","tax_ctp_audience":[],"tax_ctp_authors":[],"tax_ctp_categories":[165],"tax_ctp_format":[171],"tax_ctp_illustration_types":[409],"tax_ctp_multimedia":[],"tax_ctp_point_editor":[440],"tax_publications":[140],"tax_ctp_tags":[3621,3845,3920,3930,3933,4330,4468,4891,5094,5103,5199,5267,5279,5290],"tax_ctp_topics":[388,397],"class_list":["post-37943","sermon-illustrations","type-sermon-illustrations","status-publish","hentry","tax_publications-ct-pastors","tax_ctp_tags-circumstances","tax_ctp_tags-education","tax_ctp_tags-experience","tax_ctp_tags-facts","tax_ctp_tags-faith","tax_ctp_tags-knowledge","tax_ctp_tags-mind","tax_ctp_tags-science","tax_ctp_tags-study","tax_ctp_tags-suffering","tax_ctp_tags-truth","tax_ctp_tags-weapons","tax_ctp_tags-wisdom","tax_ctp_tags-wonder"],"acf":{"scripture_references":[{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null}]},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Relying on Science but Missing the Truth - CT Pastors<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/relying-on-science-but-missing-truth\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Relying on Science but Missing the Truth - CT Pastors\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The son of a scientist and a doctor, Jad Abumrad, is co-host of Radiolab one of public radio&rsquo;s most popular shows today. In a TED talk in 2020, Abumrad talked about his approach: From 2002 to 2010, I did hundreds of science-y, neuroscience-y, very heady, brainy stories that would always resolve into that feeling of Read more...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/relying-on-science-but-missing-truth\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"CT Pastors\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/CTPastors\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/19\/2025\/12\/ogimage.png?resize=1200,628\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"628\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@CTpastors\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/relying-on-science-but-missing-truth\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/relying-on-science-but-missing-truth\/\",\"name\":\"Relying on Science but Missing the Truth - CT Pastors\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2020-09-25T14:24:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-09-25T14:24:00+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/relying-on-science-but-missing-truth\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/relying-on-science-but-missing-truth\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/relying-on-science-but-missing-truth\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Relying on Science but Missing the Truth\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/\",\"name\":\"CT Pastors\",\"description\":\"Timeless wisdom for pastors with forward-thinking solutions\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Christianity Today\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/19\/2025\/08\/logo_ctpastors_black.svg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/19\/2025\/08\/logo_ctpastors_black.svg\",\"caption\":\"Christianity Today\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/CTPastors\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/CTpastors\"]}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Relying on Science but Missing the Truth - CT Pastors","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/relying-on-science-but-missing-truth\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Relying on Science but Missing the Truth - CT Pastors","og_description":"The son of a scientist and a doctor, Jad Abumrad, is co-host of Radiolab one of public radio&rsquo;s most popular shows today. 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