Faith Integration in Science

There are many aspects of science in which one is able to see the hand of God. However, one thing that is especially clear to me as God's work is the similarities between elements. When Dmitri Mendeleev, the creator of the current periodic table, first attempted to organize the elements, he arranged them in order of increasing mass. He then ordered the elements so that all the ones in the same column, or group, have the same outer electron structures. After that was accomplished, he discovered that when the elements were arranged that way, the ones with similar properties all aligned into the same columns. It was later revealed that this pattern exists because the outermost electrons determine the characteristics of the elements. The electrons of atoms act the way they do because of the laws of quantum physics. This means that if the laws were even just slightly different, atoms would be drastically different than what they are like now, changing the elements that they form. The intricate structure and balance that exists between the elements shows that they were not created by chance.

Many scientists believe in the Big Bang theory and in evolution instead of believing in God. That they insist on believing this is astonishing to me, since it would be impossible for the Big Bang to occur without something starting it. Also, the odds of evolution occurring to form life from the Big Bang are so incredibly low that it is virtually impossible. The periodic table would have been similarly impossible to form without God's hands being in the proceedings. In order that elements can have similar properties according to their outer electrons, the atoms needed to be formed in a certain way. If atoms and elements had come about through the Big Bang or evolution, this would have most likely not have happened, and the periodic table would not exist. This would lead to dissimilar elements that are unable to bind to one another, thus effectively stopping life from forming. I find it amazing that such a small thing as the similarities between elements have such a huge effect on life. If God had not chosen to make some elements with similar characteristics, we would not exist at all. The fact that God made elements the way that he did shows me his great love of order and logic in the universe he created.