Why General Revelation (science) is not Enough

God's Two Books
According to Christian doctrine, found for example in Psalm 19, God has written two books. The first is the book of nature, or creation, which reveals and declares God's glory, design, might and wisdom through the wonderful material universe he has made. And then there is God's book of Scripture, the Bible.

The book of revelation is clear on all essentials, and especially clear on God's rescue plan, called the Gospel. Where Christians disagree, on secondary matters, not a great amount of weight or importance lies.

The book of creation is also absolutely clear, but the hearts of sinful men suppress the truth they find there, so that almost anything can be read from the book of creation - depending on your starting point, your philosophy, your world-view, and most of all whether or not you have faith.

Twisted evidence
We could choose almost any subject to demonstrate this indeterminacy of the book of nature, or rather the ability of the human heart to read what it wishes. In the words of Simon and Garfunkel, "A man hears what he wants to hear and disregards the rest."

For example, there is overwhelming evidence around us that the universe has been created by a Mind, whether the fine tuning of the universe or the staggering ingenuity of the simplest cell. But so many scientists flatly refuse to acknowledge this evidence and label this intelligent design pseudoscience (a neat phrase, conjured up, like Islamophobia, Misogyny, Transphobia and  Homophobia, to shut down discussion and slur those who hold those views. Something very similar happened in Hitler's Third Reich - if you possessed the label "Jew"- that's all - you were considered worthless, no discussion, no debate, no argument).

Overwhelming evidence cannot lead to belief in a God when the human heart obstinately refuses to bow to that God.

Science, nature, material evidence can be twisted.

Gender issues
Take the following indisputable facts. (1) Men and women are different down to virtually every cell in their bodies (almost); men's 23rd chromosome is XY and for the women it is XX. (2) Testosterone and oestrogen levels are very different in their respective bodies. (3) Women alone can give birth. (4) Women alone can feed a baby with milk. (5) A bonding molecule, oxytocin is produced by mothers which bonds them to their newborns in a way that a man is not bonded to his baby - as much love as he feels for it. (6) Psychologically, men and women are very different, with women being stronger on warmth and empathy and men stronger on vigilance and emotional stability. (7) Men on average are heavier, stronger and taller than women.

These seven facts alone are clues from the way men and women are built differently, that especially  it is a good idea for women to take the lion's share of caring for little ones, and for men to use their superior strength to protect their wives and families.

Since however, those seven facts can be either ignored or twisted, they are insufficient to determine how men and women should relate to one another.

The need for Revelation
This is why we need Revelation. We need God, who made our bodies, to  tell us in black and white how he designed them to work. What we discover is that Scripture perfectly lines up with nature. Scripture and nature teaches us that while men and women are totally equal ontologically (in essence of being) and worth, they are very different from one another in roles and functions. In Christian marriage and the church, men are meant to love and protect their wives and children, while wives should recognise their God-given role to be the primary carers of their children and be submissive to their husbands.

No Christian should expect agreement with their non-Christian friends on these issues, and we are not called to judge the world, who do not have Revelation.

Neither should any Christian drift with the confused world we live in, on issues of gender, sexuality or the roles between men and women.

The tragedy is that many Christians have already chameleon-like become indistinguishable form the world on these matters.

The early church won the world not by being the same, but being radically counter-cultural. And the world flocked to the Gospel, attracted by how Jesus set them free from the lies and idols of their culture.