The very foundation of any religion is the belief in a higher power. Those of us who identify most closely as Christian call this higher power God. In its simplest, most basic interpretation, we acknowledge God as the creator of all we observe.

Yet, while we may acknowledge God the Creator as a concept, we are forced to acknowledge science as a fact that we have witnessed. We have seen materials consumed by fire. We have seen liquid water become a solid – ice. We have seen craters on the moon and heard the hum of electricity.

We have come to know faith by repetition of tales in the Bible. Faith whispers to us over and over again until we accept it as truth.

Science shouts at us. Science challenges us to think. Science dares us to judge by the evidence and arrive at a verdict. Science demands that we use that clump of grey matter that dwells in our skull.

Maybe that’s the best place to start in our quest to reconcile faith and science.

The human brain has been described as the command center for the human nervous system. As such, it is responsible for accepting the input from all the senses – touch, smell, sight, hearing – and then interpret and act on those signals.

If we dig further into the human brain, we will discover that the brain is divided into segments that control specific bodily functions. Digging deeper still, we learn that the mass of the brain is composed of billions of neurons connected by trillions of synapses.

Shall we go deeper? Do we need to break down the interaction between those neurons into chemical reactions? Do we need to disassemble those chemicals into molecules and further into elements defined by atomic structures?

Perhaps we need to consider that the combination of factors that makes up our brain is much too complex to be the result of a random collection of chemicals.

But that’s just the beginning.

Science would tell us that our brain is also the storage facility for all the memories of our life.

And that may be the strongest case for the hand of a higher power in our existence.

We have all become accustomed to the rapidly expanding abilities of today’s computers. Huge volumes of information can now be held in increasingly smaller storage vehicles. That information can translate into amazing, detailed pictures. It can translate into enormous volumes of text or mathematical formulas.

What man-made computers cannot do, however, is simulate emotion or emotional memory.

No electronic device can recall the emotional impact of the funeral of a loved one. No computer can remember the sweet aroma of grandma’s fresh-baked bread or the thrill of the first time Dad took you fishing. No computer can duplicate the emotional high of being in love.

If mankind’s greatest science cannot duplicate these emotions and memories, how can we possibly imagine the human brain – which is capable of these things – is the result an accidental combination of chemicals.

Then consider how this “accident” is believed to replicate that unique chemical cocktail generation after generation. And each generation has its own storehouse of emotional memories.

Logic suggests that it is more likely the result of God’s design and His unknowable magical formula.