The Science of Religion

I just finished reading a really great article by Elder Dallin H. Oaks of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.  It was an excerpt from a speech that he gave about a year ago at Harvard Law School in which he outlined three fundamental premises of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.  It was an absolutely fantastic article and I recommend you give it a read, you won't be disappointed.  The cluster of truth, as he called them, that really got me thinking was the threefold sources of truth about man and the universe:  science, the scriptures, and continuing revelation.  To me this is very interesting as the general concept about the interaction between science and religion is a negative one. Most people see science as a way to show that religion is incorrect and that we do not truly need religion in our lives, that they are inherently in opposition with one another.  However, as Elder Oaks explains, this is not the case, but they in fact work with each other in obtaining more knowledge about life.  It is my thought that, despite popular belief, God himself must obey the laws of science, that is to say that he must follow them.  Please note that I am not saying that God is not all powerful, because he most assuredly is.  What I am saying is that as a song I learned growing up says, knowledge is power. Since God is all knowing, he has a grasp of the sciences much more advanced than anything we claim to be able to understand or to model.  With such great knowledge he is able to take advantage of the laws of science, and use, not circumvent, them to accomplish his great design.  It seems to me that the more we learn about science the more it truly proves just how amazing God is as he is able to use the laws of nature to his benefit.  But if we truly think about it, what we do as humans and science is the same thing.  As we understand science better we are able to accomplish things that people even only 100 years ago wouldn't even be able to fathom.  For example, how would you be able to explain to a person in the 1800's the concept of blogging, there is no way they would be able to grasp such a concept of a virtual connection allowing people to post their thoughts and opinions in a forum where people from around the world could have instant access. My guess is that if you were in the right place and time you would probably be burned at the stake for being a witch for talking about such ridiculous things, although I suppose that would be more considered the wrong place and time.  So imagine what an all knowing God could be able to do with his understanding of the laws of nature, things that we can't even begin to understand how exactly they work.  Some of the biggest things I can think of are the resurrection and the atonement of Christ.  How one man can suffer for all of the sins and sorrows of the world doesn't make any sense to me whatsoever, but that's only because I have an imperfect knowledge of the science of the universe.  What I have come to understand though is that God does understand how it all comes together in the end, and that's why the other methods of learning are so important.  If it weren't for the scriptures and revelation we would not be able to figure out that there is a resurrection after this life.  Thankfully such wonderful knowledge has in fact been revealed to us along with many other things that will help us with our eternal salvation.  It is my belief that as our understanding of science improves, so will our understanding of God and religion because truth is truth regardless of the source.