Is Science A Replacement For or An Explanation About God? God wants to know and be known by His people. Would anyone
who loves their children, when told their child is hungry, give them a stone
and say, “Be filled?” Matthew 7:7-12 As the Father of all creation, He is
wonderous enough to not only give us the vast universe to enjoy, but He might
possibly also give us the means to dissect, study, and build upon its
foundations. Every
person has an inner pursuit of truth, yet, how to search for and find truth
varies differently in times and between cultures. Even more diverse are the means
people discover their ‘truths’. Is truth relative, varying from person to
person? And what is the standard to which we should base truth?
John Bunyan wrote The Pilgrim’s Progress during his 12 years
in Prison. His crime? Preaching the Word of God. Despite Bunyan’s caution of
never taking a political position, those in power were concerned that he could
influence his followers to turn in any direction he chose, and to silence his
influence, they placed him in jail. After 6 months they gave him the
opportunity to get out on the condition that he would never preach again.
Bunyan refused. He had been transformed and set apart by God to preach the good
news that anyone can be saved from Hell, by faith alone, not of works, and to
not share that with others would be a greater tragedy than his current
afflictions. He believed that God is the ultimate creator of Heaven and Earth, and the only way to receive peace is by returning to Him. Bunyan had a moral imperative to spread the good news and never
refused his calling.
Sir Isaac Newton was a man who gave us many great additions to our scientific knowledge such as the 3 Laws of Motion, Universal Gravitation; you remember the awkward apple incident, Optics - giving us the technology for the telescope, camera, printers, etc., which gave a great contribution to what we now know about the color spectrum and light. He also created calculus and studied the stars and our universe continuing the work of Galileo after his death. Newton, however, was not a pure Naturalist. He disagreed with Cartesian natural philosophy because it "rejected the existence of ultimate invisible particles." What I like most about Newton was that he too had an unyielding desire to search for truth, writing, "Plato is my friend, Aristotle is my friend, but my best friend is truth.
During a preliminary Google search, while trying to find any article
written about John Bunyan in contrast to Sir Isaac Newton it became apparent that they were more similar than they were opponents. Although not necessarily categorized as so,
both Bunyan and Newton could be considered Non-Conformists. Neither accepted
the Church of England as the absolute infallible church to represent the
eternal God. BUT – neither of them denied His existence either. In fact, the rebellious,
imprisoned, preacher, author, and the genius, educated, inventor, scientist
advocated that there Is a God, and He is worthy of the honor of creating the
incredible universe, world, and its inhabitants. History can boast of many famous scientists who were/are Christian, proving that one's search for truth does not have to guide them in one direction or the other. You can believe in a creator and use the sciences to study the creation!
Although Einstein was not Christian he did believe that one should believe in something. To further explain this, Ravi Zacharias was an apologetic who discussed with many scholars about the Either/Or misconception. He argues that we are ALL on an ultimate pursuit of Truth and offers that the way we test truth is with the Correspondence theory and the Coherence theory. Does it correspond with reality, and do the answers coincide? We search for Origin; Where do I come from? Meaning; Why am I here? Morality; How do I differentiate between good and evil? And Destiny; What happens when I die? In turn, we have God - Theology. Knowledge - Epistemology. Reality - Metaphysics. Man - Anthropology. And Morality - Ethics. In Universities all around the world, we demand that all scientific proofs be truthful, so they can be studied and repeated. Why is this? Why do we demand the truth? If truth is relative, what are we basing that "truth" on? Even in this blog, I will give links to the sites I studied to write this so you, the reader, can check my sources. Why is the truth so important to you? Check out the video below and perhaps Ravi can help you understand why Religion and Science are not enemies, but allies.
Works Cited
Doc, The. The Art of Genius. 2020. 27 August
2020. <https://www.famousscientists.org/great-scientists-christians/>.
John Bunyan.
28 April 2010. 27 August 2020. <https://www.christianity.com/church/church-history/timeline/1601-1700/john-bunyan-11630083.html>.
Matthew. Bible Hub. n.d. 27 August 2020.
<https://biblehub.com/nkjv/matthew/7.htm>.
Salloum, Michael. Ravi Zacharias - Science vs
Religion. 23 January 2016. Youtube Video. 26 August 2020.
<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Wdq-fvkf5c>.
Westfall, Richard S. Isaac Newton. 27 March
2020. 27 August 2020.
<https://www.britannica.com/biography/Isaac-Newton>.
Williams, Matt. Space and Astronomy News. 10
November 2014. 27 August 2020.
<https://www.universetoday.com/38643/what-did-isaac-newton-discover/>.
I thought you had one of the best blogs this time as I did go through many of them. I personally enjoyed your choice of quotes from the bible and the pictures you used. I also thought your part on showing that Einstein was not a Christian but did believe in something. I think that point is important for non-believers that even through someone might not be religious it is still important to believe in something and be ethical in decisions.
Thank you Jackson. I too thought that important, and probably could include scientists from other religions and philosophies as well if I were to write this again.
Hello sister Carlie. I am a PASTOR from Mumbai India. I am glad to stop by your profile on the blogger and the blog post. I am alsoblessed and feel privileged and honoured to get connected with you as well as know you as a Christan who has interest in defending the Christian faith. I liked the way you have mentioned famous scientists and philospher including Ravi Zacharias who believed in the Creator of this universe. I love getting connected with the people of God around the globe to be encouraged strengthened and praying for one another. I have been in the Pastoral ministry for last 41yrs in this great city of Mumbai a city with a great contrast where richest of rich and the poorest of poor live. we reach out to the poorest of poor with the love of Christ to bring healing to the brokenhearted. We also encourage young and the adults from the west to come toMumbai to work with us during their vacation time. We would love to have young people from your family, friends as even church circle to come to Mumbai to work with us during their vacation time. I am sure they will have a life changing experience. Looking forward to hear from you very soon. God's richest blessings on you your family and friends also wishing you a blessed and a Christ cenered rest of the year 2020. My email id ia: dhwankhhede(at)gmail(dot)com and my name is Diwakar Wankhede
Hello Sir! I have visted India several times and have many friends across the country who, like you, love our Lord! May God continue to bless you and your willingness to be His hands while carrying His love to those who so desperately need Him.
Hi Carlie! Your formatting has improved a lot since the last post! For this post I wished you delved more into the philosophical rhetorical questions you asked in the first paragraph because they are very interesting.
I am pleased that those questions interest you! That helps prove a point that there are certain questions most, if not all humans seek to find the answer to. I would love to grab a coffee with you and talk about these one day, if you are available!
Science is NOT the end all be all of life. Science in itself can mimic religion or even a cult. The scientific method made famous by past scientists is not the only way. It is but one way. God is in everything and is all around us at the same time... clearly that is impossible. But is it? Few people understand electricity or electronics in even the basest sense but when they want light they know how to get it by simply flipping the wall switch. That is as much faith as science.
I believe you are saying that those who follow simply science alone, are in their own way making a religion out of it? They have faith that when they flip the switch, the light will come on. They know how to harness, manipulate, and use electricity, but do they know where it comes from? Do they ever question if there was a creator? We can only use what is available. But for something so amazingly created, it begs the thought that there must have a creator?!
Gifted and Honors Programs Are NOT the Problem! It's been a while since I have written you. Forgive me for my absence. What you are about to start reading is the beginning of a project I am doing as part of my Teacher Education classes. As a parent, I had formed my own opinions about my daughters' education, teachers, and programs at their respective schools. They spent their elementary years at a Christian private school in Florida where the class sizes were small and personal instruction of students was encouraged and available. When we moved up to Georgia, we experienced a notable change. The teachers were caring, I am not disputing that! The problem was that they did not have the time or resources available to give the one-on-one attention so many of the students desperately needed. Because of this, I saw that students were falling through the cracks. Remember, I am writing this from a parent's point of view at this point. The teachers lacked consistency. I began to n...
Few Are Chosen Revelations 12:11 And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death. Birth Pangs When we read the word "and" it is always preceded by information or action that coincides with what comes after. When reading the scripture above , we should be curious about who they and him are and what is happening that needs to be overcome? How will they overcome him? We then see ' and ' two more times indicating that the blood of the Lamb, the Word of their testimony; and not loving their lives unto death can only happen when all three things are combined. To break it down - t hey, are followers of Jesus; h im, is the enemy of mankind; the Lamb, is Jesus. Revelations chapter 12 tells about the end times and gives a glimpse of what God's people will have to do to stand against the attacks of the enemy. How do they gain the victory? By faith in Jesus, th...
Hello,
ReplyDeleteI thought you had one of the best blogs this time as I did go through many of them. I personally enjoyed your choice of quotes from the bible and the pictures you used. I also thought your part on showing that Einstein was not a Christian but did believe in something. I think that point is important for non-believers that even through someone might not be religious it is still important to believe in something and be ethical in decisions.
Jackson
Thank you Jackson. I too thought that important, and probably could include scientists from other religions and philosophies as well if I were to write this again.
DeleteHello sister Carlie. I am a PASTOR from Mumbai India. I am glad to stop by your profile on the blogger and the blog post. I am alsoblessed and feel privileged and honoured to get connected with you as well as know you as a Christan who has interest in defending the Christian faith. I liked the way you have mentioned famous scientists and philospher including Ravi Zacharias who believed in the Creator of this universe. I love getting connected with the people of God around the globe to be encouraged strengthened and praying for one another. I have been in the Pastoral ministry for last 41yrs in this great city of Mumbai a city with a great contrast where richest of rich and the poorest of poor live. we reach out to the poorest of poor with the love of Christ to bring healing to the brokenhearted. We also encourage young and the adults from the west to come toMumbai to work with us during their vacation time. We would love to have young people from your family, friends as even church circle to come to Mumbai to work with us during their vacation time. I am sure they will have a life changing experience. Looking forward to hear from you very soon. God's richest blessings on you your family and friends also wishing you a blessed and a Christ cenered rest of the year 2020. My email id ia: dhwankhhede(at)gmail(dot)com and my name is Diwakar Wankhede
ReplyDeleteHello Sir! I have visted India several times and have many friends across the country who, like you, love our Lord! May God continue to bless you and your willingness to be His hands while carrying His love to those who so desperately need Him.
DeleteHi Carlie! Your formatting has improved a lot since the last post! For this post I wished you delved more into the philosophical rhetorical questions you asked in the first paragraph because they are very interesting.
ReplyDeleteI am pleased that those questions interest you! That helps prove a point that there are certain questions most, if not all humans seek to find the answer to. I would love to grab a coffee with you and talk about these one day, if you are available!
ReplyDeleteScience is NOT the end all be all of life. Science in itself can mimic religion or even a cult. The scientific method made famous by past scientists is not the only way. It is but one way. God is in everything and is all around us at the same time... clearly that is impossible. But is it? Few people understand electricity or electronics in even the basest sense but when they want light they know how to get it by simply flipping the wall switch. That is as much faith as science.
ReplyDeleteI wonder if that made any sense?
I believe you are saying that those who follow simply science alone, are in their own way making a religion out of it? They have faith that when they flip the switch, the light will come on. They know how to harness, manipulate, and use electricity, but do they know where it comes from? Do they ever question if there was a creator? We can only use what is available. But for something so amazingly created, it begs the thought that there must have a creator?!
Delete