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Science and faith differences and similarities
Similarities Between Science And Christianity
Science and faith differences and similarities
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Why the Bible Conflicts with Science
"I want to know how God created this world. I am not interested in
this or that phenomenon, in the spectrum of this or that element. I
want to know His thoughts; the rest are details." Albert Einstein
Mr. Einstein was not the only one to wonder about such things. He
would have asked penetrating questions and obviously the religious
answers he got did not satisfy his inquiring mind. However, if the
Bible was inspired by the same person who created the universe, it
should be able to answer this query to some satisfaction.
But what if what we always thought we knew about the Bible was nothing
like it really is? And though Christianity and the Bible have always
been portrayed synonymously, what would happen if we discovered they
are not the same???
Although depicted mostly as a 'religious' book, the Bible is really
more a book of 'science'. The reason why Christianity and other
Bible-based religions often disagree on doctrine is because the
interpreters attempt to explain that which must be
'self-interpreting'. Contained within the Bible itself is the method
for interpretation. This methodology is scientifically sound and
refutes many long-held foundational Bible-based doctrines.
horizontal rule
Mr. Darwin – The Keen Observer:
Governing edicts in early U.S. universities were often established by
church clergymen who genuinely and sincerely believed there were
certain things about God and creation which were beyond question. But
things changed and leaders of higher learning began to realize that
freedom to question all things is a necessary step to arriving at
'truth'. And...
... middle of paper ...
...re are those in both camps who will at
least hear a person out before making a judgment.
I have as my personal consolation men of history like Galileo who
said, "I do not feel obliged to believe that the same god who has
endowed us with sense, reason and intellect has intended us to forgo
their use." Although Galileo was a prominent citizen of his time, his
ideas were suppressed by the church and in a very real sense he became
a martyr for truth because he defended nature. He was put under house
arrest by the church because he had good reason to believe the earth
revolved around the sun rather than the then popular belief that the
earth was the center of the galaxy.
Influential institutions in any age must be careful of how they wield
their power or they will inevitably end up apologizing to future
generations.
The Bible was one of the most important pieces of text during Galileo’s lifetime. If you went against what the Bible stated then you were considered to be a heretic. The Bible indicated that the earth was in the center of the universe and the sun and the other planets revolve around it. a theory known as the geocentric model. Many scientists argued against this theory by stating that actually the sun was in the center of the universe and the earth and the other planets revolved around the sun, this theory was known as the heliocentric model. Nicolas Copernicus was one of the first out of many scientists who publically shared this theory. Later Giordano Bruno also supported this theory and because of this the Church ordered him to be burned
In his Letter to The Grand Duchess Christina, Galileo challenged the widely accepted religious beliefs of the time, claiming that the conflict lies in their interpretation, not the context. In Galileo’s eyes science was an extremely useful tool that could and should have been used in interpreting the Scriptures. He argued that “the intention of the Holy Ghost is to teach us how one goes to heaven not how heaven goes” (Grand Duchess). The purpose of science was not to counter what the bible teaches; rather its purpose was to help explain the teachings of the scriptures. Furthermore, it was “prudent to affirm that the holy Bible can never speak untruth-whenever its true meaning is understood” (Grand Duchess). However, because of the terminology in which the bible was presented the perception of what the Scripture defined as truth was skewed. The Bible was written so that the common man could understand it and follow its commandments. The people also showed a greater inte...
Chapter 3, The Bible, Creation, and Science by Robert Branson, PhD presented some interesting aspects of biblical interpretations relative to science. “With the rapid changes and developments that all areas of modern science produce, it is a general belief that if an informed person is made to choose between science or the Bible, science will be chosen.” (loc 647 Kindle, Branson) Dr. Branson tries and explain the three positions people take with biblical studies. The three positions examined by Dr. Branson are 1. Concordance, 2. Young-Earth Creati...
...cided to condemn Galileo’s work. While it does not discredit God’s power or the Bible, the overall tone of the scientist’s letter is quite sarcastic towards the clergy. While defending his first argument, Galileo appears to undermine the intellectual capabilities of his opponents. He implies that those who interpret the Holy Writ word for word belong to the “common people” whom he describes as “rude and unlearned”, and that other “wise expositors” should be the ones who search for the true meaning of the Bible. Galileo makes a similar implication while presenting his second argument, when he writes that the purpose of the Holy Scriptures is “infinitely beyond the comprehension of the common people”. The Catholic Church likely viewed these claims as an attempt to weaken its authority, which would explain why Galileo’s discoveries were condemned for nearly 300 years.
In order to continue our discussion of the legitimate philosophical, scientific, and religious aspects of the science and religion quagmire we need a frame of reference to guide us. What I present here is an elaboration on a classification scheme proposed by Michael Shermer. (5) Shermer suggests that there are three worldviews, or "models," that people can adopt when thinking about science and religion. According to the same worlds model there is only one reality and science and religion are two different ways of looking at it. Eventually both will converge on the same final answers, within the limited capabilities of human beings to actually pursue such fundamental questions. The conflicting worlds model asserts that there is only one reality (as the same world scenario also acknowledges) but that science and religion collide head on when it comes to the shape that reality takes. Either one or the other is correct, but not both (or possibly neither, as Immanuel Kant might have argued). In the separate worlds model science and religion are not only different kinds of human activities, but they pursue entirely separate goals. Asking about the similarities and differences between science and religion is the philosophical equivalent of comparing apples and oranges. "These are two such different things," Shermer told Sharon Begley in Newsweek's cover story "Science Finds God," "it would be like using baseball stats to prove a point in football."
In the case of evolution and the origin of life, the biblical account is challenged by evolution theory. Perfectly inspired yet imperfectly written (and interpreted,) the biblical account is believed to be true by the religious....
Throughout history, conflicts between faith and reason took the forms of religion and free thinking. In the times of the Old Regime, people like Copernicus and Galileo were often punished for having views that contradicted the beliefs of the church. The strict control of the church was severely weakened around the beginning of the nineteenth century when the Old Regime ended. As the church's control decreased, science and intellectual thinking seemed to advance. While the people in the world became more educated, the church worked harder to maintain its influential position in society and keep the Christian faith strong. In the mid-nineteenth century, the church's task to keep people's faith strong became much harder, due to theories published by free thinkers like Charles Darwin, Charles Lyell, David Friedrich Strauss, and others. These men published controversial theories that hammered away at the foundation on which the Christian church was built. As the nineteenth century progressed, more doubts began to arise about the basic faiths of the Christian church.
First, I will demonstrate Stephen Jay Gould’s argument against the overlapping between science and religion, which is as follows:
For centuries now Christians have claimed to possess the special revelation of an omnipotent, loving Deity who is sovereign over all of His creation. This special revelation is in written form and is what has come to be known as The Bible which consists of two books. The first book is the Hebrew Scriptures, written by prophets in a time that was before Christ, and the second book is the New Testament, which was written by Apostles and disciples of the risen Lord after His ascension. It is well documented that Christians in the context of the early first century were used to viewing a set of writings as being not only authoritative, but divinely inspired. The fact that there were certain books out in the public that were written by followers of Jesus and recognized as being just as authoritative as the Hebrew Scriptures was never under debate. The disagreement between some groups of Christians and Gnostics centered on which exact group of books were divinely inspired and which were not. The debate also took place over the way we can know for sure what God would have us include in a book of divinely inspired writings. This ultimately led to the formation of the Biblical canon in the next centuries. Some may ask, “Isn’t Jesus really the only thing that we can and should call God’s Word?” and “Isn’t the Bible just a man made collection of writings all centered on the same thing, Jesus Christ?” This paper summarizes some of the evidences for the Old and New Testament canon’s accuracy in choosing God breathed, authoritative writings and then reflects on the wide ranging
In today’s society, many topics create a very substantial amount of controversy between different groups of people. From abortion to the healthcare reform, there are countless topics of discussion. One of the major and ongoing controversial topics in the religious society is the Big Bang theory versus Creation. One side of the controversy is, predominately, the scientific community, with the other end obviously being the religious community.
When children start school, at an early age, they become directly influenced by teachers that living organisms are evolving from others, so they tend to believe it while growing up, even if they know the Bible’s story is different. Personally, for the longest time, I contemplated what to believe because my school teachers were telling me one thing while my bible school teachers were telling me another. Evolution can have a significant influence on how you put together the pieces in the Bible or whether you believe the creation story at the beginning. Whereas, if children are brought up in a Christian school their views may change how they see the bible verse how someone in a public-school system sees it. Everyone has their own story that will influence their perspective of the world around them, especially interpreting the
As we have read in past weeks, the church didn’t like the idea of Galileo and other astronomers endorsing the idea of a heliocentric universe, because this went against the belief that God placed the earth at the center of everything. Even when scientific knowledge progressed through legitimate, fact-based evidence, the church was often more inclined to disregard those findings in favor of what they were used to. When something brought their beliefs into question, it would have almost been something of a knee-jerk reaction to assume that the church was being attacked. In a way, it’s as if the mindset of the church could have been summed up with the old adage, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” In the minds of many of the religious leaders and other adherents, their beliefs had been working for generation after generation, so changing things now would have seemed ludicrous at best. Why make changes if it’s worked so
'In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep; and the Spirit of God was moving over the face of the waters. And God said, "Let there be light"; and there was light…'(Gen 1:1.5) '…then the LORD God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being. '(Gen 2:7) This part from the bible is a typical example of what people used to believe before scientists came and gave logical explanations to the questions of mankind.It is possible, of course, to define a non-supernatural "religious" worldview that is not in conflict with science. But in all of its traditional forms, the supernatural religious worldview makes the assumption that the universe and its inhabitants have been designed and created by "forces" or beings which transcend the material world. The material world is postulated to reflect a mysterious plan originating in these forces or beings, a plan which is knowable by humans only to the extent that it has been revealed to an exclusive few. Criticising or questioning any part of this plan is strongly discouraged, especially where it touches on questions of morals or ethics. Science, on the other hand, assumes that there are no transcendent, immaterial forces and that all forces which do exist within the universe behave in an ultimately objective or random fashion. The nature of these forces, and all other scientific knowledge, is revealed only through human effort in a dynamic process of inquiry. The universe as a whole is assumed to be neutral to human concerns and to be open to any and all questions, even those concerning human ethical relationships. Such a universe does not come to us with easy answers. We must come to it and be prepared to work hard. According to Thomas W. Clark science and religion are in a battle from the day that scientists got in the fields of the theologises
First off, it is important to realize that religion and science have to be related in some way, even if it is not the way I mentioned before. If religion and science were completely incompatible, as many people argue, then all combinations between them would be logically excluded. That would mean that no one would be able to take a religious approach to a scientific experiment or vice versa. Not only does that occur, but it occurs rather commonly. Scientists often describe their experiments and writings in religious terms, just as religious believers support combinations of belief and doubt that are “far more reminiscent of what we would generally call a scientific approach to hypotheses and uncertainty.” That just proves that even though they are not the same, religion and science have to be related somehow.
According to many philosophers science and religion provide the same kind of knowledge. In other words, the knowledge that is attained from science and religion is in direct competition with one another (Saucedo, n.d.). According to Galileo that is not the case. Galileo believed that the knowledge that science and religion provide us comes from two completely different realms. One has nothing to do with the other. Galileo believed in the heliocentric view. The belief that as humans we have the ability to understand things differently than how they might have been meant. Take for example when a person says “God is sick”. Someone might take it to mean that the person hates God. Another person who understands the term sick would know that what