Growing up, the only science I was really interested in was science fiction. For me, the anatomy of aliens was far more fascinating than the anatomy of celery, so I didn't really care about science in school. Sure, there were times when we got to do neat stuff like dissect frogs or take apart owl pellets, but science in and of itself never grabbed my attention. To be fair, neither did math. Or history. Or economics. P.E. was cool.
My initial point is this: the thoughts I share below aren't steeped in scientific education per se, but I hope the idea comes across in a meaningful way.
And so I begin.
As much as I can recall, science and faith have always seemed to be at odds with one another.
Yet it wasn't always this way.
The great minds of scientific history were also some of the great theologians of their time.
Isaac Newton, Blaise Pascal, Johannes Kepler, and others had a deep conviction about their faith in God.
The argument could be made that these men were religious simply because of their culture.
It's my opinion, however, that science itself had a large and strengthening impact on their faith.
For different reasons, however, it seems to me that in today's culture, serious scientific thought cannot include faith in God.
And I think what's happened in the field of science is that the wonder of discovery has given way to the cold realism of figuring something out.
When something is discovered, the heart rejoices and holds in awe whatever it is that was uncovered.
Yet, when something is figured out, the heart grows prideful at what it's accomplished.
I believe Science used to be about discovery. And when something wonderful was discovered, the praise and glory of that discovery when up towards the Creator for making such a wonderful thing.
Yet the Creator has been pushed aside, and now, instead of working towards awe and wonder at why things work the way they do, we simply want to know how.
We're not interested in the passage of time so much as we're interested in knowing how the clock works.
And when we figure out how something works, instead of discovering more about it (and as a result, more of God) then we generate a false sense of ownership about that particular thing.
Instead of having a sense of awe and wonder about the beginning of life itself, and the possibilities and ramifications that life may have here on Earth, we take ownership of that life, claiming to understand how it functions instead of accepting the truths of why it exista. And so we can justify terminating that life at our will, because it belongs to us.
Do you see the difference between discovery and figuring it out?
Discovery leaves no room for pride. Figuring it out, however, creates the perfect atmosphere for it.
Well it's late and I'm tired.
I hope these ramblings made a little bit of sense.
