Q11 - Why are Christians so stuck on believing their Bibles instead of science? |
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Regarding the nature of God, the question reveals either an ignorance concerning God or a denial of the nature of God and the Bible. God is omniscient. He has perfect knowledge (John 21.17, Heb 4.13). He never learns anything because he already knows everything. The Bible is the word of God, breathed out from the omniscient God (2 Tim 3.16) and all it affirms is true (Ps 119.160). Therefore as expected of knowledge coming from God who is perfect in knowledge, the Bible is wholly true and without error in all in affirms. This is known as the doctrine of inerrancy. Now, given the nature of God and the inerrant nature of the Bible, when considering also the nature of science I can make the following statements about my faith in the Bible and general faith in science: I can confidently affirm and believe in everything that the Bible affirms and teaches. Because as I noted above, the Bible is correct and without error in all it affirms. Those who believers that science is the only way to know truth (an error called scientism) cannot affirm and believe in everything that science teaches. I know that, and whether or not you acknowledge it, you know that too. It's obvious because science is always evolving, always correcting itself. That's part of the scientific process.[1] Thus every time it makes a correction, it's confessing that a previous scientific "fact" or "truth" was wrong and thus not a "fact" at all. Let me point out some now obvious errors that were corrected to drive home the point. Let's consider first a theory for the origin of life: spontaneous generation. In the 4th century BC the Greek philosopher Aristotle espoused it. It was good "science" for thousands of years. "Cosmos A SpaceTime Odyssey" host and anti-Christian atheist Neil deGrasse Tyson in a documentary on the origin of life discussing spontaneous generation [2] chuckles that it was once believed, saying:
The segment goes on to demonstrate Louis Pasteur's experiment that decisively proved that the "science" of spontaneous generation is false.[4] Yet they still don't know the origin of life. Here is Tyson's admission [5]of that and an appeal for help. Moving on, consider the theories concerning the movement of the heavenly bodies. For years, the scientifically accepted theory has the geocentric model - the belief that the earth was at the center of the universe. Copernicus proved that one false. Tyson in Cosmos discusses it here. [6] But that's old science you say. No one believes that anymore. And you'd be correct. You'd also be making my point for me: the point that science is constantly changing. It's constantly changing because it is frequently wrong. Want more recent "science"? How about all the scientists at the
height of the Covid-19 pandemic claiming that safe drugs like
Ivermectin and Hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) were not only ineffective
but dangerous and should not be taken? In fact they did all they
could to make it impossible to get the drugs. That was supposedly
the "science." Now they've had to make retractions. While the media, spurred on by "the science", was busy scaring people away from taking Ivermectin, claiming it was merely a "horse de-wormer", the province of Uttar Pradesh in India, with a population of 241 million in 2021 (about two-thirds that of the United States) essentially eradicated Covid-19 through the use of Ivermectin. Dr. Mark McDonald discusses that and the effectiveness of Ivermectin here. (video)[8] How about the "science" that is right now being proclaimed by those who are supposedly the best, brightest and most knowledgeable among us: Physicians. The AMA - The American Medical Association now advocates removing sex designation from public birth certificates. According to their website:
So we now have physicians - respected scientists and their officially recognized and respected organization the AMA - now telling us that the sex of a person is a designation and not permanent, and there is a "medical spectrum" for gender identity. That is today's science. (Not all scientists agree that sex is not permanent nor that there's a "medical spectrum" of gender. See here. In passing biological gender is not determined by gender identity. ) The new AMA stance contradicts what has been common knowledge in societies all around the world for as long as humans have been in existence. Their new stance also contradicts what the Bible says about humans being created "male and female." (Gen 1.27) Is it any surprise that Christians refuse to follow scientists that don't know the difference between males and females? I trust I have conclusively made the point that science, by it's nature is frequently wrong, and always needing to correct itself. Even now some scientists are denying basic facts about human physiology in appeasement of all those deceived concerning things in the sexual domain, from gender to sexuality to morality. So the proper question is not why are Christians stuck on believing the Bible - which has been shown time and again to be correct in all it affirms. The question is why do so many people believe fallible scientists, who have been wrong time and time again, who are paid by those with vested interests, and who themselves may have biases, and unwilling to admit what the evidence clearly shows? I would suggest it is because for many, science has taken the place of religion. And scientists are their modern day priests, whose homilies extol the latest theory for whoever is paying them. Such priests, if not defending their biases, proclaim whatever the company or person providing funding wants them to say regardless of what "the science" actually shows. You need not look far to see these dynamics of truth being hidden or the denying of scientific evidence at work. Besides vaccines and genders, there's evidence in the areas of climate change, origin of life questions, origin of SARS_CoV2 (the virus that causes Covid-19. Hint- it's not naturally occurring)[10], the age of the earth, and the origin of consciousness being just a few where the "science" has been obsured by partisan interests. This is not to say scientists are always wrong. But it does point out the need to examine what they're saying, look at their motives, (including who the paycheck is from) and check what they're saying against what other scientists are saying. And when possible check them against a standard that is never wrong. The only standard that contains truths that are never wrong is the Bible. That is why Christians will always uphold the truths proclaimed in the Bible - regardless of what fallible scientists, interested in keeping their jobs, grants, reputations or biases may say.
SummaryKey Principles 2. Science by it's nature is an iterative process. But scientists never know if the latest iteration is the final true and correct one, or just another iteration in the process. And they cannot know unless they have a perfect standard against which to judge their theories. There exists such a standard (the Bible), but most scientists reject it considering it outside the realm of science. 3. Many scientific disciplines have been captured by the sponsors who provide grants or (as in the case of pharmaceuticals) by those who bankroll both the advertisers and the regulators who are supposed to regulate the researching companies and protect the people. Such conflicts of interest are increasing common, and the "science" coming out of that environment is obviously not objective and possibly not true. (It does tend to be profitable however.)
Notes 1.
For a definition and diagram of the scientific method, see my
article: "Evolution; Not Science, Pseudoscience", 5/6/2016 3.
Neil deGrasse Tyson, How
Life Began,
History Channel Documentary, 2008 4. Pasteur's Experiment ref: How
Life Began,
History Channel Documentary, 2008 5.Neil deGrasse Tyson - no one
knows the origin of life. 6.Tyson on Copernicus, ref:
Cosmos: A SpaceTime Odyssey Ep. 1 "Standing Up In The Milkyway"
National Geographic documentary, 2014 7. Jim Holt, "After 440,000
Americans are Dead - Facebook and American Journal of Medicine Admit
Their Stand on HCQ was Wrong - These People should be Prosecuted",
The Gateway Pundit, Jan 28, 2021,
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2021/01/440000-americans-dead-facebook-american-journal-medicine-admit-stand-hcq-wrong-people-prosecuted/
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