Science: Idolatry in Disguise

Being a fan of Mythbusters and an Engineering student, I get to hear a LOT about science, and have spent the past 4 years of my life learning how to apply scientific analysis to most any situation I encounter. Yet, in the last year, as I've begun to dig deeper and deeper into things, I've started to come across a series of trends I, to say the least, detest.

1: Evolution
I could harp on this for days, but because other people have, I'll try to keep this short. Far too many children I've known, myself included, have been deceived by either the full-blown version of evolution, or, in an attempt to reconcile their parents teachings of creationism and teachers teachings of evolution, theistic evolution. For theistic evolution, this idea is despairingly wrong as it violates the entire character and awful (meaning full of awe) power of God who is able to not only create this universe, but to create a mature and fully-functioning creation; God and evolution simply cannot coexist. Thus, evolution has to be based upon the fact that God doesn't exist, and man, being the highest evolved species, must struggle to determine truths using scientific reasoning. Yet, were a child to fully comprehend and believe evolution, they would almost certainly kill themselves because without God life is utterly meaningless (Eccl) and full of nothing but suffering; sorrow becomes the center of their being and happiness is naught but peripheral at best, while for the believer joy is central and sorrow is peripheral.

Ultimately, evolution serves the purpose of exalting man to the highest and removing God and His law from human concern. To add to this, evolution now is heavily associated with science since people have added scientific calculations for certain aspects of evolution, somehow giving credence to evolution and marrying it with science.

2: Academia
For those who may not know, the basic principle of academia is for a cultural advance to a higher state of knowledge. Yet the basis of the academia also sits on the fact that God does not exist, because men have to 'create new knowledge'. Even in my basic academic writing course, I was supposed to search for a knowledge 'deficit' and try to 'fill' it by 'creating' that knowledge. This principle has even leeched into many seminaries and could likely be linked to some liberal beliefs since many godly men have done well to explain biblical doctrine and commentate the bible over and over leaving little room for new ideas, yet people still need to come up with new ideas to fill our knowledge 'deficit' so they make up heresy based upon things they want rather than based upon sound biblical doctrine. (Note that this is not a blanket statement for all liberal theology, but is not dismissable altogether.)

The error of academia is that, like with evolution, man is highly exalted. In this case, as far being able to create truth and knowledge. Yet this also is irreconcilable with God because God has created everything (John 1:1-3)we can and cannot imagine knowing, and God Himself is truth. (John 14:6) The simple objective view of things is that truth and knowledge are either of man or of God. Given that God's word, the bible, is above reproof unlike the scientific community, and science cannot answer the core fundamental questions like, "Why am I here?" while God's word can, these evidences bear proof that truth is not of men, but of God. This leaves that man's self-exaltation is just the same as the idea purposed by Satan in Genesis 3: idolatry and the desire for power.

3: Scientific Worship
Especially apparent with Mythbusters, science is being held at a higher and higher state of authority, and has in fact been elevated to the point of being an idol; when people are looking for truth, they seek it from science, often referring to it as though it were a person. Yet I would say that this trend is less commonly noticed by Christians as science has led to many advances we consider to be beneficial; science seems to yields fruit for it's efforts.

Yet does science actually yield truth? I am of the opinion that it does not. For example, while science has done a great deal to characterize the phenomenon of motion, it has done practically nothing since the days of Zeno to explain the actual basis of motion. Many solutions have been proposed for his paradox, yet each solution has weaknesses and fails to fully answer the question without changing the question or yielding a greater dimension of complexity that must next be solved. If science cannot answer a question so 'simple' and basic, is science then so great? Also, if the fundamental part of motion cannot be explained by science, then how can we assume that any other part of kinetics, based upon an unproven phenomenon, is wholly true?
(Recommended Reading: Philosophy of Science and Belief in God, Gordon H. Clark)

At best, science can offer an approximation of characteristics of truth, but cannot itself offer truth; truth can only be found through revelation, and that by truth itself: God. Thus, for the many atheists waiting for empirical scientific proof of God, they are in fact waiting upon a contradiction. Similarly, if one says that there is no empirical proof of God, they are correct, but by contradiction rather than lack of proof. Another fundamental flaw in empirical scientific proof of God is that creation cannot fully reveal nor explain its creator. As a simple example, the AI I created to play Two-Connect-Two this past semester, while able to play the game better than any human I know, cannot be used to evidence anything about my being on it's own; it only bears any evidence of me because I've just said I created it, and if you don't believe that, then it bears absolutely no proof. Likewise, the laws of time, motion, etc cannot be used to evidence God, though the sheer fact of how these laws work together to sustain life could be considered an evidence of God.

The biggest danger in this point is a philosophy I read about in a book that is now 50 years old, as this philosophy is now making it's way into the church: skepticism. As philosophers have realized that science does not yield truth, they feel they have nowhere to turn since science is the only source of 'truth' they were willing to accept; rather than turning to God for truth, they just assume there is no absolute truth. Remind you any of the emergent cult? They have fallen into this philosophy, assuming that nothing can yield absolute truth, and instead seek to explain God's word with flawed human intellect and sentiment.

Conclusion
The main connecting theme of each of the points I have raised is man's desire to worship anything but God. Men have set up various ways by which we can worship ourselves (many of which are not included in this post) and science rather than God, violating the first commandment: "You shall have no other Gods before me." (Ex 20:3) Violation of this command rightly warrants the wrathful judgment of God.

I offer the following advice:

- Avoid these heresies as best as you possibly can. While it may not be possible to avoid being around them or studying them during an education, we are called to live in this world and yet to not live according to it; that's part of what it means to be holy and set apart unto God. However, I still think it wise not to completely avoid an education as studying these things can greatly reveal the wonder and awesome complexity of God's design. Science may not yield truth, but it still exhibits great utility.

- Know that absolute truth does exist. Yes men may not be able to empirically derive it, but that's because God is truth (Dt 32:4, John 14:6) and reveals Himself unto believers(Phil 3:15); that is to say, truth only comes through God-given revelation. If you seek this truth, spend time with God in prayer, and reading God's word(John 8:31-32, John 17:17).

- Follow the advice of Paul to Timothy: "Give attention to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine." (1 Tim 4:13b) That is to say, read and study your bible, spent time in intimate prayer with Jesus, spend time in fellowship with other Christians who are established in their walk whenever possible, and constantly test what you hear against the truth of the scriptures.

May God bless you, keep you from the snares of Satan, strengthen you by the trials of this world, and draw you into a closer walk with Him.

From the Ground Up

This site is spurred on by many sad trends that have been developing in the publicly portrayed church of today.

Originally, the purpose of the church was to spread the gospel of Jesus Christ to all the world: salvation through Jesus by faith alone. This was the greatest purpose of the church, and remains so today. The church suffered heavy persecution because they were heated as Jesus was, yet they persevered until Constantine embraced Christianity and gave birth to the Roman Catholic church, leading into the Dark Ages, followed by the Reformation and many other high and low points.

Now it seems that "church" in the public eye is no more than a cheap drama; pastors are 'coming out of the closet' or being accused of molesting children on regular intervals, members are held to practically no moral standard and Christians are most characterized by hypocrisy amongst non-Christians, just to name a few issues. Yet, these problems are not new to the church; the Jews were guilty of many of these sins and often suffered consequences for their actions, and Paul clearly discussed many such issues with the church in Corinth as well as in many of his other epistles. Why is it then that if these things are clearly condemned in the bible that the church is characterized by them?

The simplest and probably most obvious answer is a falling away from God's word into worldliness. God commanded His believers to be holy, separated unto Him, yet the latest approaches of the church have been to cater to unbelievers' needs to attract them and not offend them. The cost of this approach: the full truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ is no longer preached in many churches today.

That's why I want to go back to fundamentals. My goal with this blog is to eventually put forth explanations for as much of the gospel as I can, as well as to defend the Christian faith and bring forth heresies that may or may not be so obvious.

Enjoy!