Monday, March 08, 2010

Science and Religion--Some Thoughts


Take a look at the amazing and beautiful pictures of distant outer-space scenes at the National Geographic site linked here.

In her book Walking on Water, Madeleine L’Engle says there is no conflict between science and religion. “All that the new discoveries of science can do is to enlarge our knowledge of the magnitude and glory of God’s creation. We may, and often do, abuse our discoveries, use them for selfish and greedy purposes, but it is the abuse which causes the conflict, not the discoveries themselves” (230).

Look at all the brouhaha over Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution. I am not going to say it is not true. It is a theory, and if it is true, that’s because it is the way God chose to do things. Darwin himself did not say his theory came into conflict with religious belief. Although he eventually declared himself to be an agnostic, he said these things:      

1.  "The mystery of the beginning of all things is insoluble by us...." 

2. “It seems to me absurd to doubt that a man may be an ardent Theist & an evolutionist.” (Letter to John Fordyce, May 7 1879)
3. “I hardly see how religion & science can be kept as distinct as [Edward Pusey] desires… But I most wholly agree… that there is no reason why the disciples of either school should attack each other with bitterness.” (Letter to J. Brodie Innes, November 27 1878)
4. “In my most extreme fluctuations I have never been an atheist in the sense of denying the existence of a God.” (Letter to John Fordyce, May 7 1879)
You can find these quotations at this site.


We can’t know everything about God. There’s much we do not know, in fact, even though we like to think we know just about everything important there is to know.  I am content to trust God and to know that he (not people) controls the universe.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Amen Sister Judy

I agree 100% with your last statement;
"We can’t know everything about God"

If we knew everything about God that would mean we would be equal with God. And that is ridiculous.

I have met a lot of people who think they are god, but they won't be dead 5 seconds before they realize how deceived they were. Sad but true

Tyson said...

Hi Judy, I 100% agree with you. Sometimes Christians can get defensive when they think science threatens their ideas about God and the Bible. I try to explain to them just what you've said here: true scientific discoveries don't threaten God, but only serve to glorify Him!

Unknown said...

Dinesh D'Souza addresses this subject very eloquently in his book Whats So Great About Christianity. Blessings,

Eden

Thorns and Myrtles
edenellis.wordpress.com

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