Board index ‹ Science and the Bible

[Exchecker]

Is the practice of scientific method an inherently Satanic act?

Scientific method involves the creation of alternative and null hypotheses, devising an experimental condition in which one would expect differing results in each case, carrying out the experiment, then critically analysing the results to inform the creation of a new hypothesis.

I'm aware that Christianity does not necessarily punish questioning of God's word and acknowledges that all Christians will have some doubt in the Word of God at points throughout their lives. However, it does seem to view these doubts as a flaw in the human condition, and something that ideally should be avoided. The common example that I've heard is that Jesus, being the ideal standard that every Christian should aspire towards, never doubted God, even when he was condemned to an agonising death.

Christian rhetoric also seems to embody Satan in any appeal to 'tempt' people to question the legitimacy of God's Word, and any attempt to test the truth behind God's assertions in the Bible is seen as a failure of faith driven by temptation from Satan. The implication of this seems to me that Christianity explains any form of critical analysis by humans as a product of Satanic influence.

In fact, the very concept of faith as it was explained to me is that we will never truly know God's plan, and the practice of faith is trusting, without tangible evidence, that God's Word is correct. So what is faith if it is not the practice of accepting something as the truth without critically analysing it? And does this mean that critical analysis and faith are in fact diametrically opposing concepts?

[jimwalton]

I tend to think you're wrapped up in a caricature or stereotype of Christianity, and not in truth. Science is awesomely good. Science is a way of honestly investigating and understanding God's fantastic creation. Science is actually a divine act of "ruling and subduing" the Earth. Christianity never deprecates asking questions, learning, and probing all about life.

> the practice of faith is trusting, without tangible evidence, that God's Word is correct.

This is patently false. In the Bible, faith is all about evidence. God appears to Moses in a burning bush before He expects him to believe. He gave signs to take back to Pharaoh and the Israelite people, so they could see the signs before they were expected to believe. So also through the whole OT. In the NT, Jesus started off with turning water into wine, healing some people, casting out demons, and then he taught them about faith. And they couldn't possibly understand the resurrection until there was some evidence to go on.

When you read the Bible, people came to Jesus to be healed because they had heard about other people who had been healed. They had seen other people whom Jesus had healed. People had heard him teach. Their faith was based on evidence. Jesus kept giving them new information, and they gained new knowledge from it. Based on that knowledge, they acted with more faith. People came to him to make requests. See how it works? My belief in God is based on my knowledge of the credibility of those writings, the logic of the teaching, and the historical evidence behind it all. The resurrection, for instance, has evidences that give it credibility that motivate me to believe in it. My faith in the resurrection is an assumption of truth based on enough evidence that makes it reasonable to hold that assumption. Jesus could have just ascended to heaven, the disciples figured out that he had prophesied it, and went around telling people He rose. But that's not what happened. He walked around and let them touch him, talk to him, eat with him, and THEN he said, "Believe that I have risen from the dead."

• In Matthew 8.4 Jesus encourages the man he just healed to go show the evidence that it was true.
• John 14.11 (and also 17.8): Jesus encouraged people to verify the evidences
• Heb. 11.1: Faith is based on evidences
• Romans 1.20 (the passage you mentioned). There are evidences, and we shouldn't be afraid to investigate them.

And I also believe that skepticism, doubt, and questioning are what motivates us to learn. When I'm pushed is when I'll dig. When I'm confused is when I work hard to figure it out. It has led to a much deeper and confident Christianity for me.

There is an organization of scientists who are Christians (http://www.biologos.org) whose members are some of the top scientists in the world (Francis Collins of the NIH and the human genome project, Jennifer Wiseman who is in charge of the Hubble Telescope, etc.). The scientific method is definitely not an inherently Satanic act.