May 06, 2005
Opinion: , Weblogs:
Before you do something you'll regret in your righteous outrage...
By Jack Grant...think a moment about what the true teachings of God are.
Stephen, aka The Commissar at The Politburo Diktat has posted his "Personal Notes on Human Evolution".
I felt compelled to add to his post in the comments, and what I wrote is reproduced below:
Stephen, to add a wee bit to your essay:The basis of science is forming hypotheses that are provable or disprovable given the available evidence.
As new evidence (which in the case of the distant past will always be incomplete) becomes available, the currently favored hypotheses and paths for human evolution will change.
That is the virtue of science. It changes to meet the available facts. This process is not without its flaws and foibles that are a result of human vanity and fallibility, but it is the best we can do given our imperfections.
Science does NOT try to refute the possibility of the existence of God. Science merely tries to find self-consistent explanations for physical phenomena based upon observable evidence that can be used to prove or disprove hypotheses.
Science is NOT in opposition to God. Any opposition is created by those who seek an opponent to gain power for themselves.
Therefore, it is important to question the motivations of those who are trying to say "Evolution is evil" or "Science denies the existence of a creator" when it does not.
Unfortunately, when matters of faith are involved, faith is placed in people who claim to have a hotline into the word of God, instead of faith in the Word of God that is documented in books such as the Holy Bible or the Koran (with the faith in people who claim to hold the truth rather than the actual teachings causing so much harm on 11 September 2001).
But the lessons are rarely learned, for faith is never rational, even when God says it should be.
Over and over we have seen the results of following men who claim to have a direct line into the word of God, be they Oral Roberts, Jim Bakker, Jerry Falwell, Pete Robertson, Osama bin Laden, or whoever, despite the discrediting of their true intentions, despite the failings of their self-proclaimed knowledge of will of God, they are still followed.
Repeatedly, they are shown to be charlatans or worse.
Yet, they continue to make an impact, in some cases on our very system of government.
Jesus himself said, "Render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's; and unto God the things that are God's."
What exactly do you think this means?
It does NOT mean to impose and enforce your interpretations and will upon everyone else, claiming it is the will of God.
Look at the history of the early Christian churches for examples of what is truly Christan behavior before following these false prophets.
Take care, for God truly does understand what your intentions and motivations are, and in the end there will be no appeal from His judgment.
Technorati Tags: opinion, Christianity, religious right
Posted by Jack Grant at 19:20 on 6 May 2005I've always been leery of those who insist that science has no place in God's world. In fact, I believe that even evolution has it's place. I do not feel any less a believer for admitting that I simply do not know how God came to create all that he did.
I don't even know how much I don't know.
Neither does anyone else.
I have this picture in my mind of those who know-it-all arriving in heaven and hearing the words, "Now, let me tell you what really happened!"
Posted by: jmflynny at May 7, 2005 06:05 AMRe "It does NOT mean to impose and enforce your interpretations and will upon everyone else, claiming it is the will of God."
I admit it is an easy trap, even for the extraordinary among us, to confuse our desired view with God's. For me, it is shown in that after yet another "God does not play dice with the universe" expostulation by Einstein, seeking to denigrate quantum mechanics, his friemd Bohrs wearily begged "Albert, stop telling God what to do."
Creationists are telling God what to do: science asks God about what HE has done.
