by mindmelda 73 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
There is no conflict between science and faith (not religion) though; not in my opinion.
That depends on what you mean by faith. If you mean a beleif in an invisible higher power then I agree science has no tools to investigate that. If you include all sorts of assertions aout the natural world as part of your faith then there are irreconcilable differences.
Cofty I thought the genesis of your disbelief was the tsunami of 2004 rather than a dispassionate analysis of the evidence out of the blue. I had a reaction to that event too. Emotions and personal experience play a large part in our beliefs, and none the worse for that. I don't see the point in pretending we can attain objectivity.
The tsunami was one of the triggers that motivated me to begin a long process to investigate objectively, just as the generation change of '94 was the trigger that motivated me to investigate my JW beliefs.
In both cases the jury was out for a long period of time until sufficient facts were in.
I'm speaking of science as an authoritative collective, not scientific methodology, which I have no issue with, and never have. For god's sake, know it's a set of disciplines.
Unfortunately, in the minds of Joe Average, science is an authority, a collective, it's smart guys in white coats that use mysterious means unknown to them to figure out things. Frankly, people who say "science" in worshipful tones are as unthinking as those who say "Jesus" or "Jehovah" in such, if it's because someone else coerced them to think it by virtue of status or peer pressure. Some people simply accept science because they're afraid to look stupid if they don't. That's a poor reason to accept anything.
Science might as well BE magic to the ignorant. That is why you have to keep them from turning science into mindless religion too. Do you think evolution is a growing body of scientific evidence and theory trying to figure out how life changed and adapted to this world, or do you just think it's right because a guy you think is smarter than you, your 8th grade biology teacher, said it?
If you answered "B" then you're like a lot of the kids I've taught.
I haven't bitten any hands that fed me. I teach and have taught scientific method to my now grown kids, and I also taught them to think for themselves. I'm qualified to teach biology, psychology, physics and chemistry on a high school level and have. I have also done private tutoring on those subjects.
I'm glad I'm not living in a cave, have electricity and central heating, know how magnets work and wish we'd better utilize science to solve some of our more serious problems, which it could better do if we weren't sharing the planet with people who would rather live in the Bronze Age by rules written down by men who were afraid to take a crap without asking the sky god first!
But if you can convince me that no scientist has ever been wrong ever because of abusing scientific methodology or succumbing to the profit motive, I'll start wearing a lab coat as religious garb, set up a statue of Stephen Hawkings and kiss it's toes daily, while pouring the blood of a chicken in a circle and dancing naked in front of it.
Cofty - I mean there is no conflict between a creator and science... there can only be a conflict between what we (mis)understand of one, or both.
I mean there is no conflict between a creator and science... there can only be a conflict between what we (mis)understand of one, or both - Tammy
If you are referring to a deist god who lit the blue touch paper and then retired I would agree. I suspect you mean much more than that though.
If you mean there is no conflict between science and the belief that humans are a special creation or that there is any evidence of intelligent design in nature then I'm afraid you are "saying peace when there is no peace."
I am saying that if there is a creator of all life and the universe, then he also created science and all the laws that come under it, and so it cannot be in conflict with him.
The only possible conflict could be in us, and our limited understanding (which grows, changes, takes a step back at times, etc)
Tammy
It's ironic that a thread that was supposed to be a discussion of WHY there are so many A vs C threads is actually turning into one...
V665
too True VampireDCLXV, too true.
People can't resist waving their camp flags.
GREAT thread (peace to you all!). Nothing to add, though, so please... do carry on!
A slave of Christ (but please don't count that as a "comment" because that really was not the intent, truly),
SA
