I think it’s human nature to believe in something and get wrapped up in it emotionally-perhaps because God made us this way so that we could wrapped up in good things that have to do with Him, get wrapped up with He Himself, and not get wrapped up with evil things.
Unfortunately, human beings that God made upright became ‘twisted’ because from one generation to the next they kept getting further from God until the world was filled with evil. Yet, people still have a conscience and a sense of right and wrong or things would be worse (though their sense of right and wrong is often inaccurate and is certainly not a 100% trustworthy guide because people are flawed).
The way I hear a lot of people talk about science these days they sound as if it’s more than past and present research and the conclusions of that research-they sound as if science is something that they believe in and something they hope in and perhaps something greater than flawed humans even though it’s limited by the limitations of the human mind.
I think Science is like a hammer. You can use it to build a house for someone so they have shelter and a nice house to enjoy or you can hit them with that hammer, murder them, and take all their possessions. It depends upon the heart and mind of the person who is holding the hammer. We might also say that it depends upon the strength (intelligence) of the person wielding it. Science gave us nuclear weapons which can potentially destroy every person and every animal in the world in a short period of time. Science gave us pollution which poisons the air, the water, and the ground. Science made wars and accidents far more dangerous than they ever were and in the future the danger will likely be even greater. So before someone thinks ‘I believe in science’ and ‘I trust in science’ that person should ask ‘do I trust in humanity?’ Because science is not independent of humanity and it is as flawed as humanity is.
**I am not saying that after the world fell into sin and time and technology progressed to the point it’s at now that governments should not have technologically advanced weapons to protect themselves or perhaps help protect other governments, but I am saying that if people’s hearts and minds had not fallen into sin in the first place, none of these weapons would have existed, and I am also saying that science is not our savior-science has the potential to kill us all. God is our savior and I wish that all scientists and government leaders would be people of great integrity, empathy, ability, love, all-around good moral character, and who recognize the value of Christian faith and what it contributes to the world. Indeed, I believe the often dominant values of the ancient pre-Christian world where the leader of the empire was often treated as if he is greater than God and as if he was a god, and where their values were largely ‘might makes right’-these values have been seriously challenged since the coming of Jesus Christ and since His teachings have been spreading throughout the world. The teachings did not turn the world into a utopia because most people either don’t know them very well or don’t follow them very well, but the world would have been so much worse had it remained the way it was before Jesus came. I believe that much of our modern ideas about right and wrong, justice, equality, fairness, law and order, and so much more were strongly influenced (though not completely influenced) by teachings from the Bible as these ideas developed and changed over time. The spreading the gospel of Jesus also effectively popularized the content of the Old Testament throughout the world as well. People don’t think about this much, in part I think because when we study history in school, we usually don’t spend much time studying about what the world was like 2,100-5,500 years ago. So, we are more familiar with the tyranny of medieval times when the Church was largely corrupt and less familiar with the greater tyranny and greater brutality of the ancient preChristian world. Ours history has been a cycle of pain and Jesus is the true Savior of all humanity. He is the one we should put our trust in. And He can give government leaders the wisdom to rule wisely and with integrity, but no this does not mean that every government leader who calls himself or herself a Christian is ruling with integrity or being enabled by God. I think it would be better to have a nonChristian government leader who rules wisely and with integrity than one who is Christian and does not. But, better than both would be a Christian one who rules wisely and with integrity and with God’s help. Well, that’s my opinion regarding who I think would be a good leader, but maybe some of you think differently.
Whether scientific knowledge brings about improvements in things like medical or agricultural technology that can help people or bring about new ways of exploiting and endangering billions of people depends upon the hearts and minds of those that are funding and/or carrying out the research. And this is why it’s so dangerous to try to get God out of people’s lives and out of cultures that were previously more influenced by the Bible. Because the further people get away from God the more evil their hearts and minds will become. When I was a child people were more friendly and cared more about others. But I’ve noticed that in the area where I live, people seem more selfish, more materialistic, more self-absorbed, more unfriendly, more self-righteous, more unreasonable, more subjective, and more and more people seem to ‘put up a wall’ to keep out any points of view that don’t suite their personal tastes which I think is part of the reason why the USA is so divided now. Well, no one likes to get punched in the stomach so please excuse me if those words felt like a punch to some. Sometimes we have to figure out what’s wrong in order to start working on making it right.
I was mistakenly raised by our culture to think that strictly believing in the Bible or believing in the whole Bible is foolish, backward, ignorant, immoral, counter-productive, and unscientific-and I thought all this without reading the New Testament even once or giving the Bible a fair chance. If a person has strong opinions about fixing cars and yet knows almost nothing about being a mechanic you’d think that persons opinions don’t make much sense, but somehow I once had strong negative opinions about the Bible without really knowing much about it. It’s a common fallacy these days-one I fell into myself in the past. Now I appreciate the Bible and see how much good it does in the world.
Science can be used for either ‘good’ or ‘evil’ depending upon the hearts and minds of those who are doing the research and making the technology. The Bible and the Holy Spirit teach human beings to have good hearts and minds and to keep improving their hearts and minds toward others and toward God. This makes the world a better place to live in and a less dangerous place to live in. Not that people should be forced to do this, but that they should be encouraged to do this rather than being discouraged from doing this to the great harm of humanity. No doubt there are some gaps in the points I made here, but you can fill them in yourself.
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