Wednesday, August 08, 2012

Science Should Affirm Only What I Already Believe

Christians like science as long as it says nothing about the doctrine of creation (cosmology). Science can give us cool pictures of Mars, the cure for cancer, or a microwave oven, but don't mess our D.O.C! To such a thing, many Christians refuse to be honest, closing their eyes and ears. That's the irony Dr. Katherine Sonderegger points out in the paragraph below.

Incidentally, so far in Mapping Modern Theology, hers is by far the best chapter.

"Most Christians in the modern era have taken in stride scientific findings when applied to medicine or agriculture or urban life: Christians too hope for a medical breakthrough in the curing of disease, or breathe easier when a camera discovers miners trapped deep within a collapsing shaft, or feel relief when finally the lights spring back to life after a major storm. The technological reach of modern science - though in itself a worry for many Christian ecologists - has not been seen on the whole as a threat to Christian dogma. But it is otherwise with cosmology - and with evolution - the modern biological account of the genesis of animal and human species on earth. These are neuralgic [see definition below] points in the modern Christian doctrine of creation, and many, in the English-speaking world especially, when they hear of the scientific doctrine of the origin of all things and of humankind, still find it 'a cruel task to be honest.'"

*Neuralgic - "Sharp and paroxysmal [or sudden] pain along the course of a nerve." Imagine you have a cavity and keep breathing in air really fast.

What do you think?

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