I received notice of a movie that Brian Godawa co-wrote about the Scopes Monkey Trial (1925), called ALLEGED. I tlooks to be a promising and accurate portrayal of the events that had such an impact on American Society.
Kevin Kelly
From “Q” Ideas For The Common Good I wanted to make available a video by Kevin Kelly called Christianity In 1000 Years. Of this talk Q says:
How would you engage differently if you had a long-term view of the church’s existence in society? If Jesus doesn’t return tomorrow, then what is the scenario for the next 1,000 years of Christianity? Kevin Kelly’s plausible scenarios are guaranteed to expand, challenge, and boggle your mind.
For those who know me very well at all, you know that I consider the Christian view of Creation (in six ordinary days) to be a necessary component of the Christian worldview. I know that such an opinion is largely unpopular today (both outside, and sadly, inside the Church). But without the doctrine of Creation firmly placed in our hearts and minds, we have little to offer the world around us. For without it, we have no transcendent God whose word is reliable, and no firm basis upon which to build a true understanding of the world around us (including the sciences). Moreover, by it we have a basis for a universal and beneficial ethics for all of life.
David Berlinski was interviewed by Peter Robinson of the Hoover Institute. He is an astonishing presenter of the foolishness of those who say “There is no God” (Ps. 14), and the plausibility of the biblical creation account. Although Berlinski comes across as agnostic in the above clip, his clear and careful logic form a compelling philosophical basis to argue for biblical creation – and to seriously mistrust the prevailing popular beliefs in both atheistic evolution and the infallibility of science and scientific confidence in Naturalism.
“ The fool has said in his heart,“There is no God.” They are corrupt, They have done abominable works, There is none who does good. The Lord looks down from heaven upon the children of men, To see if there are any who understand, who seek God. They have all turned aside, They have together become corrupt; There is none who does good, No, not one. Have all the workers of iniquity no knowledge, Who eat up my people as they eat bread, And do not call on the Lord? There they are in great fear, For God is with the generation of the righteous. You shame the counsel of the poor, But the Lord is his refuge. Oh, that the salvation of Israel would come out of Zion! When the Lord brings back the captivity of His people, Let Jacob rejoice and Israel be glad.” (Psalm 147, NKJV)
Here is a fascinating video that demonstrates how life expectancy and wealth have grown over the last 200 years.
As the gospel traveled throughout the world following the Protestant Reformation – so did the blessings of wealth and improved human life. In the following video we have a dramatic presentation of the improvements made to human life: Hans Rosling’s 200 Countries, 200 Years, 4 Minutes – The Joy of Stats
It took the church hundreds of years to develop the full vision and motivation of the gospel is the cause so many of the blessings to be experienced in the world. I confess that I remain yet unclear about the historical connections between Protestantism and Enlightenment, and how together these milestones in history have been used by God. But it seems clear that something significant happened through them in the 200 years following them.
Surely, the prophecy of Mary in the Magnificat (Luke 1:46–55) is found to be coming to fruition in the world:
46And Mary said: “My soul magnifies the Lord,
47And my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior.
48For He has regarded the lowly state of His maidservant; For behold, henceforth all generations will call me blessed.
49For He who is mighty has done great things for me, And holy is His name.
50And His mercy is on those who fear Him From generation to generation.
51He has shown strength with His arm; He has scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts.
52He has put down the mighty from their thrones, And exalted the lowly.
53He has filled the hungry with good things, And the rich He has sent away empty.
54He has helped His servant Israel, In remembrance of His mercy,
55As He spoke to our fathers, To Abraham and to his seed forever.”
In a New York Post online article entitled Meltdown of the climate ‘consensus’, the first line makes an assertion worth considering: “If this keeps up, no one’s going to trust any scientists.”
The article is specifically about the issue of man-caused global warming, and the notion that “the best scientists” are 1) not unified on the question, and 2) fighting among each other about which side is engaged in pseudo-science and downright public deception, and 3) loosing the confidence of the worldwide audience who are witnessing the confusion.
I , for my part, don’t know what to think. How could I? What do I know about the science, one way or another? What I am inclined to is a robust mistrust of the man-caused global warming crowd and their pronouncements because of their underlying assumptions and worldviews. However, I generally wonder whether the presuppositions and worldviews of the anti- man-caused global warming crowd are any better. More often than not – it seems more like a political debate and less of a scientific one anyway.
But what about the question posed earlier? Will people stop trusting scientists altogether? And what would be the result if they did?
The materialist assumptions that modern culture has about the nature of reality promotes a general trust of science as a more reliable arbiter and establisher of truth than religious authorities (e.g. the Christian Bible). If there is nothing authoritative outside of our material world that can give us truth, who better to provide authoritative pronouncements of truth than scientists (of all kinds)? Because our culture has not given up on its materialist worldview in favor of another – I think it unlikely that people will stop trusting scientists generally.
What about us Christians? Should we trust scientists?
As far as I’m concerned, science should be viewed as an important gift from God. It is a method that is used to help us learn things about God’s work of creation. It has provided a means of developing many technologies that have been good and useful in our world (as well as some pretty useless and poorly and sinfully used ones). However, not all that science determines to be true is indeed true. Further research, testing and analysis often over turn previously announced “scientific facts.” Science is not an infallible source of knowledge and truth – Therefore, it should not be treated as one. It must be remembered that rebellious men suppress the truth of God (both in the Bible and in creation) in their unrighteousness.
Thus, Christians can and should be scientists. Christians should receive with thanksgiving the gifts that God gives to us through the works of scientists. Christians should learn about the work of scientists to better understand our world, worship God more gratefully, and provide scientists with insight about what is being learned. Christians should reject any scientific claims that contradict the Scriptures. Because scientific truth claims are often later determined to be erroneous, Christians, therefore, should exhibit patience and let time and more scientific work help us to understand the truth of the specific claims. In other words, we cannot allow ourselves to be tossed about by every whim of scientific doctrine – but constant in faith and faithfulness; and exhibit biblical wisdom in the use of the products of the scientific endeavor.
An increasing healthy mistrust of “scientists” generally in our culture would be a good thing, in my opinion. They would be forced to limit their statements of truth, be more careful in their research and conclusions, and be less willing to engage in thinking more highly of themselves than they ought. We have such a mistrust of politicians, lawyers, etc – and I believe it does us a great deal of good by causing us to hold them accountable in significant ways for their truth claims. There are certainly good and godly men in all fields of human endeavor, but the works of both the godly and the wicked need to be tested by the truth of God’s Word – our final authority for all truth.
Hits
