Commonalities?
But then there are many things science can’t actually prove at this time, yet scientist believe they exist. Take life on other planets for example. Based on how things scientifically work on Earth, scientist assume there must be life somewhere else in the universe based on the concept that what makes life here (the elements and stuff) should work the same elsewhere. But we don’t know that, do we? So far we have yet to explore beyond the Solar System except with the Hubble Telescope and some satellites that have been sent out pretty far but not far enough. Yet some scientist believe still believe there’s life out there somewhere. They can’t see, hear or touch it, yet they believe it’s out there.And what about “dark matter”? According to science, while it can not be seen, heard or touched, scientist still believe it exist. Interesting, isn’t it?
“Its presence is inferred indirectly from the motions of astronomical objects, specifically stellar, galactic, and galaxy cluster/supercluster observations.”
In other words, they can’t explain why certain astronomical things move but something is moving it so they suppose it must be “dark matter”. But they can’t prove it yet. For all we know
Black holes could fall under this same concept. While there may be a lot of compelling evidence that they exist, I have yet to see anything more than possible findings based on the evidence and not necessarily finding one and being 100% sure it’s a black hole.
Science is based a lot on hypothetical's and theories and while it may seem many things can be proved thru scientific research, one could accept that, like God, these things seem more based on faith that they exist as, like miracles, stories and books (such as the Bible), it's all based on the information at hand.
My Conclusion
In the end it seems that while they may differ on their opinions as to whether God exist or not, the scientist community and the religious community have one thing in common (besides being human), there are things neither one can conclusively prove but believe they exist none the less.But, as I stated in the title, my explanation as to how I can believe in God while still believing in science is simple. I actually got this from a most unexpected place, a TV show where science and religion found harmony in a geeks head and heart. I may be told I can’t see, hear or touch God but I still believe he exist. By the same token, I can’t see, hear or touch an atom but I believe it exist as well. Sounds like a simple way to get a non-believer off my back.
What do you think?
Labels: Religion, Science, Black Holes, Dark Matter
Point 1: Life on other planets. Belief is the is wrong word here. Scientists think that life probably exists elsewhere simply because the universe is so big. There is no certainty involved. There's no faith involved. Just openly admitted conjectures such as the Drake Equation. A belief would be a scientist saying that they believe life exists on Europa without having visited or analyzed its subsurface ocean. Scientists have so far only posited that life could possibly exist elsewhere, which is far from a belief.
ReplyDeletePoint 2: Dark matter. While we can't interact with it in the normal sense, we have directly observed its effects multiple times. Furthermore, computer models of the evolution of the universe have consistently shown that it needs dark matter to evolve into the structures we see today. We don't know exactly what it is, but we have an extremely good idea of what it does and where it might be. Ask about dark matter again in a few years and we might be able to tell you exactly what it is.
Point 3: Black holes. Not really sure how to tackle this one. You said it yourself, "I have yet to see anything more than possible findings based on the evidence..." Yep, we have lots and lots of evidence. We don't have to fly a spaceship around a black hole to make sure it's there. Our telescopes and theories confirm they're out there. No faith involved, just gravity.
No offense, I'd like to hear better arguments.
Chuck:
ReplyDeleteI love this post! And I've to say, I agree with you completely. After working with protein and other molecules as such for days and weeks and months and years, I realize I really need faith to believe when i'm working that what I'm "working with" is actually there. 99% of the time, I don't see RNA, neither do I see the structure of DNA. Yet, all the experiments are centered around proving that actually exists. Its frustrating! But anyhow, I appreciate this post. I came to a similar conclusion today =).
Anogrebattle:
We cannot see alot of things, yet we have faith it's there. We only see evidence of it. You mentioned it yourself... that we observe the effects of dark matter, and thus deduce that there's "something" there. Same way, we don't see God, but we see evidence of His intelligence and design in nature, the human body, etc, and thus come to the conclusion that there exists an intelligent designer ie. God.
In science, we come up with theories based on evidence, we draw "conclusions" based on evidence. ps: Nothing is ever "confirmed" in science.
How come you have faith in gravity?
anogrebattle
ReplyDeleteI understand your point. Yes, life on other planets is merely a theory by scientist, but I guarantee you there are scientist out there that truly believe there is life out there because, even I agree, the Universe is just too big for the odds of only 1 planet to have life. Especially if many of the elements necessary for life to exist on earth can be found on other planets.
Dark matter seems to exist based on the evidence. But like I told you, you can't see it, hear it or touch it yet we know it's there. The same can be said about God. Just because you may chose to see, what some would consider a miracle, something that might be explained by science does not mean that there isn't a God making it happen.
As for the black holes, I know that one is a big stretch but none the less, we can only conclude they exist based on the evidence we have collected but I don't believe we have actually seen one. I couldn't find anything that claimed someone actually saw a black hole. And yes I do believe we need to actually witness it to prove it sometimes.
Here's another example. It is said that in order for the Big Bang theory to have happened, something had to make the forces that created the universe move because as we all know. Nothing can move by itself, something makes everything in reality move. Our muscles, the blood in them, the heart that moves the blood, the wind, the spinning of the earth that makes the wind blow, the gravity of the sun that makes the Earth spin. I think you get my point. Something had to start it all, but so far scientist have not been able to explain what could have made, what ever it was that cause the big bang, to move in the first place in order to create the big bang.
The way I see it, God could have made them move with the intentions of creating what we see today, reality.
I love this post! And I've to say, I agree with you completely. After working with protein and other molecules as such for days and weeks and months and years, I realize I really need faith to believe when i'm working that what I'm "working with" is actually there. 99% of the time, I don't see RNA, neither do I see the structure of DNA. Yet, all the experiments are centered around proving that actually exists. Its frustrating! But anyhow, I appreciate this post. I came to a similar conclusion today =).
ReplyDeleteThank you. It's strange that this was inspired by a TV show called Family Matters where the geek of the show explained how he could be a man of science and a man of faith at the same time. It made me feel more comfortable with myself.
We cannot see alot of things, yet we have faith it's there. We only see evidence of it. You mentioned it yourself... that we observe the effects of dark matter, and thus deduce that there's "something" there. Same way, we don't see God, but we see evidence of His intelligence and design in nature, the human body, etc, and thus come to the conclusion that there exists an intelligent designer ie. God.
ReplyDeleteIn science, we come up with theories based on evidence, we draw "conclusions" based on evidence. ps: Nothing is ever "confirmed" in science.
How come you have faith in gravity?
That right there was my point. Science is a lot more like religion that most want to believe when you have scientist believe something exist just because they have some kind of evidence of the possibility. Well, religious people have evidence too. The Bible, personal experience, heck even situations where people were told they would die and all of a sudden they were OK. yet science at one point said they would die soon. I myself believe God hears me when I need him the most as when things seem so dire, I always seem to find a way out of my problems. Sometimes it happens in ways I can't deny it's miraculous or divine. But that's just me.
Thank you both for replying to my article.