Opinions on this Christian's thoughts on science and scientists?

Question

And I quote,

"Is that what life is about... science? Are these scientists pioneers in their "noble" pursuit in explaining how things work? Do we really care how many stars are in the sky?... Do we really care about going to the moon? Do we really care what proteins living things are made up of? Boy, now that we know all of this, our lives are so much more fulfilling than our ancestors lives must have been who didn't have this knowledge, right? They must have been so miserable not knowing all of these facts and data that scientists consume their entire lives chasing after. What a pathetic existence. You call that a purpose... scientists might as well be our gods I suppose, right? Talk about lost people... never knew of a scientist who consumed their life with loving people."

Thanks for the answers and varied opinions. :)

Answer 1

“What if”

First of all, i would like to say that i cannot attend a conventional church without being hypocritical, but i firmly believe in god, jesus, prayer, the ten commandments, life after death, and basic christianity. Also, in it’s unaltered and original form, the bible was probably a much more accurate, though simplistic, document than exists today.

However, it is my opinion, that through the several different interpretations, revisions, versions and translations of biblical information by persons who were ignorant to modern science, scientific principles, and technology, the true meanings and accurate interpretation of the events recorded originally have been lost. To me, the bible was intended to be an historical diary of a truly remarkable visit and a series of profound events that did in fact occur. It is sad that man was not at the time, intellectually capable of accurately comprehending and recording what he actually saw. Because of this, mans early, and ongoing, interpretation of religious doctrine has taken many avenues of approach, and in present reality, appears to me to have been initially based on naive conjecture stimulated by direct exposure to several instances of profound and unexplainable phenomenon that occurred before a modern understanding of science and technological abilities was developed. However, as one looks at the history of major religious factions, it is apparent that although the interpretation and following of this doctrine was greatly varied, there were some absolutes that did not change.

Some examples are: one supreme being or entity such as god, buddha, mohammed, and the great spirit. Also, there is life after death, good and evil, and rules that must be followed to the best of ones ability to achieve acceptance to the higher level of existence after physical death.

Today, we know that the universe is immense. We also know that galaxies within our universe go on and on, and there are probably millions upon millions of them in existence. Most of these galaxies contain uncountable numbers of stars. (which are suns) some of these stars are huge. Others are tiny. Some are very new and some are extremely ancient. Some have burned out, collapsed upon themselves, and have become "black holes in space, while others have exploded in super-nova. But most importantly, some are about the same size uniformity and consistency of our sun. Throughout the universe, there are probably trillions upon trillions of stars that are very much the same as our sun. If one believes in extra terrestrial intelligent life, one cannot look into a clear night sky without feeling extremely humbled and insignificant. It is my belief that we are most certainly, not the only religious and intelligent life in our universe.

what if:

All intelligent life is created in god’s image no matter what physical configuration it happens to be in.



What if:

"god”, the creator of all things, elected to establish intelligent life on a few of those planets as he did here on earth?

What if:

Creation and evolution are the same. The twenty-four hour day is mans earthly concept of time because it fits the physics of earth’s rotation in orbit around the sun, and the spinning of the planet on it’s axis.


What if:

One of god' s days equals a billion or so of our years? To put this into perspective, compare a single atom to our solar system, then compare the average time required for the electrons (planets) to orblt around the nucleus (sun) and then think of the size/time relationship comparing our solar system to that atom. Then compare our tiny solar system, as an atom, to the immensity of the universe. Surely, universal time cannot be on the same scale as mans. If this concept is true, then six of "god's" days could equal billions of years of our earth time. When man interpreted and wrote "god's" word (bible) he had no accurate concept of the universe or different time scales. So six days, (mans interpretation of "god's” word) to create our earth could be correct form both “god’s” word (bible) and darwin’s theory of evolution.

What if:

“god’s” creation of life flows across the universe as a wave upon the oceans? (consider our planet but as a single and minuscule grain of sand upon the shores of the tiny atoll of our galaxy in the immense sea of the universe)

What if:

Other galaxies received the blessing of life a few of “god’s” days before ours did. Would not this mean there are billions of planets in the universe that could have intelligent life at least a few hundred thousand years advanced to ours here on earth?

What if:

The “wave of life” is still progressing? If so, then is it not possible that we could also be hundreds of thousands of years ahead of billions of planets.

Answer 2

You are right about some matters you state but not all. It has been helpful to understand the moon and it's effects on the Earth. Studying meteors and the impact they have on another planet helps us to prepare for a meteor hitting Earth and how it could affect us. The sun should be studied as it's many flares affects life on Earth. As far as how many stars are in the sky, how many moons Jupiter has, whether or not Pluto is a planet or the remains of a moon that once was in orbit around Neptune, all these things seem to have little benefit, yet they are interesting. I would say knowledge of any kind is useful in some way, even if you or I do not understand why it is useful. What if life was found on mars? It would most likely be some kind of plant of organic matter. How would that knowledge help us? I doubt it could but just to know it is there is interesting. I understand what you are saying though. There is much needed help with diseases and world hunger which should take precedence over matters of space that have no usefullness for mankind as a whole. Christian and scientific beliefs will never truly coincide with each other. What does it matter if the Earth is 6000 years old or 6 billion years old? What does it matter if dinosaurs once roamed Earth or if Adam was the first human? As a society we should focus our attention on matters of today and the future. Cure cancer and Aids, fight famine and hunger, clothe the less fortunate, do all this first and take care of more important things. After that, send a probe to Urainus. 8~) Yes, study the past so that we do not repeat the events which lead to disasters. But let us not forget about mankind and what we must do to improve ourselves as a whole.

Answer 3

Tsk. For one thing, I wonder how many scientists they know personally, who love people very much and look to forward science for the betterment of mankind (isn't that the point?). Secondly, this doofus has no idea how science benefits people day to day. Ask them what's the difference between an AND gate and an OR gate and they might babble something similar, and yet this knowledge enables the function of many smart electronic devices... could he live without those? What about medicine and nutrition?

Science doesn't stop at the fact, the next step is, "now that we know this, how can it be used?"

Dork.

Answer 4

Your quote reflects a narrow-minded view that is so delusional that it is evil. That view denies reality and hates humanity, which must understand reality to survive.

Science is our most precious tool to help other people. It is our only surefire way to understand the world. Knowing something helps everyone because it gives us technology.

Without science more kids die in their early years from malnutrition and disease, more women would die in painful childbirth, simple microbes would be devastating, starvation would be rampant because we could not control harvests or farming, and not to mention that we lose lighting and computers and fiber optic cables. Heck, the computer you use was developed by a scientist in search of answers.

Plus science allows us to know ourselves. Understanding evolution and astronomy shows human beings that they have a tiny yet marvelous place in the universe. And I can bet that this religious quote was preached from a pulpit in a church created from understanding architecture and engineering.

If humans didn't dare to explore reality then we would not exist for very long and simple events (famine, floods, etc) would kill all of us. Even early mankind tried to understand the world with astronomy and calendars and crop development.

I think that whoever wrote this quote shouldn't have had the privilege of a cerebral cortex, because he/she obviously doesn't use it.

Tell them that Afghanistan has a nice cave waiting.

Plus a mullah to dictate their life.

Thanks for posting this. It reminds me to fight against superstitious insanity!

Answer 5

I would suggest that they remove their head from their bum.

Scientist are responsible for the food we eat, the safety of our water, the medications we take when we are ill. They work to keep our air clean and our homes warm in the Winters and cold in the summer.

My pursuit has been to tailor crops to farmers Fields based upon the pH of the soil, annual rainfall, elemental concentration, hour of sunlight etc, to ensure that farmer is obtaining the maximum yield. This creates a higher crop yield, which in turn allows for less waste, a higher profit margin for the farmer as well as more food on the table, or ethanol in our gas tanks.

Answer 6

If they want to live cave-man style go ahead. But man has a natural thirst to explain things, and learning this stuff does make a lot of people happy. People have studied astronomy forever by the way, and it is very profound when we think of our place in the universe.

Answer 7

Religion has always tried to suppress Science because they fear truth. When facts are known, religion takes the hit. I find this quote entirely predictable. All they can do is try to undermine science, because its extremely hard to refute scientific evidence with fairy tales and spirits.

Answer 8

Who the heck said that?
I'm a christian, and I believe in science. There is no Biblical data that goes against anything any science has discovered. People just need to understand that some stories in the Bible are symbolic, and not to be taken literally.

Answer 9

I guess knowing how our bodies work and what we should eat and do to stay healthy is pretty meaningless. Actually, I think it is a love of humanity that pushes scientists to discover and find what they do.

Answer 10

Those same pathetic scientists enabled you to post that moronic quote on Yahoo. Funny, huh?