Why are fundamentalists, so willing to attack science, also willing to benefit from all of science's advances?

Question

Any advance that could possibly contradict the idea of God (and many more besides) is attacked from all directions by religion.

This could be to the extremes of the big bang, to advances in medical science and family planning that allow us to 'play god'.

Why is it that these same people are then willing to reap all the benefits that science has brought us over the years?

E.g. The computer you'll be replying on with anger very soon
The electric lighting in your house.
Man-made synthetic fibers you may be wearing.
Medical treatment through drugs etc.

It seems very hypocritical. Like having your cake and eating it too.

In response to Ed:

You don't KNOW. If you did, you wouldn't need faith.

You can be 99.999% sure God is real, but you can't know for sure. Hence why you need faith to bridge that 0.001% gap.

Answer 1

They also ought to deny any and all modern medicine. Why? Because evolutionary biology is responsible for pretty much EVERY medical discovery this century.

Personally, I'm pretty happy with all the medical advancements we've made. Without the help of doctors and all the science behind their knowledge and skills, I'd probably be DEAD right now, as would MANY others.

Answer 2

Christians are not against science. They are for God.

It's not a war between God and science. I just already have a book that tells me how the world is created, and I don't need 30,000 more telling me outrageous theories about imploding stars or whatnot, that can never be proved. Where do souls come from then? The Bible answers all my questions and has been proved right a thousand times, every day in my life. That's why I believe in it. Technology is fun; that's why I use it. Medicine is another story. If someone told me they could bring my brother back from the dead, would I want it? No, because he's happy where he is. If someone would have told me that 10 years ago, I would have died for the chance. We all want more time with those we love, and we want to see them happy and healthy during that time. But how about this: Could I love someone just as much without their happiness or health? Yes. Were relationships alright 100 years ago, 500 years ago, before the big science boom? Yeah. They were better. Would I be able to survive without technology? Yeah. And I'd still be engaged to my videogame addicted friend. Here's the thing, the only thing that matters in life is our relationships. And science can't give that, can't make it, can't improve it. It can ease it. But only God can create it. And science can't conquer death, can only hold it off. But Jesus already did.

Answer 3

First, some peoples faith is unexamined. Some don't take into account our history and have a ridiculous piety. A devotion to ideas that was never intended. I blame that on the so called religious leaders like P. Rob (Pat Robertson). I'm a christian and I full acknowledge our brutal history (last 2 thousand years) against science.

However some of your comments can be questioned philosophically and morally leaving the LABEL of religion out of it. Heres a question, what good is it to have so many scientific discoveries without the "question of conscience"?

Also science has created as many problems as it has created solutions. Pollution, WMD, brutal weapons of war,...... Science like religion are incomplete without the other. That's obviously my opinion.

To ZERO, I think its only macroevolution people of faith have a problem with, Microevolution is responsible for some medical advances. I don't believe people have a problem with Microevolution.

Answer 4

The earliest scientists were very often convinced that by understanding the world better we would understand the nature of God better. While advances in science may disprove or contradict some of the creation stories within different faiths or offer more rational bases for cause / effect in the universe, the wonders of science: DNA, splitting the atom, quantum physics, exploration of space etc etc can only add to the complexity and sublimity of the material world around us. As the basis for religion is a sense of wonder and the sublime in the material world I would say that science can benefit and recreate the religious impulse.

Answer 5

Here is one Christian that believes in science, But I also believe that God gives men & women the knowledge of these things, like a doctor, Automobiles. Appliances, & even this computer you thought I was going to complain on, Remember in The time of Noah there was also MEN of RENOUN, By the way I just retired from a company where I made dishwashers for 38 years & I seen every year how they advanced to a point that they have talking dishwashers, who done that Men did, But with God's help. Because I was a part of it.

Answer 6

are you serious? i am not a fundamentalist but the computer,electric lighting etc in no way contradicts the truth(for Christians) that god is the ultimate creator. science that plays god would naturally be against god. would you have every fundamentalist go to their own island(likely you will respond yes....shock shock.) christians are not against science in any way, a small sect possibly, christians simply do not conform to scientific ideas that aren't prooven but contradict the truth of god. the same way some say god doesn't exist because it can't be prooven......

Answer 7

Fundamentalism=adhering to the fundamental tenets of a certain faith.It has nothing to do with your view of the age of the earth.
Whether you accept evolution or not,your premise is flawed from the beginning.For example:some scientists believe that the big bang happened.Others believe in the steady state theory.But just because they disagree in their views of cosmology doesn't mean that one group is 'taking advantage' or having their cake and eating it too,as cosmology is only one section of science as a whole.

Answer 8

How can athiests attack God, but they are willing to benefit from everything that he has given us, like life?

And people like Ed and myself do Know that God is here with us because he walks with us everyday.

Science is flawed. God is perfect. Science can let us down, and it does. Computers break down, electricity goes out, clothes rot, and medical treatments and drugs can also kill us. Everything that God (not man) has taught me has never failed me.

I watch the news everyday and in every health segment there is always a "new study" that is disproving one from the week before about what causes/cures cancer, obesity, diabetes, etc. Our solar system used to have nine planets but now it only has eight because the science that we were taught was wrong.

And you shouldn't assume that our answers come out of anger. It comes out of the will of God that we are to spread his word and his love. God bless you.

Answer 9

God HAS given us a Brain to think with, (some) and there are Christian Scientists. It IS a wonderful thing when it happens that when something NEW is discovered there IS NO other explanation OTHER then God. Read the Book of Daniel with understanding and you will read some VERY interesting things concerning these days we live in now.

Answer 10

Not an answer but the first thing I thought of when reading the question was Al Gore----jetting here and there burning all that fuel/increasing in a dramatic way his carbon footprint while at the same time preaching against his very acts!