Why do so many choose to not place faith in the Bible?

Question

The most common theme I have found follows that those who are scientific do not find it worthy. But what about Isaac Newton? The father of physics and calculus thought it was not only worthy of his in depth study, but also his faith. From what I can tell he did not consider anything within its pages to be an obstacle for his belief. He even looked forward to the return of Christ and the resurrection so much he calculated when he thought it would happen. Could knowing this make anyone who did not want to consider faith change their mind even a small bit?
http://jnul.huji.ac.il/dl/mss/Newton/exhibition_eng.html
This link is to letters written by Newton regarding many things, including his thoughts on Bible prophecy.

I think faith is a choice, and I choose to have faith in God and His word. I do not think it is likely Newton would have spent so much time studying something he did not believe; so forced belief does not follow with his actions. He obviously was brilliant enough to create a new branch of mathematics based on logic; so it follows that if during his study of the Bible that if he found that illogical, we would have notes to that effect. As far as scientists not having enough knowledge to question, I would say HAH, yeah right. My knowledge of the Bible has mostly come from personal study and thought. I do seek outside answers, but if I do not agree I reject them.

Studying alchemy is not fallacy. Alchemists made great strides in the field of chemistry. Newton wasn't wrong about the ability to change one chemical into another such as gold, he just didn't have the necessary tools. We could make gold today if we chose, but the expense would outway the benefit.

There were many negative answers, but I wonder how many of you who had something negative to say read Newton's own words from those letters. If you would like to consider this view an appeal to authority, that is your choice. I find Newton to be insightful and logical. I imagine it was difficult for someone like him to fit in during his time period. Based on his own words, I see no reason to question his faith. I also do not see any reason to simply insult me; I would prefer genuine discussion or none at all. I also see no reason to consider his study of chemistry as a reason to discredit his faith. Chemistry and Physics go hand in hand. It never fails to astonish me at how when confronted with another's beliefs that aren't the same as some others, they respond by direct personal attack. Well if appeal to authority is futile, how much more so is personal attack?

Answer 1

wow. so many people seem so negative at your very informative and positive question!
I believe that the Holy Spirit comes alive through God's Word, and lives in us. I believe that we all have choices to believe or to not believe.
I believe that there are those who welcome God warmly, and those who fight Him for a while, then accept, and those who willfully choose to deny God all of their lives.
All if it is by choices and not "predestination".
So, I place my faith in God's Word, because His word is Living and it is of the Holy Spirit - which is the third entity of God.
It pleases me to learn of Sir Issac Newton's faith. It seems we hear so little of the Christian faith of those who worked in science. Afterall, Christians started the study of Science to Prove God - NOT the other way around.
* No thanks to Charles Darwin *

062607 5:50

Answer 2

Isaac Newton thought the Bible contained hidden messages. He probably didn't really care what the text actually said, he was studying it for completely different reasons. Isaac Newton was also an alchemist. He had many ideas and beliefs that you would never be able to even guess at.

He wouldn't have written about these kinds of beliefs openly in letters, mainly because doing so could have gotten him burned at the stake. If the letters were to people that thought like him, there were probably encoded messages in them.

Additional Note: There was a lot more to alchemy than just turning lead into gold. There is a whole spiritual and philosophic side to alchemy that most people apparently don't know about. The fact that he was an alchemist is a strong indicator that he held opinions and beliefs that most people today would not be familiar with.

Answer 3

Just because Issac Newton believed it, doesn't mean we all have to too. He was NOT a know-it-all, and had some incorrect theories along with his laws of motion. Some find that science and religion are two completely inseparable things, others say they are interconnected. Look at what Richard Dawkins has to say about it.

How can I find truth in it, when so many of the stories are obviously non-factual and tall-tailed? I don't agree with half of what is says either, I will not believe that women are the reason for all this evil in the world. I will not believe that gays do not have the right to marriage. I will not believe any of that garbage.

And why is the only argument for religion only based on the fact that we can't (as of right now) prove that there is no god? Faith is a load of garbage too- what a convenient way to neither prove nor disprove the existence of god. I see absolutely NO reason to place belief in the bible.

Answer 4

I would study Newton a little closer. He had to say he believed or lose his place in society. But it is well known that he questioned everything.
hose of us who have doubts about the bible have different reasons. My doubts stem from the demand that it is true as it is read. I can see it as a guide book full of stories or as the Jewish use it as stories that set example. Other things are the books that have been left out. The influence that popes and kings (Constantine comes to mind) have had on what has emphasis. They setthe tone and the rules. They set up whose views would be smothered and his would be brought to light.I believe that thier is a higher power but much of what is written in his name in the new testament was written at least 40 years after the Death of Jesus. and Paul never even knew him personaly.
Some of the stories in the Bible are taken from other civilizations. Another thing is the judgemental way that people use some of the facts to judge others. The stories about gays, the dark sons of Ham, the allowance of women and girls to be treated like chattle when divided up after battles and war. the contridictions, don't kill then they kill, don't judge then they smite and judge.
It is not a matter of facts it is a matter of history, contridictions, and fact that it is too often taken as literal.

Answer 5

Biased misconception.
There are millions of scientific people world-wide who see no other way than Biblical truth.
Honest studying of the data leads to no other conclusion, all agendas aside.
Most of the Creation scientists today used to be in the evolution camp before they switched. Why? are they nuts? No! They went over the data many times, told their superiors that the data does not fit right. They are told to shut up, this is the best we have. Options? NO! evolution is right! there is no other option!
Wait a minute, science is supposed to be unbiased.
Ethical scientists who have a conscience and hate themselves for fudging the facts go somewhere else. Some are agnostic. Many switch to creation, or 'intelligent design', because basic biology is way to complex to have been formed by random chance.

Answer 6

Please don't assume that all Christians place Faith in the Bible. One can describe it as the word of God, though I look upon it as the inspired but limited response by a faith community. To have faith in a book written by man is dangerous. One can believe it to be true, but the Bible is not a person. Jesus on the other hand is a person, and one can have faith in Jesus. But if his teaching is in the New Testament, should one not have faith in the Bible? The teaching is there to help, and to bring a better understanding, but Faith must be in what lies beyond the teaching, not in the teaching itself. It is this point which for me is crucial. Too many Christians focus on the words of the Bible, and continually check themselves with their reading of the Bible. They can know every word of the Bible, yet it is not guaranteed to bring them closer to Jesus. It is as if they don't have enough faith, so they try to cover all the bases. They can be Bible-rich, but may be spirit hungry.

Perhaps if they could just 'let go'. Likewise the scientists, if they could just 'let go' too, instead of trying to explain everything away.

Answer 7

Isaac Newton was a great scientist, no doubt about that. But I find it ironic that his theories were replaced (or, rather, improved) by Albert Einstein, a self-professed agnostic (or possibly panteist).

What you've presented us with is an Argument from Authority. It doesn't matter what Newton, Einstein or Darwin believes in (or not). They are (rightly) celebrated for what they have proven, not for what they have believed in. The danger with such an argument is that it can be easily reversed, as I did with Einstein.

Answer 8

Perhaps when we are very young and before we had a chance to view the world in an unbiased manner we were taught to believe certain things and our brains then accept this as truth in later life. Our religion shows more the place we came from more than what we would otherwise believe. If you grew up in India its unlikely you would be a Baptist etc.

For many Faith is not a choice.

Answer 9

I'm pretty sure that while Isaac Newton (and many other scientists in his time) were quite religious, they likely elected to place faith in what the bible stands for as opposed to the bible itself.

To elaborate, that book has passages that can be used as a system of morals and values quite irrespective of whether one assumes the creation story is really meant to tell us everything started in just seven days.

Hey, there's even scientists today who're quite religious. A friend of mine, for example, who is a historian. He doesn't spend his time trying to "proove" the Earth is only 6000 years old though, he just goes ahead and assumes those seven days are metaphors for entirely longer periods of time. Amazingly, when people start using brains and faith at the same time, they don't seem to flat out contradict each other.

The same, incidentally, seems to hold true for the quran.

Answer 10

If Newton knew then what we know now, he would be too busy to bother with Dark Age ideology. Moreover, let us not forget what happened to people, especially intelligent people, that didn't put on a holy front in those days. Maybe the thought of being burnt alive as a heretic by those nice followers of a loving god might have encouraged Newton to uphold the current paradigm.

Answer 11

Do you know anything about Isac newton? The guy was smart but he was a freak. No body liked him, He had no friends. He was a loner that didn't get along with anybody. He was abrupt and not to nice a person.If you really want a scientific christian to hold up, you'll have to do better then that.

I'm confused. Where are all these negative personal attacks against you? I've seen one, maybe two. Just because someone does not agree with you does not make it a negative remark, or even an attack against you. It's just a difference of opinion. It's not against YOU!