Why do believers hold science to have all the answers when they are the first to dismiss a thorny question ...

Question

about their religion with some platitude about "only God knows"?

can't they see that - unlike religion - science is a process of seeking the truth and that part of that process is admitting you don't have all the answers?

Answer 1

Because religion is not true

It is a big fat lie

Religion is a fairytale concocted by a pack of sheepherders

Science is the truth based on facts and subject to peer review

Science wins, Religion is for losers

,.,.,.,.,

Answer 2

If a christian is proffering such an answer as "God only knows..." then perhaps, depending on the question, they haven't examined thoroughly enough the Word of God to see that yes, while He does only know...some of that knowledge has been imparted on us as well as the keen ability to seek out what is unknown...one such example would be within nature certain aspects and charecteristics of animals that astound even the scientific community on how, why and for what means these specific criteria exist for this creature or that...Look up on Wikipedia all the interesting information about a Gecko and you will come to information regarding a recent study whereby Geckos can make use of the Van der Waals interactions..stuff like that. Science can discover this feature, exlain how it works and why..but science could never tell you how this creature developed so uniquely such a complex utilization of the molecule. So what is the answer...? Irreducible complexity would have it that God knows..and as the Gecko was designed by God and God as well designed the molecule..He put the two together. So...with Christians...the issue is true enough...we don't have all the answers. Science doesn't have all the answers. However, God has all the answers and that's good enough for people of faith and even some people of science. Love in Christ, ~J~

Answer 3

It's in God's DNA although I didn't know that God could have a brain to think with as being a spirit or ghost like substance. Maybe one day science might discover the super material substance of Gama Ray intelligence of telepathy beyond reasonable doubt.

The theory of science is to find the truth of life.

Answer 4

I don't understand why it is lately, that science and religion are thought to be at odds? Look at all of the theories that came from "religious" people Copernicus, Galileo, Kepler, Boyle, Pascal, Newton, Faraday, Maxwell, to name a few. Then there was Georges Lemaître who is responsible for the Big Bang theory. He was a Roman Catholic priest.
Any one that says they have all the answers is either a liar or is deluded. That goes for religion and science.

Answer 5

Part of the process of finding the truth is indeed admitting that you don't know all of the answers. I couldn't say why some believers answer a question about their religion with a platitude like "only God knows" unless the question is some off the wall question that goes beyond their understanding or perhaps they just have never really investigated the subject on which they are being questioned and instead of admitting their ignorance or lack of study into the matter they answer with a convenient platitude.

However, when you claim that religion is not a process of seeking the truth you demonstrate what appears to be a particular form of ignorance of your own regarding at least the Christian religion. A Christian who is a true Christian, that is one who has been given the Holy Spirit of God, is someone who is constantly in a learning process and seeking to grow in knowledge of the things of God. They will readily admit that they don't have all of the answers. The thing is though, they are seeking answers to "spiritual" questions as opposed to naturalistic questions. Here's how one scientist of the Christian faith expresses this concept when discussing the subject of religion and science.

Dr. Francis S. Collins is Director of the National Human Genome Research Institute at the National Institute of Health in Bethesda, Maryland. He currently leads the Human Genome Project, directed at mapping and sequencing all of human DNA, and determining aspects of its function. His previous research has identified the genes responsible for cystic fibrosis, neurofibromatosis, Huntington's disease and Hutchison-Gilford progeria syndrome. He is a member of the Institute of Medicine and the National Academy of Sciences. For the rest of his credentials, click on the link here: http://www.genome.gov/10000980. Collins spoke with Bob Abernethy of PBS, posted online at http://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/transcripts/collins.html, in which he summaries the compatability of fact and faith thusly:

"I think there's a common assumption that you cannot both be a rigorous, show-me-the-data scientist and a person who believes in a personal God. I would like to say that from my perspective that assumption is incorrect; that, in fact, these two areas are entirely compatible and not only can exist within the same person, but can exist in a very synthetic way, and not in a compartmentalized way. I have no reason to see a discordance between what I know as a scientist who spends all day studying the genome of humans and what I believe as somebody who pays a lot of attention to what the Bible has taught me about God and about Jesus Christ. Those are entirely compatible views.

"Science is the way -- a powerful way, indeed -- to study the natural world. Science is not particularly effective -- in fact, it's rather ineffective -- in making commentary about the supernatural world. Both worlds, for me, are quite real and quite important. They are investigated in different ways. They coexist. They illuminate each other. And it is a great joy to be in a position of being able to bring both of those points of view to bear in any given day of the week. The notion that you have to sort of choose one or the other is a terrible myth that has been put forward, and which many people have bought into without really having a chance to examine the evidence. I came to my faith not, actually, in a circumstance where it was drummed into me as a child, which people tend to assume of any scientist who still has a personal faith in God; but actually by a series of compelling, logical arguments, many of them put forward by C. S. Lewis, that got me to the precipice of saying, 'Faith is actually plausible.' You still have to make that step. You will still have to decide for yourself whether to believe. But you can get very close to that by intellect alone."

Answer 6

Yes, science is a process, an ever changing set of truths.

The problem with much of science is the pronouncements by some scientists that this or that is a fact. And later find out that it isn't.

Btw, most of science is useless information, anyway.

Answer 7

Wow how lumping of you

I am a believer and I know science is an every evolving and that we don't have all the answers but science is seeking them out

And I won't dismiss thorny questions by just saying only God knows

I believe God gave us the ability to reason and we are to use that to figure things out with science.

So I won't lump you in with ignorant idiots and you don't have to lump me in with people who can not think.

Answer 8

Cherry picking is at the base of it; they cherry pick their bible (aka Goat Herders' Guide to the Galaxy) looking for the 'best' quotes whilst leaving those that do NOT support their version of 'reality'; they cherry pick science by using the bits they like whilst calling the rest lies.

Cherry picking is at the heart of every successful hypocrite.

Answer 9

With respect, is this a trick question? Isn't the accusation against believers that they don't hold to science at all?

Answer 10

That's why they developed the Wedge Strategy.

They know creationism is bunk, but all they can do is attack science rather than come up with evidence.