I recently read a Christian apology book (Mileage: A Wanderer-Eternal Call), which is considered as a "reference book for evangelizing intellectuals". The book attaches great importance to the application of new achievements in the development of modern science, and discusses the relationship between science and Christian belief in almost one-third of the space, and draws the conclusion that Christian belief and science are "harmonious and consistent, both in line with science and greatly beyond science". Is that really the case? Science and Christianity are essentially different.
Where is the boundary between science and Christian belief? Science is an understanding of the regularity of the objective world, starting from the reality of the material world and various forms of movement, so it can be tested by practice (followed by logical proof), and it can only be continuously improved and developed in the process of practical test; Christian belief preaches supernatural and metamaterial power, so it can't stand the test of practice in the final analysis. Therefore, the book says, "Heart and sincerity are the only way to know God", "The wisdom of the spiritual world is much higher than that of human beings" and "Compared with the spiritual world, human beings are infinitely available, but their wisdom is far behind, and science can only look at the ocean and sigh" (page 202).
Scientific spirit is a rational critical spirit, which advocates independent thinking, questioning and exploration, because only in this way can we constantly ask and solve problems; Christian faith preaches pious psychology, so that there is no doubt about the existence of God. For example, the book says, "Some people insist on understanding before believing, and seeing before believing. As we all know, on the issue of faith, the logic is just the opposite: you can understand if you believe, and you can see it if you believe! " (Page 205) As long as you firmly believe that there is an omnipresent, omniscient and omnipotent God, then God must be omnipotent. In this way, you can easily "prove" your assertion is correct.
Scientific spirit is rational, because understanding scientific spirit requires not only certain scientific knowledge, but also the source of scientific knowledge, that is, the method of scientific research. Otherwise, you won't know which views are scientific and which are wrong. However, the Christian faith denies the scientific method. The book says: "However, if this research method that emphasizes experimental data inappropriately extends from the material world to the spiritual world, from the study of the created nature to the discovery of the creator, it will become a fallacy" (200 pages). "Without God's revelation, we cannot understand the universe" (1page 69).
Can science and Christianity coexist peacefully?
It is one thing that science and Christianity are fundamentally different, but whether they actually conflict with each other is another matter. They are both closely related and different. The fact is that they did have serious conflicts and fierce struggles in history. However, there are times when there is nothing wrong. So, how should we understand these states between science and Christian belief?
Einstein's view on the relationship between science and religion is a topic of great concern to the whole society, especially the religious circles. Let's take a look at his analysis. In his view, as far as our purpose is concerned, science can be defined as "an organized thought seeking the regular relationship between our feelings and experiences", and science directly produces knowledge and indirectly produces means of action. As for religion, on the contrary, it involves goals and values, and generally involves the emotional basis of human thought and action. Therefore, although the fields of religion and science are clearly divided, there is still a strong relationship and dependence between them. Science can only be created by people who pursue the truth wholeheartedly and are eager to understand things. However, the source of this feeling comes from the religious field. Also belonging to this source is to believe that the laws that are effective in the existing world can be rational, that is, they can be understood by reason. I can't imagine that a real scientist doesn't have such a profound belief (see the third volume of Einstein's Collected Works).
Christian belief holds that "God reveals himself to people through the nature he created (including human beings themselves), which is a revelation that everyone can receive at any time and place" (Song of the Wanderer, page 2). "People can know everything in the universe created by God by virtue of the rationality endowed by God, and then know God and glorify God" (18 1 page). On such occasions, Christian faith and science can generally live in peace.
The Conflict between Science and Christian Belief
In that case, why do science and religion "cause a cruel struggle"? Let's also look at Einstein's analysis. He pointed out that the main source of the conflict between religion and science lies in the concept of personifying God. For example, when religious groups insist that everything recorded in the Bible is absolute truth, conflicts arise. This means that religion interferes in the field of science; The church's struggle against Galileo and Darwin falls into this category.
It is the mysterious content of this religious tradition, or rather, the symbolic content, that may conflict with science. As long as the concept of religion contains its unchangeable dogmatic statement of topics that originally belonged to the scientific field, such conflicts will certainly occur. Therefore, in order to preserve the true religion, religious representatives should have the courage to give up the doctrine of personified God, that is, to give up the source of fear and hope that once gave priests so much power. In their labor, they should make use of the power of goodness, truth and beauty that human beings can cultivate themselves. After religious representatives complete the above purification process, they will be happy to realize that real religion has been improved by scientific knowledge, and its significance is more profound. (See Einstein's Collected Works, Volume 3) What does the attitude of Christians towards evolution show? The book Ode to a Wanderer has a chapter devoted to "creationism and evolution", pointing out that evolution is only an unconfirmed hypothesis, picking out many "faults" and listing various reasons. The conclusion is that creationism is still very clever, and we should believe what the Bible says. Although minor evolution may occur, such as changes from wild to domesticated, new varieties of animals and plants cultivated by breeders are difficult to exceed the level of' species' or' genus', so it is impossible to lead to evolution "(page 254).
Since Christianity and science are "harmonious", why do we treat evolution so differently? That's because the theory of evolution questioned the authority of the Bible, touched the foundation of Christian belief, and caused the "fatal wound" of the latter, which is intolerable.
Darwin's theory of evolution integrated the achievements of natural science at that time, and demonstrated the scientific hypothesis of the origin of species as convincingly as possible through a large number of observations and experiments. So far, it has evidence in paleontology, comparative anatomy, embryology, physiology and biochemistry. No matter how difficult the new scientific discovery will be to the theory of evolution, no matter what enrichment and changes it needs to make in some contents, it is already a scientific theory that can give better answers to questions such as biological evolution and the origin of human beings. With the development of genetics, it can be supplemented and expounded from the perspective of genetics to raise the theory of biological evolution to a new level.
The attitude of Christian believers to the theory of evolution shows that Einstein's "religious purification process" will not happen overnight, but a difficult and long-term process. Even when the argument of "harmony" is rampant, Christian apologists will never give up attacking scientific theories such as evolution, which hit the core of their beliefs.
Christian faith uses and distorts modern scientific achievements.
Due to the rapid development of science and the increasingly powerful social influence, Christian belief is more "friendly" to science, pays more attention to the achievements of modern science, and emphasizes the existence of God. "On the one hand, it is written in the Bible, on the other hand, it is written in nature. Although the forms are different, they must not conflict with each other." "What we need to do is to firmly believe in the Bible and that science and the Bible will never contradict each other" (page 255). Therefore, Christian guardians also attach great importance to studying and studying modern science in an attempt to make full use of modern scientific achievements to defend the Bible. Why is Christian faith "consistent" with science? Because the Bible is full of "scientific foresight", God created the laws of the universe, but scientists only discovered these laws, and the development of science cannot be separated from God's "palm"; "God is not only the creator of the universe, but also the defender of the universe." "Even if people can understand the universe, they will never be able to maintain it. Therefore, no matter how science develops, mankind will always need God "(170). In this way, Christian belief "greatly transcends science".
Christian faith also seized every opportunity and used it in a distorted way.
Modern scientific achievements. When talking about how to understand the wave-particle duality of light, we can relate to: "When we read the Bible, we also face many difficulties. Jesus, for example, is incarnated as both man and god, both man and god. Can we be modest and accept the duality of God and man in Jesus just as scientists accept the duality of light? " (page 164) This can also be regarded as a little "development" to promote the Bible.