The argument of science and for science can rest easily on the fact that evidence is built up for their case. And as attempts to bring creationism to light, science can remind the audience that there is no evidence, that it is simply wrong. That can be true, but only in a world whose foundation of belief (the word used loosely) is science. Science (I am not against it, by the by) has become the governing factor in our classrooms, our ways of life, our government. Now, science is such a broad term, but I am speaking on such topics as evolution- topics that are most well known among the masses.
The theory / fact of evolution is widely accepted by not only scientists and their peers, but by the lesser creature, civilians, if you will. We are the ignorant ones. We do not spend years in study trying to find the answer. Our motivations squeeze from other outlets. And so we trust what science comes up with, especially when science as a whole can agree on many points over such crucial studies as evolution. It’s comforting to most of us when someone else is able to provide such solid evidence with a bunch of words we don’t know the meanings to. All we really have to do is a bit of research, be patient and in time we can grasp a better understanding of what we read in that article that seemed to provide evidence that simply cannot be reckoned with. But we are lazy. And we are lazy enough to not think for ourselves and find the answers- for ourselves.
We have accepted that science is the foundation on which our existence shall be one day determined. We put all of our faith into people whose life work is just that. And as we gather ourselves into this pool of acceptance and provide monetary and emotional support to our fellow humans donning lab coats, we almost seem to give up our rights to find the answers on our own terms. We give up our rights. I say that because after so many articles and books we read and so many documentaries we watch, we finally come convinced that they must be right. The more you absorb someone else’s word, someone else’s beliefs, the longer you accept it without doing the work yourself and the harder it becomes to undo what those words have done. It’s all too easy to let someone else handle the dirty work while we go about our business, blindly trying to walk through walls.
Is that no different than an evolutionist saying a person of faith (religious) is blindly being led by a being or creator that cannot be seen and supposedly provides no physical proof of its existence? No, it is no different. A scientist can tell me all day long that the fossil records provide irrefutable truth- fact. But should I really believe him or her? A million scientists can say the same thing, but should I take them for their words? On the other hand, a billion people say they are Christian and that Jesus Christ is the only answer. Should I believe them?
No, on both accounts.
I, a Christian, should read the bible to find my answers. I should also look to other things in life, in my environment, in the universe to substantiate my belief system. I, a Christian, should also read articles and books and blogs on science. I should do research even beyond those words. If I want answers for myself, I should go and get them. Otherwise, I am a follower of something that merely says “it is true.”
Science, however wonderful it is, is also merely human. There are things in life and about life that are beyond the telescope and microscope, beyond the reach of the eye and the mind, even the heart. A scientist can look only so deep before they find their human limit. I can sit all day in a lab or in the field and study a certain specimen and continue on for years and a lifetime. But I will never, in that lifetime, find the answer to how life truly works. I can watch the cells multiply and die. I can watch them do their daily thing. But I can’t see what gives that cell life. I cannot see or understand the Mechanism.
Perhaps one day science will find the answer. And for all I know, they may have been right the whole time. But until that day I have a certain faith. Scientists have a certain faith as well. They believe that what they think is true even as they do not have the ultimate answer. They can see evidence that evolution occurs. But they don’t know where it started or what Oops occurred that set life into motion. And there other scientists, many actually, that disagree on some of the most important topics. I can read up on just as much “evidence” against evolution as I can “for” it. Again, who am I to believe? Common sense plays a factor. But therein lays another problem. Common sense to an evolutionist is not common sense to a creationist, and vice-versa.
Common sense for me is exactly as I put it earlier, go and get the answers yourself. If you can only go so far, then go as far as you can before you decide what you believe. An evolutionist, or any scientist, should read the bible. If they don’t, then they simply cannot maintain that what it states is incorrect. Likewise, a Christian should do their research in as many sciences as possible. It might be a bit more difficult for the Christian as they have one book and science is so broad. But it can and should be done.
Go as far as you can. Do not judge. Do not set yourself on a pedestal and expect that you have the answer until you have done the labor and exhausted all resources. It’s a lifetime worth of trudging, but the trudging is worth it. Otherwise, you wake, you eat, you work, you eat, you shop, you exercise- maybe, you make love, you sleep, you start over.
