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Galileo felt that religion and science are allies rather than enemies-- two
different languages telling the same story. Religion answers questions that
science cannot answer; while science answers questions that religion
doesn't care about.
Take for instance the creation of light. Genesis scarcely gives it passing
mention. But science tells me that the creation of light was a pretty big deal.
First God had to create particulate matter, and along with those particles
their specific properties, including mass. Then He had to invent laws to
govern how matter behaves in combination with and/or in the presence of,
other kinds of matter in order to generate photons. The same laws that
make it possible for matter to generate photons also make other conditions
possible too; e.g. thermodynamics, fusion, dark energy, gravity, atoms,
molecules, magnetism, radiation, high energy X-rays and gamma rays,
temperature, pressure, force, inertia, friction, and electricity; et al.
2Cor 4:6 verifies that light wasn't introduced into the cosmos from outside in
order to dispel the darkness and brighten things up a bit; but rather, it
radiated out of the cosmos from inside-- from itself --indicating that the
cosmos was created to be self-illuminating by means of the various
interactions of the matter that God made for it; including, but not limited to,
the Higgs Boson.
1Tim 6:20 commands Christ's followers to avoid "science— falsely so
called". However, not all science is false. Previous to what we might call the
modern era, many scientific ideas were theoretical and largely untested. And
therefore subsequently proven largely false. But that all began to change as
men begin making, not ideas, but discoveries; and discoveries are far more
reliable than untested ideas.
There are well-meaning folk who prefer to keep science out of the first
chapter of Genesis. I truly believe that is an error because though the
cosmos has a supernatural origin, it is not a supernatural cosmos; rather, it
is a very natural cosmos and the creation story makes better sense, at least
to me anyway, when it's approached from that angle.
============================================
Galileo felt that religion and science are allies rather than enemies-- two
different languages telling the same story. Religion answers questions that
science cannot answer; while science answers questions that religion
doesn't care about.
Take for instance the creation of light. Genesis scarcely gives it passing
mention. But science tells me that the creation of light was a pretty big deal.
First God had to create particulate matter, and along with those particles
their specific properties, including mass. Then He had to invent laws to
govern how matter behaves in combination with and/or in the presence of,
other kinds of matter in order to generate photons. The same laws that
make it possible for matter to generate photons also make other conditions
possible too; e.g. thermodynamics, fusion, dark energy, gravity, atoms,
molecules, magnetism, radiation, high energy X-rays and gamma rays,
temperature, pressure, force, inertia, friction, and electricity; et al.
2Cor 4:6 verifies that light wasn't introduced into the cosmos from outside in
order to dispel the darkness and brighten things up a bit; but rather, it
radiated out of the cosmos from inside-- from itself --indicating that the
cosmos was created to be self-illuminating by means of the various
interactions of the matter that God made for it; including, but not limited to,
the Higgs Boson.
1Tim 6:20 commands Christ's followers to avoid "science— falsely so
called". However, not all science is false. Previous to what we might call the
modern era, many scientific ideas were theoretical and largely untested. And
therefore subsequently proven largely false. But that all began to change as
men begin making, not ideas, but discoveries; and discoveries are far more
reliable than untested ideas.
There are well-meaning folk who prefer to keep science out of the first
chapter of Genesis. I truly believe that is an error because though the
cosmos has a supernatural origin, it is not a supernatural cosmos; rather, it
is a very natural cosmos and the creation story makes better sense, at least
to me anyway, when it's approached from that angle.
============================================