Science vs. Religion

The following is a post I made in the comment section of a Zdnet article on 9/9/08. I thought it would be beneficial if I posted it on this blog.

"From what I've read, fear over the LHC has to do with [the] real or unreal likelihood of the inadvertent formation of a black hole. I don't see how that is a religious issue. As for religion and science: both seek after the truth about things. Their approaches are different, and in many cases, polluted with error. Science tries to determine the truth about things by (for the most part) directly observing physical phenomena. This process however is fundamentally flawed, in that it seems to assume that if man cannot for the most part directly perceive something, it does not exist, or it does not deserve consideration. We know that it is silly to say that if man cannot perceive something it does not exist, because that would mean that deaf men would be justified in dismissing claims by the hearing, that a world of sounds exist which they are unable to directly perceive. Further, a wealth of information man concludes to be true, he does via deduction - not direct observation. E.g., no one can see a black hole directly, but we can note circumstances which point to the existences of black holes. Now given the fact that man can only directly perceive about 2.5% of the electromagnetic spectrum, and a relatively small range of sound frequencies, this and other evidence points to the likelihood that man is, in the grand scheme of things, barely able to perceive things around him. In other words, man is comparatively blind.

Now, in as much as it is virtually hopeless for a society of completely physically blind men to discover and make accurate assessments of their environment, at a level comparable to a society of seeing men, it is utterly hopeless that men can discover the truth about the universe using science. This is why science essentially guesses at the way things are (through theories), and technically offers no guarantees that what it proposes is true. No one knows if Einstein's theory of relativity is true: everyone simply assumes it to be true, recognizing it is the best explanation of things we have about the physical world around us.

Now if it is virtually impossible for science to explain the world we live in with assurance, we are left with no other choice but to rely on explanations provided by beings who purport to have created the world. (Who better to explain how a house has been built, than the men who built it?) The question then arises, how do we distinguish fact from fiction? We look at natural laws. Not just natural physical laws: all types of natural laws. In our observations around us, we see that nothing gives rise to something substantially greater than itself. Things only progress in the opposite direction: i.e. creatures only give rise to things lesser than themselves. This completely undermines the theory of evolution (which incidentally is not supported by one shred of irrefutable evidence), and confirms many aspects of religion (e.g. Gnosticism, Cabbalism) which states that all things that exist are a series of emanations from a highest ultimate source, to the lowest source. Another important natural law is that an intelligent being is required to produce order, and the more sophisticated the order, the greater the required intelligence. (You cannot get a house to randomly construct itself. You need men in order to build it; and the more sophisticated the house, the more intelligent the men have to be.) This simple law further undermines evolution, and is consistent with explanations by religion that beings of great intellect created the things that exist. Further, religion indicates that all things that exist, are essentially a massive assembly [of] beings of various kinds. This is consistent with man's observations that all things have their bounds, are regulated, and have complex ordered associations and interactions. Therefore the idea that there are spirit beings that are responsible for clouds, who ensure that clouds behave certain ways within limits, are consistent with man's observation that clouds show ordering for which intelligent beings are required to establish and maintain. All of this suggest that all things that exist (time, jealousy, love, etc.) are beings who establish and maintain these things.

Natural law also shows us that perfection and truth lies only in those things that are good. This is how a person is able to critically distinguish the truth from a maze of fiction and deception that exist within this world. This is consistent with Jesus' claim, "By their fruits will you know them." Therefore the truth about all things lie only within people and things that are truly, fundamentally good. Christianity and related religions indicate that this goodness can only be achieved by having faith. Jesus in Mark 11:22-24 indicates that having faith is specifically the process of asking God for things, and believing that you will receive them. All of this can be confirmed by empirical observations, which in turn support the fact that no one can know the truth about things, save via the proper pursuit of religion.

Therefore as I said before, science can never explain our world with any guarantees of accuracy. All it can do is propose what our world is like. However, given the horrible weakness of our senses, any proposal we can come up with is virtually guaranteed to be terribly flawed. Man therefore has no choice but to rely on accounts by beings who created all things (whose existences are confirmed by natural law), and to distinguish their sayings from myth, via the goodness of the sources of various accounts.

True religion is not the ranting of irrational men. In fact it is the complete opposite. The problem is that religion is filled with wannabes who establish and follow flawed doctrines - all the time proclaiming to be men of God. A truly religious man (vs. a play actor) shows fundamental (not superficial) goodness, and bears out the Bible's claim that true goodness comes only by having faith, and that having faith is specifically the practice of asking God for things, while believing that you will receive them - Mark 11:22-24."