One thing I have learned about the scientific method is that when a person makes a hypothesis it is supposed to be worded in way in which it can be proven wrong. Any hypothesis that cannot be proven wrong is in fact not a real hypothesis. I would go on to say that any “hypothesis” made that cannot be disproven is more likely an attempt to protect an unexamined often comforting preexisting belief with the more reliable words of science.
I am not a scientist but as I study science more I find that the thing I admire most about the scientific quest for knowledge is that it is self-correcting. Any truth claim must undergo rigorous testing and examination both by those who believe it and those who do not believe it and ultimately no matter how long a belief is held to be true it always remains open to further scrutiny and investigation. And the scientists themselves encourage and value this never ending process because it is in fact what undergirds the entire scientific system, inquiry relying on testing and demanding evidence.
God is mysterious I am often told. His ways are not our ways. Scripture tells me that the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God (1 Cor. 3:19) therefore I should trust in God and lean not on my own understanding. (Prov. 3:5) Trust is submission to God and this is often expressed through worship. God demands veneration. I find this problematic for while I believe that the mysterious can and should generate awe in those who see it, it does not deserve reverence rather it requires inquiry. Similarly truth claims, especially those that have been “revealed”, call not for blind acceptance but rather skepticism. Skepticism and inquiry are two foundational pillars in science’s search for truth whose value cannot be overstated. It is skepticism that drives the human pursuit for knowledge forward and it is inquiry that is the tool used to unearth that knowledge. The skeptic, no different than the believer, can maintain a sense of wonder at the world around them the difference is that the skeptic’s wonder drives her on her quest for understanding whereas the believer’s wonder makes her comfortable without it.
Unfortunately, or perhaps fortunately, skepticism comes with a high price it costs one the safe innocence that can make the mind so comfortable and life so easy to understand. Skepticism can’t make you feel warm inside, it can’t fulfill all our emotional desires nor can it or offer the promise of eternal life instead it can only promise you that after all your hard work, long nights, constant confusion and numerous worries you will know more about the world then when you began and yet be in greater wonder then before.
Trust in yourself and lean not on the Lord’s understandings, in all your ways inquiry Him and you will make your paths straight. (Prov. 3:5-6?)
While I believe that the mysterious can and should generate awe in those who see it, it does not deserve reverence rather it requires inquiry.
ReplyDeleteZ, I don't necessarily see these two things as mutually exclusive - cannot inquiry into something be a form of reverence? If we didn't care, we wouldn't investigate; nor does inquiry subtract from the venerability of a thing.
Good to hear from you again. I guess my basic answer would be it depends on how your use the word reverence. Reverence can simply mean giving respect to some person or idea in which case I would say yes you can and should have respect for what your are inquiring. But in my case I was using the word more in connection with the idea of worship that idea of placing something (God) above oneself to a place in which it is not supposed to be questioned. The exact same thing can be said of the word veneration. Christianity’s God does not want to be investigated but merely obeyed. Veneration and reverence of God is not the same as veneration or reverence for a thing so that was the sense I was using both of those words. Based upon what I was trying to say particularly at the end of the piece it does look like I poorly phrased that sentence.
ReplyDeleteI went on to say that “the skeptic’s wonder drives her on her quest for understanding whereas the believer’s wonder makes her comfortable without it.” I was saying skepticism is caring and it’s the form of caring that leads to investigation whereas I would say faith is the form of caring which leads away from investigation. Both the skeptic and believer care but only the care of the skeptic leads to scientific inquiry. In Christianity skepticism and doubt are and always will be seen as something to be overcome not something to be encouraged and utilized. That’s that heart of the issue for me.