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i'm a physicist and i don't believe in half of the bible. science and religion pretty much cancel each other out because they are exact opposites. [but i'm not an atheist]
I think science and religion would go very well together if people only realized that science is the study of the laws of nature and what is empirical-what we can see.
Nothing in the bible states that evolution did or didn't happen, that humans are not meant to discover how to treat, cure and prevent disease, that humans should not be able to discover the physical wonders around us and be able to manipulate our world to turn the tables in our favor.
An atheist attributes the empirical to science, I attribute science to the workings of God. I accept and embrace all that science has enabled us to do, I attribute the discoveries to the efforts of man enabled by divine workings.
To not be able to accept science along with the divine, in my opinion, is pretty ignorant in and of itself, it shows weakness in faith when you cling to a belief that was not even enforced in the bible, especially if you do things like... I don't know... drive a car, see a doctor, pay attention to what you eat, grow food, eat food, abstain from insulating your house with asbestos, watch TV, own a TV, wear glasses, have AC, abstain from drug use for health reasons, have health reasons, exercise to prolong your life, have lighting in your home, sleep on a comfortable mattress, or believe that anyone in the bible actually did wood working and metal smithing because those requires a fair bit of science too, oh and if you read the bible, the science behind the functioning of the eye and brain when reading is incredible... Science, in my mind, is just as real and valid as the works of God.
Science is a study of the earth, Religion is a study of the metaphysical and meaning of it all. I can dig it.
no 'faith' is required to know that science is real and works-that's the whole point of science, something the religious cannot wrap their heads around.
and religions belong on the same shelf as Greek mythologies and Moby Dick, they're works of fiction.
Don't tell me that primitive, silly, goofy ideas like 'god man made of out dust' is the same as saying we evolved from amino acids.
I don't think that "God made man out of dust" is a statement that should be interpreted literally. I think the statement meant that man was created from essentially nothing, essentially the smallest unit of life, which is the basis of the big bang theory and the theory of evolution, the creation started from the smallest building blocks and amounted to what we see now.
In my opinion, which may or may not be a fact which is why I call it my opinion, science enables human beings to better understand the mechanisms of the world around us and of what was created. It's a great thing. It sucks that many religious people can't understand that, but some of us (at least 15% of active Mormons in the church are pro-science Democrats, which is the official number) ARE open minded to what enables us to live so conveniently.
well if none of the bible is meant to be taken literally then why do it?
gtg to work but will give a better response when I return.
I don't know where I stated that none of the bible is meant to be taken literally.
But there is quite a bit of metaphorical content (often stemming from translation and language barriers) in the bible. The basic messages of the bible are words of wisdom and those are to be taken seriously. That's part of the challenge of finding the truth within Christianity, and all religions really. Separating bias of the hand of the man that wrote the bible and allowing yourself to be open-minded enough to transcend said language barriers and appreciate the lessons that the bible and all religious texts teach.
It's about finding the truth behind the core principals of spirituality, but if you're completely closed minded to the concepts of spirituality concerning Christianity or any other religion than my sitting here and trying to explain it to you would be in vain. I enjoy studying many religions, even though I am committed to the Christian faith. They help me gain more understanding of spirituality. Studying many religions and applying their lessons to my faith and life is a difficult concept for others to grasp.
So I'll just get to my point. In my opinion, religion and science are just two of many tools one may use to gain a further and purer understanding of the world. One must keep an open mind to all knowledge in order to gain was is true and separate what is truth from what is hype and bias within oneself.
I'm guessing you're in your 20s, still in that learning phase. A stage I passed a long time ago. I read books and threw them away after (not literally but you know what I mean).
Keep researching and maybe along the way read some stuff by Nietzsche, Bertrand Russell, Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris and Christopher Hitchens.
As for taking the whole bible literally, I made that leap of logic, because Christians have a tendency to shy away from the more ludicrous aspects of the bible when you point them out.
And you are reading into things that are not there. When the Bible said god made man out of dust, that's exactly what it meant, because the Bible was conjured up by primitive humans who didn't understand the universe.
Just read how laughable the 'science' in the Bible is, like the Quran-all of it was taken from the knowledge of their own time.
If god wanted to prove to me that he is real only through his 'holy book', I would've been impressed and more convinced, if it contained Dirac's equation and information about antibiotics many centuries ago.
But of course you'll find none of that, which just proves it's a joke and Christians are morons for following it.
Science only puts into terms what already exists.
Science doesn't 'create' anything new (meaning any advance in science follows already established laws of nature that man had nothing to do with).
Put it this way....man didn't 'create' a horse, man just saw a horse one day and gave it a name. Same with anything....we just pretty much 'reverse engineer' things. We don't create the laws of nature, we just explain them in our own terms. There's nothing to say any God did or didn't create all of it.
If the bible had been handed down in exact, scientific terms then who would've understood it? How would it have been carried on? The way it's written is in such a way that people of all times, all ages, and educations can grasp the fundamentals. The point of the bible isn't to explain how everything works, not at all.
There's absolutely no reason why science and religion can't 'go' together. It's a problem that people on both sides of the issue can't see that!
because religion dares to make scientific claims and loses against science every time.
now if the christians ever really understood science, they'd understand why the lost and feel pretty stupid after
but the fact that you idiots keep trying to push your Magical-Creation theory means you didn't learn anything.
i think that the old testament is impossible and never happened. the new testament is history. all of the stuff in it actually happened
Did you read anything anyone said to you? There's several helpful responses. Doesn't seem like you're really reading and understanding the replies.
I'm not even religious myself, I was just trying to help you, and you assumed I'm religious and called me an idiot?
Listen, you can read the bible and get your own perspective on it, you don't have to accept what 'some' Christians think it all means. You can also be a Christian and NOT go to church. You don't have to associate with any Christians that you feel are 'idiots'. Whatever.
Maybe if you studied the bible a bit more and got a good grasp on it and then made a decision as to how you feel about it, that might be better. I can't help but get the impression that you're more turned off by some religious PEOPLE and not so much Christianity itself. Which is normal.
so many silly assumptions by you. I've read your Bible and it's a joke.
you realize it wasn't sent by god but compiled by the Council of Nicea who threw out the junk that sounded too crazy?
are you even aware the bible is full of contradictions, calls for genocide, condones slavery, stoning and honor killing?
your 'holy book' is no better than the Quran-except unlike muslims at least Christians don't practice their barbaric beliefs in reality.
go watch some videos on science and de-toxify your brain of the religious hogwash that it's full of.
Again, did you read ANYTHING I wrote? I'm not religious, fool. Repeat, I'm NOT religious.
What the hell is your malfunction?
Why did you even ask this question? YOU are full of contradictions.
You need to go watch some Hooked on Phonics videos to improve your reading comprehension.
Now, go piss up a rope ass face.
lol @ you pretending not to be Christian while your post reads like a prayer to your imaginary dickless god with a son as himself.
if it quacks like a Christian, lies like a Christian, goes emo like a Christian, it's not an atheist, ya feels me bro?
only someone with low IQ, who's illiterate/unread would ever dare to imply that the Bible and Science are compatible and two equivalent answers.
this is like equating alchemy to chemistry, witch-doctors to modern medicine, ESP to radar, etc.
you Christians need to stop dressing up your superstitions as the same thing as science when one is basically the rantings of madmen, while the other is a methodology that has lead to modern civilization.
He won't listen to reason, best you give now, there's no hope arguing with him.
Oleo has an intense need to feel self-important and be "right", and this wouldn't necessarily be a problem if he didn't hate himself so much. Unfortunately, he does, and as such you're essentially arguing against his right to be okay with who he is as a person. That's a losing battle.
Yes it's normal for physicists to go to church.
I once heard a scientist make the following statement about religion.
As a scientist he tries to find out HOW
as a man of faith he tries to learn WHY
don't make me laugh, religion advanced nothing but superstition, hate/bigotry against non-believers, women, gays and non-whites.
most of all religion fought violently against reason and science for centuries.
don't go crowning yourself with laurels when no theist has been able to reason themselves out of a wet paper bag.
religion's answer to the universe's existence -> magic
give me a fuking break-you religious people have to dig yourself out of your holes before you can climb some intellectual mountain and declare victory.
bunch of self-congratulating know-nothings.
there's your problem. - you're trying to pass of your own beliefs as if it's truth while looking down on others who don't see things the same way you do.
which is funny since you're doing exactly what you're accusing people of religion of doing.
see the problem with theists is that you see everything through the lens of 'belief.' In your view, nothing is certain, everything is a hunch.
this is why you people are unable to understand science and why it is superior in every way to religion.
there is no belief in science-everything is doubted until proven. Religion works in the opposite way, somebody conjures up an idea and zealously defends it from opposition and reality.
and if everything is a belief, why are yours any better than ours or the hindus or muslims-everyone is right or wrong at the same time. it's nonsense
thankfully science has settled questions that it would be impossible to do with religion
religions are completely useless in our civilizations. people only cling to them because they had it shoved down their throats as children.
this is why religious snake oil salesmen want their poison taught in our schools before children can learn to think, reason and question and realize religions are all bullshit.
I figured a physicist might attend church to get a good laugh out of the whole thing?
pure lies, last credible survey I read, about 99% of scientists (which includes physicists) are atheists.
Only about 7% of Scientists are religious, and of that, not all would be Christian. There are many other religions in the world, so it is likely that if two thirds of that 7% were Christian, then overall less than 5% of Scientists would be Christian, 2% would be other religions, and 93% Atheist/Agnostic. Also, when 93% of the smartest people in the world don't believe in Gods, it says a lot about the people who do. Just sayin'..
Religion and Science cannot contradict each other. Science explains the physical realm of the universe. Religion explains the spiritual realm. Parallel lines never intersect so it is that Science and Religion are parallel lines.
It depends on how the physicist reads a religious text. If they take the words as the literal truth (or as gospel if you excuse the pun) then there's a degree of conflict, but if they read a religious text more for the story and lessons in the parable then there's no conflict. Different churches have different approaches to how they interpret the bible. Maybe a physicist attends for the music, or the architecture.
I don't agree that they're exact opposites, although they do have very dissimilar theories.
I agree that science and religion are two very incomparable topics, but, science and the assumption of a deity being the cause of the universe could go hand in hand in an argument.
oh of course.. der to me lol. i was pronouncing that all wrong lol wow i just had a blonde moment :p
Haha, I figured as much. Hope I didn't sound like a jerk in my reply, though. Soon after I posted it, I realized how poor of a job I did answering it. I guess if someone doesn't know what a physicist is, there is a good chance they wouldn't know what physics is either.
I also don't know why other people thought you had a bad question. If someone does not know what a physicist is, I think it is great that they would ask.
Anyways. Cheers.