Tag: science

The late evolutionary biologist Stephen Jay Gould coined the phrase “non-overlapping magisteria” in 1997 to convey the idea that science and religion essentially have nothing to say about each other; that religion can’t contribute to or detract from science and vice versa. Recent collaboration between psychologists and Buddhist monks, however, seem to indicate that Gould may have been wrong, and that perhaps religion can have something to say about science.

John Bunyan’s famous work "The Pilgrim’s Progress" pictures a man raking filth while an angel tries to crown him with eternal glory. The angel repeatedly calls him to “Look up,” but the man is so intent on muck that he doesn’t see the angel or the crown. Bunyan’s originally intended to impress upon his readers the hope of their salvation rather than the cares of this world, but the image has been reused many times since then, often referring to writers who work in the journalistic mud.

But what about the minds that made the cell phone? If a cell phone has billions of transistors, your brain has hundreds of billions of tiny neurons, many multiples more than the most complex computer has transistors. Each neuron has tens of thousands of complex interconnections.

On Feb. 15 an asteroid will pass by the earth in what is considered by NASA to be a close approach (see record setting asteroid flyby). There’s no danger of collision, and even if there was, it wouldn’t be the end of world. But what if it was? Or to put it another way, do you believe God would allow an asteroid to end it all?

It’s always been a comfort to me knowing that God knows everything about me. Omniscience and omnipresence has been a hallmark of most religions. God knows when you come and when you go, as Psalm 139 in the Bible says, and when you stand up and when you sit down.

In the 1979 film Monty Python’s Life of Brian, the three wise men are depicted as going to the wrong stable. Instead of finding Jesus’ manger, they mistakenly worship a baby named Brian. Even though it was banned in many places, including entire countries such as Ireland and Norway, the Life of Brian was the fourth highest-grossing film at the time.

Reasons to Believe (RTB) is a Christian apologetics organization founded by astrophysicist Hugh Ross. Dr. Ross has brought together mainstream scientists from several different disciplines “to spread the Christian Gospel by demonstrating that sound and scientific research — including the very latest discoveries — consistently support, rather than erode, confidence in the truth of the Bible and faith in the personal, transcendent God revealed in both Scripture and nature.”