Science and the Bible

What is the Relationship between Science and Religion?

The short answer is 'none!'. It is like asking what is the relationship between a shadow and a tooth pick. There is no relationship between them. You can examine a tooth pick in the laboratory but you can't examine a shadow. Religion has NOTHING to teach science and science has NOTHING to teach religion. Religion is trying to discover if there is an invisible reality behind the universe and what it might be like. Science is trying to learn as much as it can about the physical universe that we can examine.

We ought to be quite trusting of the results of the work of honest scientists. It is a self correcting field of study. In the long run, it will get things right. (but some times it takes some time). We believe that if the clear established teaching of science conflicts with any INTERPRETATION of religious books, we ought to take such scientific conclusions very seriously. For instance, for many years it was thought that the age of the earth could be determined by studying the genealogies in the New Testament of the Bible. It was concluded that the creation of the universe was about 6000 years ago.

This was an interpretation that is very seriously challenged by a very large host of archeologists, paleontologist, geologists, chemists, cosmologists, biologists, physicists, and a host of other methods of study to be impossible. A very significant number of these scientists hold strong religious beliefs.

There has been a long conflict between people who hold religious beliefs and some scientist about evolution. It is popularly been labeled as the war between 'Religion and Science” or “Science and the Bible”. We would assert that this is an meaningless conflict. The word evolution simply means change. It is perfectly obvious that many, many changes in plants and animals have happened and it has been firmly established that this has been caused by genetic mutations over a very, very long period of time. So, yes, that kind evolution is true. Humans evolved from a microscopic speck. But there is a second kind of evolutionary thinking that claims to know that the universe created itself. That is not science, it is philosophy. When scientists assert that there is no creator they not speaking as scientists but as  humans with no more authority than anybody else.

There are lots of things that are very widely and rightly believed that are beyond the ability of science to examine. Science can not directly examine emotions, ideas, beauty, truth, values, etc. Science can not verify most of what we read in history books. We believe what we believe about history because we trust authority. You can't put historical claims in a test tube. If a person could only believe what science can prove we would have to be content with very little knowledge.

People often ask me how I am-
I think I shall tell people that I am at peace with God, my family and my friends which is all that I or anyone else could hope or ask for.

I wish you the best in your own life.

Don

holmesdb@gmail.com

BEING GOOD WITH OUT GOD

Spiritual without being religious -

Many people describe themselves as being 'spiritual' without being 'religious'. We ask “do they have any idea of what they mean”? Would they be hard pressed to give a meaningful response to the question. Do they simply mean that they believe in right and wrong and also believe that they think themselves to be better than others in their effort to be good. Maybe they mean that they think they can be good without God. But why would a person want just to be good? Do they want to be able to think of themselves as being good or do they want just others to think of themselves as being good or do they really want to be good? How good to they want to be – moderately good or really good? Or just better than others. We ask "why bother"? Trying to be good is a real nuisance. It means having to say 'no' to yourself, being honest when one would like to lie to cover their tracks. It means trying to avoid every selfish act. It will impinge on ones life almost hourly to not do what we would like to do or to do things we don't want to do. Is it possible to succeed in being good? Well to a degree, yes. If one works very hard they maybe able make themselves a bit better than others. But Christians would assert that if they want to be their best possible self, they will need God in their lives to help them deal with their pride, envy, self importance, etc. etc. If there is a God we think He will help us make progress but only if we give ourselves over to Christ. He can make us truly good, but we can never make it on our own. C.S. Lewis describes a religion without God as “having all the thrills of religion with none of the costs”.

Our apologies - blog site was down for three weeks but is working again.

CHRISTMAS BLOG 2013

As we have both about reached our three score and ten (plus ten), we can't help but reflect upon our lives. We ask ourselves “If we had to do it all over again, what might we wish we had done differently.” I (Don) would like to have received a better education, to have learned to play the piano, would to have liked to become fluent in another language,would have tried to spend time gardening with Barb and help more with the cooking, would have spent more time and effort being a better parent, would have made a better effort to tell my parents how much I appreciated them, would have done a better job of planning for our financial retirement, would have made a much more serious effort to try to help people more, would have taken daily walks with Barb and finally made more of an effort to help people build their faith on a firm foundation not related to experiences but based on convictions of the truth of the historical events surrounding the life, death and resurrection of Christ. (two of the saddest words in the English language are 'too late')
 

Then we ask ourselves “What would we like to do with the rest of our lived?” This is a bit harder to answer as we don't know what our health and general energy level will be.

We both work pretty hard a being good parents for our three kids and being good grand parents for our five grand children.

We share these questions with you as a challenge to you to examine your own lives.

The big event of the past year is the marriage on May 26 of our son, Tim, to Kelly

Grotke. They had a pretty big wedding as Kelly is an only child and it was the only time that her folks would be a part of a wedding of a close family member. She is from New York and is a on the staff of a high school working with special needs students. She plays the fiddle, mandolin and the piano. Tim plays the piano and the guitar and they treat the entire family to great music at family gatherings.

How do we spend our time? I spend hours on the computer, responding to email, watching the news (ug!), watching documentaries and movies of classic books on youtube.com and a little writing. I also like libre.com which is a site that reads out loud thousands of books. Progress on a book I want to write is very slow.

I have a small group of friends what I can count on to stop by for visits. I am usually home except for church and frequent trips to our daughters and the grandkids sports games. We continue to have a wonderful caregiver, Aaron, who comes in daily for about three hours and helps me with my morning routine and a hundred chores around the house. Barb runs many errands to the grocery store, the bank, the drug store, etc. She also looks forward the womens Bible Study Fellowship each Monday eve and her prayer group which meets every Monday noon. We continue to be a part of our monthly book club which has been meeting for over forty years.

Book suggest from Barbara:

Radical – David Platt

History books by Paul Johnson

Novels by Howard Spring

Please send us your book recommendations.

Our lives are bursting with gratefulness for our health, our friends and our hope in Christ. “In the world you will have tribulations but be of good cheer for I have overcome the world.”

Don & Barbara Holmes

holmesdb@gmail.com

360-734-9648