Science 'n Religion

Some readings; conferences 10/21/07

Autobio Charles Darwin— This was extremely long for my taste, so for
the most part I just had to skim it, but I enjoyed the interesting
little stories and his opinion of the various people he met. I like
that it makes it so personal, reminding us that Darwin is a person,
and science is done by people with lives and families. His church
exposure/religious exposure was to Unitarianism (like Jehovah's
Witnesses, they deny that Jesus Christ was/is God in the flesh, thus,
have no means of salvation; don't look to the Bible as authority, as
God's main way of communicating to us, so what, do they just make
stuff up?) I also found it interesting that his family wanted to
cover up some of his writings, which again makes us remember that
science is a human effort. Darwin, like all of us, was a curious
human w/ many questions and uncertainties. There's nothing wrong with
that.

What is life?—This one got on my nerves. I just could not get into it
and it was so long. Basically, it's an overview of how life
works/what makes up organisms from a scientific (especially physics)
perspective.

Beyond Belief Conferences
Perhaps I'm just being simplistic. I know God and I know Him to be
powerful. I don't doubt that. "Science doesn't make it impossible to
believe in God." I've thought this for years, that's why I'm so
fascinated w/ science (more specifically, how the process works), but
my love and devotion to the Lord has increased (in fact, science has
helped this). Homosexuality is an abomination to God, so for someone
to say, `No it's not' is ludicrous because He says so Himself
throughout the Bible! Just because other animals in nature do it,
doesn't make it right for humans. Silly justification, just like the
saying "Would you jump off a bridge just because your friend does it?"
We're fortunate to have eternal souls, but honestly there's much more
expected of us than of animals. Metaphysical/philosophical non
scientific statements. Man, when he points out that a lot of
scientists would rather do science/concentrate on science instead of
thinking about God, it actually makes me think less of science. I
mean, regardless of them, God's work is God's work but I'm less
inclined to trust man's work when they're not led by God. I have to
admit that it's not all sunshine and rainbows; that people don't
always use science to bring glory to God. Totally missed the point of
Collins' personal experience, criticizing his conversion as
unscientific. Well, duh!! A true believer wouldn't put science on a
pedestal the was many scientists do because they can see the big
picture. Science as the way God does what He does is only a small
part of what's important to a believer. Hopefully, we would value God
for God, not for what He does. All I see is people and what these
people value most. Some are all about finding things out, some are
all about money, some are all about family, some are all about
themselves, some are all about God, the things He values, and letting
Him be a part of all those other values just mentioned. Can you live
a long happy life regardless of your values and concentrations in
life? Yeah, sure. Why, not. But the scary thing is that this life
might be just a tiny blip of your entire existence and the rest of the
time will be spent as the result of that tiny blip. It could all rest
on a simple yes/no question: When face to face with God, will He
embrace you or say He never knew you since you never knew Him?