3.2 Science and Religion
© 2016 Christ Revealed Bible Institute
All humans are scientists. All humans are religious. All humans have a brain that thinks and argues by some form of logic; all humans have a spirit that believes and exercises influence on others.
Faith is FALSELY, FALSELY defined by the world. The world defines “faith” as a wimpish hope in something that is not real and not really “believed.” Faith is boldness of heart. Atheists who assert their atheism are filled with faith, faith operating by powerful spirits. Just ask them, they KNOW (entirely by faith).
The problem is not science, but religionists, people of powerful spirit-faith masquerading as “scientists.”
Inconvenient Facts
In the last lesson I stated that all paradigms of thinking avoid inconvenient facts.
Here is the difference between a true scientist and religionists masquerading as scientists. A true scientist focuses on the inconvenient facts that seem to disprove the popular theories. If the fact stands, the theory must fall. (Biological evolution, as a theory, has already been falsified by inconvenient facts.) A religionist mocks and disregards the inconvenient facts, entirely on the basis of preferred belief, supporting a failed theory to the very end. A religionist places “believing” above facts, whether those facts are observable phenomena or clear statements of God.
Religion
I use the term “religion” here, knowing well that people like to argue over its meaning. A word is nothing more than a symbol that conveys meaning. We do not argue over what the symbol means; rather, we are interested only in what meaning we intend to convey.
I am using the word “religion” in the sense of the element or persona of spirit that exudes from every human being, the spirit-faith operating out of every single person. And I am using the word “religion” because most of the spirit-faith persona coming from most people, Christians as well as non-Christians, does not come out from the precious and gentle Spirit of Christ.
Human Argument
The words “I am meek and lowly of heart” govern that which comes out of our spirits, joined as one with the Spirit of Christ.
And yes, Christians who “believe” Nicene Christianity cannot see New Testament lines that contradict their “beliefs.”
Here, however, we are interested in words and human thinking and logic and all the messed up nonsense we have known in this world. Most human argument, by outward appearance, is over facts, whether they are true or not and where and how they fit. That is outward appearance only. Of truth, most human argument is based on living inside of very different paradigms of thinking based on very different assumptions of truth.
Theories and Facts
There is no possible way we can understand any fact, what it is or where it fits, without applying a theory to the fact. We must know the difference between a theory and a fact. People are not taught to think scientifically, anywhere I know. Thus almost everyone seems to muddle and merge between theories and facts.
A theory can never be a fact; a fact can never be a theory. The creation of the universe by intelligent design is a theory; it is not and can never be a fact. The development of life by evolutionary processes is a theory; it is not and can never be a fact.
Fitting Facts into Theories
A theory is an attempt to arrange in order the observable facts, to show how they relate together. A theory is a story. Facts are the particulars of character, setting, and plot. We understand character, setting, and plot only by their place in the larger story.
We understand the facts only as we are able to fit them into a larger theory. A fact is one and one and one. A theory is a pattern of facts in symphony. Just as one out-of-tune violin destroys an entire symphony, so one out-of-place fact destroys an entire theory. BUT an out-of-place fact never alters the observable reality of any other fact.
Facts
A fact is an observable measurement. Here is a bone, lying here in the ground. That is a fact, irrespective of any belief system. The bone can be photographed, (a form of measurement), and measured as to size and weight. Its characteristics can be described in detail as well as it's present relationship with other bones in that rock formation.
All facts can be verified or duplicated by other dis-interested persons. A theory, on the other hand, is a large umbrella attempt to explain all the patterns taking place between various facts.
Theories Assemble Facts
In the same way, every individual word God speaks is a fact. Yet the statement “God created the heavens and the earth” cannot be a fact in the larger sense, but rather, a theory. It cannot be a fact because you cannot observe it happening right now. You cannot measure it; you cannot duplicate it. And when I say “measure” it, I very much include Spirit measurement and spirit evidence. Thus “God created” is the umbrella explanation, the larger story, into which we can assemble the facts.
A theory can never be “proven” true, but it can be proven false. Yet a theory, not proven false, can be true.
Proof
I certainly believe that “God created” is a true theory. But I can in no way prove it as a fact because proof is that which stands in an impartial court of law. Proof is a fact, not a theory. The reason it is so very important for us to understand and use this distinction between theory and fact is that all confusion rules in the earth and in our own minds by not keeping these two terms clearly defined and separate.
More than that, we have learned the importance to God of PROVING His word true against all opposition. All challenge against the Word God speaks is set there by God so that He might PROVE His word true.
Facts as Evidence
A fact is that which stands as evidence in an impartial court.
You see, if God actually created something by speaking a Word inside a courtroom, that “proof” would be evidence that God created that one thing, and as evidence of that particular fact, it upholds the larger theory. But it is still not proof that God created the heavens and earth back then, because the facts back then are not taking place in the courtroom – or in the science laboratory, right now. Neither is there any form of video, etc. (until the Day of History) that can be verified concerning events back then.
You see, I deal with God as if He is real; in fact, God deals with creation as if He is real.
Jesus as Evidence
Jesus spoke entirely out from this approach to courtroom evidence. He stated that the Father sent Him as a theory. Then He gave the courtroom “facts” that upheld the theory, the witness of John, the witness of Christ Himself, and, primarily, the particular works performed by the Father as testimony that Jesus spoke the truth.
However, no theory can be “proven” true even if it is true. But a theory can be proven false. Thus Jesus was tempted in all points just as we are tempted as an essential element of God's evidence. Had Jesus sinned once, the theory (the thesis) that God sent Him would have been demonstrated as false.
God Proving His Word
Now we want to bring all this discussion of human thinking and courtroom evidence back into the thesis of the universe, back into the Word God is always speaking.
All the tension of the universe can be explained by this one statement of intent. God intends to prove His Word true. Let God be true but every man a liar. As it is written: “That You may be justified in Your words, and may overcome when You are judged” (Romans 3:4).
Yet we have seen that PROOF must be observable fact. God must become flesh and dwell among us before we can KNOW that His Word is true.
Two Witnesses
More than that, Jesus as evidence is not sufficient for God. God requires two or three witnesses; God requires a second witness of Christ. God must walk this earth in human form a second time before He has proven by measurable, factual, crime-scene-forensic evidence that His Word is true.
One thing we realize is this – God’s NEED to prove His Word true upon this earth is far greater than our need for Salvation. God’s NEED is expressed by His pro-determination, the grip in which He has seized us. If God is God, then there WILL BE a second witness of Christ, of the Proof of God-Speaking, walking this earth.
Science and Religion
I titled this lesson “Science and Religion.” Let’s now use a positive definition for “religion.” Let’s think of Word in the category of “science” and Spirit in the category of “religion.” Thus we see that, when both are of God, they are fully compatible and always together. Because of all of its bad connotations, however, we refer to the Spirit of Christ through us using a word other than “religion.”
My point is to show that we have no need to become “religious” in order to hide from how all these things work together in reality and in our own thinking.
Pro-Thesis
We have seen that the concept of theory, a pattern of thinking that ties all the facts together, is the same thing as God’s thesis, His pattern, the Lord Jesus Christ, that puts every Word God speaks into its rightful place.
Rightly dividing the word of truth means knowing where each line of God’s speaking fits together with everything else. God has provided us with specific patterns or theories upon which He intends for us to fit each word.
But more important than pattern or theory is the underlying assumption of reality upon which that pattern rests. It is God’s Pro-thesis, Christ living in Person in our hearts, that sets the foundations of all things.