Wednesday, February 02, 2005
Religion or Science?
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If we can put a man on the moon, fax a document to Australia, clone pigs and take pictures of Mars, yet be morally unable to protect the most basic forms of human life as in the abortion issue, the emphasis on physical science and facts have all but replaced religious moral faith.
After a study of Job, the literature depicts two orders in creation; the physical order, and the moral order. To understand the laws, boundaries and makeup of the physical order is not enough, one must also understand the laws, boundaries and makeup of the moral order. Forces in nature control the preservation of animals through their natural instincts, and animals and people alike have no choice but to submit to the physical order. The same is true of the moral order, which upholds the physical world and humanity, though we can neither put the moral order in a test tube nor throw a rock at it. Unlike the animals, the natural instincts of humanity would cause self inhalation if not for the restraining human conscience and God’s graces. We've been given a chance to seek wisdom out. The Bible defines wisdom as knowing the difference between good and evil. That is what we must do to survive and prosper.
Job learned that if the secret of unlocking God’s reasoning and motives can be realized in this life, the only way this comes about is through obedience...the true foundation of the moral order.
“Man puts his hand to the flinty rock, and overturns mountains by the roots. He cuts out channels in the rocks, and his eye sees every precious thing. He dams up the streams so that they do not trickle, and the thing that is hidden he brings out to light.”We must obey the physical order. Most of us don’t take issue with that concept because we can see the physical laws worked out. You can’t ignore a tornado. What we find easier to ignore is the moral order, in which only the consequences of violating it are seen after the fact. Though early man was competent to build the tall Tower of Babel, they were not as competent in keeping Gods command to refrain from building it in the first place, and the painful result, just as with Adam and Eve, could not be undone.
“But where shall wisdom be found? And where is the place of understanding? Man does not know its worth, and it is not found in the land of the living.” 28:9-13
“God understands the way to it, and he knows its place. For he looks to the ends of the earth and sees everything under the heavens. When he gave to the wind its weight and apportioned the waters by measure, when he made a decree for the rain and a way for the lightning of the thunder, then he saw it and declared it; he established it, and searched it out.”
“And he said to man, ‘Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom, and to turn away from evil is understanding.’” 28:23-28
Corrupt Lawyers spend a lifetime learning what is legal, not what is moral. Brain Surgeons can understand neuronic activity, without having a clue about real wisdom. Neither the legal or medical disciplines answer the big questions like “Why are we here?” nor can any of its wisest members fully comprehend all the dynamics of their field of study. How much more can we fail to grasp the spiritual world that operates unseen and upholds the physical world?
We can’t answer every question regarding either of the two, but part of the mystery has been wired into us at birth: we were created in the image of God, and have been given a conscience to help us identify and submit to the moral order. Where do we begin? By listening to our conscience and reading the unchanging Designers intent for life in what He has made available to us for centuries, the Bible.
This post inspired by A History of the Jews, by Paul Johnson
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