What does science have to do with faith?
By Francesco Foti
Edited by Josie Child
If you believe in science, can you also believe in God? This video explores all the reasons why people might believe that the two – science and religious faith - are antithetic. It asks whether scientific progress alone can satisfactorily explain our existence.
Religious people are often asked how it is possible to reconcile evolution with belief in a Creator, God, who is the source and perfecter of life. However, explaining how things work and how nature functions is not in itself an indicator that there isn’t - or is - a mind behind the universe. These are very different questions; one is the how, and the other, the why.
The often-overlooked distinction between the how and the why of the universe betrays a recurrent feature of the materialistic existence we lead. We limit ourselves to observing the mechanic and material side of the world, without realizing that this, in fact, leads us to believe that we are mere bodies. The soul becomes an afterthought. There is a surety, a smugness in this attitude, often to be found in uberwealthy cultures. This attitude blinds us to the words of many scientists and doctors who declare the inexplicable nature of certain phenomena – what we might call miracles.
The scriptures do not provide us with human tools to test the existence of God. Instead, the Bible asks of us just one thing – faith. Yes, it is hard to believe that behind the material there is the spiritual, but having faith means going beyond what I can see or touch. Personally, I believe that the complexity of man and his capacity in times of great opposition to display a genuine love for his fellow man shows us something important; we can overcome the prison of the material, we are more than creatures of instinct.
The concept of the Holy Spirit, so beautifully explained by Christian doctrine, is our way to start approaching the mystery of God and the complexity of man. This is a mystery that cannot be understood through human categories. The Holy Spirit is our gift from God to let us know that, despite living in this ever-changing world, there is an entity who watches over us and is the motor of everything.
Every society, from polytheist to monotheist, has felt the presence of an inner Creator that is the first and last reservoir of our fortunes and destinies.
Understanding His creation in a purely mechanical way stops us from pursuing the question that comes to us all sooner or later: ‘why am I here?’ To deny or avoid this question is hubris. Faith and philosophy – the study of existence – have gone hand in hand for millennia. Exhaustive study and experimentation have not yet, and will never, give us the whole picture.
We have a tendency to dismiss the mystery and artistry of creation. We rarely recognise how great an assumption it is to believe that there is no mind more supreme than our own. Mainstream secular culture has emptied our capacity to move beyond the material because we are so satisfied by it. Inevitably, we fall into the intellectual trap called ‘Übermensch’ – the man who can justify his own existence. Sometimes, this man is full of pride, king of his destiny, untouchable. Yet sometimes he is overwhelmed by doubts, the full responsibility of his own existence weighing heavily on his shoulders.
Every soul is searching continuously for the love which is behind the perfection and the unpredictable nature of creation. Love, not knowledge, will ultimately satisfy our restless souls. No matter how much we learn to discover and control, God will always be inscrutable, defying our attempts to define Him by human categories and standards. Instead, we should pause and feel Him around us through the complexities of nature, our emotions, feelings, and senses. We can feel Him in the very air we breathe.
The perfection of nature and the mystery of the Holy Spirit brings me to believe in a perfect creating entity behind the universe, and that we, as complex as we are in our mind and will, are not alone.
Watch our video on this topic below, and then why not leave us a comment with your own opinion?
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