Vern Poythress (click here for a bio), a former professor of mine while I was at Westminster Theological Seminary, has written a short article that briefly shares his joy and sorrows over science. The joys he has from science comes from its discoveries and the new experiences scientists have had while making those discoveries. The sadness he has is that, for many of these scientists, their discoveries have often not led them to appreciate God any more than they previously did. And the same applies to us. The discoveries and benefits from those discoveries we have shared in should lead us to have a greater appreciation for God; but we often refuse to see the connection (click here for the article).
Poythress is deservedly a well-esteemed professor at Westminster Theological Seminary. He is very intelligent, highly educated, and devout. And despite the fact that he can be somewhat difficult to personally relate to, he gave the most personal sermons during chapel.
For the purposes of this article, we will focus on one point of the article. While describing how he has sadness for where science is today, he also gave a brief mention to some of the atrocities that have occurred during the 20th century to show how man's sinfulness has not changed.
In listing the scientists with their discoveries throughout history, he mentions Galileo and Kepler and his mention of them seems ironic to me. It is ironic because in saying how their discoveries no longer bring glory to God in the eyes of many, he neglected to mention how the Church, for the most part, poorly treated Galileo and the discoveries made by him as well as the discoveries of Kepler. For their discoveries challenged a widely held deep belief about the earth's place in the universe. For the prominent belief in the Church back then was that the whole universe revolved around the earth. This belief was called geocentricism. There were variations of geocentric beliefs. And geocentricism was rooted in the teachings of the well-respected philosopher, Aristotle.
And so when Copernicus formulated this theory on heliocentrism, he and those who followed in refining his views were poorly treated by both the Roman and Protestant branches of the Church. I cannot speak to how the Orthodox branch responded. And while one Christian article that discussed that response proudly boasted that no Christian today teaches geocentricism, we can find other scientific findings that many in the Church have currently rejected. Evolution is, of course, one of those branches of scientific study which many in the Church have totally rejected. It isn't that we in the Church should accept everything Evolution has to say. It is that Evolution does provide a partial understanding of the history of life and the changes that have occurred.
But more important than that is the widespread rejection of climate science by many religiously conservative Christians in America. And that includes some of its leaders. Some of their rejection of climate science is due to the economic and political implications that follow its acceptance. Those implications would fly in the face of conservative political ideology. But like the Church's temporary rejection of heliocentrism, some of the rejection to climate science comes from incorrect understandings of the Scriptures.
So why bring these rejections by the Church up? It is simple. If we are going to show the shortcomings of science and scientists in recognizing the glory of God in creation, we should also mention the shortcomings of the Church in respecting scientific research and work throughout history. And just perhaps, there is a connection between the Church's mistreatment of science that has sometimes occurred through the centuries and the lack of appreciation for God for what gas been discovered about His creation.
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