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Scientism

Mark Dunagan
01/12/20 - Sunday Evening

Scientism

“Roughly, scientism is the view that the hard sciences—like chemistry, biology, physics, astronomy—provide the only genuine knowledge of reality. At the very least, this scientific knowledge is vastly superior to what we can know from any other discipline. Ethics and religion may be acceptable, but only if they are understood to be inherently subjective and regarded as private matters of opinion. According to scientism, the claim that ethical and religious conclusions can be just as factual as science, and therefore ought to be affirmed like scientific truths, may be a sign of bigotry and intolerance… The Arrogance of Scientism, J.P. Moreland, World Magazine, World.wng.org, 7-27-2019.

Forgetting the Foundation of Real Science

The problem in believing that chemistry, biology, physics and astronomy provide the only genuine knowledge of reality is why should I absolutely trust the findings in such fields of study?  If, as those who hold to scientism often believe that the universe and thus the laws of the universe are only the result of chance?  Why should I place any confidence in the laws that govern a random, meaningless, purposeless and chance reality?

Why I Trust Real Science

• The laws which govern this universe do not randomly change.  This is not a chance universe.
• If, and only if a wise and powerful God created an orderly universe which operates by logical and rational laws (Colossians 1:16-17).
• The mind that God gave me works and I can understand the world that God placed around me, for I am made in his image (Genesis 1:26).

As a Christian I trust God and real science, because the same God who created the universe (Genesis 1:1) is the same God who is speaking in the Bible (2 Timothy 3:16-17).  Jesus who died for my sins (John 3:16) and teaches me how to live is the same Jesus who created all things (John 1:3).  So following Jesus is not following a “dreamer”, rather, following Jesus is following the Creator.

A Misunderstanding Concerning Faith

To a number of people faith is something completely unrelated to reality.  It is believing in things for which there is no evidence or proof and is thus completely contrary to reason.  Yet this is not how the Bible describes faith.  In the Bible faith is the result of listening to solid and good evidence with an honest and good heart (Acts 17:2-3,11; Romans 10:17).  It is equally inaccurate to describe faith as a “heart thing” and science as a “head thing”.  The Bible warns us about “following our heart” (Proverbs 3:5).  In becoming a Christian I did not “follow my heart” rather, I followed the evidence.

A Major False Assumption

“During the seventeenth century, scientists and technologists created new forms of machinery and new ways to think about society.  Great investigators began to dissect and understand their world.  The metaphor, ‘the world is a machine’, began to replace the metaphor, ‘the world is a living organism’” (The Social Animal, David Brooks, pp. 223-224).  As a result, people thought that with pure reason or logic eventually could be figured out, yet such rationalism was built on a number of false assumptions:

• It assumed that people are basically regular and predictable. It assumed that human action conforms to laws that are akin to the laws of physics.
• It assumed that scientists were free of bias.  That our perception is a clear lens, giving the viewer a straightforward and reliable view of the world.
• It assumed that the human mind is all there is about man on the inside.
• It assumed that without God our reasoning can purged of all false elements.  When, actually the opposite is true (Romans 1:18ff).  

 

The Limits of Reason/The Hard Sciences

By examining the universe we can reach the conclusion that God exists and that He is powerful (Romans 1:20), yet without further revelation from God (the Bible) we would be helpless in figuring out such questions as, “What does God want me to do?”  “Reason can go so far in our belief in God, and then, revelation must carry on from there” (Dickson p. 33).  The Scriptures remind us that unaided human reason has definite limitations (Jeremiah 10:23; 1 Corinthians 1:21; Romans 1:22).  “Every person who has more faith in reason than in revelation (the Bible) should be reminded that man is still fallible.  Man needs more than reason alone to guide his life.  He needs God’s revelation” (Dickson p. 33). 

“The great and impending danger of reason (sole reason, apart from the Bible) is that it many times advances to rationalism, and rationalism is almost always substituted for revelation in religion.  The enthronement of reason means the enthronement of man who becomes his own lawgiver” (Dickson p. 33).  “Such reasoning is portrayed in Leo Tolstoy when he said: ‘If there is no higher reason—and there is not—then my own reason must be the supreme judge of my life” (My Confession).  To put it another way.  Science might be able to tell me if something can be done.  But if often cannot tell me if it should be done.  It is very useful tool to build a dam or highway, but is powerless to help me keep my marriage together or get along with other people.

Remaining Objective

There are many reasons why we need God’s revelation, but one reason is that apart from God’s truth it is very difficult to remain objective.  There are a number of problems that creep into man’s thinking:

• Wishful thinking:  Feelings have a way of clouding our thinking (Proverbs 16:25)
• Personal prejudices: Psalm 19:13  “It may be that the atheist cannot find God for the same reason a thief cannot find a policeman” (Dickson p. 57).
• Blind acceptance of human tradition as the ultimate authority (Matthew 15:8-9)
• Peer Pressure, which is strong even among “scientists”.
• Human ignorance, man is fallible and limited.

 

The Bible is Into Truth

 

• The truth can be known (John 8:32; Proverbs 23:23).
• The truth can be equally known by all men (Ephesians 3:4; 1 Timothy 2:4).
• Man is a sinner, and even Christians are imperfect (1 John 1:8-10), yet man can still walk in the truth (3 John 4).
• Objectively can be a reality if we love the truth (2 Thessalonians 2:10-12); can if we hold to God’s word as the final authority (John 17:17).

 

The Right Use of Reason

“And according to Paul’s custom, he went to them, and for three Sabbath’s reasoned with them from the Scriptures, explaining and giving evidence that the Christ had to suffer and rise again from the dead” (Acts 17:2-3); “He was reasoning in the synagogue every Sabbath and trying to persuade Jews and Greeks” (18:4).  See also Acts 24:25; 1 Thessalonians 5:21; Hebrews 5:14.

• Reason is simply the mental activity used in the search for truth.  We are misusing our reason when we attempt to use it to hide from God or our moral responsibilities.
• “We cannot believe unless belief is more rational than unbelief.  We cannot believe at will, arbitrarily; or against reason.  Reason and faith are not antagonists, but rather coadjutors.  No faith is of worth unless it is justified by the severest use of reason” (The Divine Demonstration, Harvey W. Everest, p. 13).
• “The Bible reveals a system claiming to be divine in its origin and invites man to ‘Come now, and let us reason together’ (Isaiah 1:18).

 

The Atheist/Scientist and Faith

While many atheists or scientists claim that they only deal in facts, this is not true.  The atheist believes:

• Life came from non-life.
• Consciousness arose from innate matter.
• Emotions came from that which has no emotion.
• Personality came from the impersonal.
• Intelligence came from the unintelligent.
• Reasoning came from that which cannot reason.

 

Yet he cannot prove any of this, in fact, the evidence that is all around us in the universe says otherwise.  “Theodore Christlieb wrote: ‘The denial of the existence of God involves a perfectly monstrous hypothesis; it is, when looked at more closely, an unconscionable assumption.  Before one can say that the world is without a God, he must first have become thoroughly conversant with the whole world.  In other words, ‘it would be necessary for you to know everything before you could dogmatically affirm that there is no God, because if you did not know everything, the very thing which may have escaped your notice is God” (Dickson p. 56).  This is one reason why God says that the atheist is a fool (Psalm 14:1). So faith is required to hold any worldview.   Philip Johnson has accurately observed, “One who claims to be a skeptic of one set of beliefs is actually a true believer in another set of beliefs”.  In fact, it takes far more faith to hold to atheism than to what the Bible says, for example:

• The scientific evidence overwhelmingly confirms that the universe exploded into being out of nothing.  Either someone created something out of nothing (Christianity) or no one created something out of nothing (atheism).    Which view is more reasonable?  Which view requires more faith?
• The simplest life form contains the information equivalent of 1,000 encyclopedias.  The Christian believes that only an all-powerful God can create a life form containing that amount of information.  The atheist believes non-intelligent time and chance can do it. 

 

Science is Actually Being Ignored

 

One false narrative that is popular is the idea that the Christian ignores science or doesn’t believe in science, yet I often find the opposite to be true.  The most “scientific” our culture claims to be, the further the culture is getting away from real science.  For example:

 

• The Christian and science both agree that the unborn baby is actually human, and that abortion is taking a human life. 
• The Christian and science both agree that a homosexual lifestyle is a dead end.
• The Christian and science both agree that most life on the planet was wiped out in the past by a worldwide event that quickly buried millions of different species all at the same time.
• The Christian and science both agree that matter is not eternal.
• The Christian and science both agree that the universe had a beginning.
• The Christian and science both agree that life can only come from pre-existing life.

 

 

In view of the above points, I believe that the following quote is an excellent summation, that scientism is actually both the enemy of God and of real science: “Just about every college student now learns that natural science is the supreme intellectual authority, while theology depends on blind faith, emotion, and cultural upbringing. In Scientism and Secularism, philosophy professor J.P. Moreland points out that such scientism—making science supreme—is not “a friend of science but rather its enemy.” Humble science tells us what is testable, but believers in scientism pretend to know about past and present what they can’t possibly know. Assumptions about what supposedly happened a billion years ago are untestable, and that makes scientific arrogance detestable.”