Word
Gems
What is a
man but the sum of his thoughts?
God
& Religion:
Science
& Religion
- "There can never be
any real opposition between religion and science; for the one is the complement of the
other... Science enhances the moral values of life... because every advance in knowledge
brings us face to face with the mystery of our own being."
Max Planck, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physics
-
- Thornton
Leigh Page, Stars and
Galaxies:
"In 1650 Bishop Ussher dated the creation
from the genealogy given in the Bible at 4004 B.C.; for a long time (even for some people
today) this was accepted as 'gospel truth.' However, if you accept a miracle such as this,
what's wrong with creation 5 minutes ago? It would be scarcely more difficult for the
Creator to create all of us sitting here, with our memories of events that never really
happened, with our worn shoes that were never really new, with spots of soup that were
never really spilled on our ties, and so on. Such a beginning is logically possible, but
extremely hard to believe."
- Quincy Howe, Jr., Reincarnation for the Christian:
"In a famous and frequently misquoted statement, the church father Tertullian says
the death of God's Son is believable because it is preposterous and his
resurrection is a certainty because it is impossible. These paradoxical words
offer a deep insight into the very essence of Christianty. Christians have traditionally
assumed that what little they can know of God while still confined to their mortal body is
'seen as through a glass darkly.' The profound and mysterious plan according to which God
has disposed things can only confound the feeble and presumptuous intellect of man.
Tertullian discovered strength and assurance in reflecting upon the absurdity at the core
of the Christian creed--that God's Son could actually die and then, having died, could be
raised three days later. To accept such a proposition fully and unreservedly is to admit
that the powers of reason and logic are inadequate to deal with the ways of God. Inherent
in traditional Christianity is the belief that certain things should be relegated to the
category of mystery. Indeed, it is a logical necessity that man as the creature of God
should be unable to grasp fully his Creator's ways. The problem that such
limitations create was very vividly illustrated by the fate of Origen. As a Hellene and a
philosopher, he craved answers and finality from the Absolute. This eventually led him
into heresy, for he was most reluctant to accept paradox and mystery where he
thought reason could lead the way."
- Will Rogers: "William Jennings Bryan tried to prove that we
did not descend from the monkey, but he unfortunately picked a time in our history when
the actions of the American people proved that we did."
- Dr. Gary E. Schwartz, U. of Arizona, The AfterLife
Experiments: "I was trained to look at the world as an
intellectual, a scientist. In science we hypothesize; we do not believe. And
science does not establish 'proof' so much as provide evidence for or against a hypothesis."
|