Wise Faith VS Blind Faith: How Do We Really Know ?
It’s commonly thought that science and religion work against each other because science is built upon proven fact while religion is built upon blind faith. While this may be true in many cases, a further examination and better understanding of both science and the Bible will reveal a much different scenario.
The word “science” is from the Latin “scientia” which simply means, “knowledge.” Scientific research is the quest for knowledge. From discovery and observation, attempts are then made to determine origins, purposes and destinies. But the theories we build must first be founded upon what we know. And what we know must first be founded upon what is proven and observable fact.
While the foundation of science is built upon provable facts, scientists of every field of study would have to admit that they don’t have all of the facts. This is why they call themselves “researchers” because they’re constantly learning. Therefore, when scientists draw conclusions from the facts that they have observed, they are exercising a certain amount of faith based upon the inventory of facts that they have. The more facts that they have, the more trustworthy their faith is in the conclusions they’ve drawn. The less facts they have, the more their faith is blind.
Faith is not a religious word. It’s an attitude of trust toward something that’s not yet seen or proven, but believed to be so, based upon the reliable certainty of other facts that have been seen and proven. The more facts we have to work with, the more sure the attitude of trust. The less facts we have, the more blind. So exercising faith is not a religious act; it’s an act of logical thinking unless it’s blind faith.
With the facts that are available, whether that information is complete or incomplete, most people of our modern scientific age have managed to draw one of four conclusions in their own minds concerning the origins of the universe and life on earth: Darwinian Evolution, Guided Evolution (a.k.a. Intelligent Design), Panspermia or Biblical Creation.
This first theory concludes that billions of years ago, there was an unexplainable big bang in the universe that resulted in the formation of complex systems of galaxies and solar systems. The debris field of our star eventually developed several planets, one of which developed inside an orbital zone that made it possible for simple proteins to spontaneously develop and then evolve into complex life. Millions of years of biological evolution caused these complex life forms to slowly evolve into even more complex life forms which eventually evolved into all of the various forms of life that we see on the earth today.
The guiding force behind the Theory of Evolution is the belief that life itself is a force of it’s own with an internal, unstoppable yearning to survive and conquer; always finding a way to adapt to it’s circumstances no matter what they are, whether adaptation involves the mutual cooperation of other life forms or their destruction, in what scientists have come to call, “survival of the fittest” or “natural selection”. This struggle would seem to be observable throughout the entire spectrum of life from modern man to the animal kingdom and from plant life to microscopic organisms. No matter what the obstacle, no matter how absurd the odds, life always finds a way. Millions upon millions of years of this struggle is believed to be what’s responsible for simple proteins becoming single-celled organisms, which eventually developed into all of the varieties of life we see on the earth today.
There is another theory, which marries itself to the Theory of Evolution, but replaces the force of “natural selection” with the intermittent intervention from an outside influence of advanced intelligence and unknown origin. This theory concludes that billions of years ago, a “Supreme Being” caused a big bang in the universe that resulted in the formation of complex systems of galaxies and solar systems. Using gravity, advanced physics and forces of unknown mechanics, the debris of our star was guided by this advanced intelligence into eventually developing several planets, one of which that was purposefully developed inside an orbital zone that made it possible for simple proteins to develop and then evolve into complex life. Millions upon millions of years of guided evolution by this Supreme Being is believed to be what’s responsible for simple proteins becoming single-celled organisms, which eventually were guided into developing into all of the varieties of life we see on the earth today.
Proponents of “Guided Evolution” branch off into many different categories of various conclusions. While a good number of Christians have come to believe that the “Creation Week” recorded in Genesis Chapter 1 of the Bible is symbolic of Guided Evolution (with each day symbolizing ages of time), so many others from various religious beliefs have objected and concluded that the Theory of Guided Evolution is compatible with all of Earth’s religious and cultural creation myths, which each may be individually grasping at different aspects of a greater truth for which they cannot individually comprehend.
This theory of Intelligent Design through guided evolution primarily exists because of Entropy: The 2nd Law of Thermodynamics which contradicts the Darwinian version of the Theory of Evolution. The scientific law of Entropy (an actual law, not a theory) has proven that all things in the universe are winding down, going from order to disorder. Whether we speak of the cosmos or life on the Earth, all things go from an order which supports life to a disorder which results in death. Chaos and randomness left to it’s own devices has never resulted in any complex system of perfect order. Never! Therefore, the driving force of life itself could not be responsible for the order that presently exists on the Earth without the infusion of additional information from an outside intelligence.
The Theory of Intelligent Design or Guided Evolution does not support the identity of any individual deity among Earth’s religions. It simply states that the present order of the Universe, the present order of the Earth and the present order of all life upon the Earth shows evidence of intelligent design. Period. Despite it’s basis in logic and scientific law, it is a theory that is met with much skepticism and ridicule among colleagues within academia.
An offspring from the Theory of Guided Evolution is another theory called, “Panspermia” in which life presumed to be throughout the universe has been spread from planet to planet in much the same way bees pollinate flowers. Proponents of this theory may or may not support an intelligent designer for the universe, but do suggest that there may exist advanced life-forms of various dimensional capabilities which could account for all scientific possibilities, both known and unknown, who have guided all evolution on our planet.
Proponents in this growing field of study have concluded that all of Earth’s cultures and religions can be traced back to the primitive but documented accounts of ancient visitations from advanced alien astronauts who seeded the earth in it’s infancy with the necessary DNA to guide evolution into all of the forms of life as we know them today.
This particular theory is among the most controversial because of it’s implications. While proponents of this theory point to archeological records of ancient visitations as evidence of alien intervention in human affairs and the enhancement (or possible creation) of the human genome, opponents to this theory fear that these recorded events are actually the documented accounts of what the Bible identified as angelic invasions from Satanic forces who interfered and tampered with human and animal DNA to corrupt the genetic line of everything God had created. (More on this here.)
While many Christians believe the Biblical record is symbolic of Guided Evolution, there are many other Christians who believe that there is more than enough scientific evidence to support the literal interpretation of the Bible’s “creation week” recorded in Genesis. Since time itself has been discovered to be a physical property that dilates with the movement of mass and energy, Biblical literalists have had no problem accepting that God did in 6 days what would have taken Evolution billions of years to accomplish. All provable laws of science do not contradict the creation account, but only confirm it in surprising detail. The more exposed you are to modern scientific research in the domain of particle physics and quantum mechanics, the more comfortable you will become reading Genesis Chapter 1.
It’s also been brought to light that in recent decades, any scientist with documented research which refutes the Theory of Darwinian Evolution, is met with intellectual fascism within academia and the powers that be. Rather than using the scientific method to prove or disprove the research, it is ridiculed, obfuscated and swept under the rug. This obfuscation includes the destruction or alteration of known historical records from ancient historians to the removal and disappearance of archeological artifacts which support Biblical narratives and disrupts the Darwinian paradigm. Many testimonies have been brought forward, volumes of books and documentaries have already been published examining this conspiracy, I won’t get into it here.
Conspiracies not withstanding, if we’ve evolved from nothing, or if we’ve been guided through evolution, or if we’ve been created by a higher intelligence far beyond anything we’re capable of understanding, whatever the truth, the facts are the facts and that’s just the way it is. It’s not religion, it’s science.
Until we have solid and complete evidence to support any one of those views, those views must be accepted by some amount of faith simply because we do not have all of the facts. Some people might think we have enough, but enough isn’t all. Is it? The universe is a very big place. Until you know everything, you are going to be forced to apply a certain amount of faith to come to whatever conclusions you hold. There is no such thing as a faithless view. Until you have all of the facts, there will always be blanks to fill. And filling in those blanks is a form of faith and everyone does it.
As I said earlier, faith is an attitude of trust toward something that’s not yet seen or proven, but believed to be so, based upon the reliable certainty of other facts that have been seen and proven. The more facts we have to work with, the more wise our faith.
Foolish faith or blind faith is dangerous. Blind faith is filling in those blanks without any facts at all or disregarding the proven and observable facts that are available. It’s like forcing the piece of a puzzle into a spot that doesn’t belong. It’s like giving an answer before hearing the question and spending the rest of your life ignoring all questions that your answer cannot address. It’s putting into those blanks what you want to be there instead of what should be there. Blind faith is plunging in without any proven or observable facts and molding your own view of reality to fit what you want it to be rather than what it actually is.
Blind faith in any area of life is extremely foolish and dangerous. It’s especially dangerous when it comes to deciding what you believe about a higher intelligence who created us. Even though that view has a legitimate scientific foundation, a lot of folks who build upon that foundation have been programmed to feel that they have to leave their brain at the door and swallow everything they’ve heard about God on blind faith. That is when a legitimate scientific belief becomes a religion.
The Bible says a lot about faith and it’s essential in many areas of the Christian life. It’s especially important in the area of our future in Heaven. But the kind of faith the Bible talks about and supports is a wise and reliable faith, not a blind and foolish faith which disregards all of the facts. This is why I hold the view that the Bible itself does not contain a religious message. What people have done with it may be religion. How people have reacted to it may be religion. What people have tried to shove down your throat because of it may be religion. The many rituals for which most Christians have bound themselves for thousands of years may be religion. But the Bible, in and of itself, does not promote religion.
Whatever view people choose to hold about reality, if they believe in a creator of higher intelligence, deciding for themselves who he is and what he thinks and reacting to that is extremely foolish and dangerous if it’s done on blind faith. Depending on what they’ve determined, it could even be deadly. This is one area of thinking where people should never simply take another person’s word. That kind of blind faith is what led to the tragic delusion of the followers of David Koresh in 1993, the mass suicides of the Heaven’s Gate cult in 1997 and it’s also what has led and continues to lead to the Islamic terror attacks of the 21st Century.
The massacre at Waco took place when I was a senior in high school. One of the things that kept running through my mind back then was that those poor kids died believing that their dad knew what he was talking about. I think about other kids who are brought up to believe things that may or may not be true. It would be nice if all of us could sit back and just rest confident that all of our parents loved us enough to tell us the truth. But that hope could easily be shared by the children of Christians as well as the children of atheists, Muslims, Buddhists, Wiccans, Cabbalists, Scientologists or the children of anyone from any number of various beliefs.
For those of us who believe in a creator of higher intelligence, how do we really know that there is one? How do we really know? For those of us who have no problem believing in God, how do we know that our view of who God is, is even close to being accurate? How do we really know? No matter what we believe, we’d have to admit that a lot of it has to do with what we were raised to believe by our families, our mentors, or taught to believe by our college professors. But with all the various opinions, demanding voices, multiple religions, endless denominations, countless supposed scholars, controversies and conspiracies which surround this topic, HOW DO WE KNOW?
With this article being the first in a series, it's my goal to share with you HOW WE CAN KNOW with all certainty. Stay Tuned.
The word “science” is from the Latin “scientia” which simply means, “knowledge.” Scientific research is the quest for knowledge. From discovery and observation, attempts are then made to determine origins, purposes and destinies. But the theories we build must first be founded upon what we know. And what we know must first be founded upon what is proven and observable fact.
While the foundation of science is built upon provable facts, scientists of every field of study would have to admit that they don’t have all of the facts. This is why they call themselves “researchers” because they’re constantly learning. Therefore, when scientists draw conclusions from the facts that they have observed, they are exercising a certain amount of faith based upon the inventory of facts that they have. The more facts that they have, the more trustworthy their faith is in the conclusions they’ve drawn. The less facts they have, the more their faith is blind.
Faith is not a religious word. It’s an attitude of trust toward something that’s not yet seen or proven, but believed to be so, based upon the reliable certainty of other facts that have been seen and proven. The more facts we have to work with, the more sure the attitude of trust. The less facts we have, the more blind. So exercising faith is not a religious act; it’s an act of logical thinking unless it’s blind faith.
With the facts that are available, whether that information is complete or incomplete, most people of our modern scientific age have managed to draw one of four conclusions in their own minds concerning the origins of the universe and life on earth: Darwinian Evolution, Guided Evolution (a.k.a. Intelligent Design), Panspermia or Biblical Creation.
| Darwinian Evolution & The Big Bang |
This first theory concludes that billions of years ago, there was an unexplainable big bang in the universe that resulted in the formation of complex systems of galaxies and solar systems. The debris field of our star eventually developed several planets, one of which developed inside an orbital zone that made it possible for simple proteins to spontaneously develop and then evolve into complex life. Millions of years of biological evolution caused these complex life forms to slowly evolve into even more complex life forms which eventually evolved into all of the various forms of life that we see on the earth today.
The guiding force behind the Theory of Evolution is the belief that life itself is a force of it’s own with an internal, unstoppable yearning to survive and conquer; always finding a way to adapt to it’s circumstances no matter what they are, whether adaptation involves the mutual cooperation of other life forms or their destruction, in what scientists have come to call, “survival of the fittest” or “natural selection”. This struggle would seem to be observable throughout the entire spectrum of life from modern man to the animal kingdom and from plant life to microscopic organisms. No matter what the obstacle, no matter how absurd the odds, life always finds a way. Millions upon millions of years of this struggle is believed to be what’s responsible for simple proteins becoming single-celled organisms, which eventually developed into all of the varieties of life we see on the earth today.
| Guided Evolution & The Big Bang (Intelligent Design) |
There is another theory, which marries itself to the Theory of Evolution, but replaces the force of “natural selection” with the intermittent intervention from an outside influence of advanced intelligence and unknown origin. This theory concludes that billions of years ago, a “Supreme Being” caused a big bang in the universe that resulted in the formation of complex systems of galaxies and solar systems. Using gravity, advanced physics and forces of unknown mechanics, the debris of our star was guided by this advanced intelligence into eventually developing several planets, one of which that was purposefully developed inside an orbital zone that made it possible for simple proteins to develop and then evolve into complex life. Millions upon millions of years of guided evolution by this Supreme Being is believed to be what’s responsible for simple proteins becoming single-celled organisms, which eventually were guided into developing into all of the varieties of life we see on the earth today.
Proponents of “Guided Evolution” branch off into many different categories of various conclusions. While a good number of Christians have come to believe that the “Creation Week” recorded in Genesis Chapter 1 of the Bible is symbolic of Guided Evolution (with each day symbolizing ages of time), so many others from various religious beliefs have objected and concluded that the Theory of Guided Evolution is compatible with all of Earth’s religious and cultural creation myths, which each may be individually grasping at different aspects of a greater truth for which they cannot individually comprehend.
This theory of Intelligent Design through guided evolution primarily exists because of Entropy: The 2nd Law of Thermodynamics which contradicts the Darwinian version of the Theory of Evolution. The scientific law of Entropy (an actual law, not a theory) has proven that all things in the universe are winding down, going from order to disorder. Whether we speak of the cosmos or life on the Earth, all things go from an order which supports life to a disorder which results in death. Chaos and randomness left to it’s own devices has never resulted in any complex system of perfect order. Never! Therefore, the driving force of life itself could not be responsible for the order that presently exists on the Earth without the infusion of additional information from an outside intelligence.
The Theory of Intelligent Design or Guided Evolution does not support the identity of any individual deity among Earth’s religions. It simply states that the present order of the Universe, the present order of the Earth and the present order of all life upon the Earth shows evidence of intelligent design. Period. Despite it’s basis in logic and scientific law, it is a theory that is met with much skepticism and ridicule among colleagues within academia.
| Panspermia |
An offspring from the Theory of Guided Evolution is another theory called, “Panspermia” in which life presumed to be throughout the universe has been spread from planet to planet in much the same way bees pollinate flowers. Proponents of this theory may or may not support an intelligent designer for the universe, but do suggest that there may exist advanced life-forms of various dimensional capabilities which could account for all scientific possibilities, both known and unknown, who have guided all evolution on our planet.
Proponents in this growing field of study have concluded that all of Earth’s cultures and religions can be traced back to the primitive but documented accounts of ancient visitations from advanced alien astronauts who seeded the earth in it’s infancy with the necessary DNA to guide evolution into all of the forms of life as we know them today.
This particular theory is among the most controversial because of it’s implications. While proponents of this theory point to archeological records of ancient visitations as evidence of alien intervention in human affairs and the enhancement (or possible creation) of the human genome, opponents to this theory fear that these recorded events are actually the documented accounts of what the Bible identified as angelic invasions from Satanic forces who interfered and tampered with human and animal DNA to corrupt the genetic line of everything God had created. (More on this here.)
| Biblical Creation |
While many Christians believe the Biblical record is symbolic of Guided Evolution, there are many other Christians who believe that there is more than enough scientific evidence to support the literal interpretation of the Bible’s “creation week” recorded in Genesis. Since time itself has been discovered to be a physical property that dilates with the movement of mass and energy, Biblical literalists have had no problem accepting that God did in 6 days what would have taken Evolution billions of years to accomplish. All provable laws of science do not contradict the creation account, but only confirm it in surprising detail. The more exposed you are to modern scientific research in the domain of particle physics and quantum mechanics, the more comfortable you will become reading Genesis Chapter 1.
It’s also been brought to light that in recent decades, any scientist with documented research which refutes the Theory of Darwinian Evolution, is met with intellectual fascism within academia and the powers that be. Rather than using the scientific method to prove or disprove the research, it is ridiculed, obfuscated and swept under the rug. This obfuscation includes the destruction or alteration of known historical records from ancient historians to the removal and disappearance of archeological artifacts which support Biblical narratives and disrupts the Darwinian paradigm. Many testimonies have been brought forward, volumes of books and documentaries have already been published examining this conspiracy, I won’t get into it here.
| Wise Faith VS Blind Faith |
Conspiracies not withstanding, if we’ve evolved from nothing, or if we’ve been guided through evolution, or if we’ve been created by a higher intelligence far beyond anything we’re capable of understanding, whatever the truth, the facts are the facts and that’s just the way it is. It’s not religion, it’s science.
Until we have solid and complete evidence to support any one of those views, those views must be accepted by some amount of faith simply because we do not have all of the facts. Some people might think we have enough, but enough isn’t all. Is it? The universe is a very big place. Until you know everything, you are going to be forced to apply a certain amount of faith to come to whatever conclusions you hold. There is no such thing as a faithless view. Until you have all of the facts, there will always be blanks to fill. And filling in those blanks is a form of faith and everyone does it.
As I said earlier, faith is an attitude of trust toward something that’s not yet seen or proven, but believed to be so, based upon the reliable certainty of other facts that have been seen and proven. The more facts we have to work with, the more wise our faith.
Foolish faith or blind faith is dangerous. Blind faith is filling in those blanks without any facts at all or disregarding the proven and observable facts that are available. It’s like forcing the piece of a puzzle into a spot that doesn’t belong. It’s like giving an answer before hearing the question and spending the rest of your life ignoring all questions that your answer cannot address. It’s putting into those blanks what you want to be there instead of what should be there. Blind faith is plunging in without any proven or observable facts and molding your own view of reality to fit what you want it to be rather than what it actually is.
Blind faith in any area of life is extremely foolish and dangerous. It’s especially dangerous when it comes to deciding what you believe about a higher intelligence who created us. Even though that view has a legitimate scientific foundation, a lot of folks who build upon that foundation have been programmed to feel that they have to leave their brain at the door and swallow everything they’ve heard about God on blind faith. That is when a legitimate scientific belief becomes a religion.
The Bible says a lot about faith and it’s essential in many areas of the Christian life. It’s especially important in the area of our future in Heaven. But the kind of faith the Bible talks about and supports is a wise and reliable faith, not a blind and foolish faith which disregards all of the facts. This is why I hold the view that the Bible itself does not contain a religious message. What people have done with it may be religion. How people have reacted to it may be religion. What people have tried to shove down your throat because of it may be religion. The many rituals for which most Christians have bound themselves for thousands of years may be religion. But the Bible, in and of itself, does not promote religion.
Whatever view people choose to hold about reality, if they believe in a creator of higher intelligence, deciding for themselves who he is and what he thinks and reacting to that is extremely foolish and dangerous if it’s done on blind faith. Depending on what they’ve determined, it could even be deadly. This is one area of thinking where people should never simply take another person’s word. That kind of blind faith is what led to the tragic delusion of the followers of David Koresh in 1993, the mass suicides of the Heaven’s Gate cult in 1997 and it’s also what has led and continues to lead to the Islamic terror attacks of the 21st Century.
The massacre at Waco took place when I was a senior in high school. One of the things that kept running through my mind back then was that those poor kids died believing that their dad knew what he was talking about. I think about other kids who are brought up to believe things that may or may not be true. It would be nice if all of us could sit back and just rest confident that all of our parents loved us enough to tell us the truth. But that hope could easily be shared by the children of Christians as well as the children of atheists, Muslims, Buddhists, Wiccans, Cabbalists, Scientologists or the children of anyone from any number of various beliefs.
For those of us who believe in a creator of higher intelligence, how do we really know that there is one? How do we really know? For those of us who have no problem believing in God, how do we know that our view of who God is, is even close to being accurate? How do we really know? No matter what we believe, we’d have to admit that a lot of it has to do with what we were raised to believe by our families, our mentors, or taught to believe by our college professors. But with all the various opinions, demanding voices, multiple religions, endless denominations, countless supposed scholars, controversies and conspiracies which surround this topic, HOW DO WE KNOW?
With this article being the first in a series, it's my goal to share with you HOW WE CAN KNOW with all certainty. Stay Tuned.
