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For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible (Colossians 1:16, NASB1995).
My wife and I walk regularly together. In one neighborhood we pass through, many houses have a yard sign listing the following statements …
In This House, We Believe:
Black Lives Matter
Women’s Rights Are Human Rights
No Human Is Illegal
Science Is Real
Love Is Love
I agree with the literal meaning of the above statements.
However, there is a political and humanistic philosophy behind the sayings, shading the meanings to a point where I disagree with most of the implications.
The one I find most problematic is Science Is Real!
I believe in science, but that’s not what the sign implies. It’s saying, “The beliefs of my household are scientific and thus not open for debate.” The actual meaning of the words “Science Is Real” on this yard sign is rather unscientific.
Let me explain.
I first noticed this sign during the Covid crisis, and the implication of the sign at that time was that Dr. Fauci speaks science and those who disagree are unscientific morons.
We’ve all heard arguments invoking the name of God and Scriptural proof-texting to arbitrarily win and prove the other side worthy of judgment. Using God or Scripture as a bludgeon is wrong. But as faith in God recedes in our culture, science replaces religious sectarianism as the arbitrary axe of condemnation.
And the more agenda-driven science becomes, the less it’s scientific.
Modern science was founded upon faith in a God who created everything. Science believed in a creative sentient Being who was rational. Thus scientists, who also had the ability to reason, could discover what God created.
As one author writes about the beginning of modern science …
A core belief for the medievals was in the “two books,” the book of God (Scripture) and the book of nature (the universe). This was at the heart of their faith in the figure-out-ability of the world.
If the underpinnings of science were of a rational God who created everything, then what happens in an age when scientists, philosophers, pundits, and yard signs throw God out of their belief systems?
We get chaos, or as the Apostle Paul warns …
For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools (Romans 1:21-22).
Without God, science is sold to the highest bidder – who gives the most money or has the most influence at a university. Without faith in a Creator, science becomes beholden to the winning political agenda of the day – instead of standing for truth, it bolsters propaganda.
Yes, I believe in God.
I believe that God created all things and that science enables us to understand our universe. But when we lose God, we also lose rationality, and then the yard sign motto of Science Is Real …
Becomes nonsense!