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Science: merely a tool to use
By Jessica Williams, Youth Speak News
October 20, 2008
YSN: Speaking Out
If I were to tell you that dust from the moon could cure the common cold, you might laugh or tell me I was crazy. But what if I said that scientists had tested the healing capabilities of moon dust and found their human subjects showed improvement in a matter of hours? Better yet, what if I showed you the article in a science magazine?
No such article exists, by the way. However, as soon as I placed the word “scientists” in front of my moon dust tale, I don’t doubt that some discerning minds said “I still don’t believe it.” But more often than not, if someone makes a claim in the name of science, we, as a culture, are more apt to give it at least some merit.
No such article exists, by the way. However, as soon as I placed the word “scientists” in front of my moon dust tale, I don’t doubt that some discerning minds said “I still don’t believe it.” But more often than not, if someone makes a claim in the name of science, we, as a culture, are more apt to give it at least some merit.
A doubting friend once asked me to “scientifically prove that God exists.” I, of course, couldn’t respond with an adequate answer and he reached the conclusion that God is non-existent. Though I know that I can’t scientifically prove God’s existence, I know He exists. Faith is believing without seeing, but in a society so obsessed with the material and the physical, it’s difficult to comprehend anything we cannot see or feel.
It astounds me how much faith we place in science. I have the highest respect for scientists. We all know that if it weren’t for scientific research, the way we live our lives would be drastically different.
Science, when used for the good of humanity is a good thing, but from my observation, it is generally held in such high esteem that no one without equal knowledge dare challenge it.
Recently, in one of my classes, my professor started talking about how “science says,” as if science were a being that can make claims and assertions. I’ve observed that many use the phrase “science says” without a thought. Without being too nit-picky about language, logic would show that science cannot “say” anything, because science is not a being. Scientists are people who use the process of hypothesizing, observing and analysing to discover basic truths of the physical world.
The key word is “use.” Science is a tool to be put to use. Human beings use a hammer; the hammer does not use the human being. G.K. Chesterton once said, “Science must not impose any philosophy, anymore than a telephone must tell us what to say.”
Science, though a tool, is a powerful tool that can be used for good or evil. Though no one would dispute that there are many positive outcomes of scientific research, one has to admit there have been instances when science has been taken too far in the opposite direction, causing harm to human life rather than preserving it.
We will never, through science, understand all matters and all things. It isn’t the “be all and end all” that many make it out to be. God is bigger than science, which is why He cannot be explained by it.
I have friends who are scientists who also believe in God and the non-physical world. The key is to put science in perspective. It isn’t everything, but it certainly is something important to be used for our good.
(Williams, 22, studies communications at Mount Royal College in Calgary.)
It astounds me how much faith we place in science. I have the highest respect for scientists. We all know that if it weren’t for scientific research, the way we live our lives would be drastically different.
Science, when used for the good of humanity is a good thing, but from my observation, it is generally held in such high esteem that no one without equal knowledge dare challenge it.
Recently, in one of my classes, my professor started talking about how “science says,” as if science were a being that can make claims and assertions. I’ve observed that many use the phrase “science says” without a thought. Without being too nit-picky about language, logic would show that science cannot “say” anything, because science is not a being. Scientists are people who use the process of hypothesizing, observing and analysing to discover basic truths of the physical world.
The key word is “use.” Science is a tool to be put to use. Human beings use a hammer; the hammer does not use the human being. G.K. Chesterton once said, “Science must not impose any philosophy, anymore than a telephone must tell us what to say.”
Science, though a tool, is a powerful tool that can be used for good or evil. Though no one would dispute that there are many positive outcomes of scientific research, one has to admit there have been instances when science has been taken too far in the opposite direction, causing harm to human life rather than preserving it.
We will never, through science, understand all matters and all things. It isn’t the “be all and end all” that many make it out to be. God is bigger than science, which is why He cannot be explained by it.
I have friends who are scientists who also believe in God and the non-physical world. The key is to put science in perspective. It isn’t everything, but it certainly is something important to be used for our good.
(Williams, 22, studies communications at Mount Royal College in Calgary.)
YSN: Speaking Out