Science Fiction and the Meaning of Our Modern Age Post One

Welcome to "SCIENCE, THE BIBLE AND LIFE ON OTHER PLANETS" the contents of a book examining issues between faith and our modern values. Each chapter will be divided into 3 or 4 posts of about a page and a half each. May all who read this be challenged to think in new ways and experience personal growth because of it.

Sincerely, Les Miller "Mr. Les"

The blog will be divided into 10 chapters, each one sub-divided into 3 or 4 posts, about a page and a half each. The contents are as follows:
TRANSLUCITE
SCIENCE FICTION AND THE MEANING OF OUR MODERN AGE
BIBLE PROOF THERE’S LIFE ON OTHER PLANETS
JOB LEARNED WHAT WE ALL MUST
OF COURSE THEY LANDED ON THE MOON
WHY HAVEN’T THEY GONE BACK?
THE (NOT SO) SECRET KEYS THAT UNLOCK THE REAL TRUTH
JOHN 3:16 IN DEPTH
MR. SPIELBERG HAVE I GOT A SCRIPT FOR YOU
EPILOGUE “THE TRUTH IS OUT THERE


SCIENCE FICTION AND THE MEANING OF OUR MODERN AGE

For centuries Western civilization operated under a worldview thought to be Christian and Bible based. That is with the earth as pretty much the only physical place, a mysterious world above called Heaven, and another below called Hell. You went to one or the other as a ghost as soon as you died. There were of course five other planets and the constellations that could be seen with the naked eye, but very little was know about them. They and the sun itself were said to revolve around the earth in perfect circles. As society developed and our knowledge base expanded in the last 500 years, we have a very firm grasp on many scientific truths and now know we are a small part of a vast universe. Astronomers have actually identified about 300 planets that revolve around other stars. However not one person gazing into the night sky has ever reported seeing a ghost or an angel anywhere in outer space. Is all this somehow incompatible with the Bible?

There are many today who live in the 21st century all week with its worldview of planets, science and modernism; but then go back to the 1400’s for an hour on Sunday morning (or whenever they open their Bibles) without even realizing it. No wonder massive numbers of their children gradually lost interest in spiritual things over the past few generations. How many millions today have rejected the Bible because of this? How many will tell you that Christianity does not pass the test of critical thinking? Critical thinking is not something Christians need to be afraid of. This is totally unnecessary.

You may have heard the story of Galileo versus the Catholic Church used as evidence to support today’s rejection of God and the Bible. I still remember my Junior High School science teacher telling the class Copernicus’ and Galileo’s story and then saying it was Isaac Newton who set modern science on its firm foundation afterward. What the teacher didn’t say was how Newton was able to do that. Newton lived in a Protestant country that valued knowledge and truth and that during his time persecution was waning within Christendom. I learned later as a Christian that Newton wrote more on theology than on science and that his insights on the timing of the judgement coincide well with what we’ll be looking at a little later in this book.
There were others in Galileo’s time that did not become as famous as he is now because they were not persecuted the same way he was. Johannes Kepler stands out as a prime example. He lived in Germany, which had been under the influence of Martin Luther for about 100 years. Kepler was the one who figured out that planets actually orbit in ellipses, not circles. Even Galileo himself had not accepted this.

“Galileo was famous in other fields besides astronomy … but he has come down in history particularly for two … events. When he used his telescope on the heavens, he made a number of classic observations. He observed the mountains and craters on the moon, and he remarked upon the four satellites, or ‘moons’ of Jupiter. It was, however, his discovery that the planet Venus has phases like the moon which was destined to strike the death-blow to the … belief that the earth was at the centre of all things. … Galileo’s second claim to a place in history derives from his championship of the heliocentric theory, against the bitter opposition of the Church” (“Astronomy for Beginners” by Henry S Brinton F.R.A.S., pages 19-22). “The age old idea that the earth was the centre of the universe was beginning to be shaken at last. … Strangely, at least to modern ears, the idea that the earth, which is God’s creation, should not be at the centre of all things, was offensive to the Church” (page 18).

What people have forgotten today is that the Dark Ages were a spiritual as well as an intellectual darkness. The truths of the Bible were just as much kept from the people as was science and art. The science of the Dark Ages did not come from God’s Word. If common people were able to read their Bibles, which the Catholic Church did not allow at the time, they would have seen that scientists like Galileo were not challenging truth at all.

It wasn’t until 1633 that Galileo was put on trial by the Church for the scientific conclusions in his book “Dialogue on the Great World Systems, Ptolemaic and Copernican”. However, he had other troubles beforehand. “Although his theories were correct, and he proved them by experiments and demonstrations, Galileo was dismissed from his position at the University of Pisa in 1591. He had aroused the suspicion of his colleagues by his constant attacks on the dearly held, but erroneous physical theories of Aristotle” (“Giants of Science”, pages 34 -35 emphasis supplied). There you have it; they got their science from Aristotle and not God’s word. And! He wasn’t just persecuted by the Church, but also by his peers, the same kind of people who now hail him as a great champion of truth. They just didn’t have the power of life and death in the form of the Inquisition. Human nature being the same then as it is today; most people took their leaders at their word and put their faith in long held traditions whether they were really true or not. Will we soon discover that indeed most today are doing the same thing; they believe what they believe because they were told to?

“In fall 1980, Pope John Paul II ordered a new look at evidence in Galileo's trial. In 1992 came acquittal. But the basic conflict between established religion and modern science is still being played out” (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/national/horizon/sept98/galileo.htm). “He was censured by the church and kept from teaching his views because his proofs were inadequate. The case was closed in his favor in 1992” (The “Rose Book of Bible Charts, Maps and Timelines”, page 43). Since the Church maintains the doctrine of papal infallibility, she could not admit any real fault. In all the years I’ve ever read anything on this subject, this was the first time I ever saw any quote that didn’t treat Galileo like a great hero. Where exactly his “inadequate” proofs were I do not know. What I do know is that there is quite a bit of what we call modern science that does come from the Bible.