In recent years we have heard the religious mantra “trust the science” from the secular leftist establishment across the western world. Often this slogan is repeated by those in power to shut down any kind of critical inquiry or investigation into assertions made by the secular ruling elite that seem dubious at best, and at worst, harmful propaganda meant to mislead people.
I ask the question: what exactly is science? Can it be properly identified, and if so, is it something Christians should place trust in?
Science, as I’m sure most of you know, is Latin for knowledge. But its not just any kind of knowledge. It is certain knowledge about unchanging truth. How, or even if, mere mortals can attain such knowledge has been debated since at least the beginning of philosophy with the pre-Socratic Greeks.
Straight off we can see that the very idea of Science is metaphysical and (dare I say) theological. If Science is certain knowledge of unchanging truth (as the West has understood it to mean since Plato) , then if it is even possible:
- Human beings are somehow enabled to apprehend such a thing, and
- Such a thing as unchanging Truth must exist.
Christian theology holds both theses as central. God himself is eternal and unchanging Truth and he has revealed himself to Man, who is a special creation made to intimately commune with Him. Also, God has revealed himself through Nature, through Holy Scripture, and through the Word made flesh: the Lord Jesus Christ.
It comes as no surprise then that Science as a methodical exploration of Nature begins in earnest with Greek theists following the Philosophy of Aristotle and doesn’t really pick up steam until the rise of Christendom in Europe, where the Scientific Revolution kicks off under the auspices of the Holy Catholic Church and her Universities.
We can see then that Science is a theological notion and that it was historically brought about as a systematic exploration of Nature (understood as a God’s Revelation) within the context of Chistian Theology during the age of Christendom under the leadership of the Catholic Church.
How then can the current regime of secular liberalism expropriate such a word for their own (atheist) religious dogma? What could atheists who deny the very possibility of eternal and unchanging truth even mean by Science?
I answer that it is quite simply double-speak. They don’t really mean anything by it except that power is the only truth. And since (from their perspective) there is no God and there is no eternal truth, then the powerful decide the truth at will. This is evident by simple deduction of first principles. They assert that man is an accident of chance, and that truth is nothing but a narrative used by the powerful to maintain power. In so doing they deny the very premises under which any scientific endeavor is possible.
Once the basic theology that underpins the very notion of Science has been dismissed you are left with only absurdity and irrationality that ends in a complete darkening of the understanding.
So, to answer the questions we started with:
- Science is a systematic inquiry into the Eternal Truths of God as they are revealed to us in his creation.
- Science is properly identified by its theological presuppositions. Without this the assertions made may be correct, but they are not warranted.
- Christians should carefully consider the theories of a theologically centered science if such theories are supported by evidence and are in congruence with scripture and the Apostolic Deposit of Faith. However, science as such is always speculative and can never replace divine revelation. Science must always be ultimately aimed at greater understanding of the Creator who is the only source of unchanging Truth.
As Christians, Science and its tradition is rightfully ours. If we are to restore the nation on the bedrock of Christ the King, then we must also restore Christian theology to its rightful place as “Queen of the Sciences” so that we can redirect the pursuit of knowledge toward the Good, the True, and the Beautiful. Without such a shift we will continue down a path of techno-despotism that is rooted in rebellion and ends in destruction.