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Monday, March 30, 2009

Faith masquerading as science

The Cosmos series, starring Carl Sagan, originally a 1980 PBS series, is now available on Hulu. (I believe that a free Hulu membership is required.) In the first episode, Sagan began by saying that "The Cosmos is all that is or ever was or ever will be." That episode is here.

Please note that that was not a scientific statement. It was a faith statement! How could Sagan have known that? (Or falsified it?) I'm not accusing the late Sagan, a great communicator who did a lot for science education, of deliberately trying to foist an atheistic faith upon millions of impressionable minds. (Cosmos remains the most watched PBS series ever. It was shown to classrooms across the US.) Perhaps he (and his co-writers) was just trying to be poetic. But the fact remains -- that is and was and always will be a scientifically unprovable statement. It is and was a statement of belief.

Genesis begins with a different presupposition: 1:1 In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. (ESV)

God, a being outside the heavens and the earth, and existing before they came to be, created. Genesis 1:1 doesn't say when, how, or why, but it does claim that there is a Who outside the cosmos. The cosmos isn't all that is, or ever was, or ever will be. Amen. Can I prove that, or could Sagan, were he still alive, disprove it? I don't think so. Why? Because God is outside the realm of science. Also, because the Bible says:
By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible. (Hebrews 11:3, ESV, emphasis added.) By faith, not by laboratory experiment.

Cosmos was, and is, an interesting program, very well done, showing a lot of good science in an interesting way. But part of it is a particular faith masquerading as science. Thanks for reading.

5 comments:

Tyrone Ferrara said...

I believe there was some wishful thinking going on with the part about faith masquerading as science.

Martin LaBar said...

Thanks. I think so.

Catez said...

"Please note that that was not a scientific statement. It was a faith statement!"

Yes. I never did see that series. I liked Hawkings one that aired here a few years back. He brought faith and philosophy into it and clearly demarctaed which was which. For the most part. :-)

Martin LaBar said...

I missed the Hawking series. Sounds interesting.

Thanks.

Worldpcrack said...
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