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Author Topic:   Religion and Science
Aquilegia753
Member (Idle past 5928 days)
Posts: 113
Joined: 11-08-2007


Message 1 of 7 (452291)
01-29-2008 11:50 PM


Have you ever thought that religion and science may be teaching the same thing? They're just viewing from differant points and differant angles.
Just think about this.
After a freak volcanic eruption around the turn of the 23rd century, most of Italy, including Rome and the Vatican, were buried under five hundred feet of ash.
Hundreds of years later, an archaeologist discoveres Rome. This great city that was once the center of a world-wide religion is now one of the greatest finds in earth's history, ranking up there with King Tut's Tomb.
However, when they discovered the Vatican and the Sistene Chaple, they were awed at the perfectly preserved colored painting on the roof. Having never found anything like it before, they bring in the top scientists.
These scientists look at the painting. They take hundreds of pictures, close-ups only. They said you could only truly understand the painting's value if you examine each pixle (which grew much smaller in the five hundred years).
So, these scientists picked apart the painting. They looked at the pictures through microscopes, examining each stroke of the painter's brush. They looked at each minute smudge that was made.
And they said that these smudges couldn't have been made by somebody. They're too imperfect. Just by looking at the pictures, they can't tell what the picture is even of. Therefore, the sun and wind must have blown on the original, perfect painting, smearing and fading it.
However, one scientist went back to the Chapel and looked up. He instantly understood. He went back to the scientists and told them that the picture made sense. It was complete, whole, real. Some scientists agreed with him and went back to the Chapel, but looked at the cieling only through telescopes, again looking at each smudge.
The one scientist tried to talk to the others. "Listen," he said, "this was obviously painted by hand, recently! Those smudges you see are purposeful, giving the painting a cool, real look. It's a real painting!"
"No," they said, "it can't be. Here's a smudge that wouldn't make sense if it was a painting." "Look at this speck," said one. "This blur," said another. "This smear," said a third.
"Take a step back and look at the picture," the one said. He looked up in amazement at the painting. "Just look. That speck you mentioned, that blur that smear, it all comes together to form a perfect picture! Look at the whole picture, and you'll see!"
Two of the twenty scientists stepped back and looked up. "Oh," they said, "it all makes sense. My little dot, it fits!"
"This is amazing," said one of the new observers.
"I want to see what more I can find out," said the second.
So, both went back to their telescopes and microscopes and found things that woulnd't fit normally. Then, they'd take a step back and look at the picture and realize how it does fit.
Science is looking at what makes life up, all the physical properties of the universe, the equations, the formulas, the proofs, the evidence. Science is finding out the little pixels that make up the picture, and relition is finding out how all those little pixels come together to form the huge picture of life.

Replies to this message:
 Message 3 by Chiroptera, posted 01-30-2008 9:51 AM Aquilegia753 has replied
 Message 4 by Granny Magda, posted 01-30-2008 12:48 PM Aquilegia753 has replied

  
Aquilegia753
Member (Idle past 5928 days)
Posts: 113
Joined: 11-08-2007


Message 5 of 7 (452958)
01-31-2008 9:33 PM
Reply to: Message 4 by Granny Magda
01-30-2008 12:48 PM


quote:
To suggest that anyone would consider a microscope the first tool to use in looking at a painting is ridiculous.
First, I'm just using that quote to tell you that I'm talking to you. I may or may not actually be talking about that part of your text (although in this case, I am).
No, I'm not portraying scientists as idiots. I highly respect scientists and everything (except evolution) they stand for. However, I do believe that both are saying the same thing. Well, slightly off, but still....
If you think, yes, there is too much info in the world to know it all. But, scientists do dive into specific topics. They look at the details of life. They look at what makes up the universe (like in the parable, they look at the smudges, the strokes, etc.) Religion looks at how those details come together to form the picture. The grand picture of God's creation.

This message is a reply to:
 Message 4 by Granny Magda, posted 01-30-2008 12:48 PM Granny Magda has not replied

  
Aquilegia753
Member (Idle past 5928 days)
Posts: 113
Joined: 11-08-2007


Message 6 of 7 (452963)
01-31-2008 9:44 PM
Reply to: Message 3 by Chiroptera
01-30-2008 9:51 AM


quote:
Science is about discovering empirical knowledge about the world.
Religion is about how people should live together with one another.
Well, yes. However, at the very beginning of the Bible, the basis for the particular religion being discussed (Christianity), there are the words "In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth." In fact, the entire first two chapters of Genesis are about the earth and how it was created (although not a very widely accepted theory among scientists).
So the Bible tells about the world at the beginning. In fact, it really doesn't tell how people should interact with each other until the Prophets. Until then, and even then, it's simply a history of the world and of the Hebrews. In the New Testament is really where people start talking about how to interact.
So, you saying that religion only talks about how we should live together on this planet is wrong. This is why this site was started, because Creationists talk about Creation, not just personality and lifestyle.
So, now referring to my last post, science talks about how the world is put together, what makes it (and what made it, but let's not get into that now). And religion talks about how those little bits and pieces fit together. If you tried to put a puzzle together without seeing a picture of it, you only have little pieces. But then you start putting the pieces together and you get the picture.
But the world is a little bit more complex. The pieces can all fit together no matter what's on them. So, you have an instruction book, like the Bible, to tell you how to fit the puzzle together. Science is important because you can't get the full glory of the puzzle without the pieces, and religion is important because it tells you the big picture (the purpose to life and the reason all of the little pieces are put together).
Religion says that this piece and that piece go together, then fit in with that little chunk. Science explains why. Two very important (and different) parts of the same thing.

This message is a reply to:
 Message 3 by Chiroptera, posted 01-30-2008 9:51 AM Chiroptera has not replied

Replies to this message:
 Message 7 by Blue Jay, posted 02-08-2008 6:10 PM Aquilegia753 has not replied

  
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