> Science: working in the flesh?
>
> Christians frown on "doing things in the flesh." We are advised to follow the
> leading of the Holy Spirit and depend on the Lord for strength.
>
> One might be tempted to claim that the naturalistic bent of science is by
> definition an exercise in unbelief. Science as defined by most scientists
> tries to understand natural causes of natural phenomena. Thus a scientist,
> doing science by the commonly used definition should not be looking for
> supernatural causes.
More or less 2ding Bill's own response to these:
> 1) Is that "doing things in the flesh"? No.
> 2) If it is, can Christians do science? Not applicable.
> 3) If it isn't, why isn't it? Christians need not stop trusting Christ simply because they are
doing things that don't call for explicit appeal to Christian beliefs or
ideas - planting a garden, tuning a car, or doing science. There is no
distinctively "Christian gardening" &c. Belief that there is is a
variety of gnosticism.
> 4) What role(s) should Christian faith play in science? At the beginning of the process, it gives distinctive motives
for doing science. Among other things, it gives reason to think that
the world does make sense (though one obviously need not be a Christian
to believe this). When scientific work has been done, it gives a larger
context within which to place the understanding of the world which has
been gained.
George Murphy