Near Carriere, MS on 18 April 2008
I’m actually not sure how to take this church sign. On the one hand, it’s right. Science, by its very nature can only go so far. Science, by definition, is only concerned with naturalistic explanations. Anything beyond that is simply beyond the scope of science to even investigate much less draw any conclusions about. Gould’s Non-overlapping Magisteria.
So if you postulate some supernatural entity (a god), then you are right to say that science cannot prove it doesn’t exist. Hell, science can’t even tell you the first thing about it. However, once you start to make factual claims about this god or it’s actions, such as a global flood, a 6-day creation, stopping the sun from moving across the sky, etc, then science can certainly address these. In other words, don’t play the “you can’t disprove a god” canard then claim this makes your assertion of Jehovah likely. I may not be able to disprove the Deist’s God, but the followers of Yahweh/Jehovah/Allah have left too much in the way of factual claims around to even leave the possibility of his existence in doubt.
But on the other hand, the sign insinuates that there is something beyond nature that we need to be asking about. In other words, it’s taken at face value that there is something supernatural out there that science cannot address. My question is “What makes you think so?” Asking a question like that is like asking what color is Tuesday. It’s a nonsense question. By it’s very definition, it’s beyond our ability to comprehend. The religionists are right when they say God is beyond our comprehension. What I find so odd is that even this admission doesn’t slow them down in their insistence that they know his mind well enough to impose his will on us all.
As an aside, I actually dig the Bible verse on the sign. It was one of my favorites when I was a Christian and one I’m still partial to. No reason not to take wisdom wherever you can find it.
Tags: science, religion, Mississippi, supernatural, god, evidence, bible, church, reason