Many Christians I meet appear to wonder about the intellectual content of their faith. Some act as though unaware of the issue. The world of the intellectual, the scientist, the analyst, is beyond their ken. They may be pseudo-sophisticated finding fault with the scholars, perhaps excepting study of medicine. Medical science has such a general and immediate benefit that they are open to accept physicians and medicine. This has been partially amended in recent decades in doubts about cloning, genetic engineering, assisted suicide, drugs and abortion. Questions arise among thoughtful people about the ethics and integrity of science, including medicine, in the current era.
Sir Isaac Newton is commonly classed among the elite names of science. This class generally includes at least four names: Aristotle, Francis Bacon, Isaac Newton and Albert Einstein. Of Newton (1642-1727), Daniel Boorstin, in his excellent book, The Discoverers, wrote: his feeling for the mystery beneath the unity of the world – grew with the passing of the years. But throughout his life he saw the limits of the capacity of human reason to encompass experience, which explained, too, his unflagging interest in the Bible and Prophecy. Newton’s experimental and mathematical genius was overcast by a religious and mystical temperament. His copious manuscripts on alchemy (650,000 words) and on Biblical and theological topics (1,300,000 words) baffle Newtonian scholars, who try to fit them into the rational frame of Newton’s universe. (Pages 407-8) We assume there remains some continuing consternation about the interests. I find similar interests to those of Newton.
Newton argued that prophecy’s primary purpose was not to foretell events, but to inform enough about the future that persons could only believe in God, the only one knowing the future. It seems a meaningful conclusion. Newton could never become a full-fledged naturalist because such a person hopes to erase mystery from the creation – something we can’t do. Worthwhile life factors have some mystery in them to be probed. Even science itself is a mystery that reveals mystery, just as prayer is a mystery, instructing God who functions well without instructions. Devout Daniel was a foreign Jew chosen by Nebuchadnezzar because he fit the criteria for the selection of the king’s men. Criteria are listed in Daniel 1:4 – He had no blemish (which is to say he was physically presentable and healthy). He was well favored (which means he socially fit in). He was skillful in all wisdom (which means he perceived useful conclusions). He was cunning in knowledge (which means he was educated and knew how to use information). He understood science (which means he was current to discovery of nature’s facts in dedication to truth for benefit). Jesus was reared in similar pattern that characterized Daniel (Luke 2:52). No better pattern will be designed. Our problem is in the misuse of the pattern. Even science and wisdom may be misused by persons who distort or cast them for personal benefit, or because they can’t perceive that faith and knowledge are, in the end, inseparable handmaidens. We can’t find a scholar who does not have faith in something. Faith presuppositions (assumptions and theories) become a part of the debate, as comprehending truth-seekers know – or ought to. Knowledge is wrapped in faith and truth. Faith/truth embraces the future and life. The human problem is to know how these are to be joined so work in a humble realization, (not knowing all things), and cooperative spirit (accepting a range of contexts seeming sensible) to discover what is true and applicable. All this requires search for truth, a direction honored by both God and mankind. I am the friend to any person seeking truth. I would like to feel all are friends to me in the search – for consideration if not for agreement. In this search is our mutuality, sans hostility. *Mark W. Lee, Sr. — 2016, 2020