Faith and Science: There's no conflict for believers

Spiraling Whirlpool Galaxy taken by the Hubble Telescope M51. See more photos here. 

It always amazes me to hear people say that science proves God does not exist. What a silly idea! Science can only observe material things. It has nothing to say about non-material things: love, integrity, beauty, mercy. They can't be measured in the lab.

The Age of Unreason and Unruly Passions!

We live in an age of unreason. Even our language reflects it. People often express their "thoughts" by saying, "I feel that...." In fact, I once watched a street interview where a young woman said that only feelings are real. Gosh, what a statement! If you feel angry enough to murder someone, should you do it?

God gave us feelings. Why? From my perspective, feelings are an important part of being human. Think of a mother with her newborn nestled in her arms asleep. She is overwhelmed with feelings of love. Those feelings inspire her to nurture and protect that innocent bundle she's cuddling. Often feelings of attraction lead us to a dating situation. If our feelings take over, fornication or adultery may be the next step. If reason controls those feelings, the next step will be a journey of exploration. Who is this person that attracts me? Do we share the same faith, the same values? What obstacles are there to the relationship growing from attraction into love, courtship, and marriage? 

Courses at Hillsdale College are Worth Checking Out!

Hillsdale College, Home of Imprimis

We never stop learning from the time we are in the womb where we can hear our mother's heartbeat and her voice. A child is born having an intellect infused with the natural law and the gift of free will. The intellect was given to us to study the world and recognize and learn the truth. Our free will was given to us, not to choose to do whatever we want, right or wrong, but to choose the true, the good and the beautiful, in other words, to choose the will of our Creator.

Sunday Meditation: "Come now, let us reason together." Isaiah 1:18

Jean Louis Meissonier (1815–1891)

The way people argue on social media is so often so mindless that I decided to go back and review the rules of logic. I took down Introduction to Logic by Irving Copi and Carl Cohen from a shelf in my home library to check out the fallacies. Originally published in 1994, it's a college textbook. Interestingly Part One on reasoning begins with the quote in the headline from Isaiah, "Come now, and let us reason together." Even before I had a chance to dive into the subject of logic, I was intrigued and distracted by the quote and decided to look it up and check out the context.

Bible translations vary greatly and there are a number of different translations for this particular verse. I checked them out at Bible Hub which I often use as a reference. Most of the bibles listed use the words "reason together." I'll just list one example:

English Standard Version: “Come now, let us reason together, says the LORD: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool.