Posted on 04/15/2017 8:48:53 AM PDT by Kaslin
“Adam was thought to have possessed a perfect knowledge of all sciences, a knowledge lost to posterity when he fell from grace and was expelled from the Garden of Eden. The goal of 17th century scientists such as Francis Bacon and his successors in the Royal Society of London was to regain the scientific knowledge of the first man. Indeed, for these individuals, the whole scientific enterprise was an integral part of a redemptive enterprise that, along with the Christian religion, was to help restore the original race to its original perfection. The biblical account of the creation thus provided these scientists with an important source of motivation, and in an age still thoroughly committed to traditional Christianity, the new science was to gain social legitimacy on account of these religious associations. ” (Harrison, P., The Bible and the rise of science, Australasian Science 23(3):14–15, 2002.)
Uh oh. The moslems will declare another jihad to come and destroy the truth. Uh oh.
Citing Descartes here indicates a lack of understanding of his subject.
He’s engaging in polemics, who cares about truthfulness?
The author seems to care about truthfulness, given his honesty throughout the article.
Science would be very different and probably deficient without the Cartesian graph.
Your point?
Most of all, it’s not the scientific or technological advances that give Western civilization its greatest attributes.
The greatest thing about Western civilization is the attitude that comes from a consistent earnestness to follow Christ’s two greatest commandments: to love God and to love your neighbor as yourself.
* establish the initial conditions: "Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep..."
* establish the frame of reference: "...and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters."
Moreover, the Bible is absolutely chock-full of scientific experiments which God conducted in plain sight. Additionally, it contains scientific claims made thousands of years ago which have only become verifiable in recent decades, and they have indeed now been verified.
That to name Descartes in the article as he did is correct, unless I’m missing something.
Wasn’t Galileo given a hard time?
Yes, Galileo was given a hard time. But that only tells us that politics involves both cruelty and stupidity.
I ordered the book.
“That to name Descartes in the article as he did is correct, unless I’m missing something.”
How the ‘church’ suppressed Descartes writings.
How Descartes revolted against the ‘scientific’ teachings of the universities.
And more.
“Wasn’t Galileo given a hard time?”
Not as bad as Giordano Bruno.
“Yes, Galileo was given a hard time. But that only tells us that politics involves both cruelty and stupidity.”
In that day, politics was run by religion.
Re: “Citing Descartes here indicates a lack of understanding of his subject.”
How so? Descartes believed in God, believed He was rational and benevolent, maybe more on the deistic side but he was certainly not an atheist. I’m not sure what your criticism of the author refers to.
Citing Descartes here indicates a lack of understanding of his subject.
How so?
“How so? Descartes believed in God, believed He was rational and benevolent, maybe more on the deistic side but he was certainly not an atheist. I’m not sure what your criticism of the author refers to.”
Descartes was considered an atheist by many in the church. The church suppressed his writings. They put his books on the banned list.
The author extolled the universities of that time. Descartes revolted against the ‘scientific’ teachings of the universities which at that time were teaching that the sun went around the earth among other things.
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