I grew up on an Iowa farm in the 1940s and my introduction to "science" was simply the wonders of nature. We were taught that all was in the hand of God and a reflection of His love for us and the world he created. The corn grew, the calves were born, the cursed weeds infested: all part of God's plan for us. If Adam had not screwed up things would be different, but this was the world we lived in. Of course, we were expected to think for ourselves and "figure things out", but always in the light of God's loving hand upon us.
Then I went to high school at Pella Christian and had my first introduction to science with its many fascinating ways to observe and study how and why "things work". But ALWAYS with the understanding that this was God's creation, His revelation, His science. We were taught that His marvels were our treasure and our responsibility. I went on through Calvin (now U) and that didn't change.
And I'm grateful that, as an 86 year-old man, I can still see the world and life around me in that light. It's all in His hands and we are objects of His love and grace. He gave us enough brains to figure a lot of things out and enough grace to assure us and get us through the things we can't understand or agree on. "Stay close to Jesus" has become my motto and one which I share with the generations after me and remind myself of daily.
Thanks for this, Bruce. I wasn't trying to coopt Einstein to support a rationalistic understanding of faith. The inner witness of the Holy Spirit is certainly necessary for true Christian faith. But that witness seems to me consistent with "thinking for yourself" -- certainly the Holy Spirit doesn't want us to sleepwalk through our faith but desires an active engagement of our entire being, and that includes our thinking. Hope all is well with you in Pella!
I like your last paragraph, "Einstein’s dictum about thinking for yourself therefore holds for faith as much as for science. It must come before commitment and obedience."
“If I could give the young men any advice it would be this: don’t believe anything is necessarily true just because you see it in the newspapers or hear it on the radio or everybody else believes it! ALWAYS THINK FOR YOURSELF!!!”
This is the sentence that is hitting home. What is missing is why do people believe what they do. The Availability Cascade rules the world, always did. Over 25 years ago two Stanford law professors wrote an 85 page journal article outlining it and its effects. A tough read. A better source is a short synopsis of this interminable article.
Faith is dying in the Western world not because of reason and people not willing to defend it but because organized religion and its proponents don’t know how to defend itself. They never did and don’t know how to fight the availability cascade. Instead they write convoluted books or obscure articles.
I am a member of a Christian faith that doesn’t spend one minute defending itself. It spends 100% of its time telling its members how to be a better Christian. Not why they should be a Christian It is preaching to the choir. Nothing wrong with knowing how to be a better Christian but it instills very little belief among the young and the margins.
Meanwhile the prevailing cultural narrative is atheism. And is everywhere in all forms of academia and the popular culture. Technology is the new religion not rational thought.
PS - an interesting aspect of the availability cascade is that the prevalence of Christianity in the Western world until recently was never about rational belief in Christianity but about what others believed. Now that belief in God is disappearing, the beliefs of the common folk are changing.
"... Always think for yourself!!!" What an excellent nugget from Einstein. I've never seen this quote used before and would like to use it in paper I'm working on. I tried googling but am unable to find the primary source. Is Bob's original account available somewhere that I can get my hands on?
My Substack post will probably need to be your reference source for this quote, John. Bob Bass died in December of 2013. I got the quote from him because I was working for an academic website on a project called "Remembering Einstein," and he had mentioned meeting Einstein on two occasions. He wrote up an account, which he sent to me by email. Just as WW2 vets are quickly dying out, people who would remember Einstein and would have been able to converse with him about his ideas (I'm not talking about small children who might simply remember him as that nice old man in Princeton) are likewise dying out. Bob is among the last, and he himself has now been dead over ten years. By the way, Bob's brother George F. Bass received the National Medal of Science from Pres. George W. Bush in 2002.
I agree that you should always think for yourself, but I am wondering how you square that with John 20:29, where Jesus said to Thomas, "Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed."
To me, deciding to "believe" something without proof or evidence is essentially just taking a guess. You may be right, or you may be wrong. If you turn out to be right, then you got lucky, but I have a hard time believing that God expects us to guess at the truth.
Russ, I believe that the crux of the issue lies in addressing two questions:
1) “How much evidence is enough?“ and,
2) “What is the higher, or highest, form of evidence?”
Without belaboring the point further here, I believe that we each possess an internal witness to the truth. Perhaps it is what is commonly referred to as the conscience, but perhaps it is more than that at times.
And, it seems to me, that the issue is often whether, and to what degree, one trusts that ‘internal voice’, despite any contrary influences, evidences, or claims, including our own reluctance to believe. In that regard, I believe that there is often an inflection point; a brief moment of decision, in which the individual makes a choice to lend more, or less, ‘weight’ on one or another paths.
Biblically speaking, it is apparent that, tragically, very few people respond according to that inner prompting by choosing ‘the road less traveled’, which leads them on the path that God desires them to walk; the path of truth leading to freedom in Christ.
I grew up on an Iowa farm in the 1940s and my introduction to "science" was simply the wonders of nature. We were taught that all was in the hand of God and a reflection of His love for us and the world he created. The corn grew, the calves were born, the cursed weeds infested: all part of God's plan for us. If Adam had not screwed up things would be different, but this was the world we lived in. Of course, we were expected to think for ourselves and "figure things out", but always in the light of God's loving hand upon us.
Then I went to high school at Pella Christian and had my first introduction to science with its many fascinating ways to observe and study how and why "things work". But ALWAYS with the understanding that this was God's creation, His revelation, His science. We were taught that His marvels were our treasure and our responsibility. I went on through Calvin (now U) and that didn't change.
And I'm grateful that, as an 86 year-old man, I can still see the world and life around me in that light. It's all in His hands and we are objects of His love and grace. He gave us enough brains to figure a lot of things out and enough grace to assure us and get us through the things we can't understand or agree on. "Stay close to Jesus" has become my motto and one which I share with the generations after me and remind myself of daily.
Bruce Nikkel, Pella, IA
Thanks for this, Bruce. I wasn't trying to coopt Einstein to support a rationalistic understanding of faith. The inner witness of the Holy Spirit is certainly necessary for true Christian faith. But that witness seems to me consistent with "thinking for yourself" -- certainly the Holy Spirit doesn't want us to sleepwalk through our faith but desires an active engagement of our entire being, and that includes our thinking. Hope all is well with you in Pella!
I like your last paragraph, "Einstein’s dictum about thinking for yourself therefore holds for faith as much as for science. It must come before commitment and obedience."
“If I could give the young men any advice it would be this: don’t believe anything is necessarily true just because you see it in the newspapers or hear it on the radio or everybody else believes it! ALWAYS THINK FOR YOURSELF!!!”
This is the sentence that is hitting home. What is missing is why do people believe what they do. The Availability Cascade rules the world, always did. Over 25 years ago two Stanford law professors wrote an 85 page journal article outlining it and its effects. A tough read. A better source is a short synopsis of this interminable article.
https://effectiviology.com/availability-cascade/
Faith is dying in the Western world not because of reason and people not willing to defend it but because organized religion and its proponents don’t know how to defend itself. They never did and don’t know how to fight the availability cascade. Instead they write convoluted books or obscure articles.
I am a member of a Christian faith that doesn’t spend one minute defending itself. It spends 100% of its time telling its members how to be a better Christian. Not why they should be a Christian It is preaching to the choir. Nothing wrong with knowing how to be a better Christian but it instills very little belief among the young and the margins.
Meanwhile the prevailing cultural narrative is atheism. And is everywhere in all forms of academia and the popular culture. Technology is the new religion not rational thought.
PS - an interesting aspect of the availability cascade is that the prevalence of Christianity in the Western world until recently was never about rational belief in Christianity but about what others believed. Now that belief in God is disappearing, the beliefs of the common folk are changing.
"... Always think for yourself!!!" What an excellent nugget from Einstein. I've never seen this quote used before and would like to use it in paper I'm working on. I tried googling but am unable to find the primary source. Is Bob's original account available somewhere that I can get my hands on?
My Substack post will probably need to be your reference source for this quote, John. Bob Bass died in December of 2013. I got the quote from him because I was working for an academic website on a project called "Remembering Einstein," and he had mentioned meeting Einstein on two occasions. He wrote up an account, which he sent to me by email. Just as WW2 vets are quickly dying out, people who would remember Einstein and would have been able to converse with him about his ideas (I'm not talking about small children who might simply remember him as that nice old man in Princeton) are likewise dying out. Bob is among the last, and he himself has now been dead over ten years. By the way, Bob's brother George F. Bass received the National Medal of Science from Pres. George W. Bush in 2002.
Thank you
I agree that you should always think for yourself, but I am wondering how you square that with John 20:29, where Jesus said to Thomas, "Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed."
To me, deciding to "believe" something without proof or evidence is essentially just taking a guess. You may be right, or you may be wrong. If you turn out to be right, then you got lucky, but I have a hard time believing that God expects us to guess at the truth.
Russ, I believe that the crux of the issue lies in addressing two questions:
1) “How much evidence is enough?“ and,
2) “What is the higher, or highest, form of evidence?”
Without belaboring the point further here, I believe that we each possess an internal witness to the truth. Perhaps it is what is commonly referred to as the conscience, but perhaps it is more than that at times.
And, it seems to me, that the issue is often whether, and to what degree, one trusts that ‘internal voice’, despite any contrary influences, evidences, or claims, including our own reluctance to believe. In that regard, I believe that there is often an inflection point; a brief moment of decision, in which the individual makes a choice to lend more, or less, ‘weight’ on one or another paths.
Biblically speaking, it is apparent that, tragically, very few people respond according to that inner prompting by choosing ‘the road less traveled’, which leads them on the path that God desires them to walk; the path of truth leading to freedom in Christ.