Chinese and Philosphical Buffet

You know when you step into a Chinese buffet that you will be overwhelmed with a sampling of culinary delights, but less expected is experiencing a wave of talk about religion, culture and society. On the table next to me were four guys trying to squeeze their heaped plates of fried rice and sesame chicken between stacks of several thick books covering a generous sampling of archeology, religion, astronomy, philosophy and Christianity. I couldn't help but try to listen in on what these seemingly inquisitive minds were conversing about. Soon, it became apparent that half of that group were questioning Christianity's place within the intellectual realms of truth, while the other two were attempting to answer and defend the veracity of the Bible and Christ's teachings.

The one thing that really stood out about the two guys defending that their "un-religion" that gives them as much inspiration and spiritual fortitude to handle life is how important science is in informing them about truth. Obviously, to them, scientific inquiry was truth that left no room in questioning its own hallowed halls. I think they hit the nail on the head. Science has become its own religion. The questions and criticisms of blindly followed religions that they were railing against Christianity could easily be leveled against science itself.

What realy got me thinking critically about science was when I started learning more and more about theoretical world of quantum physics that went beyond Newtonian physics. As one dives beyond the sub-atomic level, all the known rules of how matter behaves can be thrown out the window. In this seemingly chaotic world, it becomes apparent how much we don't know about the world. In fact, it may question much of what we do know of how the world works. What this shows me is that once we as humans start thinking we know so much about the universe, it gets all broken apart. It becomes quite clear that science isn't truth itself, but a lens with which we can observe what is around us and make some understanding of it all.

The more and more science is broken down and you get into the minute facets of physics and the material universe, the more you inevitable start talking about philosophy. The more one tries to accumilate fact upon fact against one skeptical of Christianity, the more the dicussion breaks down because it's like using the same stones to build opposing fortresses against each other. When the dicussion takes these facts and applies the mortar of philosophical questions of what these facts really mean to our daily lives, these stones or facts become construction, building a bridge between opposing sides.