The Cult Of Fake Science

1 Timothy 6:20 O Timothy, keep that which is committed to thy trust, avoiding profane and vain babblings, and oppositions of science falsely so called: 21 Which some professing have erred concerning the faith. Grace be with thee. Amen.

Astrophysicist and atheist (or bare minimum agnostic) Neil Degrasse Tyson has never been shy about expressing his disdain for faith and his worshipful reverence for what he calls science. Recently he tweeted out “the great thing about science is that it is true whether or not you believe in it.”

And yet anyone with more than two or three functioning brain cells should be able to easily obliterate that foolish statement, and more than one actually did. You see, science is neither true nor false; it is merely a methodology to try and find out what is true or false, and further, it is an imperfect methodology wielded by imperfect people, and often even by people who are after the accomplishment of an agenda rather than after the truth. What people call “science” has been wrong countless times, and in ways that have led to death and destruction around the world. For instance, trans fats, now widely regarded by science and scientists as deadly, were actually given to us by science and scientists in the name of “healthy eating.”

But it is really even worse than that. Science is often not even science at all. As Paul warned a young preacher named Timothy, sometimes “science” is actually “science falsely so called.” In other words, sometimes what people call science is very literally just another tool that the devil uses to oppose God and the work of God. And in our day, that kind of science has achieved a cult-like status among much of the population of earth, and with horrible results. So why don’t we look at science, and science falsely so called?

I. The deep relationship between Christianity and science

There have always been predictable epithets hurled at Christians by people who are too lazy to think or study. It used to be phrases like “Bible thumper” or “holy roller.” But these days the insult you will hear more than any other is that Christians are “anti-science.” And anyone saying that ought to sue their brain for non-support. The main reason we even have modern science and all of the comfortable lifestyle that has come from it is because of people who regarded themselves as Bible-believing Christians, people like Newton, Bacon, Kepler, Galileo, Boyle, Pascal, Faraday, Pasteur, Maxwell, Ray Curvier, Linnaeus, Agassiz, and a host of others.

Sir Isaac Newton said “This most beautiful system of the sun, planets, and comets, could only proceed from the counsel and dominion of an intelligent Being. … This Being governs all things, not as the soul of the world, but as Lord over all; and on account of his dominion he is wont to be called “Lord God”

Newton was an English physicist and mathematician who is widely regarded as one of the most influential scientists of all time and as a key figure in the scientific revolution. With discoveries in optics, motion, and mathematics, Newton developed the principles of modern physics. In 1687, he published his most acclaimed work, Philosophiae, Naturalis, Principia Mathematica, which has been called the single most influential book on physics.

Newton conceived the method of infinitesimal calculus, set foundations for his theory of light and color, and gained significant insight into the laws of planetary motion-insights that eventually led to the publication of his Principia in 1687. He discovered the universal principles of gravity. He formulated the three laws of motion that all of physics are still based upon.

Sir Francis Bacon was an English philosopher, statesman, scientist, jurist, orator and author. He served both as Attorney General and Lord Chancellor of England. He was also one of the leading figures in natural philosophy and in the field of scientific methodology in the period of transition from the Renaissance to the early modern era. Bacon also literally believed the Bible! One of the greatest minds of all times believed then what you believe now.

Johannes Kepler discovered fundamental laws of nature that have stood the test of time and are still widely used today. He advanced mathematics in science to new heights, including the first use of logarithms for astronomy and the foundation for integral calculus. And do you know how this genius scientist described real science? He said that science was “thinking God’s thoughts after Him.” In other words, God thought it and did it, and the purpose of a scientist is to figure it out so that he can be thinking the same thoughts now that God thought when He created it all!”

Kepler is considered the Father of Celestial Mechanics. Even today, NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory navigates spacecraft around the solar system using Kepler’s Laws, and astronomers routinely speak of Keplerian orbits not only for the solar system but for stars orbiting galaxies, and for galaxies orbiting clusters and superclusters. The whole universe obeys Kepler’s Laws, or as he would have preferred to say, obeys God’s laws that he merely uncovered. He said, “Since we astronomers are priests of the highest God in regard to the book of nature, it befits us to be thoughtful, not of the glory of our minds, but rather, above all else, of the glory of God.”

Kepler is also considered the Father of Modern Optics. He advanced the understanding of reflection and refraction in human vision and produced improvements in eyeglasses for both nearsightedness and farsightedness, and for the telescopes that his colleague Galileo had first turned toward the heavens. He invented the pinhole camera and designed a gear-driven calculating machine. He investigated weather phenomena and also made other fundamental discoveries about the heavens, such as the rotation of the sun, and the fact that ocean tides are caused primarily by the moon.

Robert Boyle not only can be considered a pillar of modern science – and one of its most eminent practitioners – but he also left the world a profound legacy of rich literature explaining the Christian foundation for science. The title of one of his many books was The Christian Virtuoso (i.e., Bible-believing scientist), and to historians, he was one of the best examples.

He is considered the father of chemistry and a law was named in his honor. The world’s first and oldest professional scientific society with the longest record of continuous publication is due largely to Robert Boyle and the colleagues he attracted with his energy, drive, and enthusiasm for science.

Blaise Pascal was one of those students classmates hate; the kind that keeps the average so high, everybody looks dumb by comparison and has to struggle to get C’s. This genius did not offend too many classmates, however, because he was home-schooled. And although his father did not feel mathematics was a proper subject till age 15, young Blaise took an interest at 12, and when his father relented, math became his best subject – one of many best subjects. Pascal went on to excel at just about everything he tried: physics, hydrostatics, hydrodynamics, mathematics, statistics, invention, logic, debate, philosophy, and prose. We speak of “pascals” of pressure, Pascal’s Principle, and a computer language named Pascal. Computer scientists remember the Pascaline, an early mechanical calculator he invented, and mathematicians speak of Pascal’s triangle. Literary historians call Pascal the Father of French Prose, and theologians debate Pascal’s Wager while evangelists use it to reason with sinners about the gospel.

Pascal’s Wager, by the way, was basically this: “God either is or is not. If he is not, yet you believe that He is, you have lost nothing. But if He is, yet you believe He is not, you have lost everything.”

Pascal worked on conic sections, projective geometry, probability, binomial coefficients, cycloids, and many other puzzles of the day, sometimes challenging his famous colleagues with difficult problems which he, of course, solved on his own.

In physics, Pascal also excelled in both theory and experiment. At age 30, he had completed a Treatise on the Equilibrium of Liquids, the first systematic theory of hydrostatics. In it, he formulated his famous law of pressure, which states that the pressure is uniform in all directions on all surfaces at a given depth. This principle is foundational to many applications today: submarines, scuba gear, and a host of pneumatic devices. By applying the principle, Pascal invented the syringe and the hydraulic press.

Michael Faraday was a “nobody” who trusted God, applied himself, and succeeded – to his own amazement – beyond his dreams. He became the world’s greatest experimental physicist. The president of the Institution for Electrical Engineers, at the unveiling of a Michael Faraday statue in 1989, said, “His discoveries have had an incalculable effect on subsequent scientific and technical development. He was a true pioneer of scientific discovery.”

Faraday discovered some of the most important laws of physics and chemistry, discoveries that revolutionized the world economy. But none of this mattered to him as much as one thing: his Christian faith. He would rather be praying and studying the Bible with his fellow church members than be at an awards ceremony or have an audience with royalty. How important was his work? Start listing the things that run on electric motors – automobiles, fans, clocks, airplanes, pumps, vacuum cleaners, and so much more – and you begin to get a hint of what Faraday’s work brought forth. Add to the list generators, transformers, electrolysis devices, electromagnets, and many other products of his lab, and Faraday’s importance to the history of science and technology starts to come into focus. It has been said that the wealth generated by the inventions based on Faraday’s discoveries exceeds the value of the British stock exchange. This is probably an understatement. Yet Faraday remained a modest, unpretentious soul who never sought financial profit from his work. He accepted a cottage from the government in his senior years but rebuffed honors. When the queen wanted to knight him, he declined, wishing to remain plain old Mr. Faraday to the end. The glory of Jesus Christ was the only reward he sought.

Do you realize what all of this means? Without a Bible-believing Christian named Faraday, evolutionists who make fun of people like us would have no cars to drive, no fans to keep them cool, no clocks to keep them on time, no vacuum cleaners for their offices, and no electricity to run their gadgets. In short, had it not been for a Bible-believing Christian, evolutionists would still be living in the dark ages, and would not be able to get around to make fun of anybody. Every time an evolutionist drives a car or flies a plane to a debate with a creationist, he is testifying to the greatness and genius of a Bible-believing creationist named Michael Faraday!

How about Louis Pasteur? Well, who contributed more to the saving of human lives than any other scientist? Who has been called the greatest biologist of all time? Who revolutionized medicine and public health with his discoveries? A creationist and a man who called himself a Christian – Louis Pasteur. And he said, “The more I study nature, the more I stand amazed at the work of the Creator.”

Pasteur also said “Something deep in our soul tells us that the universe is more than an arrangement of certain compounds in a mechanical equilibrium, arisen from the chaos of elements by a gradual action of Nature’s forces”

How about James Maxwell? How many of you have a smart phone? You owe that, and things like the remote control for your TV, your radio, and your television to a Christian scientist named Maxwell. Dr. Richard Feynman, Nobel laureate and influential 20th-century modern physicist, paid his respects this way: “From a long view of the history of mankind-seen from, say, ten thousand years from now- there can be little doubt that the most significant event of the 19th century will be judged as Maxwell’s discovery of the laws of electrodynamics.”

But most important, Maxwell’s Christian faith was the core of his being. It guided his life’s work and personal habits, and motivated him to search out the laws of the great Lawgiver with diligence, as a mission from God.

But it is not just in “olden days” that we find this to be the case. Some of the most brilliant, cutting-edge scientists of our day are still Bible-believing Christians, people who will one day be looked at in the same way that we now look at all of those older giants of science and faith.

Science and faith have never been at odds, and never will, because science, real science, is simply a methodology to discover how things work in the universe that our God made. Even going back 2500 years, Daniel and his companions in Daniel 1:4 were described as young men who understood science.

II. The dramatic change in modern scientists

Peter prophesied that certain things would be true of the last days:

2 Peter 3:3 Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts, 4 And saying, Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation. 5 For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water:

This was a passage about science and science falsely so called. It accurately describes the doctrine of uniformitarianism, popularized by Charles Lyell. It is a so called scientific methodology that dodges the truth of the Genesis flood and helps to write God and creation out of the equation. And as it and other theories have taken hold, the entire attitude of scientists has changed dramatically. The great fathers of modern science would have been ashamed not to acknowledge God. Many modern scientists are 180 degrees different from that view.

Richard Lewontin, geneticist and leading evolution promoter said, “We take the side of science in spite of the patent absurdity of some of its constructs, in spite of its failure to fulfill many of its extravagant promises of health and life, in spite of the tolerance of the scientific community for unsubstantiated just-so stories, because we have an a priori commitment, a commitment to materialism. It is not that the methods and institutions of science somehow compel us to accept a material explanation of the material world, but on the contrary, that we are forced by our a priori adherence to material causes to create an apparatus of investigation and a set of concepts that produce material explanations, no matter how counter-intuitive, no matter how mystifying to the uninitiated. Moreover, that materialism is an absolute, for we cannot allow a Divine Foot in the door.”

In case you aren’t getting what he just admitted to, allow me to spell it out for you. Where scientists in previous generations were willing to look at everything and consider every possibility, and then pursue the truth no matter where it leads as science is supposed to do, modern so-called scientists have committed the cardinal sin of science: they have written the conclusion, and then gone looking for evidence to prove it, discarding any contrary evidence along the way.

Let me tell you how silly modern evolutionists and “acceptable” scientists get. Richard Dawkins (author of “The God Delusion”) said, “Biology is the study of complicated things that give the appearance of having been designed for a purpose”

Did you understand that? He admits that life appears to have been designed for a purpose. Then he says that despite the appearance, it all just happened.

Francis Crick, co-discoverer of DNA, said, “biologists must constantly keep in mind that what they see was not designed, but rather evolved.”

Why would he have to say that? Why tell other budding scientists, “Now, I know it looks like all of this was designed, and the more you look at it the more complex and amazing and intricate it is, but just keep reminding yourself that it is all really one big happy accident.”

This is why Paul’s description of this as “science falsely so called” is so accurate. Science is based on observation. Observing life screams “DESIGN!” And yet, since they ruled out God going into it, they have to keep “reminding themselves” that God didn’t do it.

“Reminding yourself,” Crick’s words, not mine, is not “science.” Observing is science. Reminding yourself of what you want to believe is “science falsely so called,” and it shows just how far real science has fallen in our day.

III. The devoted worship of scientism

What I want to deal with at this point is not about everything that has happened during this past year of the pandemic. But it has been amply demonstrated during everything that has happened during this past year of the pandemic. By that I mean that every time you turn on the radio or tv or look online or read anything online you cannot miss this statement:

“Trust the science.”

But people do not seem to realize that if you are having to “trust” what is being said even though what is being said changes all the time, you have scientism, not science. And again, this has nothing to do with shots or masks or social distancing; those things are of very small significance to me right now. What is of huge significance to me is that science has achieved religious status, with everyone’s favorite, hand-picked scientists as priests who absolutely cannot be questioned under any circumstances.

When it comes to “global warming/climate change” you must ignore any scientists and any data that disagrees, and you must “trust the science” no matter how many times over the past 60 years the so called science has gotten it abysmally wrong.

When it comes to what we eat you must ignore any science or scientists that show the value of things like consuming beef or chicken or eggs and other sources of protein and you must “trust the science” and eat sprouts sprinkled with sprouts.

And no matter what the subject, under no circumstances are you allowed to question anything. You are not allowed to point out or even remember any time the “scientists” have gotten it wrong. In fact, you have to adore them and reward them for getting it wrong. If I wanted to I could give you past statements and positions from people that you have gotten to know pretty well over the last year where they have said things that they later did a complete 180 on.

But how does that work with the “science worshipers?” Simple, really. I posted a direct quote from one of them online. I did not comment on it at all, I just posted an actual quote.

It got blocked and removed.

See how that works? It is more powerful than the Catholic church ever thought of being! Past wrong positions just simply cease to exist, and every new contradictory statement is treated as infallible and unchallengeable. No preacher on earth could ever get such a sweet deal.

So what is it all about? Where is it really headed?

IV. The dangerous result of so-called science

Look again at what Paul told Timothy:

Notice those words and phrases. Opposition: opposition to what? Opposition to God and the Word. And those who go that way “err concerning the faith.” They make fatal, eternal mistakes because they have followed the “science falsely so called.”

For instance, consider this interesting news story from just a few days ago. The title is:

“Life after death: Brian Cox says physics ‘ruled out’ the human soul at particle level.”

“LIFE after death theories collapse under scientific scrutiny because the field of particle physics has “ruled out” the possibility of humans having a soul, renowned physicist Brian Cox has claimed.” (https://www.express.co.uk/news/science/1387814/life-after-death-brian-cox-human-soul-particle-physics-afterlife-proof-evg)

So there you go! There is no longer any need for God or heaven or calvary or redemption or the Bible; “science” has ruled out the soul, we are now told. And anyone who cannot see the devil’s fingerprints all over that one is utterly naive.

And how about transgender surgeries and hormone blockers on minors? Listen to me very carefully. If an adult wants to cut off body parts and mess with their body chemicals, that is on them. We live in a free country, have at it, as long as you personally pay for it. But under the guise of “science,” children are being given puberty blockers and radical surgeries that will alter their bodies in ways they will never recover from later and can never undo later. Children. Minors. And they are calling it science. And the adults who have gone through all of that and are now speaking out to say that they wish they hadn’t are being muzzled and silenced. That isn’t science; it is science falsely so called, and the results are something so monstrous that an entire society ought to be ashamed.

Or how about this column from the MIT Technology review: “Designer babies aren’t futuristic. They’re already here.” Parents are literally tinkering with DNA to “create” babies that have certain “desirable traits” and eliminate “undesirable traits.” This is the kind of thing that happens when God gets kicked to the curb and “science falsely so called” starts getting worshiped. We can’t be having any of those “unfortunate” Down Syndrome babies, or babies who might not have the right color eyes, or babies who might not grow up to be tall and strong and healthy…

How about thousands of human babies created and then placed in frozen storage, then later “discarded…”

These are a few of the dangerous results of science falsely so called.

What all of this boils down to is that man has chosen to be his own god. And he has provided his own “sacred book,” whatever science book is new and in vogue, and he has provided his own unquestionable high priests, the “approved scientists.” And when that religion and its priests tell all of its followers that church must be abandoned, they will do it. And when they later go further and say that Christians are actually a public health nuisance that must be destroyed or at least locked away somewhere, they will obey just as surely as the Nazi’s obeyed the “science” of Rassenhygiene meaning ‘racial hygiene.’ That was their pet word for the belief that they were the superior race, and other races, like the Jews, were to be exterminated for “the good of mankind.” And when it happens in our day, it will all be under the guise of “trust the science.”

So let me go back to the original statement by Neil Degrasse Tyson, who recently tweeted “the great thing about science is that it is true whether or not you believe in it.” No, Mr. Tyson, the great thing about God is that He is true whether anyone believes Him or not. And the great thing about science is that real science will lead you right to Him. And the great thing about being led right to Him is that when you find Him you find a few things that you will never find in science or any scientist, things like perfection and salvation and peace.

No science and no scientist can save your soul; but Jesus can.

No science and no scientist can tell you that there is any meaning to life, let alone tell you what the meaning of life is, but The Bible can.

No science and no scientist can make you out to be anything more than a cosmic accident, a collection of molecules just dancing to natural law. But reading that God made you in His image can.

Never, never, never worship at the altar of science. Science is nothing but a tool, a methodology that if properly utilized will help you discover the truth. But God is truth, and all truth is His truth. Hell will be filled with proud people who worshiped science and scientists; heaven will only be filled with humble people who worshiped God.

Pastor Bo Wagner can be reached by email at 2knowhim@cbc-web.org, and his books and audio downloads are available by clicking the “Store” link above.

Feature photo by Pastor Bo Wagner