For the scientist who has lived by his faith in the power of reason, the story ends like a bad dream. He has scaled the mountains of ignorance; he is about to conquer the highest peak; as he pulls himself over the final rock, he is greeted by a band of theologians who have been sitting there for centuries. (Robert Jastrow, God and the Astronomers, W.W. Norton, New York, 1978, p. 116)By "reason" he means the pseudo-reason of Dawkins et al - i.e., scientism. But I digress. This quote came to mind as I read from today's Daily Telegraph, this article in which the Science Correspondent reports that, well, an analysis of their behaviour shows that babies aren't innocent after all.
This hardly comes as news to anyone who has existed in the Judaeo-Christian stream since the fall of Adam. But, in hushed and awed tones, our correspondent reports:
Yet it now appears that babies learn to deceive from a far younger age than anyone previously suspected.Excuse me - who is the "anyone" in this quote? It must exclude anyone who a) takes their Bible seriously or b) is a parent who observes their child's behaviour in any meaningful way....
Original sin, anyone? Is that really a doctrine which nobody ever suspected before? Has Mr. Gray just discounted several centuries of Western history, and the fundamental cultural values which our civilisation as built on? Something that nobody ever heard of before? Ho hum.
Or when he says "nobody" is he, perhaps, only including as real live people the people who can be described as "the scientist who has lived by his faith in the power of [pseudo-]reason" ?
Hi there! Do come on up. You're a bit late, but welcome at last. Do enjoy the view before you fall off the other side!
The fact that humans do anti social things from birth and that all parts of our humanity are affected is the most obvious places where Christian theology can be observed. In saying the above I did not say original sin or total depravity since to state it that way requires a belief in God.
ReplyDeleteDave W
Hi Dave. Not quite sure what you're driving at?
ReplyDeleteGod bless,
David