Wednesday, June 17, 2009

Science and religion

Science and religion, this are 2 totally different elements of life. People around us, sometimes are quite extreme over these issues. Some think that religion should be our guide in life, helping us to decide what can and can't we do. Some think that religion irrelevant and science is the only thing what is important in these modern days, thus giving birth to the free thinkers.

In my opinion, all religions have one common goal, which is to guide us in the way of our living and to teach us how to be a good person. In truth, everyone thinks that being a good person is very important. However, what kind of a person is a 'good person'? A man with passion in everything he does? A man who donates every cents that he has ever earn for a better world? A man who sacrifice himself for an evil deed for the greater good? There is no real guidance on this issues. However, from the religion's teachings, I believe that there are teachings touching on these topics. Furthermore, most of the religions originated from a person, who are thought to holy and has all the good moral values and has made sacrifices. Also, I think that religion only came about when science was not that advance then, as a lot of phenomena which were not explained by science were largely credited to religion.

Being a person who is passionate to his/her religion is not a bad thing. Nevertheless, total devotion to God is still a very questionable act to me. I do not quite understand why would a person want to do that yet. Extreme devotion sometimes will cause a person to be distance with their loved ones as they can't understand the reason of the actions. Sometimes, the actions are just slightly over the line.

A few days ago, there was a discussion group on issues regarding Christianity. Although I have not gone to that particular discussion, but it reminded me of my previous discussion with my mum's friend who hasn't come over for bible discussion since she went back to UK. Questions like is there God? If there is, how come he doesn't show himself? If he takes care of all his believers, why are there still Christians suffering from ill fortunes? These questions has been ask again and again, but there were never answers good enough to satisfy me. Whenever I say this, my friends will say, 'come to church with us and you might find your answers there'. I will just answer them with the answer that suits their thinking best, ' nah, maybe its not time yet for me to get my answers' LOL

Science on the other hand, feels more practical to me. People have been trying to explain every single phenomena available. From the smallest viruses to the space which is so enormous and so far 'boundaryless'. Science have time and again proven that certain teachings in the religions are not accurate, which resulted in certain disputes. But, to me, it is more relevant to us. Wonder what do you all think?

6 comments:

진릉 said...

To me, a religion is about maintaining a social order.
I don't think any religion will encourage their believers to do anything that would threaten the public safety.

The idea of 'God' is nothing but the product of human weakness.
Because of the weakness, humans are scared.
Thus, they need shelter and refuge from religion.
That's why having faith in a religion is a protective factor against psychiatric illnesses.
This applies to suicide as well.

richard said...

lolz... yeah, but wouldnt a properly written sets of laws/rules and regulation acts like that as well? normally, people cling to religion when things are not really going that well and they cant find anything to give them hope...God is the last resort for them to find their peace and their hope. That's y God never appears. They are just symbols of hope..isnt it?

진릉 said...

Rules and laws, also need people who are willing to obey.
Punishment alone isn't enough, as people will do it again.

Let's see our beloved Penang.
Does anyone care to obey the traffic rules and regulations?
Isn't there people cut queues?
Isn't there people turning right where they are not supposed to do so?
Isn't there people stop their car beside a yellow line?
Still there are a number of people who won't actually care if their act broke the rules.
All in their mind is just shortcuts which allow them to do what they want.

Trust me, people would be more afraid f God's punishment than punishment done by humans, as they do not want a painful death, or 'after death' full of sufferings.
Also, it's because God 'has' an eye on everyone's daily activities, 24 hours non-stop, unlike those law enforcers.

With religion, here they do bad things, their heart pounding hard, hoping God won't know their bad things.
Then, they develop guilt.
Later they quickly go and do some good things, hoping their good deeds would overcome the bad things they did before.
This is the unique of a religion.

richard said...

haha. but then, if like my case, i dun hv a religion, I have no guilt towards God. Then it doesnt applies to me.rite? If there is guilt, means there is conscience. Therefore, i think by conscience alone, there will be guilt and regret and maybe remorse. I dun think religion is really that important in this sense.haha

진릉 said...

Yep...
Like your case, a person without religion will have no guilt towards God.
All depends on the person's conscious mind.
One will do whatever which he/she is comfortable with.
Bad things/crime are not exceptional, and that's the danger.

Jacknaim said...

Peace unto you bro
"Science have time and again proven that certain teachings in the religions are not accurate, which resulted in certain disputes"

There are a lot of thing that science couldnt give an answer because of our limited knowledge and understanding.

i give you one example from my holy book whereby there's a verse sying about the journey of prophet Muhammad from Makkah to Jurusalem in less than one night. everybody accusing him as a liar at that moment because the event was impossible.

but today, we have helicopter , airoplane and even a super jet whereby it will take about 15 minutes from makkah to Jurusalem.

so! moral of the story, science is so limited. By God's will, religion will guide the science.

my principal is easy. if science contradict the religion, then i prefer to choose my religion.

if you are interested, i can give you some of it...