1 Timothy 6:20-21 O Timothy, keep that which is committed to your trust, avoiding profane and vain babblings… There is no more vital and anxious thought in the religious life of to-day than the supposed conflict between science and religion. In certain quarters it has come to be taken for granted, that reason is necessarily opposed to faith; that nature and her teachings, so far as they can be understood and interpreted, are in conflict with the teachings of revelation; and that scientific men and theologians are therefore arranged in two hostile armies, having nothing in common, and engaged in a struggle which must ultimately end in the destruction of the one or the other. The result is, that scientific men and investigations are denounced as sceptical enemies of religious truth; and the compliment is abundantly returned by insinuations of bigotry and intolerance, as essential characteristics of religious teachers. And, in the popular mind, there is a vague and uncertain dread that the faith is to be overthrown, and the verities to which it clings, and upon which it is founded, are to be evaporated into myths and superstitions, which must take their place amid the exploded falsehoods of a too credulous past. A calmer and more comprehensive view of the contest will, however, justify us in saying, that the fear of the Christian is unfounded, and the sneer of the sceptic undeserved; that the apparent conflict is only an apparent one; and that the antagonism finds its field in the want of harmony, not so much between the verities of science and religion, as between scientific hypotheses and religious opinions; and that between nature and revelation, when properly understood, there must be a substantial harmony, since God is the author of them both. The misunderstanding is not between the things themselves, but between the guesses of men who seek to be their priests and interpreters. For science is simply our knowledge of nature, its facts, and its laws; and religion is simply our knowledge of God, and of our relations to Him. And, as the facts of nature reveal themselves slowly and almost reluctantly in response to patient research and careful study, it is but natural that the investigations and conclusions of one age should differ from those of another; that the latest deductions of science to-day should contradict the theories of a century ago, and that, in turn, they should expect to be contradicted by the theories of a century hence. Meanwhile, what is true remains; and this process of investigation and refutation carried on by scientific men from age to age, is but the method by which the truth concerning nature is separated from the fancies of men; and its result is, not the survival of the fittest, but the survival of the true. And yet the truthfulness of the true does not depend upon its having been discovered and known by men. No line or word on the vast page of the universe is altered by the most careful scrutiny; it is only that these mysterious words are spelled out, and read with fewer errors than other scholars made who had gone before. So, also, in religion there are certain facts which constitute its basis, and which are proposed to our faith, not as theories or opinions, but as facts. And along with these, there are systems of opinion, the deductions of human reason from the Divine premises, but which, as human deductions, are liable to be erroneous and false. And yet these human systems are but the honest efforts of men to understand the accepted facts of revelation, and to apply them to the circumstances and needs of human life. Devout men of science will never be wanting to refute the flippant sneer which, in the name of science, invades a domain beyond its proper grasp; and earnest men of theology will ever be ready to expose and correct the errors of other theological systems. And so, in science and in religion, each has, within its own adherents and disciples, its mutual check and safeguard, by which the truth is preserved, and the fancies of men, when inconsistent with it, are exploded. But the trouble begins when scientific men attempt to teach theology, or theologians assume to teach science. For as there is nothing in the study of science which necessarily makes a man a theologian, the theological views of the scientist may not be worth so much as those of an unlettered but earnest Christian; for that value is determined, not by intellectual acquisition, but by a devout habit of mind and heart. And there is nothing in the study of theology which necessarily acquaints a man with what is known as scientific truth; and therefore the scientific views of a theologian are of small value, since they are not in the line of study or thought to which he naturally devotes himself. And so long as scientists attempt to teach theology, and theologians insist upon refuting what they choose to dignify by the name of science, so long there will be a terrible warfare of words; but it will not touch nor jeopardize for a moment the indestructible harmony between true science and true religion, between a right reason and a devout faith, between the broad page of nature, written by His own finger through the long processes of His own law, and the page of inspiration, written by the human amanuensis of His own Spirit. There is one point, however, in the universe, in which nature and revelation meet; one point in which the visible creation comes in contact with the invisible and supernatural forces which pervade the universe. That solitary point is the incarnation of the Son of God. In it nature and revelation mysteriously meet and harmonize; as by it this human nature of ours — the very crown and glory of the visible creation — is taken into union with God. Here the ultimate mystery of science and religion meet and harmonize and are at one; as by the incarnation the nature of man is allied to the throne of God in a union which can never be divorced, and which waits for its final epiphany for the manifestation of the sons of God. (W. A. Snively, D. D.) Parallel Verses KJV: O Timothy, keep that which is committed to thy trust, avoiding profane and vain babblings, and oppositions of science falsely so called: |
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