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The Cosmos in an Apple

I can think of another instance in which a piece of fruit had cosmological significance, but this time we’ll focus on Newton’s apple:

Now, when Isaac Newton observed a certain relationship between and likeness between the behavior of the falling apple and that of the circling planets, it might be said with equal plausibility either that he argued by analogy from the apple to a theory of astronomy, or that while evolving a theory of astronomical mathematics he suddenly perceived its application to the apple. But it would scarcely be exact to say that, in the former case, he absurdly supposed the planets to be but apples of a larger growth, with seeds in them; or that, in the latter case, he had spun out a purely abstract piece of isolated cerebration that, oddly enough, turned out to be true about apples, though the movements of the planets themselves had no existence outside Newton’s mathematics. Newton, being a rational man, concluded that the two kinds of behavior resembled each other – not because the planets had copied the apples or the apples copied the planets, but because both were examples of the working of one and the same principle.

-Dorothy Sayers, The Whimsical Christian, pp. 124-125

Doesn’t it seem like this story could have come out of a fairy tale? This is one of the reasons I am glad I was encouraged to read Polanyi: he reminds us that science and imagination cannot be, and therefore are never, separated. Newton’s articulation of the law of gravity was a massive act of the imagination which saw an explanation of the workings of the cosmos in a falling apple.

It almost sounds as if he were a poet. Keats heard a nightingale and thought of ‘Charm’d magic casements, opening on the foam Of perilous seas, in faery lands forlorn.’ Newton saw a falling apple and thought of the workings of the galaxy. Chesterton’s idea that everything is poetic really isn’t that far fetched.

The story also reminds us of the importance of analogies. As a preacher it reminds me that analogies are important for engaging the imagination, which in turn can lead to a better grasp of the truth. Call it a reminder of the need for ‘whimsical’ preaching.

The Narrative of Scientist as Hero

Since I have been writing a good deal about technology lately, I thought I would share this.

As I was driving to church Sunday morning, I was listening to Weekend Edition on NPR. One story particularly caught my attention. Here’s the summary from the website:

Several new TV shows this year revolve around the idea of a deadly virus that grips the world, destroying much of the population. Enthusiasm for these shows is downright infectious.

From The Walking Dead and beyond, it seems that television and movies are tapping into modern man’s great fear – the loss of health and life (which amounts to a loss of control or sovereignty). As fictional mankind (on the screen) suffers from uncontrollable diseases and random zombie bites, and real mankind lives in fear that these things might actually happen, it seems that a new hero has arisen to save mankind from its plight – the Scientist.

Superheroes are still big, but a new hero is moving into the cultural narrative – and boy was the scientist they interviewed happy about it. Listen to the short segment from Weekend Edition HERE.

Sun Orbit: Where e’er the Sun Doth Its Successive Journeys Run

I frequently ponder the fact that we earth dwellers are moving, according to the experts, at something like 67,000mph in our orbit around the sun. It turns out, the experts say, this is nothing in comparison to the speed at which the sun is rotating around the center of the Milky Way: 475,912mph. Read about it HERE and HERE. Note that I’m not necessarily endorsing everything stated in those links.

I remember years ago hearing someone ridicule Psalm 19 because it portrays the sun as an athlete running a race (v. 5), making its track around the edge of the heavens (v. 6). The speaker claimed that we now know better than to believe such nonsense – the sun doesn’t move, the earth does! Now the scientists tell us that the sun is actually moving seven times faster than the earth, and dragging us along with it as it runs (as portrayed by the image below, which is from HERE).

Sun in orbit around Galactic Centre.gif

Be patient, the science always changes, but Psalm 19, all of Psalm 19, still stands; so does Psalm 72, and Isaac Watts’ paraphrase of it is as applicable as ever:

Jesus shall reign where e’er the sun
doth its successive journeys run;
his kingdom stretch from shore to shore,
till moons shall wax and wane no more.

Knowledge is Power?

I am currently reading The Restitution of Man, by Michael Aeschliman. This is the first of a series of reflections on various quotes from the book related to the subject of ‘Scientism.’
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‘Nam et ipsa scientia potestas est’ – scientific knowledge is power, Bacon optimistically wrote. His famous words have been rendered cruelly, ominously ironic with the advent of megadeath weaponry, stockpiled pathogens, experimentation on live fetuses, neutron bombs, nerve gas, and laser guns.
The true object of scientism, wrote Lewis quoting an equally famous assertion of Bacon, ‘is to extend Man’s power to the performance of all things possible.’ But ‘all things possible,’ as we have seen in [the 20th] century, is a menacingly amoral category; as one of the scientists who worked on the atomic bomb later said regretfully, ‘We felt that neither the good nor the evil applications [of the bomb] were our responsibility.’ Such irresponsible realization of all things potential regardless of consequences is a catastrophic result of the rational and moral bankruptcy of scientism.

– Michael Aeschliman, The Restitution of Man, p. 22

I remember very well when I was a child that during an elementary school program we performed the song (I think it was from Schoolhouse Rock), ‘Knowledge is Power.’ I can still remember the chorus:

Knowledge is power. I know what I know.
The more you learn the farther you’ll go.
When you get an education, you’ll be taking a stand.
Because knowledge is power. Grab it while you can.

The point of the song is that kids should stay in school. That’s all fine and good I suppose. The issue is the statement, ‘knowledge is power.’ Power over what? What kind of power? Is it power that I want? The ‘One Ring’ of Lord of the Rings fame brought power, but was that power desirable? Indeed it was a desirable power in some sense, but it was also disastrous power .

It’s the age-old story that goes back to the story of Creation and Fall:

  • Genesis 3:4 But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. 5 For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

Knowledge can certainly be a good thing. But it is not always so. There is such a thing as an idolatrous quest for knowledge, and an idolatrous use of it. Therefore be careful what you seek to learn, how you seek to learn it, and how you apply it.

Is it true to say, ‘knowledge is power?’ It can be. But if you are truly gaining the type of knowledge that brings power, you will make yourself a servant of all.

  • Mark 9:35 And he sat down and called the twelve. And he said to them, “If anyone would be first, he must be last of all and servant of all.”
  • 1 Corinthians 8:1 ¶ Now concerning food offered to idols: we know that “all of us possess knowledge.” This “knowledge” puffs up, but love builds up. 2 If anyone imagines that he knows something, he does not yet know as he ought to know.

Don’t Put the Kingdom in the Test Tube

In my regular reading of Scripture yesterday, I was struck by this text (KJV):

  • Luke 17:20 ¶ And when he was demanded of the Pharisees, when the kingdom of God should come, he answered them and said, The kingdom of God cometh not with observation: 21 Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you.

The word, ‘observation’ particularly struck me, so, of course, I got out my Greek New Testament to see what was going on. Friberg defines the Greek word translated ‘observation’ in this way: ‘the use of observable data to interpret events; observing, looking closely, watching.’

Jesus’ point to his opponents, who wanted to know of the coming of the kingdom, is that they cannot naturally deduce its coming. In fact, they had already missed it in a very important sense – it was already ‘in their midst’ (KJV ‘within you’), because the King was in their midst.

It is as if they are saying, ‘Show me proof of the kingdom! Show me proof of your relation to the kingdom!’ And Jesus responds, ‘There is no proof for you.’ While in fact, the true proof was standing in their midst. But he was no bare, scientific, test tube type of proof. You need spiritual eyes to see the king and his kingdom:

  • John 3:3 Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.”

We live in an age where many are saying that if it cannot be experimented upon, if we cannot observe it, if we cannot prove it by the scientific method, then it cannot be called true (though it would seem less and less are taking this position, thankfully). Aside from the fact that you cannot prove the scientific method by the scientific method, we should take note that Jesus points us to the necessity of spiritual sight, without which we will never see the kingdom of God. This doesn’t come through scientific observation – it comes through spiritual eyes joined with God-given faith.

  • 2 Corinthians 5:7 – For we walk by faith, not by sight.