CS Lewis, COVID-19, and scientism

_{Denyse O'Leary

August 19, 2020

Culture, Intelligent Design, Science}

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Seventy-five years ago, C.S. Lewis published his novel ”That Hideous Strength,” which explored the dangers of government in the name of science. What relevance does Lewis’s advice on the promise and perils of science-based public policy have in the age of COVID-19 and beyond? Political scientist John West, editor of the book The Magician’s Twin: C. S. Lewis on Science, Scientism, and Society, explores what we might learn from Lewis about the abuses of science during emergencies and how we might harness the benefits of science while avoiding the drawbacks of “scientism.” This online talk was originally delivered as part of a webinar held by the Intercollegiate Studies Institute on May 16, 2020.

Comments

To mask or not to mask: the paper
A high-quality, large-scale Danish study finds no evidence that wearing a face mask significantly minimizes people’s risk of contracting COVID-19.The randomized-control trial found no statistically significant difference in coronavirus infection rates between mask-wearers and non-mask-wearers.
ET_{December 7, 2020
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Mike1962, Yes, I agree. I think this also extends to opioids being denied to people in extreme pain at the end of their life apparently for fear that in their last few moments, they might become a drug addict. ET, I just hear more balloons popping. You haven't bothered to read what it says in the Quran nor have you addressed the clear message recorded in the Bible. Whether a false religion is founded before, during, or after an apostle proves exactly nothing. Just look up Jim Jones or David Koresh to refute your point. Ok, I'll help you along with the following words from Jesus as recorded in John 14: "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father but through me." Think about it. Frankly, I don't care if the Pope, Billy Graham, Mother Teresa, or Nancy Pelosi tries to rewrite or reinterpret the Bible, what Jesus taught is crystal clear to everyone who can read. Still waiting for you to lift a finger and find something in the Quran for us . . . -QQuerius_{August 23, 2020
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HCQ: My body my choice.mike1962_{August 23, 2020
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God in Abrahamic religions:
Judaism, Christianity, and Islam are called Abrahamic religions because they all accept the tradition of the God (known as Yahweh in Hebrew and Allah in Arabic) that revealed himself to Abraham. The theological traditions of all Abrahamic religions are thus to some extent influenced by the depiction of the God of Israel in the Hebrew Bible, and by the story of Abraham, acclaimed as the Father of monotheism in the history of Judaism.
BOOMET_{August 23, 2020
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The God of Abraham, Jesus, and Muhammad The author of God: A Biography says that, yes, of course Jews, Christians, and Muslims worship the same God. BOOMET_{August 23, 2020
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Again, the historical facts speak for themselves. That you cannot accept that speaks against you, not me. You are not a theologian. You are not a Biblical authority. Did Peter come before Mohammed? Yes. Was the OT before Mohammed? Again, yes. Do the OT and Peter have any bearing on what Mohammed said? No. But the OT does speak of Abraham, Ishmael and Hagar. There isn't any doubt that the God of Abraham was also the God of Ishmael and therefore the same God as the Bible.ET_{August 23, 2020
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"Boom" must be the sound of your balloon popping. Billy Graham did not have the authority to change the message of the Bible, nor does any theologian. Genesis 16 reads in part as follows:
The angel of YHVH said to her further, “Behold, you are with child, and you will bear a son; and you shall call his name Ishmael, because YHVH has given heed to your affliction
Most Bibles substitute "the LORD" for YHVH, the name of the one and only God of the universe. The Tanakh refers to YHVH over 6,000 times, but the Quran doesn't mention the name of God even once. Surely, if Muhammad was the prophet of YHVH, he would have known his name! He didn't, so he wasn't. Maybe you can find something in the Quran to support your opinion. -QQuerius_{August 22, 2020
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History supports my claim. Look it up. Abraham was the father of both Ishmael and Isaac. The angel Gabriel is linked to Ishmael and Hagar- helping them get water. This is in the OT. Also, Billy Graham wrote:
"The angel spoke as an oracle of God, turning her mind away from the injury of the past with a promise of what she might expect if she placed her faith in God. This God is the God not only of Israel but the God of the Arabs as well (for the Arabs come from the stock of Ishmael). The very name of her son, 'Ishmael,' meaning 'God hears,' was a sustaining one. God promised that seed of Ishmael would multiply and that his destiny would be great on the Earth as he now undertook the restless pilgrimage that was to characterize his descendants. The angel of the Lord revealed Himself as the protector of Hagar and Ishmael."
BOOMET_{August 22, 2020
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ET, You have simply repeated a groundless assertion. Where in the Quran does it support your assertion? I have already provided a refutation from the Bible. -QQuerius_{August 22, 2020
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Umm, did Peter come before or after Mohammed wrote the Qur'an? The God of Abraham is the Allah of Islam. That is a historical fact.ET_{August 22, 2020
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Nice non-sequitur by seversky. Any of those three religions are more coherent than materialism. Talk about fatal flaws.ET_{August 22, 2020
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Mac McTavish @ 58
I have to agree with ET on this. Judaism, Christianity and Islam all worship the same being. Their respective writings Clearly acknowledge this. What everyone is quibbling over is the numerous ways that each of the three major sects choose to worship and what the supreme being expects of us.
I would say, rather, that each is insisting they are the one and only true faith while spending considerable intellectual effort trying to explain away what should be fatal flaws in such beliefs.Seversky_{August 22, 2020
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ET: Yes, Q, I understand that people have this need to find a difference between Allah and Yahweh. But in reality it is just a different perspective of the same One.

Mac McTavish: Judaism, Christianity and Islam all worship the same being.
What do you find in the Quran that leads you to logically arrive at this conclusion? In Acts 4, we read the following account of what the Apostle Peter said to the Judean religious leaders when on trial regarding his attributing a miraculous healing to the name of Jesus.
Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, “Rulers and elders of the people, if we are on trial today for a benefit done to a sick man, as to how this man has been made well, let it be known to all of you and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead—by this name this man stands here before you in good health. “He is the STONE WHICH WAS REJECTED by you, THE BUILDERS, but WHICH BECAME THE CHIEF CORNER stone. “And there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved.”
Was Peter lying when he said "for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved."? -QQuerius_{August 22, 2020
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ET
Yes, Q, I understand that people have this need to find a difference between Allah and Yahweh. But in reality it is just a different perspective of the same One.
I have to agree with ET on this. Judaism, Christianity and Islam all worship the same being. Their respective writings Clearly acknowledge this. What everyone is quibbling over is the numerous ways that each of the three major sects choose to worship and what the supreme being expects of us.Mac McTavish_{August 22, 2020
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JVL:
Anyway, why are your afraid to state your beliefs?
I am an IDist. I accept that there isn't any viable scientific alternative to Intelligent Design. I believe that people who think nature produced the codes that rule living organisms are demented and should never be taken seriously. Happy?ET_{August 22, 2020
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ET: So knowledge is an Islamic tendency? All knowledgeable people are members of Islam? Really? It's not knowledge that indicates beliefs; it's the interpretation of knowledge. Anyway, why are your afraid to state your beliefs? If you're afraid of how you'll be judged then can you be said to be a true and faithful believer? There must be a reason for being deceptive. Why are you ashamed of your convictions?JVL_{August 22, 2020
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Yes, Q, I understand that people have this need to find a difference between Allah and Yahweh. But in reality it is just a different perspective of the same One.ET_{August 22, 2020
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JVL:
Definitely sounds like Islamic tendancies to me.
So knowledge is an Islamic tendency? All knowledgeable people are members of Islam? Really? Everything I said about Abraham, Ishmael and Isaac are all parts of history. Anyone can read about it. Does that make everyone who read about it and understood it is now a member of Islam?ET_{August 22, 2020
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I met Catholics from Bethlehem in the United States about 10 years ago at a local Christmas fair. They identified as Catholics. They were trying to sell artifacts that were hand carved as a way of providing money for their extended families back in Bethlehem. I asked them what their native language was. They said Arabic. I asked them their name for God. They said Allah. So my guess is that if you went to a Catholic service in Arabic you would hear the word “allah” mentioned several times. So the term “god” like “allah” are just words indicating a supreme being. They don’t imply equivalence for everyone using the word just as we don’t consider the Greek gods the same as the Judeo/Christian God.jerry_{August 22, 2020
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ET: Allah is the God of Ishmael and Abraham. The Hebrews are alleged descendent of Isaac and Abraham. The Arabs from Ishmael an Abraham. Ishmael was the older 1/2 brother of Isaac. Ishmael was the son that was the only son, for a time. Isaac was never an only son. Definitely sounds like Islamic tendancies to me. Which is just fine; I'm good with that. I do like to know what perspective people are speaking from so I don't misjudge them.JVL_{August 22, 2020
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ET, Many scholars believe that Allah is a title derived from the Arabic Al ilah, which means "the God." This title might have its origin in Elohim, which again is the title for God in Hebrew. It is not the name of God, which God revealed to Moses as YHVH in Exodus 3: "This is My name forever, and this is My memorial-name to all generations." There were many gods worshiped in the Ancient Near East. As you might know, Abraham (Avram) was originally from Mesopotamia. He was most certainly familiar with the three primary gods of the region: - An/Anu/El - the supreme god of heaven - Enlil/Elil - the god of air, wind, earth, and storms - Enki/Ea - the god of wisdom, magic, incantations, arts, and crafts The title Elohim or Allah might have originated from El as a title, "God," but not the name of God, YHVH. Even our English title "God" derives from Germanic and possibly a Sanskrit word loosely translated, "one to whom sacrifices are made." -QQuerius_{August 22, 2020
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I know the Bible doesn't mention any Trinity. I said it is a contrivance. I know that I cannot be my own child. I know That I cannot be my own father. A man can be many things with those exceptions.ET_{August 22, 2020
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People can also be "a trinity," although we might not put much emphasis on such a concept. For example A. You might be the Director of Engineering at a company. You might have 300 employees working for you in your capacity. Your relationship to them is in a professional and technical management capacity. B. You might be a husband to your wife fulfilling your wedding vows to be a protector, provider, and companion to her. C. You might be a father to your children fulfilling your responsibility to help raise, guide, and mentor them for productive, responsible, and cooperative lives in society. Would you say you are three people or do you commonly refer to yourself as a trinity among your friends and family? The Bible doesn't ever use the word "trinity" although God and the Spirit of God are first mentioned in Genesis 1. Please understand that I'm not presenting a complete, precise, or definitive explanation of God, and I doubt that any human can do so, especially considering how little we truly understand of God's creation. This is why I rely only on the Bible and analogies implied by the Bible, and I resist going much further. -QQuerius_{August 22, 2020
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Q:
Allah is not the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob who revealed himself to Moses as YHVH two thousand years before Muhammed.
Allah is the God of Ishmael and Abraham. The Hebrews are alleged descendent of Isaac and Abraham. The Arabs from Ishmael an Abraham. Ishmael was the older 1/2 brother of Isaac. Ishmael was the son that was the only son, for a time. Isaac was never an only son.ET_{August 22, 2020
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Q:
Christians believe in one God, YHVH (“I Am Who I Am” in Hebrew), not three.
Three as One. That is what the Trinity symbolizes. God, the Father; God the Son (Jesus); God the Holy Spirit)ET_{August 22, 2020
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JVL:
I’m thinking you’re a Muslim then, one that follows Islam.
Except that I don't follow Islam.ET_{August 22, 2020
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Christians believe in one God, YHVH ("I Am Who I Am" in Hebrew), not three. YHVH manifests himself in three ways. The Tanakh (aka Old Testament) makes reference to "the Son" and "the Son of Man" (Psalm 2, Daniel 7), to "Messiah" (Daniel 9), and to "a man of suffering" (Isaiah 53). In the B'rit Chadashah (aka New Testament/Covenant), the Gospel of John refers to Yeshua (aka Jesus) as "the Logos" (the Word/Concept of God personified), the Son of Man (32 times in the Gospel of Matthew; 14 times in the Gospel of Mark), and the book of Hebrews describes Yeshua as follows:
God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways, in these last days has spoken to us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the world. And He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature, and upholds all things by the word of His power. When He had made purification of sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, having become as much better than the angels, as He has inherited a more excellent name than they. - Hebrews 1: 1-4 NASB
Christians in India sometimes refer to Jesus as "the only begotten avatar of God." Allah is not the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob who revealed himself to Moses as YHVH two thousand years before Muhammed. -QQuerius_{August 22, 2020
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ET: The Trinity is a contrivance. Christians worship Jesus as God. I'm thinking you're a Muslim then, one that follows Islam. Lots of people have gotten confused over the Doctrine of Trinity. And lots of Christian scholars have discussed it. I can never quite get my head around it myself.JVL_{August 22, 2020
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The Trinity is a contrivance. Christians worship Jesus as God.ET_{August 22, 2020
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I guess Mormons also would qualify as Muslims? Edit: Or perhaps not! My bad. Anyway, I don't think orthodox Christians would agree that they worship more than one god, despite the puzzles around the Trinity.daveS_{August 22, 2020
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