Book reviewer wonders: How could Newton have been a scientist and a theist?

There is no science-stopping mental conflict for Christians as history clearly demonstrates. There have been so many truly brilliant Christian thinkers in science that it renders the gnu (sing: I'm a ga-nu, hat-tip: BA77) atheist notion of a mental conflict between science and religion as nothing more than cheap propaganda. Many of these brilliant scientists were motivated by their faith to understand the world and would write of their awe as they uncovered wonders of the created world. As Galileo (a secular hero borrowed from Christianity) wrote: "I give infinite thanks to God for being so kind as to make me alone the first observer of marvels kept hidden in obscurity for all previous centuries". It's quite sad to compare the great scientific minds of the past with some of the charlatans and media whores who purport to represent science today.steveO

October 9, 2013

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News has yet again got an article completely the wrong way round. Do you just quote the first bit of stuff that catches your eye in an article without reading the rest? Are you the same person who complains about people writing about stuff they haven't read? If you bothered to read even a bit further down you will see the whole review is about how others have found the two halves of Newton's lives to be incompatible but the reviewer takes the point of the book that the two were closely integrated. "the exuberant new book by Jed Buchwald and Mordechai Feingold raises the stakes by arguing that Newton’s biblical lucubrations are just as scientific as his theory of gravitation, and scientific in much the same way."Mark Frank

October 9, 2013

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I guess their incredulity can be boiled down to this question. How can a person be a scientist and believe in the bible at the same time? And indeed there are many incredible things described in the bible that are hard to believe, especially if one does not believe that miracles are even possible in the first place. But if one is able to allow for the notion that miracles may be possible, and that the bible may be true, then one finds many incredible confirmations for the bible from science. Perhaps first and foremost is the ex nihilo creation of the universe. I know of no other ancient text that claimed the universe came into being instantaneously, and yet,,,

The best data we have [concerning the Big Bang] are exactly what I would have predicted, had I nothing to go on but the five books of Moses, the Psalms, the bible as a whole. Dr. Arno Penzias, Nobel Laureate in Physics - co-discoverer of the Cosmic Background Radiation - as stated to the New York Times on March 12, 1978 “Certainly there was something that set it all off,,, I can’t think of a better theory of the origin of the universe to match Genesis” Robert Wilson – Nobel laureate – co-discover Cosmic Background Radiation “There is no doubt that a parallel exists between the big bang as an event and the Christian notion of creation from nothing.” George Smoot – Nobel laureate in 2006 for his work on COBE ,,, among all the 'holy' books, of all the major religions in the world, only the Holy Bible was correct in its claim for a transcendent origin of the universe. Some later 'holy' books, such as the Mormon text "Pearl of Great Price" and the Qur'an, copy the concept of a transcendent origin from the Bible but also include teachings that are inconsistent with that now established fact. (Hugh Ross; Why The Universe Is The Way It Is; Pg. 228; Chpt.9; note 5) The Uniqueness Of The Bible Among 'holy books' and Evidence of God in Creation (Hugh Ross) – video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WjYSz1OYG8Y The Most Important Verse in the Bible - Prager University - video http://www.prageruniversity.com/Religion-Philosophy/The-Most-Important-Verse-in-the-Bible.html The Uniqueness of Genesis 1:1 - William Lane Craig - video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tBXdQCkISo0

Now, despite how strong the evidence now is for the beginning of the universe, many people argue fervently against the transcendent origin of the universe, and look pretty foolish in the process of doing so (Lawrence Krauss comes to mind), but the fact of the matter is that for centuries the bible had uniquely held that the entire universe came instantaneously into being from a transcendent point of origin. And thus, since the Bible can get, by far, the most important fact in science right, i.e. the coming into being of all of physical reality itself, then perhaps there are also many other gems and nuggets of wisdom for science to be mined from the depths of the bible? Consider for instance the scientific genius of Nikola Tesla. Tesla pioneered, if not invented; AC motors, AC power generation and transmission, high voltage generation (Tesla coil), wireless transmission of power and information, radio controlled boats, cold discharge fluorescent lighting, and the ‘death-ray’. And yet Tesla also held the bible to be integral to his process of discovery:

My Inventions: The Autobiography of Nikola Tesla Excerpt: At this time, as at many other times in the past, my thoughts turned towards my Mother's teaching. The gift of mental power comes from God, Divine Being, and if we concentrate our minds on that truth, we become in tune with this great power. My Mother had taught me to seek all truth in the Bible; therefore I devoted the next few months to the study of this work. One day, as I was roaming the mountains, I sought shelter from an approaching storm. The sky became overhung with heavy clouds, but somehow the rain was delayed until, all of a sudden, there was a lightening flash and a few moments after, a deluge. This observation set me thinking. It was manifest that the two phenomena were closely related, as cause and effect, and a little reflection led me to the conclusion that the electrical energy involved in the precipitation of the water was inconsiderable, the function of the lightening being much like that of a sensitive trigger. Here was a stupendous possibility of achievement. If we could produce electric effects of the required quality, this whole planet and the conditions of existence on it could be transformed. The sun raises the water of the oceans and winds drive it to distant regions where it remains in a state of most delicate balance. If it were in our power to upset it when and wherever desired, this might life sustaining stream could be at will controlled. We could irrigate arid deserts, create lakes and rivers, and provide motive power in unlimited amounts. This would be the most efficient way of harnessing the sun to the uses of man. The consummation depended on our ability to develop electric forces of the order of those in nature. It seemed a hopeless undertaking, but I made up my mind to try it and immediately on my return to the United States in the summer of 1892, after a short visit to my friends in Watford, England; work was begun which was to me all the more attractive, because a means of the same kind was necessary for the successful transmission of energy without wires. At this time I made a further careful study of the Bible, and discovered the key in Revelation. The first gratifying result was obtained in the spring of the succeeding year, when I reaching a tension of about 100,000,000 volts—one hundred million volts -- with my conical coil, which I figured was the voltage of a flash of lightening. http://www.lucidcafe.com/library/96jul/teslaauto05.html picture - Tesla seated in his lab http://lucidthoughts.com.au/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/Nikola-Tesla-seated.jpg

So Tesla, who arguably, with his inventions, had the greatest impact of any scientist in transforming society for the good, traces his key insight in the 'successful transmission of energy without wires' to his study in revelation! ,,, And please note how Tesla had mixed the observation of the natural world, with his inquisitive spirit, with a serious study of the Bible for answers, to come to his breakthrough insight. If such can be had in such a manner by Tesla, who knows what other untapped riches lie hidden from our view in the bible? Verse and Music:

1 Corinthians 2:7 But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world unto our glory: Jeremy Camp - The Way (Official Music Video) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9q6o4sbndVE

bornagain77

October 9, 2013

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Yes, Newton along with all the other great Christian scientists is a disappointment and anomaly for atheists who want to believe that Christians can't do science or that their faith interferes with their science. The evidence lies strongly in favor of the opposite conclusion! Granted, when you start trying to figure out the history of life, yes, Christian beliefs can lead a person to a different interpretation of the evidence, but that is history, not science. When doing science, it seems their belief in an Intelligent Designer actually helped these scientists become successful.tjguy

October 9, 2013

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News, Did the reviewer manage to simply read the General Scholium in Principia? Had he done so, he would have seen just why Newton was a theist, it is no mystery at all: _________ >> . . . This most beautiful system of the sun, planets, and comets, could only proceed from the counsel and dominion of an intelligent and powerful Being. And if the fixed stars are the centres of other like systems, these, being formed by the like wise counsel, must be all subject to the dominion of One; especially since the light of the fixed stars is of the same nature with the light of the sun, and from every system light passes into all the other systems: and lest the systems of the fixed stars should, by their gravity, fall on each other mutually, he hath placed those systems at immense distances one from another. This Being governs all things, not as the soul of the world, but as Lord over all; and on account of his dominion he is wont to be called Lord God pantokrator , or Universal Ruler; for God is a relative word, and has a respect to servants; and Deity is the dominion of God not over his own body, as those imagine who fancy God to be the soul of the world, but over servants. The Supreme God is a Being eternal, infinite, absolutely perfect; but a being, however perfect, without dominion, cannot be said to be Lord God; for we say, my God, your God, the God of Israel, the God of Gods, and Lord of Lords; but we do not say, my Eternal, your Eternal, the Eternal of Israel, the Eternal of Gods; we do not say, my Infinite, or my Perfect: these are titles which have no respect to servants. The word God usually signifies Lord; but every lord is not a God. It is the dominion of a spiritual being which constitutes a God: a true, supreme, or imaginary dominion makes a true, supreme, or imaginary God. And from his true dominion it follows that the true God is a living, intelligent, and powerful Being; and, from his other perfections, that he is supreme, or most perfect. He is eternal and infinite, omnipotent and omniscient; that is, his duration reaches from eternity to eternity; his presence from infinity to infinity; he governs all things, and knows all things that are or can be done. He is not eternity or infinity, but eternal and infinite; he is not duration or space, but he endures and is present. He endures for ever, and is every where present; and by existing always and every where, he constitutes duration and space. Since every particle of space is always, and every indivisible moment of duration is every where, certainly the Maker and Lord of all things cannot be never and no where. Every soul that has perception is, though in different times and in different organs of sense and motion, still the same indivisible person. There are given successive parts in duration, co-existent puts in space, but neither the one nor the other in the person of a man, or his thinking principle; and much less can they be found in the thinking substance of God. Every man, so far as he is a thing that has perception, is one and the same man during his whole life, in all and each of his organs of sense. God is the same God, always and every where. He is omnipresent not virtually only, but also substantially; for virtue cannot subsist without substance. In him are all things contained and moved [i.e. cites Ac 17, where Paul evidently cites Cleanthes]; yet neither affects the other: God suffers nothing from the motion of bodies; bodies find no resistance from the omnipresence of God. It is allowed by all that the Supreme God exists necessarily; and by the same necessity he exists always, and every where. [i.e accepts the cosmological argument to God.] Whence also he is all similar, all eye, all ear, all brain, all arm, all power to perceive, to understand, and to act; but in a manner not at all human, in a manner not at all corporeal, in a manner utterly unknown to us. As a blind man has no idea of colours, so have we no idea of the manner by which the all-wise God perceives and understands all things. He is utterly void of all body and bodily figure, and can therefore neither be seen, nor heard, or touched; nor ought he to be worshipped under the representation of any corporeal thing. [Cites Exod 20.] We have ideas of his attributes, but what the real substance of any thing is we know not. In bodies, we see only their figures and colours, we hear only the sounds, we touch only their outward surfaces, we smell only the smells, and taste the savours; but their inward substances are not to be known either by our senses, or by any reflex act of our minds: much less, then, have we any idea of the substance of God. We know him only by his most wise and excellent contrivances of things, and final cause [i.e from his designs]: we admire him for his perfections; but we reverence and adore him on account of his dominion: for we adore him as his servants; and a god without dominion, providence, and final causes, is nothing else but Fate and Nature. Blind metaphysical necessity, which is certainly the same always and every where, could produce no variety of things. [i.e necessity does not produce contingency] All that diversity of natural things which we find suited to different times and places could arise from nothing but the ideas and will of a Being necessarily existing. [That is, implicitly rejects chance, Plato's third alternative and explicitly infers to the Designer of the Cosmos.] But, by way of allegory, God is said to see, to speak, to laugh, to love, to hate, to desire, to give, to receive, to rejoice, to be angry, to fight, to frame, to work, to build; for all our notions of God are taken from. the ways of mankind by a certain similitude, which, though not perfect, has some likeness, however. And thus much concerning God; to discourse of whom from the appearances of things, does certainly belong to Natural Philosophy. [Cf also his Rules of Reasoning.] >> __________ Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy is of course Newton's great work in which Gravitation and the Laws of motion are presented, c 1688. KFkairosfocus

October 9, 2013

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