"This scientific age" is an expression that is used frequently to emphasize the accomplishments of science. Indeed, many blessings have come to people through science. But, the world would be better off if its people had put as much emphasis on the saving faith we read about in the Bible as it has put on science. How wonderful it would be if we could freely and truthfully refer to our times as "this faith age"!

What Is Science?

The word science is from a Latin word that means knowledge or what is known -- what is factual. People have become so accustomed to science and the blessings of science, that many fail to recognize the limitations of science. Also, some seem to think everything a scientist says is scientific or factual just because a scientist says it.

A scientist may express an opinion knowing that what he says is actually not a proven fact, but merely his view -- merely speculation. Opinions and speculations can be called scientism but not science. Unfortunately, many things are called science merely because scientists have expressed opinions regarding such. Likewise, many things are referred to as theology which are mere speculation. True theology is that which is taught in the Bible about God and all that is related to him and his work. Much that is called theology is not in the Bible and is false theology.

Paul warned Timothy not to be misled by "science falsely so called" (1 Timothy 6:20). In the Greek text, Paul used pseudonumou gnoseos which literally means "the falsely named knowledge."

The evolutionary hypothesis is often called science, but it is falsely named! It is pseudo-science or false science. More and more, true science is proving how utterly unscientific the evolutionary doctrine really is.

Where Is It Taking Us?

Where is our dependence on science alone taking us? Science -- true science -- is not wrong in itself, but even true science can lead us astray! It is wrong to depend on true natural science and forget and leave God. The well-wrought prayer of Kipling is surely timely. He exclaimed:

What Do We Have
If All We Have Is Science?

Science has put the hydrogen bomb in the hands of men. How terrifying, if those who hold it do not have in their hearts "the power of God unto salvation" -- the Gospel of Jesus Christ! The Gospel is more powerful than man's bombs, because when people live by the Gospel, they will use nuclear energy to benefit and bless and not to destroy.

Man's "wisdom" is so limited that by it the human race can be led down a corridor that will emerge into a "hell" of global catastrophe. As the people of God were on the brink of disaster, one of the Lord's prophets expressed the reason for the impending doom when he said, "O Lord, I know that the way of man is not in himself; it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps" (Jeremiah 10:23).

Apart from what God has revealed to man in the Bible, man cannot direct his own way; he will instead destroy himself! Faith in what God has told man is needed more than all science! Indeed, the greatest need is for people -- all people -- to become so oriented to Bible faith that this age would be called "this faith age."

Some Things
Science Has Not Done

1. It has not lifted the drapes of despair that have fallen around so many. Dr. Harold Treffert, Director of the Winnebago Mental Health Institute at Oshkosh, Wisconsin, reports that teenage suicides in the United States have tripled in the last decade to an estimated thirty suicides per day! Dr. Treffert also says more than half the patients in the nation's psychiatric hospitals are under age twenty-one. He says that one of the "fairy tales" that has helped to bring about these lamentable facts is the philosophy that more possessions mean more happiness.

Dr. Treffert says that another "fairy tale" that has contributed to our sad society is the idea that perfect mental health means no problems and that a person is abnormal unless constantly happy.

Even Jesus did not promise there would be no problems. He taught that those on the rock would have the same rains, floods and winds to beat upon them as those on the sand. The difference is, those on the rock -- those who do God's will -- can stand. Christ did not say there would be no problems for those who serve him, but he promised the necessary assistance in such problems!

2. Science has not halted war and its awful carnage. Men continue to write their history using as ink their own blood.

3. Science has not stopped Americans from killing each other on the roads at the rate of about 1,000 per week. Half of these are killed by those under the influence of alcohol!

4. Science has not changed man's course toward death and the grave. Only in God is there hope. Science has nothing to offer to keep one from treading his rapid path to his tomb!

Conclusion

If scientific knowledge is all we have, we do not have much. If the only facts worth believing are those which emerge from computers and tumble from laboratories, we are in a miserable plight! If all the power we have is such as comes from atom-smashers and refineries, then our deepest most pertinent and practical questions remain unanswered. Scientific research answers some questions, but it raises more questions than it answers.