Corrupted by Science : The Business of Christian Education LX

¹⁸ For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished. ¹⁹ Therefore whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.

Matthew 5:18-19

           

            The temptation to compromise the word of God is not something new.  It has been in the history of humankind since the beginning.  Two thousand years ago at the time of Jesus, people too compromised God’s word.  So Jesus gave a stern warning to his audience at that time that the Law of God will not pass away until all is accomplished.  Not even an iota will pass away.  The heaven and the earth will pass away but not the word of God.  As this was true then, this is also true now.  The teachers of that day was given a warning by Jesus that whoever compromised
the commandments of God, even the least one, would be called least in the kingdom of heaven.  This is a very serious warning.  Jesus’ intention is clear that he did not want anyone to compromise God’s word, not even a little.  But today we can find myriads of ways Christians attempt to relax God’s Law.  The basis for compromising God’s Law today is through science.

            Since the rise of science a few hundred years ago, human life has been slowly taken over by scientific conclusions.  Gradually our humanity is being redefined through scientific perspective.  While we do benefit from science and its application in technology, a dangerous tendency is beginning to overshadow its benefit.  Human identity has been completely challenged by scientific research.  In the past we acknowledged our dignified origin and glorious value.  Pre scientific era, we recognized ourselves as divine.  Every religion in the planet affirmed human connection to the celestial beings.  Every folk story and legend always tied our glory with that of the divine.  But when science became the alternative to human way of life, our identity has been redefined.  Science concludes that humans are animals with a slight advantage.  Science names humans as rational animal.  From divinity humans have fallen to the position in the animal kingdom.  Slowly but sure, our way of thinking is also being dictated by observing the way animals live, socialize, etc. in order to figure out who and what humans are.  Darwinism even dared to argue that the track of human origin followed the gradual evolution of animals from the simplest cell.  They say that we have evolved from apes.  Many people bought this belief and accepted it by faith that humans are product of evolution.  Thence began the process of the reinvention of the wheel of human identity.  In order to get such belief to be accepted completely the old view must be demolished.  The idea that humans have the dignity of the divine must be thrown out of the kettle.  Science minded people call human divinity to be mythical and outdated.

            The basic foundation of science lies in its observation of nature.  The heaven and the earth that Jesus said will pass away is the main platform of every scientific finding and conclusion.  While there are many findings discover truths and produce great benefits for human life, there are many findings that neither correspond to the truth nor produce spiritual/moral/ethical benefits to human life.  In fact it is to the shame of scientists that attempt to use science beyond its limitation to speak to areas of human life that even the most advanced science can’t explain.  Many people have forced science to inform our morality and ethical sense only to excuse human sinful indulgence and wicked tendency.  The hottest issue today is the issue that pertains to human sexuality.  People with blind love of science have been using science to explain the polygamy is the norm of most living being on earth.  And thus through such finding they coined the idea that monogamy in the human world is actually abnormal according to science.  They claim that only about 3% of animal kinds that actually practice monogamy.  The rest are polygamists.  Therefore, according to the heaven and earth, which is the main platform of science, humans ought to be polygamists also.  Monogamy is now being challenged to be something that is unnatural.  God’s word in Genesis that provides the basis of monogamy is rejected by human scientific finding that is based on the fallen world.

            Another issue that is bigger than the issue of monogamy vs polygamy is the issue of homosexuality.  With heavy reliance on research on human gene, science advocates that homosexuality is natural.  This belief is based on the observation that the homosexual gene is found.  Since it exists in human body then homosexual condition is not a mere psychological reality.  With the publication of the finding of the homosexual gene, homosexuality ceased to be a perverted imagination, but it has become a viable lifestyle option.  Homosexuality is now rendered to be normal.  What was always believed to be perversion of humanity is now considered natural tendency.  Observation of heaven and earth becomes the sole method of establishing truths and producing rules of life.  Moral, ethical, religious, and spiritual life is under heavy attack.  Science is gaining ground in the battle of human life.  What was then considered to be shameful is now elevated to the position of glory.  In the past ten years so many people finally dared to come out and admitted that they were gay.  What was then considered to be wrong is now honored as another way of life.  God’s word in Genesis, Leviticus, Romans about the perversion of homosexual conducts is now replaced by the new scientific finding that is based on the fallen and sinful world.

            Unfortunately, during the heavy bombardment by science, the defense of Christian faith takes heavy casualties.  Many Christian leaders and their followers become timid shaken by the intense attack.  Over time they started compromising God’s word.  They began to adjust the eternal word of God into agreeing with the temporary conclusion of the knowledge of the fallen world.  And so they redefine the entire truth of God in order to serve their fear of not fitting in with the world dictated by science.  In the context of homosexuality, many then spoke out of fear agreeing with the practice of homosexuality.  Some even went too far so as to insult God himself in the name of love.  Gradually they shifted their allegiance, from God to that of the world.  No longer do they serve God, even though they still use the Holy Scripture, but instead they serve science.

            Jesus said clearly that whoever relaxes God’s commandments and teaches others to do the same will then be called the least in the kingdom.  These people exalt the world that is passing away over the eternal word of God that will never pass away.  It is amazing to see how blind these people are to the truth.  For the truth is actually clear to them, but yet they overlook it.  Fear can change people.  Fear that their life will not be accepted by the world where they live.  Don’t they remember that we are not of this world.  We are sent to the world.  Our Master did not fear speaking the truth of the eternal word of God even though the consequence was rejection by the world.  They call themselves Christians, but yet they do not exhibit the life of Christ.  Instead of being transformed by the renewing of their minds in Christ Jesus they have conformed their hearts and minds into the pattern of the world.  They have become so attached to the world where they live and so abandon their identity with Christ.  They identify themselves with the world and stand in opposition to God.  Science has infiltrated into Christianity and corrupted many.

            Some Christian leaders in their timidity and confusion propose to redefine our theology that has been handed down to us since Adam, Abel, Seth, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, the prophets, Jesus Christ, and all the apostles, with all the Church fathers, according to science.  These people are making a great mistake.  By doing so they have compromised God’s word.  Worse, they are proposing to replace the eternal truth with the temporary knowledge of the fallen world.  They got it upside down and backward.  They have forgotten Jesus’ word that the heaven and earth will pass away but his words will never pass away.  Paul is right to say that ²² Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools ²³ and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like a mortal human being and birds and animals and reptiles.  (Romans 1:22-23).  In their stupidity they exchange the eternal glory of God with things that will pass away.  They are infatuated with the new method of knowledge production that they found in science and thus abhorred the wisdom of the Creator of the universe.  And so, they are leading the next generation to embrace and believe what is not God.  If Christian leaders have shifted their allegiance to science, then what is the difference between the church and public school?  They have acted as if God is obsolete.  Their god is science.  With their leading, their followers can’t find God, for their teaching is all about the world.  They have been corrupted by science.

            Ivan Illich is right to propose the deschooling of society.  School has been effectively employed to carry this new religion.  Science has become the god in every school.  The strongest force in the school curriculum today is science.  It is as if without science our life has become meaningless.  The world rewards achievement in science.  And so schools too reward students who excel in science.  Every child in the world who goes through school somehow has been effectively infiltrated by science.  To some extent school has become the agent of science.  Corruption by science starts when a child sets its foot in school.  The corruption begins when a child opens the textbook for the first time.  This is why Christian education is extremely important.  An integrated curriculum that cultivates the word of God at the center and in every stream of discipline is a must in order to battle the corruption.  Without proper Christian education, the entire generation of man will be corrupted mind and soul.  The end result would be the enslavement of the entire humanity under the new regime, science.  No!  This should not happen!  The heaven and the earth will pass away, but the word of God will never pass away.  This calls for all Christian educators to be courageous to do and teach the word of God without compromise.  Jesus did it.  All the saints did it.  We too must do it.  It is important to understand that science is not the way of life.  Jesus is!  Raising the next generation of God’s children without the word of God is a complete joke.  Thus Christian education in every domain of the child’s life becomes mandatory.  The informal Christian education at home, the non-formal Christian education in the church, and the formal Christian education in school must work together in order to educate the whole person according to the will of God.  Without God’s word at the center and flowing in every stream of discipline, our children would not effectively be educated and raised to become Christians.  We must stop the corruption by science.  We do not stop science, bear in mind.  But we stop the corruption.  Christian educators need to be sharp in order to be able to capture the driving force behind scientific belief and subdue it under the feet of our Lord Jesus Christ.  Our world belongs to God.  In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.  Let God be God and let creation remain as creation.  We worship God only.  We do not worship creation no matter how glamorous it is.  Listen people of God, God is one and he cannot be mocked.  Amen!