The guns and the germs.

I thought this Technology and World Change book was interesting cos it was filled was historical stuff and really cool stuffs.


But when i opened the book... it went to talk about evolution and stuff and all the dates are dated back to 11,000 years ago and i went "ohh....".


Although i'm inclined to think that the Genesis Chap 1 ought to be taken literally, i'm open to thinking otherwise so as such i still haven't made up my mind about whether it's a literal thing or not.


But that's hardly the crux of the question.


You know how evolution said that we originated from the lines of apes and chimpanzees into homo sapiens? And we lived in the stone age for quite a bit? In Genesis 4 Cain and Abel were already keeping flocks and working the soil. Dunno how all these add up together and not really sure how. Certain timings and events don't match.


But the underlying tension is that... science and faith don't seem to match now. Interestingly scientific enquires were sparked off by greek judeo-christianity. Personally i feel science and faith match pretty well... or i should put it this way: i view science as a subset of faith. I've been taught faith doesn't exist cos science doesn't prove it; instead, in proves it wrong. Now i know the reason why science can't prove faith is because scientific inquiries go as much as only the natural world - it can't prove what is the supernatural for the very fact that supernatural is supernatural. How can you ever prove the supernatural by natural methods as if you were testing natural conventions? Another reason is simply that science (as i have been taught in secondary school and generally what ppl tell me) refuses to be subjugated to the supernatural realm. It acts as if it is independent or superior to faith. But really, i think God created and owns science. He uses science to help us work out our lives but He's to subjected to science and can perform supernatural miracles notwithstanding the fact that many miracles can indeed be created through the use of science. Think of the manna, the sun going back a few steps...


But then again, i'm no investigator of these things. I just got only minimally acquainted with science and evolution. With my really limited knowledge i have written down these things really to air my thoughts.


Along the 3 years i've learnt to see and read God's work in this world that seems to work independent of Him.


Oh ya that reminded me of the other thing i was wondering about. I have my doubts about evolution, but i have no doubt that the human kind did progress from stone age into the new world and to our current progress (such that i have to study technology and world change). So i had this question: is God the one who determines how we progress and who progresses? Or is it just another one of mankind's exploits? My own formulated answer: I dunno, and perhaps it's unnecessary to know. The main reason for me living is to save other souls and fulfill God's commandments - although academic study can be a bonus to my occasional spurts of curiosity. But anyway back to my original question. Neutrally, the bible isn't a science book. Science is in the bible but isn't a major topic of it. So it's difficult to tell. But i know God has been active in catering to people of the different ages; i'm quite sure God as pleased with the old chorals as the current pop christian music, although the former might view the latter as disrespectful and the latter would view the former as religious. But in my own limited knowledge of the bible, i can't figure if God has been actively promoting technological improvements all the time, although He as always been a pioneer in many ways such as ark building (water technology took up a considerable part of the TWC book... and i'm proud to say, God invented the "boat"!) and the many rules and regulations regarding like diseases mildew and all. Actually if God really wanted us to have the knowledge of these kinds of things He could just tell us straightforwardly right? But perhaps it's in our search for science that we see God too.


Well i dunno. I roughly "hated" science as in my secondary school days. Never got to know what was science science until now really. Hee maybe interest in some subjects can really be stifled by the need to score well in school. Tsktsk. Cos in the end every thing is quite related so i can't say i hate "science" anyway.


But well ultimately after such a long session of babbling, science doesn't rock my boat. God does. =)