How Do You Know What You Know? I Don't Know - Joshua Lee

Jose Philip's talk about Christianity and Science transported me back to a time when I was still in post-secondary education. Back then, we were made to take a subject called 'Theory of Knowledge' which is basically another name for Epistemology. 

We were taught the different ways of knowing, such as emotion, reason, sense perception and language. Apparently, I was taught too about faith being the foundation of knowledge but I have no recollection of that. What I somewhat remember is the limitation of the various ways of knowing and how that affects the various areas of knowledge such as the sciences. 

One of the early points that stood out to me was that faith and science are not replacements for each other but rather have a complimentary relationship. As the speaker said, science is more interested in asking how and faith is more about asking why. Understanding this point kinda makes the whole debate moot. As was mentioned, science is not self-interpreting, it requires a certain worldview in order to function, and the Bible indeed provides such a worldview. Science and faith can indeed co-exist. 

Another key point that was also brought to my attention was the distinction between a difference in degree and a difference in kind. One use of this contrast was to illustrate the difference between chaos and order. Less of chaos does not bring out order, zero chaos just results in inaction. Order on the other hand is organised action. Thus the difference between chaos and order is a difference in kind. 

Science has not yet explained the jump from chaos to order, but the Bible does so right at the beginning, where God brought order to chaos. Similarly, there are jumps in a person's life which science cannot explain either. Such as the change from disbelief to belief in God which is a difference in kind, not degree. This change is not brought about by human effort, and no amount of human effort can effect such a change. We can all be thankful for the change that has taken place in our lives and pray for those who have not received it yet.

Joshua Lee