Science has become the latest, greatest cult movement. Let’s just get that out of the way right now. If you don’t believe me, just Google phrases like ‘scientific research’, ‘new study’, etc. Then spend about an hour reading up on all the latest scientific knowledge. There’s so much out there that it’s easy to think the scientific community knows everything about everything.

Science has even made its way into the political arena. How many pro-lockdown, pro-mask politicians have spent the last few weeks campaigning on the slogan, “I believe science”? A lot. The thing about such statements is that they are passive-aggressive in nature. Those who make them want it known that they are superior while those with whom they disagree are uninformed neanderthals too stupid to be trusted.

So Wrong, So Often

There would be no need to write this post if it weren’t for the fact that science has been proven wrong so often that it’s nearly impossible to keep up. For example, do you remember the panic over global cooling back in the 70s? Proven wrong. Remember when Al Gore used science to predict worldwide global warming calamity within a decade? That was 2006. So much for science.

Science is so wrong, so often that Stanford professor John P. A. Ioannidis wrote an extensive and detailed paper in 2005 explaining why we should be suspicious of scientific research. The paper, which made him famous, is still talked about today. And guess what? It has never been successfully refuted. A 2017 Forbes article from Senior Contributor Ethan Siegel makes clear why. I’ll let you read it for yourself, but his main point is that absolute, scientific proof of anything does not exist.

The Nature of Cults

The reality that science is wrong more often than people think leads us back to the idea of the new science cult. We often think of cults from a religious angle. But religion — in a traditional sense — isn’t required for a cult to operate. The cult mentality is more about operation than doctrine. To illustrate, here are some of the primary characteristics of a cult:

• Unquestioning commitment to leadership and ideology.
• Doubt and dissent among believers either discouraged or not allowed.
• Leadership mandates what followers should think, how they should act and feel, etc.
• An elitist attitude — the group is special; sometimes on a special mission to save the world.
• A polarizing us-versus-them mentality.
• Leadership not accountable to anyone else.
• A belief that ends justify whatever means is being pursued.

Maybe I just don’t see thing the right way, but it seems to me that the modern scientific community, on the whole, displays these characteristics in spades. Science isn’t to be questioned. If a scientist says something, it must be true. Dissent is not allowed. Any scientist whose research goes against the grain is to be excommunicated, his or her reputation publicly trashed.

The Truth About Science

The truth about science is that it isn’t infallible. In fact, it isn’t even close. Yet far too many people believe just the opposite. Need proof? Survey your friends. Ask them their thoughts on the big bang and evolution theories. Neither theory has been proved factual by the highly-vaunted and supposedly infallible scientific method. Yet most people believe them to be scientific facts. They are even taught as facts in school.

If you are a Christian, you must decide one way or the other what you believe about science. Does science trump what God has said? Do you believe Darwin’s word or God’s Word? Do you believe everything science tells you while thumbing your nose at the Creator?

Paul warned his young protege in II Tim. 6: 20-21 to “keep that which is committed to your trust, avoiding profane and vain babblings, and oppositions of science falsely so called: which some professing have erred concerning the faith.” The warning came in the midst of certain Ephesian church members attempting to infiltrate the local body with destructive false doctrines.

He referred to some of the oppositions Timothy was facing as “science falsely so called.” Why? Because science was doing the same thing back then that it does today. Rather than starting with the premise that we know nothing, and then seeking knowledge from there, we start with a presupposition and then try to prove it. Unfortunately, man’s suppositions are frequently false. They are definitely false when they contradict the truth of God.

In the end, man is fallible. Man is sinful. Anything man can produce will be less than perfect. On the other hand, God is infallible. He is perfect and sinless. If he says something, you can count on the fact that it is absolutely true. As Rom. 3:4 says, “let God be true, but every man a liar.”

Science is the latest, greatest cult movement. Are you a member, blindly following whatever science tells you? If so, watch out. It will come back to bite you at some point. As for me, I will stick with the only one who is always true. I will stick with Jehovah God.

Posted on: October 24, 2020