The fear of the Lord is the crown of wisdom, making peace and perfect health to flourish. He saw her and apportioned her; he rained down knowledge and discerning comprehension, and he exalted the glory of those who held her fast. To fear the Lord is the root of wisdom, and her branches are long life. ~ Sirach 1: 18-20 RSV-2CE
What does the fear of the Lord have to do with science? That's the topic we are exploring today. Let's begin with a meme I spotted on social media:
The problem I've repeatedly encountered with memes that attempt to make a profound argument is that the idea will seem to make logical sense at first glance; but upon deeper consideration, it becomes clear that it makes any number of errors in logic, including presenting a false dichotomy or a straw man argument, or it simply fails to reflect the complexity of an issue. I couldn't put my finger on what was off about this meme, but it kept coming back into my mind throughout the day. That evening, as I was reading a book of Marian devotion, I encountered the verses from Sirach posted at the beginning of this article, and the trouble was elucidated. The foundational problem with the meme is perhaps the failure to put first things first.
Very often in our contemporary Western culture, science is pitted against religion. Yet this is a relatively recent phenomenon in human history. The fact is that Theology was regarded as the Queen of the Sciences and worked hand-in-hand with Philosophy, also a high science. You might say that Theology was the perfection of Philosophy. Western civilization was built upon the marriage of faith and reason, exemplified by the classical Christian thought of St. Thomas Aquinas and his masterpiece, Summa Theologica.
The artificial division of subjects from one another and over-emphasis on specialization that we find today are earmarks of the dumbing down of education. The Catholic Church founded the institutions of the university and the hospital. The universities in our present era are, by and large, no longer the incubators of critical thought, originality, creativity, holistically integrated studies, pioneering research, and grand aspirations of the human soul. Rather, they are the breeding grounds for the hive mind and radical leftist, atheist ideologies. The very science that we have elevated to golden calf proportions has become an anemic system separated from every other art and science and bereft of a cohesive, life-giving worldview.
How can we ever hope to rely on "better science" if it's separated from its ultimate source?
In the Book of Wisdom, King Solomon prays for the gift of Wisdom, via the power of the Holy Spirit, to come to him, and in return he is granted, among other things, perfect scientific knowledge (Wisdom 7: 16-22). Wisdom here, as in other books of the Bible, is personified as a woman and is called sister, bride, and the mother of all good things. As we learned at the top, the fear of the Lord is the root and crown of divine Wisdom. But what is this mysterious "fear of the Lord"?
The fear of the Lord does not refer to the cowering of one who fears the wrath of God, who worries that our Creator will hurl lightning bolts as punishment for our mistakes. The fear of the Lord, which is a divine gift itself, refers to a reverential love of God and a filial desire to please him and avoid sin. The fear of the Lord is the awe and respect for true Religion, manifested in the teachings of the Judeo-Christian tradition, and fulfilled in the Trinitarian belief in one God in three divine persons--Father, Son, and Holy Spirit--and the Incarnation of the Son in the person of Jesus Christ, who is both True God and True Man. Without placing this first thing first, any scientific knowledge can only be partial at best, and will likely be riddled with error. We won't know the complete truth until we get to heaven; but as we read in Sacred Scripture, peace and perfect health themselves are bi-products of wisdom.
Jesus said, "But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you" (Matt. 6: 33 KJV). This statement comes at the end of Our Lord's admonition that we should not be anxious about what we will eat or wear or anything else. The first thing is to seek the heavenly kingdom and trust in God for all our needs. Both Solomon's desire for Wisdom, which reflects his fear of the Lord, and Jesus' setting of our priorities are directly applicable to our current coronavirus times.
As we know from history, scientific knowledge is always in a state of flux. It's in a neverending state of change, revision, and interpretation. Science is not just a set of objective facts. New facts might refute a prior understanding of what were believed to be the facts, and the result might be better science. But if we think that science exists in a vacuum, apart from religion, politics, and human emotions and experience, we are dangerously naive. The scientists themselves form the hypotheses and conduct the experiments they do according to their own sets of preconceived beliefs, hunches, personal experiences, former observations, and any manner of outside influences, including the political, and internal motivations, such as greed and the desire for power. If the scientist is not a purely objective being, which, as a human, he is necessarily not, then it follows that the interpretations of the science will be to some extent subjectively colored. Hence we have what are called scientific opinions.
As we all know, scientists of relatively equal education and experience in their field can have widely differing opinions. If you find out from a doctor that you have a serious medical condition, a doctor of good character will suggest that you have it confirmed by a second opinion before proceeding with treatment. What we find happening all over the news and social media right now is that any scientific opinion that differs from the WHO, the CDC, and Drs. Fauci and Birx is being categorically labeled as conspiracy theory and violently censored. If you don't think you have the right to any and all information that you might wish to consider when making your own decisions for your health and welfare, and that of others, you need to wake up. This is life and death stuff we are dealing with, and in this atmosphere of conflicting information and opinion, rife with political and emotional manipulation, the lay person needs something more than science upon which to make sound judgments.
If the Holy Spirit could impart perfect wisdom and discernment, and even perfect scientific knowledge, upon a man who had no university education or medical experience, then he can likewise give anyone who puts the fear of the Lord ahead of all other considerations an awareness of when he is hearing the truth, and when he is being led astray. This guidance will sometimes come as a gut feeling, an intuition, or an "ah-ha" response to something a scientist, politition, or your great aunt Sophie says. Yes, it could indeed even come in the form of a YouTube video! And don't your own education, experiences, intelligence, and powers of observation and common sense count for something? Are we really so incapable of making informed decisions and thinking for ourselves that we must rely entirely on a myriad of expert opinions? Well, that's exactly what a certain atheistic, socialist agenda (viz. regime) would like you to believe. Have some self-respect, people! And in doing so, there is a better chance of being able to respect one another.
Which scientists do you trust? To mask or not to mask? To glove or not to glove? To draw near one another, or to keep apart? When there are no easy answers, when there are many unknowns, when there is a cacophony of deafening voices and derision, it's all the more imperative that we go to God in prayer, with the fear of the Lord in our hearts, and beg for Wisdom. This is our only hope to be guided in the right direction. This is the better science.
Doth not Wisdom cry aloud, and prudence put forth her voice? Standing in the top of the highest places by the way, in the midst of the paths, beside the gates of the city, in the very doors she speaketh, saying: O ye men, to you I call, and my voice is to the sons of men. O littles ones, understand subtilty and ye unwise, take notice. Hear, for I will speak of great things: and my lips shall be opened to preach right things. My mouth shall meditate truth, and my lips shall hate wickedness. All my words are just, there is nothing wicked nor perverse in them. They are right to them that understand, and just to them that find knowledge. Receive my instruction, and not money: choose knowledge rather than gold.
By me kings reign, and lawgivers decree just things... I love them that love me: and they that in the morning early watch for me, shall find me... He that shall find me, shall find life, and shall have salvation from the Lord: but he that shall sin against me, shall hurt his own soul. All that hate me love death.
(Proverbs 8: 1-10, 15, 17, 35-36 DRV)
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