Proving the unity of Science and Judeo-Christian beliefs

The purpose of these notes is to substantiate the scientific unity of contemporary human religious beliefs and human non-religious sciences – the unity which is based on healthy competition of various religious and non-religious thought schools aimed at discovering the very reason for our human existence – the unity which had begun with the Jewish people finding One God and Torah and delivering this find to the rest of humans.

The Torah is the first known human document describing the creation of our world and us the humans in this world as well as the Creator Himself. As the Torah asserts, we the humans found God the Creator and had begun a conversation with Him. By initiating this conversation we had begun the process of discovering (a) how the world we live in was created and (b) what we the humans are supposed to do in this world. And any process of discovery is Science.

Indeed, the definition of Science is “the intellectual and practical activity encompassing the systematic study of the structure and behavior of the physical and natural world through observation and experiment” (the Oxford dictionary). And that is what Religion is doing from the very beginning of human existence. Religion is systematically studying – through observation and experiment – the world of human existence that is a part of the physical and natural world. 

The proof of any scientific discovery is the evidence which is defined as “the available body of facts or information indicating whether a belief or proposition is true or valid” (the Oxford dictionary). And that is how Religion is convincing the humans that the laws of human existence which have been discovered by Religion and observed by the humans are true and valid – true because of the humans decided it is so and valid because those laws enable the humans to fulfill their human destiny.

The human destiny is defined in the Torah and this definition is preserved in the Christian Bible. The definition starts with a simple statement that the humans are created in the image of God (for non-believers – in the image of “nature”). In accordance with the Torah, the image of God has the following fundamental traits: (a) God is Creator, (b) God is a unique individual, and (c) God is eternal. If it is so, we the humans have to be creators, have to be individuals and have to be eternal. As it is seen from these characteristics, we the humans were created not as an advanced animal breed but as something completely different. We are different since we – only we the humans – were created in the image of God.

What is the meaning of being creative?

We the humans exist not just for mere physical survival as the animals do – we exist for doing creative work (architects, engineers, artists, composers, religionists, social workers, laborers, etc.). And we the humans created Science as the tool for doing creative work. Science consists of two major branches – spiritual sciences and material sciences. Spiritual sciences, such as for example theology or philosophy, are defining what to create while material sciences, such as for example physics, chemistry or biology, are defining how to create.

We had started Science with spiritual sciences in our religious institutions – synagogues (about thirty three centuries ago), churches/monasteries (about twenty centuries ago), mosques (about twelve centuries ago) – based on theories, imagination, hypotheses using our still indefinable soul and now definable brain. Much-much later, probably about five centuries ago we had added to spiritual sciences material sciences which are able to confirm some of our spiritual theories and hypotheses.

What is the meaning of being individual?

Every human is spiritually armed to search for his/her unique interpretation of being creative including his/her own individual interpretation of the Torah/Bible’s guidance. Individuals with similar interpretations of the Torah/Bible’s guidance (not just in terms of religious rituals but mainly in terms of being creative) are forming collective organizations such as for example professional unions, religious organizations, social communities, political parties.

What is the meaning of being eternal?

We the humans associate our being not just with our physical body but with our yet undefined souls as well. And our souls guide us to create things what are lasting far beyond our physical lives: our families, our communities, our buildings and technologies, our art and science, etc. The animals, even the most advanced and sophisticated of them, don’t do it – they are just surviving.

As was mentioned, Science has two major areas – spiritual sciences and material sciences. They differ in a very significant way.

At the core of material sciences, advanced by various universities, foundations and institutions, is verification of all new discoveries by measuring the traits of a new discovery by existing scientific detectors which are delivering information to our brain mostly through our traditional Five Sensors – Sight, Hearing, Taste, Smell and Touch. However, the world of God the Creator that is studied by Sciences is not limited only to whatever we can detect by our human Five Senses. And everything what is beyond detection by our Five Sensors is the area of spiritual sciences advanced by Religion – the area of now immeasurable theories, hypotheses and even “fantasies”.

The Judeo-Christian world belief God handed out the Torah to the Jewish people with “Free Will” that encouraged the Jews and non-Jews to tailor God’s life-journey guidance to different life conditions and traditions the humans may live in. And such free-will tailoring gave birth to numerous religious and scientific schools of thought competing with each other for discovering the true God’s laws with all discoverers having their own definition of the “true”.

About two millenniums ago four major Jewish groups were competing for the “most truthful” interpretation of the Torah – Essenes, Sadduces, Pharisees and Zealots, and Orthodox, Conservative, Reform and Humanistic Jews continue the competition these days.

About two millenniums ago one more Jewish group came to existence – the group headed by Joshua and mostly concerned with spreading the Torah guidance outside the Jewish communities to Gentile population, and this group laid out the foundation of Christianity with many competing groups within Christianity. While the Jews detailed their interpretation of the God’s guidance in Talmud the Christians did it in New Testament.

If the Torah/Bible is a sort of first book of science, why many in Religion and Science are fighting each other?

Those in Religion who perceive Religion as a way for discovering God’s world see the implanted unity between Religion and Science; those in Religion for whom spiritual power over people’s mind is the prime goal are fearful that such harmony may complicate their fight for spiritual power over people’s mind.

The same applies to Science. Those in Science who perceive Science as a way for discovering the natural world and its laws created by something or somebody called God the Creator understand the unity between Science and Religion. In Science there are two categories of scientists rejecting Science in harmony with God. In one category we find scientists for whom scientific power over people’s mind is the prime goal and they are fearful that such harmony may complicate their fight for the position of a supreme scientific power. In the other category we find scientists who see in the humans only what they see in the animals – bones, flash, genes, chemical elements, etc. – they are not able to realize that the humans are a sort of animal bodies transformed to something principally different by the yet undetectable soul.

Why many in Science denigrate the Torah/Bible to the level of fantasies?

The Torah/Bible is rejected by those who want to have their own bibles on what to create and how to create – among them all the famous dictators of the world and even some scientists for whom the science is the established order of conducting scientific work and not a spiritual pursuit of discovery.