The Relationship between Science and Religion (Pentecostal perspective)

 The Relationship Between Science and Religion (Pentecostal Perspective)

The link between science and religion is complicated by the fact that both have undergone significant change through time and neither can be regarded to be uniform entities. The relationship between the two is clearly influenced by three factors: individual viewpoints, religious interests, and the time period in issue. As a result, the relationship between religion and science can only be fully comprehended in light of the three criteria mentioned above (Reiss, 2010). Pentecostalism has traditionally been characterized by unease towards science due to its socioeconomic positioning. Describing overall Pentecostal attitudes and relationships to science is somehow different because of the diversity. In the Pentecostal perspective, there have been confrontations between science and religion, particularly on the subject of origins (evaluation vs. creationism). From historical evidence, it is obvious that religion and science have, in most cases, been complementary to one another, with a dynamic interaction. As a result, the purpose of this research is to explore the link between science and religion from a Pentecostal perspective. That article will address what the church has to say about it and how it affects the local church in order to make an effective argument.

Evidence Support and Against the link between Science and Religion

Pentecostals such as James Smith and others have shared their perspectives on the relationship between science and religion in order to show how the two are mutually exclusive. Religion is based on absolute certainty; hence the two distinctions were constructed on nature's aspect. Furthermore, based on the facts, it is apparent that religion is natural in comparison to science because it is a component of the assessment of humanity as an intellectual species (Giostra, 2015). From a Pentecostal viewpoint, science is clearly not natural, because religion should indeed be viewed as a natural expression of the human spirit. This was even worse as sociology reduced religion to a cultural perspective without looking at its natural perspective. But this does not make religion look legitimate. Both science and religion share noble relationships in the current life, which is evidenced by various Pentecostal perspectives (Smith & Yong, 2010). Further, evidence that the predominance of oral over the written mode of communication among non-western Pentecostal movements created the issue between science and religion. According to the Pentecostal perspective, laypersons' attitudes to science were attitudes. From the Pentecostal argument and views, it can be argued that they were either relatively dismissive of sciences (Eriksen, 2015). The limited overview of the science made most Pentecostal administrators have degrees in education or humanities and not natural science because natural science radically differed from religion due to nature and belief. What seems more important is that Pentecostal being missionary religion there never saw the need for scientific involvement in their life until half of the twentieth century. It is also evident from the Pentecostal perspective that most of them had different views about science, not because it was more practical in its argument but rather because they had limited perception of what actually it was, along with some aspects of society and culture as well a whole. The limited information on what science was all about made Pentecostals have different views about the importance of science on religion, thus making most of them against science in the early centuries. But the widespread influence of Scofield's reference bible in the early 1900s among the early Pentecostals led them to start embracing the noble relationship between science and religion. In 1940, the third generation was against science at the beginning and had started to know its impact on their lives; thus, out of curiosity and thoughtfulness, they started to study sciences. The continued need for sciences based on the Pentecostal perspective brought a revolution that saw theologians and Bible institutes enhance programs that embraced the study of science. Therefore, from the argument of the Pentecostalism view, it is evident that the relationship between science and religion was due to the transitional era of the twentieth century that indicated both metaphysical display features.

Bible view on Relation Between Science and Religion

The Bible has a different view on the relationship between science and religion. In most instances, the Bible has no bearing on the modern study of the physical world or another way round, as most of its argument was focused on God's teaching and Christianity. For instance, the argument of the Bible and science seem to belong to wholly separate domains of reality. This is because most of the Bible teachings pertain to spirituality and morality compared to science whose domains are more focused on the realm of physical things (Vintiadis, 2015). Although the argument of the Bible indicated that there is no relationship between science and religion, many arguments in religion today seem to have embraced the scientific belief. As argued in the Hebrew book, both science and religion are indeed systems producing theories that some people will have faith in even though they use different methodologies to explain their argument. For instance, science is most of the time concerned with predicting and describing the universe; whole religion is concerned with explaining it. Therefore, from the analysis of the bible view, I think they are no conflict between being rigorous scientific and being a person who believes in God. This is because science explores nature while religion is God's domain in the spiritual world; thus, it must be examined with heart, soul, and mind.  

Impacts of Relation Between Science and Religion to local church and to equip others

From the different research I have done, it is significant that the relationship between science and religion has had a strong impact not only on the local church but also on equipping the people around us. For instance, the relationship between science and religion has encouraged local churches to stimulate their local churches' awareness of current scientific issues that affect society. It is indicated that the relationship between the two has helped the local church embrace and support science as they have not that it helps them know how it can be used in our global future (Du, 2013). Although the relationship between the two had a significant impact on the local church, it created fear among the church officials that people would begin to believe scientific ideas, thus making them doubt key elements of the faith. Further, the relationship between the two can affect the church's powerful influence in the community because with the involvement of science in the local church, people will start to question the church's faith. But even though the relationship between the two has a great impact on the local church's embracing, it can contribute to the church's understanding of the global future of the world. By understanding the church and understating what science is, it would give those who believe in God have marvelous opportunity to reflect upon their beliefs.

Conclusion

Having analyzed the relationship between religion and science, the limits of scientific rationality have been acknowledged based on the Pentecostal perspective. In the new era, the door for dialogue was embraced between humanities scholars and inexact sciences studying Pentecostalism. As at the beginning of the second century, Pentecostals have been experiencing reforms that have seen millions of churches across the globe of classical Pentecostal institutions offer a master of divinity and doctor of ministry course in Science and Theology. It is also true that the historical relationship between science and religion was different from what they are today. For instance, science at the beginning was less rigorous in its approach to understanding the natural world as it is today, an indication that scientists in the current world embraced religion in their scientific findings. Today the Pentecostal believers who are trying to pursue their interest in justifying their religion have embraced science in their study. Although religion at some point oppressed the scientific inquiry and scientists, it is not true to say that the two were always opposed to each other in their perspectives views (Haarsma, 2017). The Pentecostal perspective, it is clear that science and religion have maintained close interconnection, which can be traced back to the seventeenth century. From different research perspectives, it has been shown Pentecostals have always negotiated the tension of the Christians' belief in faith healing, which repudiated medical technology entirely. Over a generation, Pentecostals have been consistent in ensuring that religion and science have a notable relationship as that was aimed at ensuring that instead of people only trusting in faith, healing can use the medicine. This indicates that even though they were contrasting, they were at least compatible based on the Pentecostal perspective.

References

Du Toit, C. W. (2013). A scientific defense of religion and the religious accommodation of science? Contextual challenges and paradoxes. HTS: Theological Studies, 69(1), 1-9.

Eriksen, S. (2015). The Epistemology of imagination and religious experience: A global and Pentecostal approach to the study of religion? Studia Theologica-Nordic Journal of Theology, 69(1), 45-73.

Giostra, A. (2015). Ignacio Silva, ed.," Latin American Perspectives on Science and Religion.". Philosophy in Review, 35(6), 313-315.

Haarsma, D. B. (2017). Science and Religion in Harmony. Science and Religion in Dialogue, 105-119.

Reiss, M. J. (2010). Science and religion: Implications for science educators. Cultural Studies of Science Education, 5(1), 91-101.

Smith, J. K., & Yong, A. (Eds.). (2010). Science and the Spirit: A Pentecostal Engagement with the sciences. Indiana University Press.

Vintiadis, E. (2015). Review of Andrew Steane's" Faithful to science: the role of science in religion." Science, Religion and Culture, 2(4).