There is a lot of good stuff on io9.com. It's a website dedicated to science and science fiction. As a self-professed geek, I have spent a lot of time reading fascinating articles about the latest advancements in technology and all the latest rumors about upcoming movies, television, video games and comic books.
However, there has always been a huge flaw with the overall ethos of the site. For them, "pro-science" had to also be in essence "anti-religious."
This is, of course, a strange way of thinking. How many of our great scientific advancements have come from people of faith. Copernicus was a priest. Gregor Mendel was a monk. And Werner Heisneberg (of the Heisenberg uncertainty principle, once said "TThe first gulp from the glass of natural sciences will turn you into an atheist, but at the bottom of the glass God is waiting for you.” (hat tip to my friend, whom we will call "The Bishop" for sending me the quote)
We would not even have modern science without Christianity. Because the early Church Fathers embraced the classic Greek philosophers like Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle, they did everything they could to point to the rationality of the faith. And going further, if the faith is rational because God is rational, then all of God's creation is rationally designed. The world is not pure chaos. If a God of order created it, then there is a order in the universe. It must have laws.
It was on this principle that some of the great scientific advancements took place.
And yet io9.com would constantly throw up snide articles sneering at religion or people of faith. The message boards and comments were even worse, but that is to be expected at any website. I put up with all of the hatred because it was still a fascinating source of information and I attempted to be charitable in remembering that not everyone has experienced the love of God.
But then writer Rob Bricken wrote an article that was ignorant and intentionally hurtful to people of faith. His article was not simple a questioning of God's actions in the Old Testament. It was a screed against the actions of God throughout. But it was also done with such venom and vulgarity, that it paled to almost anything I have seen on the site.
Bricken also seems to be unaware of the inherent problem with his takedown. He is using the Bible to attack God. But if the Bible is a book that is meant to inspire faith in God, then obviously these stories are meant to show God's goodness, rather than an evil God. Bricken takes no time to investigate this. If he considers it, his conclusion must be that the human authors of the Scriptures (he obviously does not believe God is the author) are either too stupid to realize their error or they are so sadistic to see the blatant evil of their God. We should be thankful that the wise, insightful, compassionate, and enlightened Rob Bricken is here to bully us out of this barbaric belief.
It is ironic that he ends his article by accusing God of horrible actions against Job. This is one of the most profound and mysterious books of the Old Testament. Job goes through great suffering by Satan, permitted by God. Job honestly wrestles with the question of why bad things happen to good people. Bricken reduces it to God playing with Job's life for kicks. He also misses the entire point of God's answer to Job. I don't blame Bricken for not understanding the answer and finding it unsatisfying. I didn't like it either the first time I read it.
Of course I was 13 at the time.
But Job accepts God's answer. But rather than trying to figure out why Job understands and Bricken does not, Bricken cops out.
I wonder if he would be so dismissive and shallow with any other piece of literature. It is amazing to me how on io9.com they will commit to long, in depth, nearly scholarly exegesis of The Lord of the Rings, A Song of Ice and Fire, even Batman: The Killing Joke. Great concern is given to understand a piece of writing before critiquing it.
But not the Bible.
How unenligthened!
How unscientific!
And for that reason, I am done with io9.com
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