Francis Bacon #3 (Bible Analysis)

The final episode discusses Francis Bacon's life and his impact on science. Bacon's empirical or sense-based science had flaws, as it relied on biased interpretations and imprecise measurements. Science should be guided by biblical truth. Bacon's philosophy influenced the scientific method and the idea of man's control over nature, replacing Christ's dominion mandate. There is evidence suggesting Bacon as the author of Shakespeare's plays, which contain a hidden Rosicrucian worldview. Bacon's emphasis on utilitarianism shaped the modern view of science as the ultimate arbiter of truth. However, true science and theology should not be at odds, as they have the same author. Modern man's obsession with facts and trivia overlooks the importance of interpreting facts based on worldview presuppositions. Welcome again everybody to the final episode of the life of Francis Bacon who some believe was the only surviving child of the Virgin Queen Elizabeth I. Now we won't get into that today but you can learn all about it at sirbacon.org. At greatbiblereset.com our allegation is that only a return to the ordinances of God as summarized in Exodus 20-24 will deliver us from our current looming judgment. But says Jeremiah, my people do not know the ordinance of the Lord. How can you say we are wise and the law of the Lord is with us? Now when we look at Francis Bacon we see a man of Christian profession and a great mental prowess who is compromised by a naturalistic world view and desire for status. As the 20th century revealed the premises underlying his empirical or sense-based science were naive. First the supposed neutrality of the scientist in studying his data is mythical. One observer looks at a glass of water and says it is half full another says it is half empty. Facts do not explain themselves apart from the bias of the interpreter. Moreover the methods of measuring and summing up data are imprecise despite the use of mathematics and technology. The reason studies are repeated over and over is because the outcomes always vary however slightly due to slight change in the observer, the instrument or in the object itself and even the statistics used to sum up the data require arbitrary premises which can lead to various outcomes. Scientific truth changes almost as often as fashion and clothing. Einstein himself with his eyes on the heavens once said, we know nothing about it at all the real nature of things that we shall never know never. To raise science to the throne of God as the undisputed source of truth is unscientific as well as blasphemous. Thus even scientific efforts to observe and sum up the world around us must be governed by guidelines of Bible truth. Although modern science could not have developed apart from a biblical world view it was not long before science began to drift from her biblical moorings. Francis Bacon a professing Christian was one scientist who promoted this trend. Bacon developed the procedure and philosophy for the scientific method of studying the patterns in data. This was a logical outcome of Aristotle's emphasis on the particulars which had been reintroduced to Western Europe by Thomas Aquinas. According to Bacon the scientific acquisition of knowledge would lead to prowess over the material universe and inevitable secular progress. In New Atlantis Bacon described a scientific elite that would control and direct the civil magistrate. England's Royal Society which included Isaac Newton was cast in this mold and this new trend towards scientism was adopted naively by New England clergymen notably Cotton Mather. Bacon's Rosicrucian philosophy also entered the new world via the colony that Bacon organized and perhaps funded in Jamestown Virginia. These were the gentleman colonizers whose aversion to work cost some of them their lives. Without the benefit of Cornelius Van Til's presuppositional apologetic American churchmen sought to use the authority of science to bolster the authority of God. This is proven to be a philosophical Trojan horse and a disaster which elevated the authority of science above that of the Bible creating an alleged conflict between science and the creator of science. Well there's a lot of fascinating material at www.sirbacon.org some of it is probably not fit for Christian consumption but without it we cannot understand Shakespeare and without understanding Shakespeare we cannot understand what was occurring in the 17th century English age of revolution that led to the founding and early maturation of America. Bacon enumerated four idols of the mind or delusions or impediments as he put it including idols of the tribe or society, idols of the cave or the individual, idols of the marketplace or language, and idols of the theater tradition. These include perceptual errors of the tribe, prejudicial errors of the cave, and preconceived errors based on names in the marketplace and philosophical errors of tradition. It was the latter, the Aristotelian paradigm currently in place that aroused Bacon's particular antipathy. An idol in the biblical sense is something that takes the place of God in man's affections and Bacon uses the term in the sense of authorities to which man gives habitual submission. Today we might refer to these as presuppositions or assumptions that condition man's response to all new information he receives. Once a man's understanding is settled on something said Bacon, either because it is an accepted belief or because it pleases him, it draws everything else also to support and agree with it. End of quote. Now the archetypical Baconian scientist assumes the attitude of neutral investigator in the pursuit of truth. Personal beliefs and prejudices are allegedly laid aside in the quest for objectivity. Given this attitude, the facts in inductive fashion will point the way to truth, according to Bacon. The investigator must put a curb on his imagination, permit his conclusions to arrive from the data alone. However, this level of neutrality is virtually impossible to achieve. Too often scientists are driven more by politics, profit, and popularity than they are by the data collected. So how does Bacon's ideal of man developing and utilizing his mental capacity so as to control and manipulate nature line up with the Bible's dominion mandate? Well, the Bible calls a Christian man to take dominion over the world and the heathen nations for the glory of Christ the King. For example, in Psalm 86 declares of man, that thou hast made it him to have dominion over the works of thy hands, that was put all things under his feet. Carrying this thought even further, the 47th Psalm predicts that the saints of God will one day rule over the nations in righteousness. He shall subdue the people under us and the nations under our feet. Now this is not to be a military conquest, but will be the natural result of Christians teaching the cultures of the world how to follow Christ the King of Kings according to Matthew 28, 19, and 20, the Great Commission and Psalms 2, the great historiographical chapter of the Bible. The instrument of Christ's conquest described in Revelation 116 is not a sword of steel but the sword of his word. Out of his mouth went a sharp two-edged sword. By way of contrast, Bacon taught a form of secular dominion of man over nature, with science and the mind of man assuming a messianic role in the place of Christ. There is strong evidence to suggest that Bacon and his studio of writers are in fact the authors of the Shakespeare plays. As such, they present an esoteric Rosicrucian worldview that is hidden among the many Christian and biblical allusions. Much evidence for this conclusion is presented at SirBacon.org that makes for a fascinating study of the life and times of Francis Bacon in Elizabethan England. In Novo Organum, Bacon stated, truth therefore and utility are here the very same things and works themselves are of greater value as pledges of truth than as contributing to the comforts of life. How did such statements influence the popular view of what constitutes truth? In this passage, Bacon declares a very forthright commitment to utilitarianism. Whatever works is true. In statements like these, Bacon helped to establish a modern attitude towards science as the ultimate arbiter of truth. Men look to science so-called and the accumulation of scientific fact rather than the revelation of their creator for ultimate meaning. This is scientism. For true science and theology can never be at odds having the same author. This tendency is seen in the modern exaltation of fact over principle. Is that a fact exclaims the modern. We see it in popular game shows, in board games which reward the accumulation of vast hordes of fact. The board game Trivial Pursuit captures the attitude perfectly. Modern man pursues trivia with a passion all the time trampling truth under his feet. He forgets that there is no such thing as brute fact meaning neutral factuality that will point man toward objective truth. All facts are interpreted according to the worldview presuppositions of the interpreter. Thus the unbeliever pursues science for the glory and benefit of man in contrast to the believer who uses it as a tool to bring all things under the dominion of Christ. Once again, thank you for your participation. Please visit our sponsors at greatbiblereset.com Pick up your free book, Keys to the Classics to exercise your mind and free resistance bands at boomers-alive.com to exercise your body.