Louis Pasteur

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VirginiaHuguenot

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Although Louis Pasteur was not a theologian, he was nevertheless a devoutly Christian scientist. Born on December 27, 1822, in the town of Dole, France, he contributed enormously the well-being of mankind through important research and discoveries in the areas of microbiology, chemistry and medicine. He challenged the doctrine of Darwinian evolution in his day and all of his scientific endeavors were undertaken with a sense of "thinking God's thoughts after him." He is particularly well-known for the technique of pasteurization, which has been applied to milk, wine and other such good to keep them from spoiling. Ironically, since he worked to promote the French wine industry believing that wine was good and from the Lord, the process of pasteurization became used by Dr. Thomas Welch (of Welch's Grape Juice fame) in order to substitute a non-alcoholic wine for the real thing in the Lord's Supper. He died on September 28, 1895 after a lifetime in the service of God.

For more on his life and Christian faith, see:

http://www.answersingenesis.org/creation/v14/i1/pasteur.asp
 
Francis Shaeffer's question of whether or not modern scientists could develop the scientific method or perform amazing experiments that so many historic scientists have performed is a very valid question.

Some of the most influential and amazing scientists have been slaves to the Lord, and their scientific achievements I think reflect their devotion.
 
The scientific method cannot insert value into what they "discover". They can only arrive at details based on their choices. That does not mean the scientific method is useless. We approximate all sorts of things that way. But the scientific method of verification is really just an approximation. An no amount of value can be attached to something because the scientific method works on an empirical value system which is equally meaningless as to ethics.

However, with a [i:2feb468a15]Christian [/i:2feb468a15]theist at the helm, science has meaning because God gives science meaning.
 
:ditto: As my science professor all throughout high-school (who has made new discoveries in his field - also a Christian) always said, "Science can't answer why, it can only answer how."
 
[quote:f5823a7dfa="Me Died Blue"]:ditto: As my science professor all throughout high-school (who has made new discoveries in his field - also a Christian) always said, "Science can't answer why, it can only answer how."[/quote:f5823a7dfa]

Chris,

Though I know where you are coming from, I still would not say that science could even answers the how. I have worked in a research / tech lab for 15 years and use the scientific method everyday. There are often many "hows" but we being finite often only focus in on a few. As a matter of fact, we often miss some of the other "hows" and thus skew are results.

It is best, as Matt said, to just say science can only approximate. Approximate knowledge can be at times useful as it sent men to the moon. Yet on many other occasions, approximate truth can come back and bite one in the pocket book. Case and point... a product we developed some years ago had more "hows" then we bargained for and well the rest is history.

Jim
 
Even so, I still think it's applicable to say that it can only approximate the how's - it can't even begin to approximate the why's.
 
[quote:8d901678c8="Me Died Blue"]Even so, I still think it's applicable to say that it can only approximate the how's - it can't even begin to approximate the why's.[/quote:8d901678c8]

Agreed!!!

Jim
 
Louis-Pasteur-1.jpg
 
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