The
Growth of the Empirical Sciences
One
factor which is not only coincidental but causal is the growth of the
empirical sciences like medicine, biology, chemistry, physics,
psychology, astronomy and their branches. These sciences have
cultivated in people the attitude of the priority of experience.
Everything has to be measured by human experience through the
instruments that are constantly being refined, whether
it is the microscope or telescope or other instruments.
In
an age when these sciences were, as it were, in their infancy and
adolescence, there was no clear distinction between religion and
spirituality. But now people want to experience something even in
religion. Failing to find the spiritual realities they want to
discover in religion they turn to spirituality to satisfy their
hunger for the things of the spirit.
More
and more can no longer profess belief in a statement that has no
meaning to their experiential life. They can no longer go through
rituals which seem to them meaningless. And they rebel against a
moral code which seems to them to stifle their personal growth. So
they turn to spirituality that to
them has
no religion.
Increase
in the Knowledge of the Scriptures
It
is strange but true that the growth in the knowledge of the
Scriptures, particularly Christian Scriptures, has also contributed
to the parting away of religion and spirituality from each other.
Beginning with literary criticism of the Biblical texts going to
higher criticism new interpretations of the passages in Scriptures
have been offered to the public. Entire passages have been construed
to be Biblical myths. Creation did not really happen in six days but
in six periods of time which may be millions of years each.
The flood of Noah's time did not happen all over the earth but only
in a particular place of the earth. These interpretations have eroded
the belief of people in the
Bible and religion.
But they still long for something meaningful in their spiritual life.
Thus they turn to spirituality as offered by the Eastern religions or
by the New Age teachers.
The
Relativity of All Things, Especially Cultures
The
theory of relativity has not been confined to physics, as propounded
by Albert Einstein. It has been adopted by ordinary people as they
viewed the cultures of other people. Where before some churches have
adamantly believed and taught that they were the only way to
salvation, now they have acknowledged that other religions can also
be used by God to draw men to himself. For many of the preachers of
these churches salvation depends upon one's response to God's
revelation, not upon membership in their churches.
Thus
the appeal of religion as the safe way to gain eternal happiness has
waned. Instead people now are experimenting with various techniques
to gain this happiness here and now, not in the hereafter.
These
three developments in our time, the growth of the natural sciences,
the increase in the knowledge of the Bible, and the relativism
present in our churches and cultures have helped to the parting of
ways between religion and spirituality. While there are heroic
attempts to integrate them again, the split seems to be final and
irrevocable. It will be for a long time religion vs spirituality.
for
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for
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for
learning about the new trends around us
for
earning some income from the Internet
Here are your links to download the e-books for FREE.
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