Bacon, Marriage, and a Critical Mind

Sir Francis Bacon, the Father of the Scientific Method once said, "Man prefers to believe what he prefers to be true." 

Oftentimes scientists have confirmation bias - when they are conducting research they see what they want to see, and not necessarily what is actually happening. Sir Bacon taught people to question everything. Have a critical mind, doubt your conclusions, and be skeptical. 

In a world of ever changing values and definitions, it's extremely important to be skeptical about new information. The science of today won't be the science of tomorrow. It's fascinating to me that in the past 15-20 years we've seen drastic changes (such as trying to redefine marriage, the importance of families, etc) after centuries of traditional living. Yet, there are unchanging truths that will always be true. 

Russell M. Nelson, a key pioneer in the early development of the device which made open-heart surgery a possibility for modern surgeons believes that too. He shared; 

In medical school I had been taught that if one touched the beating heart, it would stop beating. However, one of the first laws we discovered in the lab was that we could touch the heart of an animal without losing its heartbeat. This finding opened the door later to uncovering another law that made more complex open-heart operations possible.

We learned that if we added potassium chloride to blood flowing into the coronary arteries, thereby altering the normal sodium/potassium ratio, the heart would stop beating instantly. Then, when we nourished the heart with blood that had a normal sodium/potassium ratio, the heart would spring back to its normal beating pattern. Literally we could turn the heart off long enough to repair it and then turn it back on again.

Decades later, when I explained this to a group of medical students, one prominent professor asked, “But what if it doesn’t work?” My answer? It always works, because it is based on divine law.

Divine law is incontrovertible! The same can be said of the law of gravity and the laws of foil and lift that allow airplanes to fly. Each is an absolute truth. Doctors or pilots do not have the power to change those laws, but their understanding of them safeguards lives.2

Though man may want to believe something is true, if it's divine law, it cannot be changed (I love you Sir Bacon!). Scientists, doctors, pilots, or anyone else cannot change them. 

Now, we've all seen the current trends in the world about marriage and family, but God has decreed what He see's in the family - and His eternal truths will stand throughout time. In The Family: A Proclamation to the World, God's prophets on the earth today have said:

We... solemnly proclaim that marriage between a man and a woman is ordained of God and that the family is central to the Creator’s plan for the eternal destiny of His children...

The first commandment that God gave to Adam and Eve pertained to their potential for parenthood as husband and wife. We declare that God’s commandment for His children to multiply and replenish the earth remains in force. We further declare that God has commanded that the sacred powers of procreation are to be employed only between man and woman, lawfully wedded as husband and wife.

The family is ordained of God. Marriage between man and woman is essential to His eternal plan. Children are entitled to birth within the bonds of matrimony, and to be reared by a father and a mother who honor marital vows with complete fidelity. Happiness in family life is most likely to be achieved when founded upon the teachings of the Lord Jesus Christ.

I testify that those words are shared in love! God loves His children and we see throughout the scriptures and history that He wants to bless us! Isaiah said God's anger sometimes cannot be turned away, "But His arms are stretched out still" (Isaiah 5:25). He see's things we cannot see. Consequences we cannot see for our choices, but He will always have open arms towards us. 

In conclusion, I want to share that I know studies have been done (specifically through the APA for the Prop. 8 overturn) that children raised in same gender parent homes have no disadvantage in being raised that way. Upon closer inspection one can see that the information taken from the various studies were grossly unbalanced and had many scientific method flaws (e.g., unequal comparison groups, small sampling sizes, contradictory data, limited studies on actual outcomes of children, and more)3. 

My point is that one should learn to have a critical mind, even when someone seems authoritative, when it comes to new trends that try to sway every which way - especially when it comes to eternal and divine laws. 

Well wishes,

Ashley Marie