Barbara Walters' Special, "Heaven -- Where is It? How Do We Get There?" ... A Comment on the Science

I was watching the Barbara Walters special "Heaven -- Where Is It? How Do We Get There?" last night. In this two hour special, Barbara Walters interviewed a number of people regarding their belief (or not) in the existence of heaven. She also interviewed a scientist who responded to the assertion that heaven (when seen by people who have had a near death experience) may seem very real to those people, but is actually the result of a dying brain. Therefore, heaven must not actually exist. Barbara Walters herself did not offer her own view, which I appreciate, but also did not show the opinions of scientists who may offer differing scientific opinions. Not all scientists agree that heaven does not exist and can be explained away with a few simple tests.

Just because a scientist believes there is "proof" of something does not make it a fact. Some scientists believe in the popular misconception that science is as advanced as it needs to be. Some scientists also seem to believe that everything in the universe can be explained with currently known scientific knowledge and that everything can fit into a nice little package that can be wrapped up like a present and delivered as facts. These scientists seem to believe that there is nothing outside our known universe. Therefore, if you believe heaven lies somewhere outside our known universe, some scientists believe that means your idea of heaven would not be possible.

In my opinion, these types of scientists are simply closed minded. Science is imperfect. Science is comprised of facts and theories. Scientists learn "facts" and theories in school, and test those theories, and challenge the facts for years. There are unknown variables that we simply haven't thought of or discovered yet. It may be frightening for some scientists to believe that science could be imperfect or incomplete.

Scientists can begin to fall into the trap of trying to fit every test, and every event they observe, into an explanation based on their belief of accepted scientific theories. Do they rejoice in the thought that they can be like all-knowing?