Popular Science

[This week I am attending SUMMIT at Abilene Christian University. This is from a blog I posted on January 16, 2009. I “re-blog” in honor of Stephen Hawking’s latest and controversial book—THE GRAND DESIGN]

            Francis S. Collins wrote a book a couple of months ago called The Language of God.  You may remember Collins as the head of the Human Genome Project.  This book is Collin's apologetic where he seeks to harmonize faith in God and science. Collins talks about his conversion to Christianity and his walk with God.  However, what interested me was the fact Collins believes God created the world through a process of evolution. Careful.  Collins is not a proponent of a godless universe, but he does believe strongly in evolution as used by God and explains his reasons. I do not believe in making one's interpretation of Genesis 1 and 2 a test for fellowship.  I know there are plenty of people who are Christians who believe God created the world through an evolutionary process.  Collins' book helps me understand how they think.

            As for me, I am somewhat in the middle.  Not being a scientist, I am not forced to align myself with a scientific theory.  As a student of Scripture, I definitely believe that the Bible is open for interpretation, especially regarding this subject.  For those who consider East Texas to be the backwoods of education, you might be surprised to know that I was raised in an environment and a church that was open-minded when it comes to the creation of the world.

            Instinctively, the members did not want to box themselves into either extreme.  On the one hand, I remember a Sunday school teacher quoting to us from Second Peter 3:8, "But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day." She said who knew how long God took to create the world or what process he used to do so.

         On the other hand, I remember a different teacher in Bible class questioning how much we can know about the formation of the world based upon simple observation, especially when all parties agreed that we were many years removed from the process.  I think Copernicus affirmed this a few hundred years ago, when he noted that all previous observations of the world were incorrect-- the Earth revolved around the sun rather than the sun revolved around the Earth.  The teacher's point was science is an evolving process (no pun intended.)  Who knows what the scientists of tomorrow will discover?

         So, today, I find myself being careful about marrying a position. Science is not God; science can be wrong. Medical science killed more presidents than assassins.  (Examples include the case of the doctors, who bled Washington to death after he caught a cold. Garfield was killed by well-intentioned doctors, who thought they had to remove a bullet from his body.  In attempting to capture the projectile, they gave Garfield an infection that killed him.)

         Religion can also be wrong. Who can forget that Galileo was condemned by the Church for his discoveries?

         We have become comfortable in the church with sophisticated biblical interpretation. No one in Christianity accuses a meteorologist of being atheist because he describes the arrival of snow via a storm system. Even those of us in Christianity who believe that God sends snow do not believe he did so by reaching into his storehouse and sprinkling it on the world (Job 38:22). We know that Job expressed truth about God in chapter 38 using poetry. All of us are comfortable with the unromantic realities of meteorological science.

         What Collins is doing is something I would like to see more people attempted to do: find the intersection between science and religion.  If we can achieve this, not only will our minds benefit, but our souls will as well.

Five Things I Think I Think (with a nod to Peter King for this idea)

1. Read LEE AND GRANT by Gene Smith for the third time. I say I read it, what I did was listen to an unabridged, audio version. I own a hard copy, and when I hear something interesting, I will highlight it in my book as soon as I can.

            Gene Smith is one of my favorite writers. His books are popular works of history—easy to read. He is a good story teller. LEE AND GRANT offers the world a biography of two fascinating men—U. S. Grant and Robert E. Lee—two compelling subjects. You might guess since this is the third time for me, I really like it.

2. Sometimes, you experienced something in childhood you want your kids to experience. Typically, they are not impressed.

            When I was a boy in the 60s, a TV show came on, Saturday morning, called THE CHILDREN’S HOUR. They broadcasted movies for children made by filmmakers all over the world. I have always remembered one I saw as a boy—SKINNY AND FATTY.

            The story took place in post WWII Japan. It was about a large, obese boy, who entered a school. Other children made fun of him and tried to make him an outcast. He was befriended by a skinny boy, and together they had a series of adventures. In the midst of the action, a compelling friendship was formed.

            The movie was very touching to me, obviously. I found a copy on YOUTUBE and showed it to Judy and my children. They loved it.

            This gave me immense pleasure.

3. It is always good to return to places that impacted your life. Yesterday I attended worship services at the SOUTHERN HILLS CHURCH OF CHRIST in Abilene and the NORTH MAIN CHURCH OF CHRIST in Winters. I love these churches and enjoyed catching up with some of their members. The churches are different in a lot of ways because their mission contexts are different. Yet both share a passion for taking Jesus to the people. Both do a good job doing so.


4. I heard Rick Atchley open SUMMIT last night. For thirty years this guy has been bringing it in the pulpit. He amazes me. Truly, he possesses a gift for preaching. Only the Lord knows how much of Rick's stuff I have appropriated through the years. I hope I have done a good job giving him credit when I do. Unfortunately, I am sure there has been way too many times when I either forgot to give him credit or forgot that I had gotten it from him.


5. Look out. The Cowboys may have constructed the one scenario that will take them to the Super Bowl. In the span of eight days, not only have they removed all Super Bowl expectations, many have eliminated the Cowboys from the playoff hunt. 16 games makes for a long season. There is plenty of time for the Cowboys to recover. (See the San Diego Chargers the past few seasons.) Wade Phillips' team performs best flying under the radar.