Have you ever heard of this Dr. Collins guy? It looks like he believes in God, creation, evolution, and the joy of studying it all. When I read his responses on PBS I thought, "He says what I wish I could say, but I don't have his credentials," and I also thought, "Yeah! I experience science as worship, too."
I've always thought science is kind of like wisdom. Wisdom can't figure everything out and neither can science, right? But I think both are gifts from God as ways to enjoy being perplexed by Him (see Ecclesiastes, written by "The Questor").
I'm not all that bright, but I've just always thought about (supposed) conflicts between science and Christian faith . . . since eighth grade at least. Lane B. turned around after Mr. Stone had filled the chalkboard with all this evolution mumbo-jumbo to, as he put it, "elaborate briefly" on some scientific points. I was sort of a believer at that point of my life--had observed in churches of Christ a lot of things both positive and negative on my life and made no plans of escaping--but I had yet to take the big plunge and admit I was a sinner in front of anyone who knew me. I knew other kids at school assumed that since I went to church more than twice a year, I must be a Christian, so I felt a little nervous with Mr. Stone's brief elaborations even though I was quite comfortable in my faith in God. (My parents provided a good context for me to reflect for myself on what Genesis 1 and 2 mean/t.) But class was silent that day. Few students turned around to talk or make faces or pass notes.
Everyone wanted to talk about what we had heard from Mr. Stone, but only Lane spoke up: "Man, is this stuff true? I thought God created everything?" Several students said, "I don't know," and quickly left for their next class. Then one girl pointing to me said, "Ask him. He goes to church." I swallowed in the face of the pressure. Lane said, "Well . . . what do you believe?" I think I kind of knew what I believed, but, afraid of being looked down on by other "church people" in the room, I mumbled, "Huh?" as if I wasn't even really thinking about it, and then, "I don't know." Lane just stood there (all 77 inches of him--he hadn't even grown much since 4th grade when I . . . don't like to brag, but I tagged him out at home plate when he had nearly hit the third home run off me). He just stood there in the classroom still perplexed. In recent years though, Lane's sister got married to my good friend from third grade, Chad S., and Lane was in the wedding which took place at MetroChurch in Stillwater. I used to drive past that building everyday. It was between my house and almost every school I went to until University. Lane's perplexion still allowed him to go on and live life. I assume his perplexion didn't prevent God from being pleased with him.
It's perplexing to me that the most perplexing things in life can wait on answers (actually, they have to wait). No one has to understand God, or even the human genome for that matter, before they can go to a wedding and participate in everyday relationships.
To me, whether I believe God exists or not doesn't affect me very much. But the path I've chosen behind the Christ of our Scriptures affects my life and all my relationships a great deal. This may not make much sense to anyone else . . . but I'm just processing some things so please bear with me. I think God considers me his child even if I only have 0.001% faith (mustard seed size?) in Him. But if I have 100% faith in Him and yet deny His rule in my life and relationships . . .
Ironically, I've just been puttin off the everyday(night) activity of sleep in order to reflect on these perplexing things. What a fool I am! But my conclusion: Questing is better than too much sleep. Ha!
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3 comments:
Wow, this is cool, I don't think I knew you were such a seeker. I did in lots of ways, but this sounds like me. It's kind of like that Sting song, I may lose my faith in (blah, blah, a list...), but it never seems to affect my faith in Christ. To me right now Christ is all that matters. Or on an even deeper level, seeking is all that matters, but that never has led me away from Christ. Though it has led me away from many things!
That's the truth for me, too. I've found less than what I was looking for, but believe more passionately in what I have found. Seeking the Kingdom of God has led me away from many things, too. One of the many things I'm being led away from is sexual sin. The scary thing is that there are other things from which this quest is dividing me that the majority of the people around me accept has neccessary. Am I willing to sacrifice any of my riches when it means I don't get a new computer or extra food?
Thanks, cousin. You, too!
Our trip went really well, by the way. We'll call you sometime.
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