For the past few years I have been interested in collecting more books related to creation science, creationism, intelligent design, and the evolution controversy. One of my current favorites is Science vs. Evolution
. It uses a lot of quotations from the evolutionists themselves about the incredible gaping holes in their theories.
An important issue in the religious community today is how far are we willing to accept the story of Genesis, or how willing are we to allegorize away it's meaning as just another story, perhaps on par with other "great" literature, but certainly not offering any more authoritative opinion on the issues of creation, and man's purpose in the universe. Are we willing to throw away the Bible when it seems to be confronted at every turn by the demands, findings, and philosophizing, of secular scientists, or will we step forward and defend the unique perspective that the Bible offers?
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A new book in my collection is "Genesis - the story of beginnings". It is written by Ben Clausen, a senior research scientist for the Geoscience Research Institute in Loma Linda who has studied, taught, lectured, and published in physics and geology, and worked in origins research for 20 years. His coauthor is Gerald Wheeler, head book editor at the Review and Herald Publishing Association. Wheeler's contribution comes from a wide-ranging interest in and knowledge of the ancient Hebrew world and its place in the flow of biblical history.
This book is based on the ideas that
- Genesis "sets the stage for everything we know about God, the natural universe, humanity, and good and evil."
- Genesis "lays the foundation for all the questions asked by philosophy about knowledge, meanin, free will, the soul, ethics, happiness, and success."
- Genesis "forms the basis for all biblical teachings."
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I lost my bookmark from the book, so I was re-reading the introduction. Claussen describes his position as a scientists who also believes in the Word of God:
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Everyone has a bias as they study, so I will try to outline mine here. I come to the topics in this book as a scientist who looks at nature as marred by sin and interprets it through finite human senses and reasoning. I take science seriously as saying something about reality, but do not regard it as the final word on every subject. I also approach these topics as a Christian trusting Christ as Lord and accepting Scripture as God's Word written and interpreted by humans. I accept God's Word as authoritative, but empahsize that when using such an approach I am not engaging in science. I do not believe that the Bible presents the best scientific model for origins or even a scientific model, for Scripture presents much more than a naturalistic model, much more than a model based o what can be perceived by the physical senses. |
I like that statement. I personally add to that the belief that true science will eventually discover a worldview that is in harmony with the grand themes of Scripture. For many issues, such as how atoms combine in chemistry, or how an organ in the body functions, or in the calculations needed to send a man into orbit, scientific inquiry doesn't intersect with the claims of the Bible. But I believe that when science is used mainly as a tool to explain away God, it is proceeding from a false premise, and is doomed to have a warped and flawed outcome.
The other thing that struck me was how a joke told to me by a pastor friend yesterdsy applies to this issue. We were having a potluck, and afterwards several of us were discussing "exotic" foods like french foods, mediterranean foods, etc. We are all vegetarians in various degrees. I jokingly remarked about frogs legs as a dinner item, and "what happens to the rest of the frog? Who has ever een 'frog torso' on a menu?" One of the other people remarked about a cartoon showing frogs without legs on crutches leaving a restaurant advertising frog legs special. I remarked about my favorite Far Side comic of a chicken ill in bed, and Ms. chicken bringing him some soup saying "Yes, it's chicken soup, and no, it's nobody we know."
My pastor friend remarked it was his understanding that the rest of a frog is useless as an edible item, in fact most animals are smarter than humans and won't try to eat frogs. He then told me this joke:
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A scientists is studying how far frogs can jump. He puts a frog on the table and yells at the frog "Jump!"
The frog responds and jumps a certain distance and the scientist records the distance.
Then he removes one of the frog's legs, and puts the frog back on the table. He yells at the frog "Jump!"
The frog jumps again, but not as far. The scientist records it in his journal "Frogs with three legs jumps not as far as four legs, distance of ...."
Then the scientist removes another leg, and another leg, each time tell the frog to jump, and writing down the ever decreasing distances the frog jumped.
Then finally, the frog has no legs, and the scientist places the frog on the table. The scientist yells at the frog several times "Jump!" But the frog doesn't jump.
Finally, he writes in his journal "Frog With no legs: Deaf" |
I think this joke well describes the situation in science when we try to go too far without any reference to God. Eventually, we're going to miss the point and come to a wrong conclusion if we are only working to remove God more and more from the explanations for life. Eventually, we'll come to a totally wrong conclusion.
