Feel Free to Disagree (I insist!)

I’m a big fan of science.

I think it admirable their strict codes of conduct, their quadruple checks of data, their openness to, well, experiment.

I think when God told Adam to go and name all living things he was assigning him the task of scientist on top of the job of gardener. God put Adam to work, exploring and naming (though Adam longed for help for mortal company).

Science reveals the most amazing things. I see hope for humanity to repair the terrible muck we have made of this world, the world He gave to us to care take. (I don’t understand why the recent evidence of the probability of cold fusion has not been front page news for weeks, instead of which celebrity is in rehab!)

Science reveals the most amazing things because its premise is simple. If you have an idea, then you should be able to predict something with it. Make your prediction, then test it. If the answers are many, lean toward the simpler one (Occam’s Razor).

Science is an intellectual pursuit. It is Man holding a ruler to the universe and seeing what is there and giving it a name. It is simply the methodical examination of creation.

Oh sure, it has it’s limits. I think some things are unmeasurable, and therefore beyond the ruler (or meter stick) of science. How do we explain the human appreciation of beauty? Creativity (art for art's sake)? How do we explain passion for the Presence of the Lord (a personal truth without demonstrable evidence)?

Science has limits (though it is amazing what we have been able to do! See into many portions of the electromagnetic spectrum, use the crowbar of math to pry secrets from what is too small or to dim or too large to see, and we can, sort of, poke a stick out of our own four dimensions).

This blog’s readers know my bizarre notions regarding time and space. Those notions are almost certainly wrong because 1. I am not a scientist and therefore probably am confused about many of the details, 2. I sprinkle liberal amounts of theology over it all, another topic I am untrained in, and 3. I’m a man, limited by my senses, my knowledge, my life span.

All that aside, there is an assumption many make about me, about many of my brothers and sisters in The Body of Christ, that we hold some notions without reservation. One of those notions is creationism.

I believe the Lord God is not only the creator of Heaven and Earth, but actively holds the fabric of time and space together. I believe He has given me a spirit, not only an eternal self bind me to Him, but is an immortal consciousness in iteslf.

It is odd the vehemence some believers use in attacking evolution. Sometimes angrily. Or self-righteously, or sadly, untruthfully. Strange attitudes to spring from faith.

I understand in writing these words I will upset confuse some, perhaps anger a few.

The fossil record, the intermediate forms, the comparative anatomy, the genomic homologies, all point clearly that the species on this world are closely related to each other, that patterns exist for their movement through time, space, and morphology. It makes an awful lot of sense. It's the simplest answer.

The reason I bring this up is because I am concerned for the faith of some of my brothers and sisters. The evidence for the basic facts of evolution continue to mount, in fact are making huge leaps. What might happen to a person’s faith if it is grounded more in the “evidence” of creationists than in the evidence of scripture or a relationship with God?

If our faith is based upon the interpretation of the evidence around us, and we find ourselves mistaken, it may shake not only our paradigm, but our faith (personally, I love having my pair-of-dimes shaken).

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The Lord God is real.

The Lord God loves us, interacts with us, and, far beyond any doubt, is real.

I believe the Lord God is more real than I am. I am mostly void, clouds of electrons shimmering about nuclei which are themselves more nothing than something. I am a whisp of vapor, a bit of smoke on the wind. I am a ghost traveling through a universe I can barely perceive because its reality is firmer than what forms me.

I'm a drawing on a sheet of paper compared to the many dimensions of true reality.

I think the reason battle lines have been drawn around this particular branch of science, the evolutionary sciences, is because it forces some to question long held assumptions.

So what?

Who are we to argue with the universe?

The universe is around 13.7 billion years old. The evidence is clear. Earth is older than 5,000 years. About 4.5 billion years. We're recent homesteaders.

I’ve heard the arguments that it only appears that old, that God made it that way. Some creationists write God created all the light beams from all the stars already in place, already traveling an apparent billions of light years. Some argue the laws of physics were markedly different just a few thousand years ago (patently impossible since such differences would have resulted in a universe far different than this one).

I see two testaments to God’s Truth. His Word, and the work of His hands. The idea He would create a universe to appear to be something it is not is disingenuous. God does not lie. God has no need to try to convince us of anything. He is who He is. He is The Great I am. We are His creation. He has no need to form things to appear to be other than they are.

The debate over creationism and evolution is a pointless debate. It is an animosity that has no need, no purpose, to exist.

Faith and science are completely different ways to look at the universe. Science has no answer to why we have the sense of beauty. Faith does. (We sense beauty, are creative, have faith, because we are built in His image, our spirits are designed to carry such tools.)

I love the Lord God with all of my heart, with all of my strength, with all of my spirit. It isn't a biological thing, a thing of measurement or science.

The wonders of His universe are revealed to those with eyes open to see. Science takes us on that journey of discovery, that journey of naming all He has created (is creating). (10,000 new species have been identified this past year!)

Creationism rejects evolution because it threatens notions of how He did what He did, not whether He did it. I question creationism because I have seen creationists intentionally distort facts, foster narcissism, and wield their faux science not as a tool of truth but as a bludgeon to hurt.

For me, it does not appear to bear the fruit of The Spirit. That is enough for me.

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I thought this funny. The letter says to sign and fill out the form, and retain one of the copies for my records. However, the two copies are printed back to back to each other! Not sure the expect me to return only one side!

Perhaps I can post in Thailand by photographing things I have written. Is this readable?