by Don O'Neal
Deacon
Faith Chapel of Bristol, TN
I believe in God and His grace through the death and resurrection of His Son, Jesus Christ. This, in and of itself, is not unusual. There are over one and a half billion Christians in the world today. But I also believe in science and the scientific method. And, surprisingly, this also is not unusual. I have come to discover, quite recently, that there are many of us "science types" who are also true believers. In fact, it was from a lecture(1) given by the curator of the meteorite collection of the Vatican Observatory, a Jesuit Priest by the name of Brother Guy Consolmagno, that I learned that I am not alone in my multiple beliefs.
Several years ago (at the age of 47) I was "born again." My pastor, Reverend Roger Ball, was the driving factor in my coming to God. It was only later that I discovered his strong interest in astronomy; an interest I have also had since childhood. As I studied the Bible more and more, I worried about what appeared to be a conflict between what was written in the Bible and what is currently known to science.
As any scientifically educated Christian (or Jew or Muslim) knows, there is an inherent conflict between what science tells us about the universe and what is written in the first chapter of the first book of Moses, known as Genesis. And it is not just the "six days" of creation. It is, more importantly, the order in which God created the heavens and the Earth.
By the third day of creation (Genesis 1:9-12), God had created Earth and separated it into land and sea. He also created plant life. Then, on the fourth day (Genesis 1:14-18), He created the Sun, Moon and all the stars.
Now here lies the greatest conflict in the story of creation. The Sun, Moon and stars were created after God had already created the Earth and populated it with plant life. What's wrong with this picture?
We know with reasonable certainty that our Sun is a star that happens to be very close to Earth. We also know that "grass, and fruit tree yielding fruit" requires heat and light from the Sun to activate the photosynthesis necessary for a plant's very survival. In addition, we're relatively certain that there are many stars in our galaxy which are much older than our Sun, and that heavy elements formed during supernova destruction of earlier generations of massive stars were used to form our planet. This evidence is quite strong and, though there are few "absolutes" in science, the aforementioned scientific data are as close to "fact" as we humans can get.
As I see it, the problem lies with the Bible itself. In 3000 B.C. little was known about the nature of nature itself. The scientific method had not yet been developed, nor had the tools to examine the inner workings of the universe or our Earth. There was no higher mathematics, chemistry, physics, or even astronomy beyond simply looking at the night sky with one's own two eyes.
Had God chosen to give Moses the knowledge of His universe to the degree that we know today, it would most likely have been totally beyond his comprehension, or anyone's living at that time. And how are we to know whether or not something was written down wrong, either by Moses himself, or by scribes who came later. There are, after all, no "original" biblical manuscripts surviving from the time of Moses. The original Torah has, no doubt, long since turned to dust.
This is the prime area of my beliefs which conflict with Fundamentalist and Literalist Biblical interpretations. Being from the "Bible Belt," I often encounter Christians who believe that every word of the King James version of the Bible should be taken literally as the direct and unaltered Word of God.
The King James version of the Bible was published in the year 1609; about 400 years ago. And it is, no doubt, an excellent translation of earlier Greek, Latin and Hebrew texts. But it is still a translation. And the sources used were themselves copies of copies, and so on. It is quite presumptuous to think that not a single error or misinterpretation could have been made over the 1500 to 4500 years prior to publication of the King James Bible.
I feel that, as close as humans can get to accurately writing them, the Bible is the Word of God, as given to His prophets through visions, miracles and direct communication, and written down by them to the best of their abilities. It is a collection of books about God, His people, and His expectations for them. I believe that the messages in the Bible are both strong and true. I believe there are many powerful life lessons to be learned from reading the Bible, and that these lessons should be applied to one's life in earnest. I believe that God did create the universe, and He sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to pay for our sins with His sinless life. I believe that He was resurrected from the dead and that God gave those who believe in His Son, the gift of eternal life through His grace. As the Creator, we owe it to God to do His will. For without Him, we would never have lived at all. And without His son, Jesus Christ, taking upon him the sins of the world, we could never hope to enter God's realm. As the Bible says in the book of Romans, Chapter 3, Verse 23, "For all have sinned, and fall short of the glory of God." God doesn't owe us anything. He offers us life as a gift of love, and eternal life as the reward for believing in Him and His son.
The more one studies the universe, whether through the science of astronomy, biology, or even quantum mechanics, the more one realizes that there is a profound order to things. The delicate balance of natural laws and principles are just too well crafted not to have been the work of a greater power; a power beyond our physical universe. Whether we believe that the universe and our species was created in six days or in 13+ billion years, the fact that it is here, and we are here to ponder it, is the greatest testament to God that there is.
(1) The Mechanics of God, Part I (PDF file - 180,323 bytes) - Click HERE.
The Mechanics of God, Part II (PDF file - 98,367 bytes) - Click HERE.
About Brother Guy - Click HERE.