Just Because You Call Yourself "The Science Guy" Doesn't Mean I Have To Believe You

This morning I was thinking about a statement I read in a Daily Oklahoman article about BIll Nye the Science guy's anxiety about the influence of creationism in U.S. culture.  This is the particular quote that caught my attention:

"If we raise a generation of students who don't believe in the process of science, who think everything that we've come to know about nature and the universe can be dismissed by a few sentences translated into English from some ancient text, you're not going to continue to innovate."

At first blush this seems like a perfectly logical point to make.  If Bill Nye has found a generation of students out there who have been ignoring scientific research in favor of "some ancient text"  I think we would all have reason for concern.  But dig a little deeper into his comment and you see that he seems to be saying something very cynical about biblical theism that goes like this:

Belief in a created world via ancient text (The Bible) = ignoring everything we've come to know about science.

There is a vast difference between a belief that God created the world and somehow denying the process of science.  To all the Bill Nye's out there who continue to raise these "grave concerns" over creationisms influence in American culture I would simply ask, "where is your evidence that such a belief is killing science?"

In all due respect to the science guy, just because not everyone starts with the Darwinian framework of presuppositions about the origin of the earth it doesn't necessarily mean they are "anti-science".   And further I would say that this line of belief completely ignores the fact that a great deal of modern science arose out of the fertile soil of theological curiosity.   If we were to believe the line of reasoning that people who believe in creationism cannot simultaneously believe in scientific method we would have to ignore the history of Western Christianity.

For example, Newton, Pascal, Copernicus, Galileo, Kepler and the very father of the scientific method, Sir Francis Bacon were all dedicated Christians who were curious about the world God created and became better scientists BECAUSE of their theological world view, not in spite of it.

I'm not alone in my thinking here.  Providence College Philosophy professor and historian David Bentley Hart has recently written a compelling counter argument to the kind of  popular Darwinian Atheism Nye espouses called "Atheist Delusions".  In this book he especially takes umbrage to the revisionist history of many modern skeptics who claim that Christianity has been the enemy of science.  This book is exhaustively documented in its counter arguments on this particular subject.  He summarizes his thesis this way:

Christian scientists educated in Christian universities and following a Christian tradition of scientific and mathematical speculation overturned a pagan cosmology and physics, and arrived at conclusions that would have been unimaginable within the confines of the Hellenistic scientific traditions.   For, despite all of our vague talk of ancient or medieval “science”, pagan, Muslim, or Christian, what we mean today by science – its methods, its controls and guiding principles, its desire to unite theory to empirical discover, its trust in a unified set of physical laws, and so on – came into existence, for whatever reasons, and for better or worse, only within Christendom, and under the hands of believing Christians. (David Bentley Hart in Atheist Delusions)

I make these points because I think it's important for us as Christians to stand our ground against the tidal wave of secular humanistic accusations about our supposed "anti-sciience" worldview that can seem at times overwhelming.  Especially when the person you find yourself not agreeing with identifies himself as "The Science Guy".

Recent Events Point Me to a Contrast Between Mohammad and Jesus

What exactly is the difference between Christianity and Islam?  That is a question that could fill volumes but I think the events of recent days in which large populations of adherents to the teaching of Muhammad have amassed incredibly destructive and furious protests around U.S. embassies and consulates around the Middle East point a glaring light on one important distinction.   And that is the stark contrast between what Jesus taught and what Mohammad taught when it came to how to treat someone you consider your "enemy".  It is an interesting subject to think about when considering the differences in the teachings of these two religions and how their contrasting world-views shape the way we accept and respond to insults.  Read what Mohammad said on the subject and then what Jesus said:

"But when the forbidden months are past, then fight and slay the Pagans wherever ye find them, an seize them, beleaguer them, and lie in wait for them in every stratagem (of war); but if they repent, and establish regular prayers and practise regular charity, then open the way for them: for Allah is Oft-forgiving, Most Merciful."   (Mohammad in Surah 9:5) 

“You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.   (Jesus in Matthew 5:43-46)

That contrast gives those of us who have been transformed by the meaning of the gospel a guide for the way we are to respond to what we see and hear in the popular press regarding the hatred and despair we see in the Muslim world.

For one, we are to understand that the enemy is enormously effective at darkening the hearts of unbelievers and that false religion is the most effective tool in his toolbox.   Christianity teaches that the human heart is by it's very nature following an impulse of lust for power and control and hatred and revenge.  A religion that feeds that impulse is enormously destructive.  I really believe that this is why you see masses of people who have embraced Islam so easily worked into a frenzy of pious rage and anger for the "offense of the prophet."  

Secondly, we are to be careful not to let our own sinful impulses take over our hearts in the way we respond to what we see and feel.  Instead, we are to see that those same sinful and hateful impulses are at work in us and that if it had not been for Christ's rescue we would be in the same boat.

True gospel- centered Christianity says that God is the ultimate judge and Christ has set us free from the need for judgement and we are therefore freed from hatred, resentment and a desire to "get even".  

As Christians we say, "It is God's job to judge, it is my job to love, accept and forgive."

There is real freedom and joy in that world-view.   

Top Ten Wrap Up

Now that the dust is settled, and most of the boxes have been unpacked, Fiz and I have been looking back in wonder at the last year. What a wild ride! So many ups and downs so many new faces and new places. From the grueling long haul bus rides of Vietnam and Nepal to Festivals of Australia there are things which will always stay with us. Here’s our top-ten pick of the best of the best and the best of the worst.

1)    Cheap Seats
Vietnam is a long thin country with beautiful cities strung together like pearls on a length of hellish pavement. This is our first long haul tale.

2)    Lost in Hue
Forget the map, or bring one along and drive to the edge of it, find something wonderful like a monastery and a village and even some delicious local lunch.

3)    The Toll of War
The sins of the father are passed on to the son and the sins of a nation are passed on to its citizens.

4)    Angkor What? Angkor Wat!
Welcome to Cambodia where the terrifying reign of Pol Pot is a tourist attraction, the drugs are cheap and the party is non-stop.

5)    Possum Party
By far the most popular post of the website, this is the first of several encounters with Tatura Caravn Park's local possum family.

6)  Panya Permaculture
Nothing like getting your hands dirty! Our Permaculture time at Panya Project was one of the best parts of the trips, and the connections we made stayed with us all the way home.

7)    Rooftop Riding
Few moments in travel are as perfect as this one. Himalayas, Full moon, Jeep with broken lights, what more do you need?

8)   Down With the Sickness
The defining moment of our trip was when we very nearly had to fly home due to serious food poising. It was from here that we decided to end our Asia leg and head to the land down under.

9)    Rainbow Serpent: Inner Reflections  
 Welcome to Australia, the beautiful land full of beautiful people making amazing music and art. Welcome to Rainbow Serpent 2012 where we met two of the best people in the world and danced like crazy people.

10)    Party Animal
Travel, love and life don’t always go according to plan. That’s why you have friends, beer and nerf guns.

Obedience

I have a pastor friend who tells the story of his five-year-old daughter riding her new “big wheel” tricycle on their driveway the day after Christmas.  He told her that she could ride the trike anywhere on the driveway all the way to the line that separated into a slope leading to the street but no further.  He was concerned that she would venture out into the danger of the street, so he wanted her well away from the slope.  The line was not to be messed with.  “If you cross it, you will get a spanking,” he warned her. 

Predictably, the girl (who, my friend says, was by very nature a “line pusher”) kept riding right up to the line and then looking back over her shoulder at her daddy to note his attentiveness.  He watched her intently as she kept trying to test the line.   Over and over she rode, circling and circling closer and closer to the limits of obedience.  Finally she stopped the big wheel and said emphatically and defiantly to her dad, “Well, I guess you had better start spanking because I’m gonna cross that line!” 

I love this story as a way to illustrate what is in the human heart.  The Bible teaches that our hearts are in open rebellion against God and that it is in our nature to say, “I’m gonna cross that line!” 

Our study this week is a lesson in obedience.  How often have we questioned God and wondered about His ways?  How often have we found it difficult to truly obey His will and subject ourselves to His word? And yet our lack of obedience is a sign of our lack of trust.  Just like a five year old who doesn’t understand the meaning of a parent’s hard line, we rebel against God because we see His ways as primitive or demanding.  And yet we know intuitively that a parent makes the rules because of love and sees that obedience is first and foremost an act of love and trust.  That is the deeper lesson of the text this week.     

2 Samuel 24:10-19:David was conscience-stricken after he had counted the fighting men, and he said to the Lord, “I have sinned greatly in what I have done. Now, Lord, I beg you, take away the guilt of your servant. I have done a very foolish thing.”
Before David got up the next morning, the word of the Lord had come to Gad the prophet, David’s seer: “Go and tell David, ‘This is what the Lord says: I am giving you three options. Choose one of them for me to carry out against you.’”
So Gad went to David and said to him, “Shall there come on you three years of famine in your land? Or three months of fleeing from your enemies while they pursue you? Or three days of plague in your land? Now then, think it over and decide how I should answer the one who sent me.”
David said to Gad, “I am in deep distress. Let us fall into the hands of the Lord, for his mercy is great; but do not let me fall into human hands.”
So the Lord sent a plague on Israel from that morning until the end of the time designated, and seventy thousand of the people from Dan to Beersheba died. When the angel stretched out his hand to destroy Jerusalem, the Lord relented concerning the disaster and said to the angel who was afflicting the people, “Enough! Withdraw your hand.” The angel of the Lord was then at the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.
When David saw the angel who was striking down the people, he said to the Lord, “I have sinned; I, the shepherd, have done wrong. These are but sheep. What have they done? Let your hand fall on me and my family.”
On that day Gad went to David and said to him, “Go up and build an altar to the Lord on the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.” So David went up, as the Lord had commanded through Gad.

There and Back Again

By Kathleen Broadhurst

 Well, it has been over a month now since I have been home and I apologize that this is the first that you have heard anything from me in that time. Returning home after almost a year away is it’s own sort of adventure.

To those who have been waiting to see what happened next, I’m sorry for the delay, life has been rough and my landing bumpy. There is a lot of work to do once you return from a trip like ours, getting new jobs, finding a place to live, unpacking boxes, trying to find your rice-cooker, sneakers, favorite blanket, ect.

It seems like after a month things are starting to settle down, I’ve found work, doing some writing no less, so I’m starting to feel like I may actually be able to connect my experiences in the world to something at home.

We found a sweet little apartment that sits in between an old fashioned New England green and railroad tracks. Though the noise from the train is loud it helps me feel connected to the wider world. When it rushes by I can’t help but think about where it’s been and where it is going. It eases the feeling of claustrophobia that has been haunting me since my return.

Coming home is at once deeply satisfying and also sad. It has been a marvelous thing to see the faces of friends and family again, to recognize people on the street and to be greeted in old spaces. But it is hard not to think of those who I left behind in Melbourne, or those who are still traveling. The friends I made on the road are often in my mind and knowing how far away they all are is hard to come to terms with.

The silence that accompanied my return has also been a bit strange. I don’t know why, whether it’s because I’m in America, or because a year is a bit to long to really ask about or if people simply aren’t interested but surprisingly few people have wanted to hear about the trip.

Some days I wake up and wonder if it was all a dream. Its hard to believe, sitting here at my new kitchen table, listening to the cicadas outside that I have ridden on the rooftop of a bus climbing the Himalayas, or watched as mourners follows a funeral procession through the streets of Varanasi. The scents and smells of a Cambodian marketplace, all fish sauce and ice and cheap polyester, the way the sky looked from my apartment in Melbourne, seem like dreams as unreal as any I have at night.

This is the trip in travel. It’s a bit surreal.

Plans…. Where we go from here? It’s hard to say, we don’t yet know ourselves. At the moment we need rest, which is proving hard to come by with a busy summer social calendar, and money, which given the state of the American economy, is also a bit of a challenge. It looks like we intend to stay in one place for a while to attempt to invest ourselves in projects that will take a few years to really show their merit.

Some of those projects are related to travel, some are completely different. Stay tuned to this blog for updates. If you are just joining us now, please, feel free to start the story at the beginning.

I do know that despite my best intentions to love being home I’m already scanning the articles on travel websites and the perusing guidebooks in the local bookstore.

Somebody once said that their favorite place part of travel was imaging the next country and planning the next trip. I second that.

Because really, the trip never stops, the trip is life. The journey will continue. Travel on.

Repentance

The word “repent” means to “change directions.” I have always found that explanation of the word to be helpful. When I think of this word, I picture someone walking one direction and turning around and going the opposite direction. To repent means more than just stopping in your tracks, it means to set a new course. Another good picture is of someone making a u-turn in a car. As a guy who has always been directionally challenged, this explanation resonates with me.  God did not bless me with an internal compass like he has a lot of people, so I have spent a lot of time in my life looking at a map only to realize that I need to turn around and go the opposite way. 

There are a couple of things I’ve noticed about changing directions. One,something or someone needs to reveal that a change of course is needed. And two, one has to be humble enough to accept the fact that you are going the wrong way and be willing to make the change. 

I stress the word humble here, because it is never easy for me to admit to my wife that I’ve made a wrong turn or that I’m lost. It is hard for me to humble myself in this way. Even after all these years and both of us talking about and even laughing about me lacking a sense of direction, it’s still hard for me to admit! I’ve noticed this is a trait in a lot of men and a sore spot in a lot of marriages. Someone has said that the reason Moses wandered in the wilderness for 40 years is because he wasn’t willing to stop and ask directions. 

Several years ago, I got lost trying to find a new “short cut” driving from our home in Texas to my parents’ house in Oklahoma City. I was lost, but didn’t want to admit that I was lost. In the process of finding my way, I also lost track of my speed and got stopped by a “minister of reminder” (Texas Highway Patrol). While he was ticketing me for speeding, I asked him to settle an argument with my wife and me, and to tell her that I was on the right road and on the right track. He just laughed and said, “You are actually going the opposite direction from where you need to go if you want to go to Oklahoma City.” 

That is what it means to repent. It is authoritative information and humility. It means to learn definitively that you are going the opposite direction from where you need to go and to be humbled to the degree that you are willing to turn around and change course. The experience is a vivid illustration of the true meaning of this biblical concept. As we will see in our study of David this week, repentance is an essential aspect of the Christian life. 

2 Samuel 12:1-7

The Lord sent Nathan to David. When he came to him, he said, “There were two men in a certain town, one rich and the other poor. The rich man had a very large number of sheep and cattle, but the poor man had nothing except one little ewe lamb he had bought. He raised it, and it grew up with him and his children. It shared his food, drank from his cup and even slept in his arms. It was like a daughter to him.

“Now a traveler came to the rich man, but the rich man refrained from taking one of his own sheep or cattle to prepare a meal for the traveler who had come to him. Instead, he took the ewe lamb that belonged to the poor man and prepared it for the one who had come to him.”

David burned with anger against the man and said to Nathan, “As surely as the Lord lives, the man who did this must die! He must pay for that lamb four times over, because he did such a thing and had no pity.”

Then Nathan said to David, “You are the man! This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘I anointed you king over Israel, and I delivered you from the hand of Saul.’”

Summary of Text: David is confronted in his sin.  

Memory Verse:  Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from your presence, and take not your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and uphold me with a willing spirit (Psalm 51:10-12 ESV).

Monday:  Read the passage. How did Nathan confront David? In what ways do you think this confrontation was helpful to David? Why is it important to have people in your life speak truth? How does the word of God speak truth to you? 

Tuesday:  Read the passage. How was David impacted by the parable Nathan used? How did God use the story to change David’s heart?  

Wednesday:   Read the passage again. Memorize the memory verse. Read Psalm 51. What does this Psalm teach us about David’s ability to repent? Why is repentance so important? 

Thursday:  Read and memorize the memory verse. Read the passage. What kind of courage did it take for Nathan to confront David? Do you have this kind of courage? Where did Nathan get his sense of security and strength to make this confrontation?

Friday:  Read the passage again. Do you have a Nathan in your life? Do you have people in your life who tell you the truth? Ask God to lead you to greater accountability in your life. Ask Him to show you how you can be this for the people you love. 

Saturday:  Read the passage. Read Psalm 51 again. Write down any new thoughts you might have about these passages.       

Sunday:  Make today a day of rest and worship. Pray for the right attitude and an open heart and mind today. Come to church.

Glory

Glory is an overused word. People will say they are doing all kinds of things for “glory.” The result is that when most people hear the word these days, they think of everything from athletic fields to post cards, but likely don’t think of its most important meaning. It literally means “weight” in Hebrew (kabod) and has a connotation that is extraordinarily important to our understanding of the Gospel and our spiritual lives. 

When the Bible speaks of God’s glory, it is telling us that nothing in this life should carry more weight. His joy and presence in our lives should be more substantive and should matter more than anything else. Our search for glory is, in essence, our search for meaning and purpose. The greatest fear people have in life is not the fear of death or pain, but the fear that their lives won’t matter and is a result of the way God has created us. The result is that we search for those things that give our life meaning. If we try to find meaning in anything other than God, then we are seeking our own glory and not His. This is the essence of our sin, and the Bible teaches that it is the biggest struggle we have. 

Our Bible study this week, found in 1 and 2 Samuel, is a graphic example of man’s struggle with an understanding of the glory of God. In this story, the Ark of the Lord was a physical manifestation and representation of God’s glory. It was not a religious artifact as much as it was a transcendent embodiment of His presence. As such, it was both spectacular and unbelievably dangerous. The same can be said of our search for His glory. It is the most important pursuit in our lives, and its destructive power in us is impossible to comprehend.  

1 Samuel 5:1; 2 Samuel 6:1-15

After the Philistines had captured the Ark of God, they took it from Ebenezer to Ashdod. Then they carried the Ark into Dagon’s temple and set it beside Dagon. When the people of Ashdod rose early the next day, there was Dagon, fallen on his face on the ground before the Ark of the Lord! They took Dagon and put him back in his place. But the following morning when they rose, there was Dagon, fallen on his face on the ground before the Ark of the Lord! His head and hands had been broken off and were lying on the threshold; only his body remained. That is why to this day neither the priests of Dagon nor any others who enter Dagon’s temple at Ashdod step on the threshold.

David again brought together all the able young men of Israel—thirty thousand. He and all his men went to Baalah in Judah to bring up from there the Ark of God, which is called by the Name, the name of the Lord Almighty, who is enthroned between the cherubim on the Ark. They set the Ark of God on a new cart and brought it from the house of Abinadab, which was on the hill. Uzzah and Ahio, sons of Abinadab, were guiding the new cart with the Ark of God on it, and Ahio was walking in front of it. David and all Israel were celebrating with all their might before the Lord, with castanets, harps, lyres, timbrels, sistrums and cymbals.

When they came to the threshing floor of Nakon, Uzzah reached out and took hold of the Ark of God, because the oxen stumbled. The Lord’s anger burned against Uzzah because of his irreverent act; therefore God struck him down, and he died there beside the Ark of God.

Then David was angry because the Lord’s wrath had broken out against Uzzah, and to this day that place is called Perez Uzzah.

David was afraid of the Lord that day and said, “How can the Ark of the Lord ever come to me?” He was not willing to take the Ark of the Lord to be with him in the City of David. Instead, he took it to the house of Obed-Edom the Gittite. The Ark of the Lord remained in the house of Obed-Edom the Gittite for three months, and the Lord blessed him and his entire household. Now King David was told, “The Lord has blessed the household of Obed-Edom and everything he has, because of the Ark of God.” So David went to bring up the Ark of God from the house of Obed-Edom to the City of David with rejoicing. When those who were carrying the Ark of the Lord had taken six steps, he sacrificed a bull and a fattened calf. Wearing a linen ephod, David was dancing before the Lord with all his might, while he and all Israel were bringing up the Ark of the Lord with shouts and the sound of trumpets.

Summary of Text: David brings the Ark of the Lord back to Israel.

Memory Verse: "And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth" (John 1:14).

Monday:  Read the passage.  If the ark of the Lord represents the glory of God, what does this tell us about His glory? How is it powerful? How is it dangerous? Why do people long for God’s glory? 

Tuesday:  Read the passage. In what ways is the ark a problem? How is it true that God’s glory is both essential to us and dangerous for us? How do people try to find glory in the wrong ways today? How does our search for His glory often lead us to religious works? In what ways do religious works destroy us?

Wednesday:   Read the passage again. Memorize the memory verse. How does David get it right by his celebration of the coming of the ark? In what ways do we find life and purpose and joy by celebrating His glory?

Thursday:  Read and memorize the memory verse. In what ways do we behold the glory of God in what we find in Christ? How does Christ lead us to His glory? The ark of the Lord is an illustration to us of the chasm between God and man. In the temple there had to be a sacrifice in order to come into His presence. In what ways does this point us to the truth that only Christ’s sacrifice brings us to His glory?

Friday:  Read the passage again. How does the ark of the Lord point us to Jesus? How is His glory satisfied in Christ’s work?

Saturday:  Read the passage. Read Exodus 33:19-21. How does this passage relate to the one we’ve studied this week?     

Sunday:  Make today a day of rest and worship. Pray for the right attitude and an open heart and mind today.  Come to church.