A Pipsqueak and a Fish Story

I came across an article in the NY Times titled Seeing Darwin through Christians Eyes, in which a Christian politician proposed naming February 12 (Charles Darwin’s birthday) as “Darwin Day” as a measure to “recognize the importance of science.”  Many Christians believe that evolution is a credible theory.

Note that the Theory of Evolution is still only a theory.  There are major gaps in the fossil record that science cannot explain.  There are also evolutionary leaps like the Cambrian Explosion that disprove the gradual change that Darwin theorized.  There is also the issue of Irreducible Complexity that would seem to be an evolutionary leap within the organism.  Lee Strobel explains irreducible complexity better than I can (The Case for a Creator).  Basically, irreducible complexity shows that there are some complex organs that seemed to come from nothing, for example the flagellum, a whip-like organ that works like a propeller.  There is no pre-flagellar organ.

Note also that at the end of his life, Charles Darwin recanted his own theory of evolution—something that is still hotly debated.  Whether he did or not, there are still such enormous gaps in the fossil record that even 154 years after the publication of Origin of the Species it remains only a theory.

Lots of Christians believe in evolution: 58% of Catholics, 54% of Orthodox, 51% of mainline Protestants, and 24% of Evangelical Christians.  So why do so many Christians believe in evolution?

I have a theory of my own.  My theory is that a lot of Christians believe that God needs their help.  They don’t really believe in an omnipotent God.  I’ll give you a couple of very common examples:

1. How do you picture Samson (Judges 13-16)?  Most people immediately picture in their minds someone who looks like Arnold Schwarzenegger: big and muscular, right?  Wrong!  Why would the Philistines want to know the secret of his great strength?  If the secret of his strength was his big muscles, they wouldn’t have to ask.  After all, nobody asked what made Goliath strong.  Samson’s strength was supernatural and had nothing whatsoever to do with the size of his muscles.  Most likely, Samson was a proverbial 98 pound weakling (at least in appearance).
2. Most people think that Jonah was swallowed by a whale.  But the Bible says “a great fish,” (Jonah 1:17).  I checked and the word whale is not found in the Bible.  Although whales have been spotted off the coast of Israel, it is very rare that they enter the Mediterranean Sea.  There was a whale sited off the coast of Israel on May 12, 2010 (Whale Sighted off Israel).  There is also the strange case of James Bartley, who was swallowed by a whale and survived.  It is said that he was in the whale’s belly for 15 hours, and the experience bleached his skin and left him blind.  If you can believe that God provided a whale at that precise time and place to swallow Jonah (thus allowing him to breathe, being a mammal) and protected his body from the whale’s corrosive stomach acids.  How much more of a leap is it to believe that it was a literal fish?

Many people, even Christians, treat these Bible accounts as myths, stories to tell children.  Here’s the thing: do you believe in a God that is able to make a man supernaturally strong without big muscles? Or preserve Jonah’s life (and skin and eyesight) for 3 days inside a fish? Or create the whole universe simply by speaking it into existence in just six 24-hour days?

Only you can answer for yourself, but my answer to all 3 questions is yes.  I don’t have to know exactly how He did it to believe that He can do it.

If your prayers are not being answered, could it be because you don’t believe in a God that is able to help you?  Jesus didn’t do many miracles in His hometown because of the people’s lack of faith (Matthew 13:58).  Maybe you’ve been overexposed to lukewarm Christianity—a Christianity that teaches a big, muscular Samson and a whale that swallowed Jonah and evolutionary creation.  If your idea of God is too small, ask for wisdom.  James 1:5 says: “If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him.”  Wisdom is what you need to believe in a truly omnipotent God.  And all you’ve got to do is ask for it.  God is good!

Happy Science Fiction Day!

Actually, I didn’t know that there even was a Science Fiction Day, but I just saw a notice in the elevator here at Mom’s retirement apartments wishing everyone a happy Science Fiction Day.  I wouldn’t call myself a big fan of Science Fiction.  I don’t go in for robots or ray guns or alien stuff, but I love time travel stories.  I can sit through even the worst-written, badly-acted movie if time travel is used as a plot device.  Almost any story can be told using Science Fiction.  The first Terminator movie is a love story.  In fact, if you leave out the terminator robot and time travel, Terminator would have been dismissed as a “chick flick” far more romantic than anything Nora Ephron ever wrote.  The protagonist is female, the man falls in love from a picture of her and comes to rescue her.

Back in the mid-90’s I read Stephen Hawking’s “A Brief History of Time.”  I was thrilled to see that Hawking wrote in the introduction that he was writing the book because he wanted to know if there was a God.  And everything I read in the book, especially the Big Bang and about multiple dimensions (beyond our 3 plus time), pointed very clearly to a Creator that could only be God.  And then I was disappointed when I got to the end of the book, and Hawking not only failed to recognize God, he didn’t even mention the quest for God that had started the book.

When you think of human history from both a scientific and Christian point of view, the story of the Universe is a lot like the Terminator.  The protagonist is us and our Creator is so in love with us that He came to rescue us.  And instead of a Terminator robot, the enemy is a fallen angel and his evil army that live in the invisible Nomansland of the spirit world that exists all around us.  Before it was the title for a movie, the Passion of Christ was the motivation for coming to be one of us: His white-hot passionate love for you and me.  It’s the supernatural science non-fiction story to beat all stories, with something in it for everyone—action, danger, romance, suspense, mystery, and adventure.  It is not only the greatest story ever told, it’s also the greatest story ever lived.

Jazzed by That Creative Energy

Thanks to Laurie for the inspiration!

Have you ever noticed that it’s energizing and at the same time relaxing, fun, and fulfilling to create?  Time seems to fly by, and you may have even missed a meal when you’re fully engaged in creating something.  This applies to all creative pursuits:  visual (drawing, painting, sculpture, photographic, textile arts, ceramics, woodworking, etc.), musical, performing arts (acting, dancing, choreography, set design, etc.) graphic (computer-based artwork, design, PowerPoint, Photoshop, etc.), writing (mine), and any combination of the above, the list is truly endless.  I believe this is because when we’re creating we are doing the thing we were made to do.

Consider this:  we were made in the image of God—The Creator!  When we create, we are imitating our Father.  When we create, I believe that we make our Father proud of us.  That’s why it’s so rewarding to create.  What was the first job given to Adam?  Gardening.  Adam was the first landscaping designer.  Next God brought all the animals to Adam so that he could name them.  God could have named the animals, but he gave that task to Adam.

When we got a poodle puppy in 1965, Daddy named him Poodle-a-Go-Go.  Daddy’s pet names were all like that:  funny and clever.  When I was six years old, my parents let me name our cat.  I looked carefully at him and named him Fuzzy.  OK, not a spectacularly imaginative name, but I think I captured the essence of this long-haired tabby cat.  And my parents honored my lame name, calling the cat Fuzzy all the days of his life.

You may say that you’re not very creative or that you have no talent.  I say that you just haven’t found your creative niche yet.  Like me with naming pets when I was six.  Since we’re not God, it takes most of us some time to develop the skills and to perfect our creative talents.  Experiment!  Try different materials, methods, styles.  You’ll find yourself creatively, but you’ve got to be patient with yourself, too.  Above all, you’ve got to honor your creativity by spending time at it.  You can’t expect to improve if you never spend time at it.

Guess who is incapable of creating:  the devil.  That’s why he twists God’s perfect creation into something perverted, because he cannot create.  He (along with the rest of the angels) was not made in God’s image, only we were.  And because he’s jealous of our ability to create, the devil tries to fool us into thinking that creative pursuits are a waste of time, that we should spend our time working at a “real job.”  The devil wants you to believe that you must work hard to get anywhere in this world.  But you want to know the truth?  They say do what you love and the money will come.  I believe that’s true because what humans love to do is create.  God honors that—especially when we use our creative abilities to honor Him.

The truth is that there is plenty of room in God’s Kingdom for creative pursuits.

So you go to town with that creative thing!  Joyfully play (not work) at your creative art.  Make our Father proud!