I think one of the finest qualities a person can display in life, is that of kindness. I have taken this essay or monologue off of the normal channels of meteorite discussion because it violates chat list rules and most won‘t want to read it. I hope that I have remained kind. I do a poor job of serving Christ if I get angry.

It was stated on the meteorite list recently by an individual that there could be no further discussion of life beyond the confines of Earth once it appeared that another participant might be religious. He was characterized as stupid for what briefly appeared to be belief in creation. The individual made it clear that he was not religious and just wanted to see evidence rather than unsupported rhetoric. But, I was offended by the remark as a person of faith who believes in Christ and who has not removed his brain and put it in a box by the door.

Arguments are almost never of value, but discussions often can be very fruitful. To attempt to end discussion with caddie remarks, innuendoes, and personal attacks just seems to always rub me the wrong way and prompted me to write the following monologue.

It is possible to be intelligent and a Christian at the same time. I hope it is possible to defend ones intelligence. I may not be the person who can do it correctly, but here goes.

Is there a big problem between true science and Christianity? That’s science where you are using facts, experimentation and you are looking for repeatable results. Not really. It is what makes engineering and mathematics and trips to the Moon possible. Is there a big problem between Christianity and what we see today being called science where we are asked to accept without evidence so much that is outrageously improbable? Yes, with that there is a big problem. The problem being that one is admittedly based on faith while the other screams in every conceivable venue that it is not based on faith but rather on fact.

If I take off the gloves even more, I can use the scary words, creation and evolution. I am a creationist. Does that make me stupid by definition? I am sure in some people’s minds it does. But, no it really does not. Do I accept a lot of things on faith? Yes. On the other hand, does evolution have any answers to offer? Can it tell us about any beginnings? No, not really. As silly as it seems to ask it, I have to ask the age old question. Where did the stuff of the universe come from? Recycle it a dozen times through big bangs, postulate a virtual infinity of time (currently 15 trillion years and counting) and you are still left with the question of where the stuff came from originally. And the stuff may even be accelerating as it moves away so that it isn’t coming back to recycle. Mutual gravitational attraction does not seem to have slowed it so far in 15 trillion years. Not to mention that we are asked to believe that billions of galaxies were once compressed into something very very tiny.

Questions like what is life, should have their terms defined first before looking for extraterrestrial sources. Life is more than chemistry; otherwise the recently dead, but with perfect chemistry should be able to be reanimated. Some simple organism should have revived with the application of a Frankenstein like essence. Yet death prevails on the Earth. And the spark of life breathed into our world by God remains elusive to science, impossible to even define.

Complexity of everything living around us and no simple organisms scream out that they were created. The simple single celled creature so sought after to prove evolution does not exist. Even the simplest have hundreds of proteins, enzymes, and structures that turn out to not be simple at all. The formation of almost any one of them exceeds the standard of impossibility established by science itself. Hemoglobin for instance is a few hundred nucleotides in length and requires odds of 1 in 10^250 attempts to form by random accidental chance. And, even if you could make hemoglobin, how do you make by random accidental chance the hundreds and thousands of other things that have to work in perfect concert to be a complete organism?

I suppose my position could be summed up by saying I like my faith in smaller doses than evolution offers. There is too much order and pattern and system in the world for accidental random chance. Accidental random chance logically breeds chaos not order and pattern. The Bible says that God created. Ok, I accept that. Would I like more information? Yes. Does The Bible offer any? Not very much. But, it was never supposed to be considered a science textbook. It is relating to the world the plan of God for saving people whose hearts are open to hear His message. Its God’s plan and in that it is unique as religious material. All other religions are much like modern science. They are the attempts of man to reach God or truth, and put together a plausible explanation for the meaning of life, the nature of the universe and the place of man in that universe. Christianity is the plan of God for how he wants to reach us.

Is God’s plan foolish to the eyes of the world? Absolutely.

“But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God has chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty;” 1 Corinthians 1:27.

No other religion except Christianity admits from the very beginning that it can not be understood through the reasoning of man. And why would God do that? So the plan could be His plan untainted by us, maybe. To eliminate the pride of man in how wise he is to be able to figure out God, maybe. I don’t have all the answers, and I have been a Christian for 40 years. But, I have a mountain of experiential knowledge that used to stand against other philosophies on an equal footing. Now of course it does not, it seems silly and ignorant.

But, for God to have a plan that science would find acceptable He would have to make a plan that only doctorate recipients could embrace. God’s plan for us is one that can be received by the young, the old, the poor, the rich, the mentally disabled, the educated and those that are not. The foolish plan described by The Bible is a reflection of God’s rich love for all, not just an intellectual elite.

My training is as an anthropologist. I had a second major in Geology. I took every class in the department of Geology and ended my studies at one college with a 4.0 grade average in Geology. Dean’s list and departmental awards. I worked as an archeologist for a while. Evolution requires too much faith from me. It does not answer the basic questions. God has been made too small in our modern world. A God outside time and space is not restricted by our rules. He is not governed by things like gravity. Existing outside our reality; mass and time and size are not relevant to Him. He says He knows the beginning from the end and the end from the beginning. Sounds like out of time and space to me. I have learned to see a bigger God whose arm is not short. Who is able to do what he wants and never gets tired, never forgets, never has to make corrections, never gets surprised. And yet a God who cares for me.

Have I set aside my intellect to be a Christian?. No, I have simply chosen to accept as a priori what The Bible has to offer. There was a beginning of things and that the stuff of the universe was created and that the creator continues to care for humans. And here is the punch line that has always made people stumble for 2000 years, I accept that Christ died and rose for me because The Bible says it happened.

As a culture we accept that Plato wrote the works attributed to him. Yet, there are only a handful of manuscripts, none originals, and they are separated from the author by 900 years. But, Plato's topic is OK for modern consumption. While the 200,000 manuscript pieces of The Bible are no longer held to be historically accurate. Even though some of the New Testament is only separated from its authors by 70-100 years. I know; it’s a religious thing so can’t be held to the same standard, why not?

But, maybe evolution a religious thing too. What makes something a religion? Here’s a try at a list of things. Religions have dogma and doctrine. The stuff that is held to be true regardless of empirical evidence. It is taught in schools to indoctrinate. Those who espouse a different view are sanctioned and criticized by most religions. Religions proselytize for converts. A religion spreads the truth as it sees it to the exclusion of other information. I think a case can be made that evolution is promoted with characteristics of religion and by devotees that sometimes demonstrate religious fervor.

There is a deeply spiritual component to faith in God that reinforces belief. It is personal. It is very often difficult to express to someone else what a relationship with God means and how it grows with time. But, after a life time of faith one begins to see how there is even pattern and order to how God weaves the tapestry of our life.

There is nothing that can be contributed to ones life by the Random Chance. Can I quantify the experience of religious faith. No, not to anyone else’s satisfaction. I could tell endless stories of God intervening in my life, and of peace at night when sleep does not come easy, and comfort during times of grief. But, none of that is evidence in today’s scientific world. Would I trade my relationship with God for the non-involvement of the Random Chance? Not on my life. Is religious faith a crutch? You bet, but I’m still walking, and I’m still thinking and after some of the stuff I‘ve done I should not be. And would I still like more answers? Yes. But if I don’t get them I can live with the answer that God has already given.

“For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways,"
declares the LORD.

"As the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways
and my thoughts than your thoughts.” Isaiah 55:8

Is this an old debate? Certainly. It goes back to the beginning of time. But as Bob Dylan says “You're gonna have to serve somebody.” So we all chose a faith.

“But, as for me and my household we will serve the Lord.” Joshua 24:15