before i start, you should know where i’m coming from. so first, read (or skim over) this: “how to think like a religious fundamentalist.”
pretty intense huh? i know a lot of christians who would just be completely irate after reading that. then after they were past their initial raging reaction they would start looking up all kinds of empirical evidence of intelligent design on wikipedia and post their own very scientific pro-creationism blog. you can be sure there would be some kind of bible verses thrown in and, if they were particularly passionate about the subject, there might even be some references to some books by lee strobel. how do i know this? for one, i’ve seen it. you’d be amazed what people think is important enough to put on the internet for the world to see. second, i’ve done this myself. i have an old high school newspaper from 2000(?) with an editorial article written by myself that took the bold stance of defending the literal word of God and scientifically (and triumphantly) defeated the demon-possessed “theory” of evolution. i can say that i didn’t use any bible verses in it, but mostly because i don’t remember doing much research at all. although i did reference the concept of intelligent design prior to the national attention it’s received in the recent few years. how avant garde of me, right?
i’ve grown a lot since then. personally, spiritually, and kind of every way. thankfully i’ve started shrinking physically after growing for so long (25 pounds now). but i think my faith has matured by leaps and bounds since high school. while i’ve never been as militant perhaps as some of my fellow believers, i have been at least that intolerant. i’ve come to understand that insofar as my life is concerned, the mystery of the creation of the universe is mysterious and awe inspiring at best, and irrelevant at worst. what i mean by that is God is God to me. no matter who’s able to scientifically prove anything, whether it was a young earth creation or big bang/evolution, i still know that God exists because of what i’ve seen Him do in my life. i know that He exists and that He loves me. He even likes me, like we’re friends or something. it’s not that i’m not leaving room for science in my life or in my thinking, it’s that i’ve seen God step in and take control of my life the more i let Him in. no amount of science or theology can take away from that. to paraphrase donald miller: “there’s a big group of people who can scientifically prove that God doesn’t exist and a big group of people who can scientifically prove that God does exist. and the argument isn’t even about God anymore as much as it’s about who’s smarter and i just don’t care anymore.”
i think the problem on both sides of the argument is the outright arrogance that’s displayed. i think it’s something about the scientific community in general though. the language itself lends itself to pride. scientists research and track data to prove facts. there’s not a lot of room in that sentence for disagreement, but look at them go; going back and forth with their version of the story and calling each other names like children. if that doesn’t prove the mysteriousness of God, then i don’t know what would. if God doesn’t exist and the people who know all the facts can’t agree, we’re all screwed. which brings to mind a little paragraph from a kurt vonnegut book.
beware of the man who works hard to learn something, learns it, and finds himself no wiser than before… he is full of murderous resentment of people who are ignorant without having come by their ignorance the hard way.
song for the moment: “amazing grace” by sufjan stevens
