Creation, Facts, and Purpose

Spirituality Column #202
September 21, 2010
Current in Carmel - Current in Westfield - Current in Noblesville
(Indianapolis north suburban home newspapers)

Creation, Facts, and Purpose
By Bob Walters

In the beginning, God created the Heavens and the Earth …
(Genesis 1:1)

Considering that Creation is among the hottest of contemporary, fightin’-words, flash-point topics in church, theological, political, scientific, cosmological, educational, philosophical and biblical circles, this could be a dangerous discussion.

However the intention here is to simply present a few non-combative thoughts on the how and why of Creation, not challenge anyone’s Christianity or second-guess God.

Neither is this an attempt to prove the “six day” teaching nor to bash evolution, but we will put the Bible in its rightful and true spot as God’s voice.

The truths we’re working with are that God exists, God is eternal and uncreated, God is the creator of all things, God had a reason for creating all things, God is omniscient (knows all) and omnipotent (can do all), and the Bible is what it says it is.

Let’s also clearly state that the world is real, we are real, we are alive, we are aware, and what we do matters. Plus, it is reliably entrenched in our human brains to ask how and why Creation happened, and how and why we are here.

Science and Philosophy (God created them, too) ask how and why all the time.

Science asks: How do things happen? What are the predictable and repeatable results? What are the facts?

Philosophy asks: Why am I here? Why are we here? What is truth? What is our purpose?

The scientific “How” leads to facts: we find out how God made things, leading to knowledge. And then, philosophically asking “Why” God made things leads to discovery of God’s purpose, leading to relationship and faith.

The Bible reveals little of “how” God created us, but is overwhelmingly packed with “why.” From Adam and Eve to Abraham to Moses to the Prophets to Jesus Christ to Paul, God describes His relationship with mankind, and the relationship He wants us to have with each other.

God’s purpose for Creation becomes clear as our faith grows, and that purpose boils down to one word: Love. God is love (1 John 4:8, 16), and his Son Jesus Christ entered this world to defeat death, remove our sin, and save us for eternal communion amid God’s love.

I appreciate science exploring how God does things, but am thankful beyond expression that faith is all we need to know why.

Walters (www.believerbob.blogspot.com, email rlwcom@aol.com) thinks science is God’s way of having us look for Him in Creation. Too often we think we see ourselves instead.

Dealing with Jesus

Spirituality Column #79
May 13, 2008
Current! in Carmel (IN) newspaper
Current! in Westfield (IN) newspaper

Dealing with Jesus
By Bob Walters

Ben Stein’s recent movie Expelled presents Intelligent Design/Creation as a salient life science subverted by 150 years of incomplete yet burgeoning and now pervasive Darwinian/Evolution worldview and education.

The 1996 PBS NOVA episode titled “The Ultimate Journey,” a video on evolution commonly shown in high school biology classes with fascinating microphotography of embryos, confidently asserts itself as “The Odyssey of Life,” a veritable highlight reel of how life works. The video contains this direct quote, “We don’t know how life began.”

How odd. I know how life began; God created life, and us. The Bible lays it out in plain terms in Genesis chapters 1 and 2.

The fact that there is life because God wanted there to be life – and our trying to figure out the how and why of life based on that – is entirely different and I daresay more satisfying than evolutionists stuffily saying “we don’t know how life began” and foregoing any explanation of why life exists.

To an evolutionist, there is no “why.”

Creationism is different. That’s because the Bible is different, and Jesus is different.

Our God-given human creativity and freedom to invent secular views like evolution, humanism, and broad and competing swaths of philosophy – or conversely, to discover God, life, love, purpose, salvation, relationships and truth in the Bible – too often create conflict, not understanding. For the record, I don’t think science is specifically secular or necessarily divisive.

Discussing this with a friend from church, wondering why so many people insist on separating science and scripture, she said, “The problem is that if you deal with Creation, you have to deal with the Bible. And if you deal with the Bible, then you have to deal with Jesus … and a lot of people don’t want to go there.”

So true. The thing is, we should recognize that our individuality, uniqueness and significance all come from Jesus, not Darwin. Evolution defeats all those ideas, and Darwin doesn’t demand that we act right and love each other.

We’d all be better off dealing with Jesus, even in science class. And by all means … go to science class.

Walters (rlwcom@aol.com) finds dinosaur bones and carbon dating quite fascinating, but not as fascinating as his relationship with God, Christ and the Holy Spirit.

Freeing Up a Choked Debate

Spirituality Column #77
April 29, 2008
Current! In Carmel (IN) newspaper

Freeing Up a Choked Debate
By Bob Walters

I saw the movie Expelled, No Intelligence Allowed and thought it was pretty good.

What has surprised me is that the reviews and comment I’ve seen are predictably, iconoclastically “Conservative – Intelligent Design” or “Liberal – Darwinism” and have consistently missed Stein’s central point of the movie – Freedom.

Evolutionists, Atheists and anti-Creationists certainly saw – to their way of thinking, I’m sure – an unfair attack on their beloved and holy Darwinism. Believers like me were likely struck by Stein’s images, boldness and surely snickered at some of his forensic mischief and filmmaker’s license.

And I must say that the sound track was fabulous. To Yoko and her “Imagine” complaint, all I can say is “Let It Be.”

But whether I think the movie’s message is right on or someone else thinks the message is right off the loony farm, Stein began and ended the movie talking about Freedom.

Freedom. Galatians 5:1. As a Christian believer, and an American, I want to stop right there and drink in the elegance of focusing on Freedom in a debate about science. And religion.

Religion is a quest for Truth. Science is a quest for Truth. Both require freedom of honest inquiry to establish Truth, or you wind up with idolatry and demagoguery, not religion and science. You have Political Correctness, not Truth.

What is Truth? That’s easy. It’s in the Bible. John 14:6. Jesus Christ is the Truth.

And how Darwin got to be more politically correct than Christ I do not know.

Stein addressed science, but mainly he was talking about Freedom; Freedom which I interpret as being of ultimate importance to our relationship with God and its utter necessity in our search for Him.

Trotting out the Bible as the ultimate science book is not satisfying, because our God-given thirst for discovery requires us to investigate beyond the relationship Truths of Genesis-to-Revelation. Yet the church cannot define science without stifling human creativity (look at the Dark Ages). When science stifles the church, you have, well … today.

Our creativity is an absolutely essential part of our humanity Christ came to redeem. How else can we discover Him?

We all want Freedom for our own point of view. If we battle to preserve Freedom on all fronts, religion and science will take care of themselves.

Walters (rlwcom@aol.com) figures our purpose in life is our quest for God, and our pursuit of Truth. We find both in Christ.

Science, The Bible and Dinosaur Bones

Spirituality Column - #16 - Feb . 27, 2007
Current! In Carmel newspaper

Science, The Bible and Dinosaur Bones

By Bob Walters

What is science if not the search for God?

Science is the study of how things work and why things are. How long can you study the cosmos before you realize that, a) it can’t possibly be an accident, and b) Darwin can’t explain how the dirt got here?

That’s the punch line to an old joke about the world’s smartest scientist who challenges God’s uniqueness as Creator. “I can create life,” says the scientist. “Oh? How?” says God. The scientist says “It’s easy. You just take some dirt and ….”

God interrupts, “Where are you going to get your dirt?”

Science and religion should be separate, a USA Today article by Tom Krattenmaker Feb. 4 said, because Creationism is so, well, stupid. I thought the article read like a long-winded excuse for sleeping in Sunday mornings.

Science and religion are different, sure; but they aren’t mutually exclusive. I can have God, the Bible, and a pile of dinosaur bones and see no conflict whatsoever. God and God’s word are perfect, and the dinosaur bones are sitting right there.

Just because we can’t figure everything out doesn’t mean dinosaurs obviate God and the Bible (or vice versa). That’s our problem, not God’s.

Religion is how I find God in my heart; science is how I find God in creation. What’s wrong with that? He wants us to discover him; he just doesn’t make it easy.

What I think is hilarious is how scientists are perceived to be busily working against the idea of God, when what many scientists come up with is a healthy appreciation for God.

The Grand Canyon probably did take millions of years to be cut (I wasn’t there so I can’t be sure), but when I see the Grand Canyon, I think of God, not Darwin.

Walters, a Carmel resident at rlwcom@aol.com, sees God as a fact of all life.