Odd Ideas

Just thinking out loud here (if typing on a computer can be considered “out loud”…).

Why is it that science is far too often considered the enemy of Christianity? What are we/they afraid of?

To be honest, through high school, and even through University, I was always very skeptical of some of the claims of science (the whole evolution thing being a good example). The crazy thing is, I ended up with an HBSc degree (an honours degree in science, if you don’t know what the letters mean).

Like most Christians who were born/raised/trained what to think in church, despite my education, I still couldn’t accept the claims of science. Typical of Christians, I figured that the some of these prominent scientists just didn’t want to accept the idea of “God”, so they were looking for alternate explanations. Like most Christians I knew, I believed that these scientists just couldn’t think big enough to accept our “Big God”.

Now, after many years of trying to “be a good Christian”, followed by learning more about what it really means to follow Jesus (and trying to figure out what following Jesus really has to do with Christianity as we know it), I am learning to “re-think” everything I thought I knew.

I haven’t abandoned my belief in God, or my belief in the truth of Jesus, or my desire to follow Jesus. What I have discovered, however, is that it is more likely we as Christians who can’t think big enough to comprehend what God did create, or the methods He used, or how complex and amazing it really is.

Seems to me that the stories of creation as told in the book of Genesis are simply an attempt by humans to explain something they did not know how to explain, or couldn’t even comprehend. As we as humans learn more about nature, about the universe, and what lies beyond that – we constantly learn and realize how much we did not know, and catch glimpses of how much we have let to learn.

How could people a few thousand years ago in the times of Moses have possibly been able to comprehend even the things we know now? All they could do was explain things with their own limited knowledge.

Maybe we as Christians need to open our eyes – and minds – and start to admit that God, and his creation – are so much larger than can be explained in the opening verses of one book!

Just thinking…