The claim that life autonomously emanated from dormant, lifeless matter and developed into intricately designed microscopic cells which autonomously diversified into discrete and sophisticated structures and functionality is simply a fantasy, and a maddening attempt to discredit the divine power that exquisitely designed and brought forth life and created an infinite diversity and set the course for its replication and perpetuity.
Our curiosity on how we (and life in general) came into existence is designed by God; and triggered by our insatiable quest to master our own destiny in the hope of creating our own immortality. The Bible says: “He,” God, “has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end.” (Ecclesiastes 3:11).
Once one ventures into the curiosity, one inevitably encounters the truth — there is a being out there more powerful than us who had the power to set everything the way it is around us.
In awe of that discovery, we begin to pay attention to natural and unnatural phenomena around us that further affirm our discovery of the ultimate being — God. The more we explore this realm, the more we confirm the reality of it; and the need to stay in touch with this new reality metamorphosed into religious rituals and practices. That is why the entire human cultures have belief systems that are often defined by geography and experience; thus the proliferation of the different religions in the world today.
Yet some of us believe that the view that there is a superior being is too simplistic or that the idea of God is simply man’s invention out of his recognition of his own fragility, and the need to bolster his courage against his own insecurities. These people then began a quest to discredit the obvious. They propound ambiguous theories that take most of us out of the debate due to the complexity and sheer scope of their theories. And in the process, they establish themselves as quasi deities worthy of our reverence, bolstered by their immense media exposure and support.
Their work in explaining intricate parts of our world, our physiology or the cosmos is inseparably entwined with their aura as super humans, who would one day expose the ‘foolishness’ of the belief in God. So they convince us to look to them for direction on how to live our lives. Ladies and gentlemen, they are toiling in futility. And our faith in God will never be shaken.
The only gain is that we know more about our physical world because of their efforts — which is God’s intention for humanity, anyway. Knowledge was to increase and God was to allow it. This was prophesied by Daniel, and knowledge has immensely increased and continues to increase.
Extracting a gene from a cell (DNA) and injecting it into another cell to produce a new gene expression is not in any way or form different from combining sand and cement to make blocks and build a house with the blocks. It is also no different from combining different ingredients to make a tasteful meal. In each situation, one starts with something that was created by God, equipped with specific characteristics that are designed to function in predetermined ways.
Each of the three processes mentioned above requires an understanding of the characteristics desirable to achieve the purpose; and the knowledge of how the starting materials may interact to produce the desired outcome. The prescribed rules and measures must be adhered to in a meticulous way, without adulteration, for the desired outcome to be realized; the microscopic, or macroscopic nature of the activities, notwithstanding.
The design is God’s! The prescribed methodology is God’s! The predictable outcome is God’s! Our ability to discover the existence of the different properties exhibited by these materials, and how they may interact to result in our desired outcome, is also a gift to us from God. That we are able to plan and execute any of these activities is made possible by the spirit that is in all of us which is extended to us from God. Without the spirit, we cease to be. And at God’s decision, that spirit may be withdrawn from any of us.
We acquire knowledge because God has decreed for us to have knowledge; for our advancement on earth, and more importantly, for His Will for humanity to be fulfilled. We are intrigued by our adventures in life, and our mastery of them. I hate to burst anybody’s bubbles: Everything we know today in all our academic disciplines were given to us. We did not force our way into it, because we do not have that kind of power. God controls everything in our lives, including how much we really know about anything. He allows us to figure out only how much He really wants us to know.
And He gives that knowledge to whoever He chooses. That is why sometimes the most unlikely person stumbles on to a great finding. That discovery is a gift to the whole humanity through that one person. Name it! It does not matter what it is. If it is intelligent information, God allowed us access into it. There is nothing to know, until He decides to let us into something. And to remind us that our collective geniuses is nothing to Him, every once in a while, when we begin to feel secure about something, a disaster happens to remind us that we are still far from being in control of anything.
Our God is the God of order and He rewards men and women who orderly follow their pursuits; those who take time to understand what basic information they need; those who respect physical and natural laws; and those who diligently and exhaustively work towards a common goal. All human beings everywhere are God’s children, and it is His Will that none ends up with Satan in the eternal lake of fire. For this reason, even those who challenge His existence are given chance to change their minds, and be saved.
Not even their unbelief and arrogance are enough reasons for God to withhold from them important findings that will be of benefit to the entire humanity — when they have worked tirelessly within the right framework of nature, and the benefit they produce will be for all humanity. Their researches are rewarded because God’s people need them for enhancement of their life and mission here on earth.
Many among us who have strong faith in God, do no delve into science and astronomy. Rather, they are mostly drawn into theology and “ethical” disciplines. And when the believers pull away from scientific disciplines, and unilaterally condemn every new claim from science, those who are mostly drawn to science begin to think of science as being opposed to God, when in reality the opposite is true. This readily fits into the political correctness attitude in all public domain these days; and the Christians have become largely complacent due to our incorrect adaptation of grace to our lives: ‘that because we have grace, we need not do anything because we are completely covered by the blood of Jesus Christ.’
This is very likely why some in science tend to doubt the existence of God because they have been allowed to think of science as contradictory to God. Otherwise, why are God’s people distancing themselves from science? And it had been that way since science got here. Galileo, who is often touted as the ‘father of modern science’, was censured severely by the Catholic Church and when the church authorities could not stop him from publicly sharing his scientific discoveries, they imprisoned him multiple times. And with the separation of church and state in the world communities, the rift grew wider, with the state marrying itself with science, and together with some in the scientific community, promoting campaigns aimed at stripping the church of all authorities and influence.
It is widely understood that science tells us how things work; and not why they work. Therefore, even the most obstinate of the scientists, and atheist, who are opposed to any mention of God, has so many questions they cannot find any answers to, through their knowledge of science, or anything else that has no God in it. Yet they keep holding out their resistance against including God in anything, in the hope that someone would one day supply the answers they have long sought, and finally demonstrate there is no God.
And, if science offends God’s people, to cause then to largely stay away from it, science, then, must be in opposition to God; and as such, appears to these unbelievers, to be a substitute for God. And those who have faith in God traditionally refuse to be drawn into certain discussions, for fear of diluting their faith in God. But we should all be reminded that Television evangelism was largely shunned when it was pioneered. So were a lot of other things the church leaders consider secular.
But these days, television is being touted as the best method of fulfilling the great commission. And Television is a direct product of science. So also is the satellite, the internet and electronic devices and accessories like CDs. DVDs, Blu-Ray, and a host of others that have lent themselves to the spreading of the gospel of Jesus Christ and the furtherance of the kingdom of heaven.
Christians having an aversion to science is contrary to the Bible. Jesus Himself asked God to not remove His disciples from the world, rather to keep them in the world so that through them the world can change its mind and return to God.
Christians are told to be salt and light to the world. By removing themselves from new inventions instead of figuring out how to use them for the purpose of the work they are doing for Jesus Christ, they actually minimized their effectiveness in reaching the world with the gospel of Jesus Christ; when in actuality God permitted the invention of these new technologies for His own glory, and not necessarily for what the secular world intended it for.
But when we stay away, the secular world molds everything and uses them to advance its agenda while God’s people remain in their secluded and outdated mode. So, Christians should be at the forefront of new inventions, finding applications for them in spreading the word of God and winning souls for Jesus Christ.
Our continued involvement in science, astronomy and other specialized fields of study will help in keeping a lot of filth, like the theory of evolution, away from our institutions of learning and public policies. It is our responsibility, as Christians, to remain in the world so we can be salt and light to the world.
Science has become synonymous with living in today’s world. Mankind has come to believe in science to the point many are fast replacing thee spiritual truth with science.
And it does not matter that most so-called scientific facts are derived from assumptions and extrapolations. Many decades of excitedly teaching science, as the facts of life, in schools and institutions of higher learning, have created huge problems of over-reliance on science for the world.
Even the church got into it with reckless abandon, treating science as the best thing that has ever happened to mankind. And once rooted in, science took over the world and began to run it just the way it wanted, backed superbly by government’s approval and funding. Science helped governments consolidate its powers and government funded and fueled the propensity of the carnage caused on the church by science.
You are pitched against your own child when it comes to the truthfulness of the Bible. Science, helped by government has brainwashed the children that God is no longer necessary in discussing how the world came into existence and how the universe and the world operate. To earn his diploma and a good paying job, he has to accept their theories as truth or miss out on the good jobs.
Christians are already losing the battle but you do not have to lose the war. The Bible guarantees your victory if you persevere. Teach the children right. Give them the truth of God because God has allowed you the power to. Then allow then to acquire whatever knowledge they need to be able to make a living. Continue to reinforce your teaching. At the right time, they will be able to separate the truth from the theories and develop the right relationship with God—the Holy Spirit makes sure it happens.