Science

I curled up on the couch next to my hubby after work last night, and caught the end of a program on PBS that he had been watching entitled, The History of Science: Can We Have Unlimited Power? As the title indicates, the show chronicled the time line of scientific discoveries about energy, and detailed how those discoveries led to inventions that changed our way of living.

There were two things of particular interest to me. The first was the work of scientist Alessandro Volta, who studied the Torpedo fish. By examining the dissected anatomy of this fish to learn the source of the electric charge that it emitted to stun it's prey, he was able to replicate the design and produce what came to be known as the "voltaic pile." We know it as the battery. Had this fish not been designed, but simply the result of random chaos, this replication would have been impossible. As far as I know, it is not possible to exactly replicate chaos, as it has no rhyme or reason. And, designs come from designers; even the simple ones.

The other was the discovery of radium. At first, it was thought to be producing energy out of nowhere in defiance of the first law of thermodynamics-the conservation of energy which states that, "there is no new matter or energy coming into existence and there is no new matter or energy passing out of existence." It was later understood, however, that radium's output of energy resulted in a loss of mass. As it gives off energy, it decomposes and becomes something else, like lead. That spoke to me, once again, about how the natural mirrors the spiritual. As we surrender ourselves to God, and allow the light of Christ to shine through us, we shrink away--losing "mass" and become a new creation. That is exactly what I am trying to do.

"He must become greater; I must become less." John 3:30

Sci-Fi

I watched part of a documentary on PBS about hummingbirds the other day. Those tiny birds have always fascinated me and I wanted to learn more about them. Before seeing this film, I hadn't realized that there were so many different types of hummingbirds, some exclusive to certain regions of the planet, with subtle variations in color, body, and beak shape. The narrator explained these differences in each bird as the result of evolutionary processes by which the flowers, in an effort to survive, had enticed the birds to dine. The birds, in return had adapted the shape of their beaks to feed off of specific flowers. Michael Pollan presented the same argument in his documentary The Botany of Desire which aired several months ago. He blushingly admitted that, while he didn't believe that tulips had cognitive abilities, they had somehow communicated their desirability to the human race and we in turn, fell for them, and continue to cultivate them since our initial infatuation. Wow!

Is it really easier to believe that tulips and fuchsias, though lacking the abilities to either think or reason, can somehow hatch a scheme to gain advocacy with humans and the animal kingdom, than it is to see the evidence of a master plan repeated over and again throughout the known universe? Is there more comfort in supposing that we exist as the result of some happy accident that produced the perfect environmental requirements for our existence and can just as easily, and randomly, alter the physical environment to adversarial conditions that result in our demise? For me, the answer is a resounding, no.

"Consider how the lilies grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you, not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these." Luke 12:27

Broken

The greatest lie ever perpetrated against mankind ( aside from the original whopper in the garden that resulted in the breach in our relationship with God) is the notion that we are the result of some random molecular changes in the environment rather than created beings. If we exist for no particular reason, except that cells aligned in a magnificent way to bring about our complex physical and mental compositions, then we are beholden to nothing. We are free to blaze our own trail. There is no right or wrong action aside from what society deems as such. This paradigm of random existence and free agency leaves individuals flailing like unswaddled newborns searching for comfort in a vast and impersonal universe.

If however, we understand the Truth, that we are lovingly, precision crafted by a God who desires to have relationship with us, who delights in us and the functions that he has engineered in us, the game changes. With this knowledge comes the revelation that if we are not doing what we are designed to do, then we are broken. The mission of life suddenly shifts from a purely hedonistic pursuit of pleasure, to one of discovery. There is a pressing need to know not only what we are capable of, but additionally to understand the mind and character of The One who engineered us with these abilities.

In the early 1990s, Robin Williams starred in a movie called Hook. It was a take on Peter Pan in which Robin was "The Pan." Having been caught up in the fray of adult life, he had long ago forgotten his time in Neverland and any sense of who he was and what he was able to do. He was broken. Only after spending time in the land that he left behind, amongst those who had not crossed over, was he able to slowly regain the realization of who he was and begin to walk in that knowledge. He recovered the skill that he needed to be victorious over his foe and found fulfillment in the process. So it is with mankind. As we become acquainted with the things of God and gain intimate knowledge of who he is, our eyes are opened to the incredible purpose that we were designed to fulfill. It is then, as we surrender to that purpose that we are able to walk victoriously and find wholeness.

"For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus." Romans 3:23-24