The Castle Called Earth

inspired by a passage in Mere Christianity by CS Lewis

Have you ever heard (or spoken) phrases like “I don’t see how you can believe in God and believe in science”, or “Science is killing God”, or anything along the lines of “Christians need to wake up and smell the scientific coffee”? Have you ever struggled with accepting both scientific facts and a Being that created the world around us? Do you ever find yourself having to “pick sides” between religious beliefs and science?

This struggle is the source of many debates within ourselves and between individuals. It comes up all over the place in politics, church, casual debates, and in personal moments of thought. Worse, it seems that there is no definite answer to these questions. Some God-followers feel they must reject scientific thought, and some scientists feel they must reject God. Some God-followers love science, and some scientists love God. Who is right? Do we pick a side and hope for the best? Do we give up on God? Do we just stop caring and get on with our lives?

Now I could be grossly wrong here, but the basic premise of the “Christians need to wake up and smell the scientific coffee” idea is this: as we discover more about the world around us, the less we need an explanation about it. The less we need an explanation about it, the less we need God. The less we need God, the less He exists, and the less He exists, the less He created the universe.

Before we move further, let’s make sure we are all on the same page.

Science: The observation, identification, description, experimental investigation, and theoretical explanation of phenomena.

In more basic terms, science is observing things in order to explain those things. This brings us to a peculiar predicament as described earlier: When we increasingly discover more about our universe, we increasingly question whether God created it. The reason this is peculiar is because it does not make sense.

Time to play pretend (don’t read too much into this story…just for illustration purposes).

Imagine a far away land of kings, queens, swords, magic, and knights. In this land, there is a powerful king who built an enormous and elaborate castle. This castle was like nobody had ever seen, and the king poured everything he had into making it. After he finished the castle, he selected a group of people from his kingdom, cast a spell on them to make them forget their life in the kingdom, and then placed them inside his new masterpiece. When these people woke up, they first had no idea where they were or what to do. Over time, they discovered the castle’s walls were made of stone and the doors were made of wood. After more time, they discovered how to light candles in the darkness and raise and lower the drawbridge. After even more time, they start to make modifications and additions to the castle.

Now, as these people discover more about their dwelling place, does that change the fact that the king built the castle? Do their discoveries and modifications refute all the work the king put into it?

In the same manner, as we discover that the sun is a giant ball of gas, or that we can fertilize crops, does that change the fact that the sun is there, or that plants can grow from the earth? When man discovered how to harness fire, does that mean things did not burn before that? If God created rivers, do dams change that?

The problem with this whole debate is not that there are no definite answers. The problem is that we are asking the wrong questions. We cannot debate whether to choose the side of science or the side of God because these sides are not sides at all. If God really did create the universe, then science is our opportunity to marvel at His work. Science is a gift He gave us to adore His creativity, beauty, and power.

So next time you hear: “You need to wake up and smell the scientific coffee”, go ahead and answer: “I have. And it smells delicious!”

“The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands"

Psalm 19:1

Musings on an ice bucket

Well let's get this blog show on the road! I'll start with some randomness =D

I don't know how technologically advanced any of your freezers are, but our freezer here in Center Street Apartments doesn't have an ice maker. Consequently, we are forced to use these crazy, stone age, out of date things called ice trays and ice buckets! Here's a refresher on them if you have no idea what I'm talking about (I'm sure you do know what these are...this is leading to something I promise).

The way this works is you have a couple trays that have 10-12 wells in them. When you want to make ice, you pour water into each little well and then stick the tray back into the freezer. After some time, the water magically turns into ice and you have 10-12 ice cubes! Now there are a few issues that occur with these trays. Having only 10-12 wells, one or two trays by themselves empty really fast with four people using the freezer. Since standard procedure requires that a refreshing glass of water or kool-aid must have at least four ice cubes, four guys will mercilessly empty those trays like it's going out of style.

To fix this issue, we use this really complicated tool called the ice bucket. It is a rectangular prism with five faces. No sixth face exists so that you can put things in it. Things like ice cubes! Ahh, so now we're faced with a dilemma every time we want ice cubes from the freezer. You can A) use the old approach by using cubes directly from the ice tray (which leads to the ice-shortage conundrum that I described earlier), or B) empty the whole ice tray into the bucket, use the cubes from the bucket for your glass, and then fill the ice tray with water to save up for later!

Now I'll admit, option A is a lot easier, but it always comes back to bite you in the end. One day you'll go to the freezer for ice cubes, but there will be nothing in the trays or the bucket! Option B solves this problem because each time you get cubes, you are storing extra in the bucket so you can make more. This quickly leads to a full ice bucket and refreshment all around!

Now, here's my point of describing all this madness. I warn you that this all might be some crazy, twisted stretch of an everyday situation, but it made sense in my head. Even if you're not a Christian, this coming analysis of the ice tray phenomenon can apply to you in regard to school, finances, whatever, so I ask that you keep reading.

God constantly provides us with "trays of ice". When we go to Him for our "refreshment" through reading His Word, prayer, fellowship, or ministry, He gives us ice cubes to equip us for dealing with this life and serving Him. Now these cubes can come in all kinds of forms: a passage from Scripture, a sermon, help to get out of debt, advice from a friend, fixing broken relationships, providing opportunities, etc. The question is what do we do with these fantastic gifts? Do we A) take them directly from the tray and end it there, or B) store them in our "ice bucket" so that the benefits can shape the rest of our lives?

Both options provide refreshment, but enough of option A will leave us with one day of opening the freezer and being out of ice cubes. What happened? Did God stop providing? By no means! Every time God gives us exactly what we need, but many times we (myself included) squander His gifts out of laziness, selfishness, or even ignorance. This leaves us with no ice cubes, and even leads us to blame Him for not providing! So then God mercifully bails us out with more gifts, we squander those, and the cycle continues as our relationship with Him becomes an up and down roller coaster.

God doesn't want our relationship with Him to be an up and down roller coaster. As the source of all blessings and refreshment, He wants us to learn to depend on Him for those things. Instead of squandering His provisions, we can take option B and store these blessings in our hearts and minds...our "ice buckets". We put the excess away for later so that we can deal with later situations, share God's love with others, and grow closer and more dependent on Him. Storing the ice cubes and not squandering them shows Him that we trust Him. Over time, it brings us peace. We know that we can open the freezer and we will be refreshed. We know that His provisions are more than enough.

So I encourage all of you: when God gives you your ice cubes, make the most of them. Trust Him that they are enough. Store them in your bucket so you will have ice later =D

"And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work."
2 Corinthians 9:8