August 13, 2001
EDITORIAL:
Scientific questions, ultimate answers
___Scientific studies continue to challenge the mind's ability to understand and the spirit's capacity to perceive.
___Consider the debate over embryonic stem-cell research. We face one of the great ethical dilemmas of any age, due to startling advances in science and technology. Until recently, we could not have weighed the merits that pro-life vs. pro-health issues represented in these cells. Until manipulation of the earliest clusters of human cells became possible, such a debate was moot. But the passion generated by stem-cell research reflects the reality that biomedical advances have developed more rapidly than our ability to analyze them and assert their ethical priority.
___Elsewhere, a spate of studies have attempted to demonstrate how the brain processes religious experience. Numerous reports have described "brain mapping" experiments. Radioactive imaging reveals consistent patterns of brain function when religious subjects pray or meditate. The research has raised chicken-or-egg questions. Does brain activity create only the perception of religious truth? Or does this portion of the brain respond specifically to religious stimuli, just as other portions of the brain respond to sight, sound and other senses? Sympathetic researchers affirm the latter position. Explains Andrew Newberg of the University of Pennyslvania: "It makes sense that God would give you a brain that is able to have these experiences."
___Some of the most intriguing and incomprehensible scientific data has been revealed by astronomers and astrophysicists. They tell us the universe contains 100 billion or more galaxies, each with millions if not billions of stars. New research, which actually records cosmic activity that took place billions of years ago, has given rise to questions regarding the shape and rate of expansion of the universe. Now, scientists not only are trying to figure out how it all began, but also "how the universe will end," as Time magazine ominously predicted this summer.
___During the past century, Baptists have not rested comfortably alongside science. These three new developments represent areas of science that have caused consternation among conservative Christians. The number of biomedical issues, headed by abortion, multiplied as as the rate of scientific discovery outpaced ethical assimilation of this new knowledge. Since the days of Sigmund Freud, psychology and psychiatry often antagonized Christianity. And astronomy seemed to get a bang out of proposing theories that alienated many people of faith.
___The conflict has not been the exclusive domain of scientists. The two camps clash when they try to answer each other's questions. Science appropriately attempts to answer the great "How" questions of nature. Science crosses a line when it attempts to answer "Who" and "Why." Similarly, faith sometimes tries to explain "How" when it has sure answers for "Who" and "Why."
___Moreover, science sometimes gives faith an inferiority complex. Science receives the glamour and money and fame, while much of society relegates faith to second-tier status. Defensive, faith lashes back. But speaking in science's terms, faith is hard pressed to join the debate, much less win the argument.
___Still, after science has run all its equations, completed its experiments and explained phenomena, people will be people. At their core, they will yearn to know the things only faith in Christ sees and perceives:
___Deep inside, people long to know Who created the universe--God--more than they care to know exactly how it all came about.
___They desire to know Why they were created--to fellowship with, praise and glorify God--more than they want to know the tiniest details of DNA.
___They need to know Why they feel unhappiness and estrangement--because sin has separated them from a loving relationship with God and others--more than they care to know which part of their brains functions more efficiently when they pray.
___They must know Who came to express God's love and bridge that chasm of estrangement and loneliness--Jesus--far more than they need to know the number of stars in the universe.
___They need to know Why Jesus came--because God so loved the world that he gave his only Son so that whoever believes in him will not perish but have eternal life--much more intensely than they need to know if stem cells can replace adult tissue.
___They want to know Who will reign over cre- ation--God--much more than they can conceive how many trillion years the sun will burn.
___Faith asks the ultimate questions. That doesn't diminish the importance of scientific discovery. But people essentially are spiritual beings, and only people of Christian faith can offer them the ultimate good news.
___We need not compete with science or allow science to intimidate faith. Rather, we must offer to walk alongside seekers as they ask deeply significant questions that can be seen only through eyes of faith.
___ Marv Knox
E-mail the editor at marvknox@baptiststandard.com
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