COMMENTARY Science Is God’s Gift, Too

SPIRIT REVEALS TRUTH FOR THE FREEDOM OF MAN

By Lowell Grisham

Sunday, March 14, 2010

“I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth…” John 16:12-13a

“You shall know the truth, and the truth will make you free.” John 8:33 Because God is truth, people of faith must be people committed to truth. Whenever we discover truth, from any source, we are to recognize that as divine revelation, the spirit of truth.

That is why people of faith may embrace robustly the scientific quest for deeper understanding of the nature of reality. The scientific quest for truth is to religious minds a spiritual quest because God is truth.

When scientists in the 20th ...

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Opinion, Pages 9 on 03/14/2010

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"The truth can never be threatening to people of faith because God is truth."

Thank you, Lowell, but, what do we say to the person of faith who sincerely believes that his "faith" requires that he accept as "truth" that every literal word in Genesis is the "Word of God"? We can simply dismiss them as misguided and superstitious, but they simply dismiss science itself as a dangerous endeavor. This enormous group of anti-science Christians, including many of our elected leaders in Congress, are easily manipulated by those who are in a position to profit monetarily by organizing emotion-driven, rather that reason-driven voting blocks.

Posted by: fatchance

March 14, 2010 at 7:31 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

Beautifully written essay. Thank you!

Posted by: newdesignschool

March 15, 2010 at 8:18 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

Well stated. Truth takes a while to take hold in a culture. Look at the "flat vs round earth" issue. It took a whole generation (or more) for younger people to accept the evidence and change their beliefs. Old beliefs sometimes have to literally die off. That is why the pitiful science education that Americans are currently getting is so detrimental to our country. We have whole generations of science ignoramuses while other countries are "eating our cake". This misreading of scripture may be contributing to the decline of America.

Posted by: ajm

March 16, 2010 at 4:55 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

The average Christian is NOT against science in its technical aspects. I think if both Christians and scientists truly understood science, they wouldn't take the theory of evolution so seriously. For global climate change, if science wasn't so mixed with politics we would understand it better (although I prefer we still take action to prevent pollution and support the green movement). As for people who call themselves scientist, I'm going to assume many of them operate under a different title in the company they work for or funds them.

I think the danger of the universalism that Mr. Grisham is advertising is that it is likely to encourage our pursuit of convenience rather than the pursuit of truth.

Posted by: FishFillet

March 16, 2010 at 12:42 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

I for one wouldn't say that scientists, by whatever title or position, are any more above reproach than are ministers, by whatever title. Any group of humans has a wide variety of members. Some more aligned with their title than others. Truth should transcend persons and will be inconvenient at times. For that reason I would consider "evolution" to be on a par with gravity...beyond the theory stage. Although we don't have all the answers for either it is pretty darned obvious that it works so get over it & get on with the good works expected by any religious doctrine. Accepting or rejecting issues like evolution has little to do with how you live your life.

Posted by: ajm

March 18, 2010 at 6:09 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

Ajm said: "Truth should transcend persons and will be inconvenient at times." I totally agree. However, then you mentioned that the theory of evolution should have little to do with how someone lives their life. That sounds more like convenience than the truth.

I do say that it probably shouldn't be taken as seriously by scientists and Christians, which is almost the same thing you were saying about how "religious" people should take it. However, the issue should not be oversimplified either.

A valid conclusion based on the theory of evolution is that humans evolved from apes 8 millions years ago. This is at odds with the literal interpretation of the historical record found in the book of Genesis. This will bring a lot of questions to Jewish, Christian, and maybe Muslim minds.

Posted by: FishFillet

March 19, 2010 at 11:01 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

Christians readily accept natural selection as defined as change within a kind which agrees with the Bible that all the animals on the ark provided all the different varieties of "kinds" that we see today. However, the idea that natural selection caused everything to be evolved from subatomic particles and this idea should be on par with gravity and that everyone should accept that idea as truth which is contrary to the Bible is crazy. If this is the truth which Mr. Grisham is talking about that everyone should accept, then he is mistaken and so is ajm. There is much true evidence that points to that form of evolution from subatomic particles is not true. So, what is the definition of "truth" that Mr. Grisham talks about? How much evidence is needed for something to be true? Gravity is proven, evolution from subatomic particles is not.

Posted by: rflow

March 20, 2010 at 8:57 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

March 14, 2010 Grisham writes that you are superstitious if you believe the writing in Genesis conflicts with evolution. He also wrote “lies are the instrument of the devil”. And then intentionally misquotes and misinterprets the Scripture John 16:13a Jesus was telling His disciples the Holy Spirit would guide them into all truth. (not somebody 2000 years later) And just for Mr Grisham information God did not chose kings to reign 1Samuel 8:7 the Lord wanted to reign.
In the Scriptures the phrase “Spirit of truth” the word Spirit is capitalized, I wonder what’s spirit of truth Mr. Grisham is talking about even though he uses the phrase “spirit of truth” three times and the word spirit five other times at no time is the word spirit capitalized, so he is not talking about the “Spirit of truth” in the Bible, but then he doesn’t teach the Bible, does he?
The creation and fall of Adam is taught all the way from Genesis to the book of Jude. In at least nine books with nine different writers all mentioning Adam,
plus the most compelling factor is that Jesus did not change the teaching of Adam and Eve. He changed other teaching in the Old Testament, such as an eye for an eye.
So by their teaching that the book of Genesis is wrong, or as Roger Joslin said Genesis was written for a few primitive people. Even though scripture tells us in,
2Timothy 3:16 all Scripture is given by the inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction is in righteousness.

Paul warns against such false teaching. 1 Timothy 6:20 O Timothy! Guard what was committed to your trust, avoid and the profane and idled babbling and contradiction of what is falsely called knowledge.
My compassion is for the people that go to those two churches.
To believe the teaching of Lowell Grisham and Roger Joslin , you have to believe that God is not all knowing and that both the Holy Spirit and Jesus Christ allowed those of us who believe the book of Genesis to be correct to be deceived. Billwoodmancy@yahoo.com

Posted by: billwoodmancy

March 20, 2010 at 4:35 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

Has Mr. Woodmancy just claimed to have established his credentials of inerrancy in theological thought? Is it simply impossible that Jesus and the Holy Spirit would allow Bill to be decieved? Bill, are you familiar with the concept of hubris?

"He who begins by loving Christianity better than truth will proceed by loving his own sect or church better than Christianity, and end by loving himself better than all." Samuel Coleridge, English poet, 1772-1834.

Posted by: fatchance

March 21, 2010 at 9:37 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

Well, this certainly has gotten some attention. Fishfillet: current science does not hold that man evolved from apes. It does state that there is evidence that man (including both current and extinct varieties) have a common ancestor many millions of years ago. There were mutations due to natural processes and different branches went off in different directions. BTW, how does the Bible deal with Neanderthal and other forms of extinct hominids? Were they not God's children too?
The whole thing about scriptural interpretation (and I'm not just referring to Christian writings) is well studied in a book by a very serious Bible scholar: Misquoting Jesus: The Story Behind Who Changed the Bible and Why (Plus) by Bart D. Ehrman. It seems to boil down to a simple issue: if God had wanted the Bible to be perfectly accurate, He wouldn't have employed people in the process of producing it...but they were.

Posted by: ajm

March 26, 2010 at 5:17 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

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