Science in Christian Perspective

Reflections from Murphy
Joe W. Palen
13 Duh Drive, Apt. 212
Bethlehem, PA 18015

From: JASA 38 (September 1986): 223

I am a new member of ASA and was very much impressed with the first issue received of the Journal. I especially enjoyed reading Dr. George Murphy's "Theological Argument for Evolution." Since I am neither a physicist (chemical engineer) nor a theologian (accepted Christ finally at age 42), 1 am not very well qualified to comment on the article. However, a thought occurred to me regarding the "backward in time" explanation of death and suffering before the "Fall." Dr. Murphy touches upon it when he says that Christ at the center of history gives meaning to all history.

Since God is not limited by the time dimension of our universe, He logically can see all of history from beginning to end and, while He gives us free choice, He must know what choices we will make. This would require that God know the practically infinite number of possible paths of history which depend upon the choices He allows us freely to make; no problem for our infinite Maker. This is a little hard for me to understand fully but it does help me to see that Christ on the cross died for my specific sins, which I had not committed yet, but which He had already known that I would commit.

The same type of reasoning can be applied to the suffering prior to the fall. Just as Christ redeemed those in both the past and the future, Adam condemned those in both the past and the future.

It seems unfortunate that Christians must spend so much time on this Creation/ Evolution issue, which diverts our energies from Christ's work for us. On the other hand, maybe it is necessary for the understanding of the Body to work through it. I am grateful for the clear insight of Dr. Murphy in helping this process to progress.