I recently had an interesting discussion of creation views with two scientists
who are leaders in my church. These men are by no means young-earth
creationists, but it is interesting to see how so many American evangelical
scientists are drawn to concordism. They assume that somehow God's relation to
the world, whether in creation or providence, must be mediated in some
mechanical or physical way. They therefore look for some kind of physical
description of how God acts in the world, and hence some kind of concordist
interpretation of Genesis, which assumes that Genesis must take the form of a
physical, historical narrative.
I thought along these lines for many years, until James Houston (from England)
taught me about the true transcendence of God. We scientists, he would say, are
always trying to package God in some causal explanation, so we can put Him in
our pocket, fit Him into our world view. However, the living God refuses to be
fitted into anyone's world view. Rather, it is we who are immersed in the
life-world of His making. "The wind blows, and you see its effects but you
don't know where it came from or where it is going; so it is with the Spirit".
There is an irreducible mystery to God's working in the world. Therefore no
scientific cosmogony can either support or refute the claim of Genesis 1:1. The
latter is a metaphysical statement, a mystery of the faith. We can't understand
God's working, we can only stand under God.
Transcendence is, for a scientist, a dead end. For a Christian, it is a
breathtaking view of God's world at the edge of a cliff. I think we keep
repeating these deistic and naturalistic views, simply because our American
culture has forgotten the richness of historic Christian theology, "mere
Christianity."
Paul Arveson, Research Physicist
Code 724, NSWC, Bethesda, MD 20084
73367.1236@compuserve.com arveson@oasys.dt.navy.mil
(301) 227-3831 (W) (301) 227-1914 (FAX) (301) 816-9459 (H)