Thank you again for your posting. I think you may have wrongly interpreted
some of the dialog in this forum, but your comments are still appropriate.
I enjoy my scientific work because I see it as an extension of my worship
and service to God. The more I see the canvas of God's creative activity
spread out over the vastness of time and space, the greater becomes my
vision of God's creative and sustaining power. The more I understand of
His working in and through creation, the more I value the creation over
which we have been made stewards. Seeing God work through "natural"
evolutionary processes to bring forth his creative work, increases my awe
and envigorates my understanding of the character of God. God's goodness,
power, wisdom and love take on additional meaning to me against the
background of millions of years of creative history. Likewise the creation
mandate to care for creation becomes almost overwhelming when that which we
govern as stewards was patiently formed in the hands of God for millions of
years. How could we think of abusing such a creation!
As pointed out by many others, the incarnation and the cross also provides
a context for understanding creation. While we are, as dust, an
insignificant part of the vastness of God's creation in time and space, He
has chosen in His grace to bring us into fellowship with Himself. In the
incarnation God has taken upon himself the physical creation and has
identified fully with us His creatures made from the dust. In the cross He
showed the depth of His love for the cosmos He created. The image of the
cross is everywhere to be seen in creation, and provides I believe the
basis for understanding the death and pain we see embedded in it.
As Christians all our human endeavors (whether art. music, poetry, dance,
science, literature, economics, agriculture, business, industry, etc.)
should be done in service to God as stewards of His gifts, and to His
glory. We can never be reminded of that too often. It is for this very
reason that the ASA exists. The ASA members that I have had the priviledge
of knowing all strive to serve God in their disciplines, and to worship Him
with their lives.
In Christ,
Keith
Keith B. Miller
Department of Geology
Kansas State University
Manhattan, KS 66506
kbmill@ksu.ksu.edu
http://www.ksu.edu/~kbmill/