Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"
There are conscientious, honest-hearted scientists who are Christians, who see the church pinpointed in Revelation to be the one that "keep[s] the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus" (Rev. 14:12). They have a problem that ordinary church members don't have. Their profession, their life work, is geology or paleontology--or some full-time science--and so they are deeply impressed by logical deductions that (to them) make a six-day creation week seem impossible.
In a search for unity, others quote Hebrews 11:3, "By faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God" (in six days, of course). And so here we have the "faith/science" tension in churches' colleges and universities.
The ultimate solution of course is to realize a faith that can penetrate into dimensions of true science as yet unapproachable to "scientists." The problem of the churches is a failure to grasp what true biblical "faith" is. Millions of Protestants and Roman Catholics sincerely embrace the doctrine of natural human immortality, a doctrine that automatically enshrouds the meaning of Christ's sacrifice on His cross. No way can anyone appreciate the "breadth and depth and length and height" of the love (agape) that led Christ to die there, if he holds to natural immortality. They can't believe He died for us! Consequently, those who believe in natural immortality have a restricted view of what faith is, for faith is a heart appreciation of that agape-love.
Devalue the love (agape), and automatically you devalue the faith. But if the church borrows its views of justification by faith from those who hold to natural immortality, our concept of faith will automatically be paralyzed into lukewarmness. We may sing about the cross, but fail to grasp how "by faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God." There's a dimension of faith we haven't yet plumbed. The resultant confusion short-changes our "righteousness by faith."
Conclusion: the "righteousness by faith" embraced by those who "keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus" must be much more clearly defined than that held by those who hold to natural immortality. Here can be found the secret root of our bemoaned disunity between "faith and science."
--Robert J. Wieland
From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: September 12, 2004.
Copyright © 2012 by "Dial Daily Bread."
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