A Rant: Removing the Roadblocks

Pardon me, but I need to rant a bit today. That means this post will undoubtedly include some ridiculous overstatement, silly generalization, or other ungodly use of words. So I ask your forgiveness in advance. But I just can't help myself.

My rant is in response to an email I received recently. It was from a dear friend who was looking for a book recommendation. The book was not for him, but for a family member who apparently has turned her back on the Christian faith (any book recommendations out there?). While explaining his request, he gave a fistful of reasons for her rejection, but the one that really stuck in my craw was one I've heard all too often. This young woman--a bright student in finishing her masters degree in biology at a large university--is under the impression that you can't be a Christian AND be an intelligent scientific thinker. Her proof? The (misinformed) impression she has that all Christians believe (and must believe) that dinosaurs never existed, that the earth is 6,000 years old, that there is no such thing as evolution in any shape or form.

Don't get me wrong. You are entitled to conclude from your reading of Genesis 1-2 that God created the world in a very short time (even 6, 24 hour days). You may believe, if you really think it best, that the dinosaur bones that have been found just west of Denver were a part of God's elaborate plan to create a young earth that merely looked old (on par with giving Adam and Eve belly buttons). You can even insist that the earth is a mere 6,000 years old. You may think all those things and I will have no beef with you. Just don't tell me that I have to believe all those things. More importantly, don't tell my young friend that she has to.

There are a lot of reasons I'd prefer Christians don't run around insisting on this narrow interpretation of Scripture. For one, I (and many other Bible-believing Christians) believe that there are other (better?) ways to interpret the text--ways that remain faithful to Genesis' original intent but not at odds with scientific findings. I think that looking to Genesis 1 to see just how old the earth is and exactly "how it happened" is starting in the wrong place--that when we do that we're asking questions the text isn't trying to answer. I think that the text may not be trying to tell us exactly how God created the cosmos (I can't understand why God would think it necessary to tell us that--first thing!)--but that he created it (I can understand why God would want us to know that). I may elaborate on that in a later post (depending on how much trouble I get in for this one), but that's not really my main point here. My main point is that there are sound reasons for having a different understanding of Genesis 1 and that to insist that there is only one--and that it's the one that seems to contradict so much science--is to put up an unnecessary roadblock to the Christian faith. I'd even go to say that, depending on the severity of the insistence, it may even be making the Christian faith about something it is not.

Let me explain that last sentence--and pardon the tangential thinking. Remember, this is a rant.

Here in Denver, it's not uncommon to see "Darwin Fish" plastered on the bumpers of the Subaru's in the King Soopers parking lot. You know the ones--they have fins, feet, and often, gaping mouths that are chomping down the "Jesus fish". There are probably a lot of things that could be said about those fish (either the Darwin fish or the Jesus fish). But for today, just take a moment and notice the interest pairing that is happening here. The Darwin symbol--which represents one interpretation of the way the world came about--is paired with a Jesus symbol. I don't expect anything on a bumper to be too profound, but in my mind, this should be an apples to oranges comparison--a confusion of categories. After all, when I want people to know Jesus and to become Christians, what I want for them to know is all the life, salvation, holiness, joy, fulfilment, meaning, hope, and redemption that can be theirs in Christ Jesus...not some particular understanding of all the details of the way this world came about. To be sure, we have something to say about that as Christians--but it's not our main concern. Yet the pairing of the Darwin/Jesus fish on so many bumpers suggests that, at least in the minds of many (presumably) non-Christians--that is our (and Jesus'!) main concern. If that's the message we're sending, no wonder so many people remain disinterested--or even scornful--from the "Christian" faith.

That's one of the tragic ironies of all the energy that many Christians have been pouring into the Creationist debate. They've been fighting for "truth" in what may be considered a peripheral issue, but in the process have but up unnecessary roadblocks for those who might come to know the Truth, the way, and the life. In my mind, that is something worth ranting about.