Posted on 04/07/2008 2:25:19 AM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
THE scientist who led the team that cracked the human genome is to publish a book explaining why he now believes in the existence of God and is convinced that miracles are real.
Francis Collins, the director of the US National Human Genome Research Institute, claims there is a rational basis for a creator and that scientific discoveries bring man “closer to God”.
His book, The Language of God, to be published in September, will reopen the age-old debate about the relationship between science and faith. “One of the great tragedies of our time is this impression that has been created that science and religion have to be at war,” said Collins, 56.
“I don’t see that as necessary at all and I think it is deeply disappointing that the shrill voices that occupy the extremes of this spectrum have dominated the stage for the past 20 years.”
For Collins, unravelling the human genome did not create a conflict in his mind. Instead, it allowed him to “glimpse at the workings of God”.
“When you make a breakthrough it is a moment of scientific exhilaration because you have been on this search and seem to have found it,” he said. “But it is also a moment where I at least feel closeness to the creator in the sense of having now perceived something that no human knew before but God knew all along.
“When you have for the first time in front of you this 3.1 billion-letter instruction book that conveys all kinds of information and all kinds of mystery about humankind, you can’t survey that going through page after page without a sense of awe. I can’t help but look at those pages and have a vague sense that this is giving me a glimpse of God’s mind.”
Collins joins a line of scientists whose research deepened their belief in God. Isaac Newton, whose discovery of the laws of gravity reshaped our understanding of the universe, said: “This most beautiful system could only proceed from the dominion of an intelligent and powerful being.”
Although Einstein revolutionised our thinking about time, gravity and the conversion of matter to energy, he believed the universe had a creator. “I want to know His thoughts; the rest are details,” he said. However Galileo was famously questioned by the inquisition and put on trial in 1633 for the “heresy” of claiming that the earth moved around the sun.
Among Collins’s most controversial beliefs is that of “theistic evolution”, which claims natural selection is the tool that God chose to create man. In his version of the theory, he argues that man will not evolve further.
“I see God’s hand at work through the mechanism of evolution. If God chose to create human beings in his image and decided that the mechanism of evolution was an elegant way to accomplish that goal, who are we to say that is not the way,” he says.
“Scientifically, the forces of evolution by natural selection have been profoundly affected for humankind by the changes in culture and environment and the expansion of the human species to 6 billion members. So what you see is pretty much what you get.”
Collins was an atheist until the age of 27, when as a young doctor he was impressed by the strength that faith gave to some of his most critical patients.
“They had terrible diseases from which they were probably not going to escape, and yet instead of railing at God they seemed to lean on their faith as a source of great comfort and reassurance,” he said. “That was interesting, puzzling and unsettling.”
He decided to visit a Methodist minister and was given a copy of C S Lewis’s Mere Christianity, which argues that God is a rational possibility. The book transformed his life. “It was an argument I was not prepared to hear,” he said. “I was very happy with the idea that God didn’t exist, and had no interest in me. And yet at the same time, I could not turn away.”
His epiphany came when he went hiking through the Cascade Mountains in Washington state. He said: “It was a beautiful afternoon and suddenly the remarkable beauty of creation around me was so overwhelming, I felt, ‘I cannot resist this another moment’.”
Collins believes that science cannot be used to refute the existence of God because it is confined to the “natural” world. In this light he believes miracles are a real possibility. “If one is willing to accept the existence of God or some supernatural force outside nature then it is not a logical problem to admit that, occasionally, a supernatural force might stage an invasion,” he says.
For me; it was too long. I left before the end...
| Use your own dirt. |
No, but nice attempt to mischaracterize what I posted.
Your “proper sequence” phrase simply is a dismissal that the “proper sequence” has to have some direction. It can’t “self organize” nor can it be the result of randomness. The Creator is there, and the atheists are the ones trying to “draw the curtain” over this obvious conclusion.
Now, maybe the two of us are arguing from the same viewpoint, and I misunderstood the thrust of your phrase “proper sequence” for the chemicals involved in conveying the information of life.
One good mischaracterization deserves another. ;)
Everyone and thing comes about becuase of a cause. Aliens could not have “evolved through completely natural purposes”. (This in no way means I believe in aliens, but I am just continuing your analogy).
In the end God would have to have at least guided the aliens evolution, though I would say that if here were aliens more like he would have ‘created’ them through miraculous supernatural power. I don’t believe in aliens, but I do believe mankind was created through miraculous power.
Evidence exists in God being our creator, and the worlds, there is no evidence for aliens.
You don’t fool me young man! It’s turtles ALL THE WAY DOWN!
Before nylon was invented by man, there was no ‘proper’ sequence for it, as it would convey no use, it would be a deficient (or perhaps ‘improper’) esterase enzyme (in one example).
What was the ‘proper’ sequence of a hemoglobin protein when the oxygen content of Earth's atmosphere was much higher? Now that it is lower do you think it took a ‘Wizard of Oz’ type of god to change it to what it now needed to be; or do you think that the mechanism for changing life built into the rules of the game were sufficient?
Most of the amino acids in hemoglobin could be replaced by several other amino acids without changing the oxygen handling dynamics of the protein. Yet out of these millions of possibilities only a few are actually used. Is this because it wouldn't be ‘proper’ to use the others?
This would be the answer - yes.
As for your period of time when the oxygen content was higher - that would be before higher mammals were here anyway, and this period, as with every other period of the earth, was necessary to create the environment in which we could thrive.
Jesus sure displayed a high degree of confidence about Genesis whenever He talked about it. Works for me.
God didn’t use *magic*. He would have used His power inherent and natural to Himself. It may be outside the physical realm but that doesn’t automatically imply *magic* Labeling everything that we don’t understand as magic does a grave disservice to the pursuit of knowledge.
IMO, man creating life or even some aspects of it does nothing more than demonstrate that it takes intelligence to create life. It sure doesn’t support the contention that life can arise on it’s own.
I don’t know that knowing exactly what the command was and how it was obeyed is even relevant. We likely couldn’t understand it even if we were told. Apparently God thought it was enough to tell us that He did it.
I doubt there’s enough room in the world for the detailed information some evos insist that God could have, or should have, provided in order to prove Himself to them. For me, the Bible is long enough as it is and leaves me with more than enough to deal with.
Thanks for the ping!
Hey,on a mescaline trip back in 1969 I saw God too.And he was an old white guy with a beard!
Yet that was an anomaly.I think I always knew God existed.I just couldn’t see him through all the clouds of confusion created by those who claimed him but were actually doing the Devil’s work.
God was always a reassuring sight after too much Yellow Sunshine.
About the sin of Adam, yes. And His purpose in taking the punishment for that sin, yes. And, you can make the case for the position that the Bible is meant to be literally interpreted in all it's parts. I don't think that's the best case that may be made. Because I also think it does matter what God's creation reveals. OTOH, I don't think that issue affects salvation one way or the other.
But I think that's a big stumbling block for a lot of Christians, especially the ones in college trying to withstand their professor's assaults on their faith.
The reality is, you can be saved regardless of your position on the literalness of Genesis. Believing or not believing in the literal truth of the Garden or not was never listed by Jesus or the Apostles as a condition of Salvation.
So it makes some sense that the core of Christianity, the Resurrection and reality of who Jesus is, has been provided for us with such clarity. Without that, there is no hope or salvation. And all the tools for a reason-based faith are right there for us in scripture.
I had to get to the cross by way of reason. I did not want to be a Christian. I wanted to find a way to avoid having people go to Hell. I couldn't.
But I devoured apologetics for some years as well as the humanist attacks on the Resurrection to find that middle ground. But Christ does not allow any middle ground. So at one point, it all came together so clearly and I found myself gladly on my knees. I had to give up the notion that I had anything to say about how God set things up.
I envy those who get there as easily as you do. My life would have been a lot easier and better had I come to the cross a little more gracefully. But I had to be desperate to lose enough pride to take the step of studying Scripture and apologetics.
Excellent article! Collins’ book, The Language of God, sounds like it’ll be a fascinating read when it comes out in September.
A mexican? (Just kidding...)
Have you, by any chance, read this book: Aliens: The Final Answer? a Ufo Cosmology for the 21st Century by David Barclay http://www.amazon.com/Aliens-Final-Answer-Cosmology-Century/dp/0713724986/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1207595619&sr=8-1
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