Angels, Demons and an Engineer

With the coming release of Angels and Demons, the movie, I am anticipating (read bracing) myself for the barrage of TALK that will hit the media streams.

I haven't read Angels and Demons, but I did read its sequel, The Da Vinci Code. Mr. Brown can WRITE. He certainly creates a fabulous read. And his fictional writing certainly creates a stir. But that's just it, it is fiction. As I read The Da Vinci Code, I was amazed at Mr. Brown's ability to intertwine truth and fact with superstition and legend, a bit of angst (okay, maybe a lot of angst), wishes and fabulous fiction. If you don't know history well, and you're a bit rusty on science, and legends get misplaced into the "Actual Event" column, not to mention ignorance on religious beliefs and history of Christianity and pagan cults, well, OOOOFF! You could be one confused soul, especially if you begin sliding into the trap of believing it's a historical novel.

I'm betting that Angels and Demons is no different. From what I hear it contains some fabulous real science. But how many of us know much about sub-atomic particles? Seriously?

I have a sneaking suspicion that Mr. Brown, in Angels and Demons, has attempted to use science to discredit the Christian religion-- the theme will be similar to "Christianity is anti-science." And, most likely, because Christianity is made up of humans, you'll be able to find some, maybe even a lot of Christians who view science with skepticism, even contempt, because they see science as anti-Christian. This will be true past, present and, unfortunately, in the future.

I wonder too, if Mr. Brown has gone after the divinity of Jesus in this book?

Science is used to refute religion, especially the Christian religion and the supernatural, on a regular basis. And, in defense, people of faith, lash out and say silly, unscientific things.

I've never really had a problem with the whole "Science and Religion" debate, because I think first and foremost, my concern is with Yahweh, not religion, not an institutionalized set of tenants. Second, I've never looked at the Bible as a science book. The Bible is not primarily a "how" book, it is a "what" book. It gives us some tantalizing peaks into some "hows" (maybe more on that another time), but it primarily talks about "what." And finally, I think science proves the existence of God.

Yup, I said it.

I love science! I have a natural affinity and ability in some, and have to work really hard to comprehend others-- but they are all fascinating to me. It is the sciences, the study of our world and the universe that assures me, in a concrete way, that God exists!

I am an electrical engineer. Archeology, chemistry, biology, mathematics, physics, astronomy, electromagnetics, thermodynamics-- each discipline is testimony that there is a God that created. Each discipline convinces me that God is a design engineer!

For me, the fossil record is not proof of evolution; it is possible proof of the flood and the myriad of creatures that existed. The periodic table is testimony to the structure and order of our world, mathematics and physics, the same. Biology is testimony to the complexity of life and of everything that must be exactly right for life to exist. The laws of thermodynamics, specifically, the second law (the law of entropy), counters the rhetoric that states that life evolved from simple to complex by chance. In reality, things start out complex and break down-- all foremost scientists agree on this. Recent developments in molecular biology actually prove macroevolution false. Microevolution, or variations in species, are evident visually and at the molecular level. To me, DNA is proof that, God, being an excellent engineer, designed life and used the base design to make different kinds of life. We are only 3% different from the great ape in our DNA; yet, it is amazing the difference 3% makes! The evidence of species perfectly adapted to their environment is not proof of evolution, survival of the fittest; it is testimony to God's great wisdom in designing the earth and its creatures in harmony with each other! How silly to put a polar bear in the Mohave or a gecko in the artic.

Did you know that the earth is perfectly placed relative to the sun? Any difference, and life could not exist. Did you know that string theory (an advanced theory of gravity) solves itself with 11 dimensions? Other theories have to be solved by putting in arbitrary numbers, string theory does not, it comes up with its own answer-- 11 dimensions leave a lot of room for God to interact in ways we call miracles, but are actually perfectly logical, if we were capable of seeing it and understanding it.

This is all AMAZING stuff! Science is testimony to God, and the more we "discover" the more evidence for an intelligent creator. The naked science is out there; it is human's who, in our arrogance, make the science fit our conclusions, instead of drawing conclusions from evidence.

I look at God like He is the ultimate design engineer, perfectly logical, perfectly creative. As a human, I cannot encapsulate Him in entirety (I only sense about 4 dimensions), but, I have an analogy, that I think, though we see through glass darkly, might help shed a very small amount of light on the mystery.

The Analogy

When an engineer designs a system, if he is good, he creates back-up and protective mini-systems within the design. These mini-systems create a way for the system/design to meet its goal, purpose, prescribed outcome, no matter what happens when the system is live. These minis are not alternate plans, they are part of the original design and they exist because the engineer understands the limitations and purposes of the components in his design, and because he always has the end purpose in mind. An engineer that forgets the purpose of the design will create a faulty system that NEVER accomplishes its purpose.

A really talented engineer will create designs for the pure enjoyment of the creation, and its components, and purpose. The design, though it has a prescribed pragmatic purpose, also has an ultimate purpose; joy, interaction, and it will reflect, in certain ways, aspects of the designer. Every engineer leaves images of himself in his design, most people will not notice, but the astute, those sensitive to the designer, will.

God as Engineer

God, when He, His Spirit and Jesus, created the universe and everything in it, He did it for His pleasure and for Jesus. We were created for God and Jesus, and everything else was created for us. He created us so that we could be in relationship with Him. He created us for the joy of interaction and purpose of love in freedom. He created us because He chose to.

What's Jesus Got To Do With It?

Knowing full well who and what we are, knowing our limitations, knowing every part of us, and keeping in mind the ultimate purpose-- us dwelling with Him and Jesus in freedom, God assured that He would meet His purpose by how He created everything. God created everything through Jesus; Jesus is the integral part of the design, necessary whether sin entered the world or not; Jesus holds it all together. Jesus was blessed to be part of the design by his unique participation in its creation. Because the design was created through Jesus (not forcibly created, but with his permission) and he is the one who holds it all together, it is Jesus who chose to come to us as one of us, when it was necessary.

Choice

Jesus, suffering what he did, did not do it out of compulsion or a mandate from his Father; he did it by choice, a choice that was given to him in the beginning when he participated in the creation. Jesus is fully equal to God, they are no different. Jesus came to us with the authority of the one who created us. That is why he can destroy Satan and everything Satan has done, that is why he can rightly call himself God. That is why holding God (or anyone else) accountable for Jesus' choice is incorrect. The Bible says that God sacrificed His son, and He did, but it was a sacrifice of holding Himself back, of allowing His son to accomplish what he set out to do, from the beginning. God could have stopped Jesus, Jesus could have said no. God gave His son the authority to make this choice. God honored Jesus in the most profound way. And, Jesus, by freely participating in his Father's "business", honored his Father in the most profound way.

In his humanity, in a time of great physical and emotional suffering, Jesus beseeched his Father, "Is there another way?" And even when he asked, he knew the answer, because he had chosen and created the solution with God. Jesus knew, intimately, the makeup of the components of the design he and his father had created, and he knew that a point would come when He would become human to overcome, to conquer the limitations of humanity. He would provide the way.

When death and sin had been conquered by Jesus' action, God raised him and gave him, formally, the kingdom. Honor upon honor and rightly so.

I Don't Like This World, It's Screwed Up!

We can be mad about the design, but it is arrogant, and, really silly, for us to be so-- like a ridge pole mad it is part of a barn, or a resister mad that it is part of a complex relay, or a break-pad mad that it is part of a race car, or a wire that is mad because it is part of a fighter jet, or your hand mad that it belongs to your body.

We are part of Their design and we are blessed to be so -- honor upon honor. Our challenge is to take our place in the design and be “us” to the fullest of our purpose, as we are able, through Their power.

Taking my place,
k8t
k8t(at)faceofagirl(dot)com

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