Parachute Theology

“For what if some did not believe? shall their unbelief make the faith of God without effect?” – Romans 3:3

Have you ever seen the bumper sticker that reads, “Minds are like parachutes; they work best when open”? Though I’m not sure of the source of this cute expression, I suspect it is an attack on people who hold to moral absolutes, telling them to open their minds and start seeing life from a broader bandwidth. Christians are too narrow. I would like to employ this logic regarding the teaching of intelligent design in the classroom. Though I have already written on this, my first entry came from a different approach. Let’s examine this in new light.

A true believer should not be afraid of true science. In other words, he should never fear that some new discovery in the science lab will discredit the Bible or the Christian faith. Therefore he should want to examine science from a biblical perspective and examine Scripture from a scientific perspective. If both have the same author, then there will be no discrepancies but the complementing of one another.

A true scientist should not be afraid of true religion, because all truth will blend and never contradict. Why then is the scientific world afraid to investigate intelligent design as an alternative approach to understanding how the world came to be? I know that the argument is that we can’t mix religion and science. I would absolutely agree if they were mutually exclusive disciplines, but scientists just might find that true religion and true science occupy the same territory.

Perhaps an illustration may help. If my religion, through a study of Scripture, told me the moon was made of cheese and I became the first astronaut to visit the moon and found that all I had been taught was nothing more than idle cheddar (sorry about that), I would chuck my religion based on the empirical evidence offered by true science. Doesn’t the CIA look for clues? Doesn’t NASA look for signs of life on other planets? Isn’t the word sign just a code word for intelligent design? Wouldn’t NASA have been thrilled if the Mars landing provided pictures of clay pots or food of some kind? Such signs of life would be evidence that someone lives there. Why isn’t the same logic employed when it comes to the complexity of the universe, which by the way is no clay pot? Let’s reverse the illustration for a moment. Suppose I had been told that the universe had no purposeful design and I am nothing more than the product of time and chance. Do I accept this because true religion is not allowed into the equation and thus limits my options? Does the astronaut who finds no cheese, stick to his guns and say, “The Bible says it is cheese and that settles it”? That would be turning a blind eye to the truth.

I have some news. The universe and all that it contains shows the fingerprints of God. Why is that so frightening for scientists to admit? By not allowing truth to shine through the window because it comes from a different discipline is not being open to truth. Are they afraid of truth that might upset their previously held views? Pull the cord and let the parachute open. That’s good science, and it’s good theology. That’s the way I see things.