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Thursday, March 3, 2011

The History of Our Observable Universe. In Awe.

Visualize a bookshelf. This bookshelf, full of volumes, represents the timeline of our 13.7 billion year old universe.


Each volume has 450 pages.

Each page represents 1 million years.

Volume 1, Page 1: 
The Big BANG!

Volumes 1-21
Universe is lifeless and mindless. No signs of life at all.

Volume 22
Single cell life (think: AMOEBA at best)

Volume 29, page 385
Cambrian Explosion Occurs...
(patterns of life become complex and diverse)

Volume 30, pages 225-385:
Dinosaurs

Volume 30, last 65 pages: 
Mammalian life 
(our hominid ancestors show up several pages from the end of volume 30)

Volume 30, (last few lines on the last page of the last volume):
The entire history of human intelligence, ethics, religious aspiration, and scientific discovery

I attended a panel discussion this evening on Science and Religion at the First United Methodist Church in Fort Worth (my grandparents' church!). I am feeling so inspired and am so impressed with the point of view this church is willing to take. Many fundamental Christians would not allow such discussion, because it can contradict the Bible. Keep in mind, Genesis clearly states that God created Adam and Eve (creating Eve from a rib of Adam), and these two people were the beginning of the world, and all of us are offspring from them. Bible scholars believe Moses wrote Genesis in 1450-1410 BC. The story of Genesis is truly a beautiful historical representation of how humankind explained their existence. 

However, as the panel tonight so eloquently worded, in a world that is evolving and changing, to NOT evolve and change our view of God LIMITS God. The more we learn about our universe, and how incredible and AWE-some it is, the more we can appreciate God for being omnipresent in that universe. If I get done with work on time next Thursday, I will be in attendance for their final panel discussion in this series. I invite any of you to come-it is open to the public, and they were all very warm and welcoming. The vibe I got from the panel was very intelligent, well-versed, scholarly, diplomatic, and informed. It was the most open minded and honest discussion I've heard take place in a traditional church setting. My favorite quote that was shared during the evening was by Aubrey Moore (written in 1891, shortly after Darwin's theory was getting much negative attention):

"The one absolutely impossible conception of God, in the present day, is that which represents him as an occasional visitor. Science has pushed the deist's God further and further away, and at the moment when it seemed as if he would be thrust out all together Darwinism appeared, and, under the disguise of a foe, did the work of a friend. It has conferred upon philosophy and religion an inestimable benefit, by showing us that we must choose between two alternatives. Either God is everywhere present in nature, or He is nowhere."

If this topic interests you, I suggest you check out a roundtable discussion regarding science and faith on this PBS/KERA North Texas website. Four expert panelists (all of whom are religious scientists and/or religious historians of science) answer questions regarding religion and science. Over 800 questions were submitted, and KERA went through to assemble and edit groups of questions representing common themes. It's very interesting, and goes hand in hand with the panel discussion I attended this evening.

Churches are evolving. They ought to consider Natural Selection. Survival of the Fittest. Evolution is true and is happening. The churches that evolve and find creative ways to gain more knowledge and love of God and the Universe are the ones that will flourish. There is no way churches running on fear and nothing else will survive generations from now. The discussion I attended tonight will be posted online in about 4 days, so perhaps you'll want to visit the link and see for yourself (allow about an hour and a half). If you don't have time, you can at least check out another church's blog regarding "Evolution Sunday." These churches are keeping the Christ in Christian. Christ was a creative thinker and presented a new message that the religious people at the time would not accept, and he was crucified for it!!!! These churches are following the way paved by the Ultimate Example! 

I will probably blog about this again in the future. I took several pages of notes, and this post only touches the iceberg, but I didn't want to get long winded. Until next time!!!!

1 comment:

  1. http://ieet.org/index.php/IEET/more/1345

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