Hi Mike,
Don Munro of ASA forwarded your email. I have a M.S. in Wildlife Ecology and currently teach intro biology at Kingwood College in TX, plus am a freelance science writer. I am also an active Christian! I believe that part of why we see cruelty in nature is that all creation "fell" when Adam and Eve were beguiled by the devil into sinning and disobeying God. There are a few references to this in the Bible.
In Romans 8:18-22 Paul writes, "I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. The creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed. For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God. We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time."
There are other references that the animal-eat-animal part of creation is only a temporary state, part of creation's "groaning" and tendency toward decay (a result of the fall).
In Isaiah 11:6-9, looking forward to the future age, it says, "The wolf will live with the lamb, the leopard will lie down with the goat, the calf and the lion and the yearling together; and a little child will lead them. The cow will feed with the bear, their young will lie down together and the lion will eat straw like the ox. The infant will play near the hole of the cobra, and the young child put his hand into the viper's nest. They will neither harm nor destroy on all my holy mountain, for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea."
Parts of this are repeated at the end of Isaiah, in 65:25.
I find the reference to the lion eating straw like an ox quite revealing! It shows that God is not blind to the pain and suffering that goes on in the animal-part of His creation.
I hope that is helpful. I cc'd a copy to Don and also the ASA list because I thought some of them might be interested. Feel free to just reply to me privately at wendee@greendzn.com. I also have written an article on science and faith for the ASA web site youth section that will be up soon. You can view the article, "Science as Compassion: Following Jesus in the 21st Century" at a temporary location
http://people.ne.mediaone.net/haasj/Youth_Page/holtcamp2000.html
I look forward to your reply!
Wendee
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Wendee Holtcamp -- wendee@greendzn.com -- http://www.greendzn.com
Environment/Travel/Science Writer -- Poet -- Photographer
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But the child's sob curses deeper in the silence than the
strong man in his wrath. -- Elizabeth Barrett Browning
Thanks again for your help. I have not given you anything to chew on for awhile so why not try helping this young man with this recurring question below. I would appreciate a Cc so that I know that he is getting more help.
Blessings,
Don Munro
Donald W. Munro, Ph.D.
Executive Director, ASA
P. O. Box 668
Ipswich, MA 01938
(978) 356-5656
don@asa3.org
http://www.asa3.org
-----Original Message-----
From: Mike Greenhalgh <mikeyg@escape.ca>
To: asa@asa3.org <asa@asa3.org>
Date: Thursday, April 06, 2000 4:48 PM
Subject: theological question.
I am a 17 year old Christian attending high school. I am extremely interested in science and how science can be approached as a Christian. I have read your statements and beliefs and am proud that there are Christians out there who don't rebuke science because they THINK that the Bible disagrees with some issues(mainly evolution). I applaud you honest search for truth and the realization that God's creation is a source of that truth.
I am attending university next year and am planning on majoring in Astronomy and Physics.
I also have a theological question that I cannot get out of my head, and I haven't found any papers dealing with this issue. I know you aren't theologians but the question does have to do with nature and creation. Here goes:
Nature is complex and organized, suggesting a designer. As well as being perfectly designed, nature is perfectly cruel as well. If God's creation is supposed to reveal his nature, why then does nature seem so cruel and as if it was designed to be that way?
Please e-mail me back. Could you, if possible, shed some light on this question.
Thanks!
Mike Greenhalgh.
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