[asa] Letter to CT

The Feb 07 issue of Christianity Today contained an op-ed piece by Stan Guthrie, with an open attitude toward Francis Collins' book, "The Language of God." I sent the letter below to CT last month, and a heavily edited version (with no indication of the editing) was published in the May 07 issue. The parts enclosed in [square brackets] were omitted in the magazine, and some of the rest was also slightly reworded. Thus, the published letter partly represents the thought I expressed to the editor, but the omissions are crucial for seeing what I was really driving at. For the record, the full letter is given below. Anyone who copies this post to another place on the internet should copy the entire post, including this paragraph. Not to do so would constitute deliberate dishonesty.

[To the editor:

I read with much interest Stan Guthrie’s thoughts about “Living with the Darwin Fish” in the March issue. Francis Collins, whom I have met through a fellowship of Christian scientists called the American Scientific Affiliation, is a mature Christian who lives his faith daily in the very secular places in which he works. And he is not alone in his views.] I know hundreds of Christian scientists, and a large majority agree with him that evolution is, like gravitation, a well supported conclusion, [not an untested and highly speculative theory as it is often said to be.]

Guthrie’s view that evolution appears to be “messy and circuitous” is also widely shared, [and not only by scientists. Many Christians are deeply puzzled why God would use such a process to create living things, including ourselves. If this is true, says Guthrie, “then God is more mysterious than I imagined*but no less God.”

Ironically, a possible solution to this puzzle is literally staring readers in the face. The very same issue includes a set of thoughtful reflections on the “suffering God,” a powerful and highly biblical concept that helps many contemporary scientists resolve this paradox. C.S. Lewis expressed it in words he borrowed from George Macdonald for the epigram to The Problem of Pain: “The Son of God suffered unto the death, not that men might not suffer, but that their sufferings might be like His.”]

As a Christian, I believe that God, the wise and powerful creator of the universe, cared enough about the creation to dwell among us, setting aside power to suffer for our redemption. The modern scientific picture of the world is not only compatible with my faith, it actually enhances my faith. Astronomy provides evidence that the universe is not eternal, and that it was carefully crafted by divine power and given the ability to bring forth and sustain life. Biological evolution, with its long and twisted path, suggests further that the creation reflects the character of the suffering servant who made it, sustains it, and will someday transform it as his own body was transformed on Easter morning.

Ted
 

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Received on Tue Apr 24 10:27:14 2007