June 25, 2000 Humble Messenger

Humble Messenger
Volume 8, Week 26 June 25, 2000

SEVEN REASONS WHY A SCIENTIST BELIEVES IN GOD
Adapted from the book, "Man Does Not Stand Alone" by A. Cressy Morrison, Former president of the New York Academy of Sciences
(Reprinted with permission from the December 1946 Readerıs Digest Originally appeared in Man Does Not Stand Alone, 1944 Fleming H. Revell Co., a division of Baker House Book Co.)
[Due to the length of this article, it is being  published in three parts. If you wish to have the entire article, you will need the Humble Messenger from the previous two weeks. srf]

Fifth: Provision for all living is revealed in phenomena which we know today but which Darwin did not know‹such as the wonders of genes.

So unspeakably tiny are these genes that, if all of them responsible for all living people in the world could be put in one place, there would be less than a thimbleful. Yet these ultramicroscopic genes and their companions, the chromosomes, inhabit every living cell and are the absolute keys to all human, animal and vegetable characteristics. A thimble is a small place in which to put all the individual characteristics of two billions of human beings. However, the facts are beyond question. Well, then‹how do genes lock up all the normal heredity of a multitude of ancestors and preserve the psychology of each in such an infinitely small space?

Here evolution really begins‹at the cell, the entity which holds and carries the genes. How a few million atoms, locked up as an ultramicroscopic gene, can absolutely rule all life on earth is an example of profound cunning and provision that could emanate only from a Creative Intelligence; no other hypothesis will serve.

Sixth: By the economy of nature, we are forced to realize that only infinite wisdom could have foreseen and prepared with such astute husbandry.

Many years ago a species of cactus was planted in Australia as a protective fence. Having no insect enemies in Australia the cactus soon began a prodigious growth; the alarming abundance persisted until the plants covered an area as long and wide as England, crowding inhabitants out of the towns and villages, and destroying their farms. Seeking a defense, the entomologists scoured the world; finally they turned up an insect which lived exclusively on cactus, and would eat nothing else. It would breed freely, too; and it had no enemies in Australia. So animal soon conquered vegetable and today the cactus pest has retreated, and with it all but a small protective residue of the insects, enough to hold the cactus in check forever.

Such checks and balances have been universally provided. Why have not fast-breeding insects dominated the earth? Because they have no lungs such as man possesses; they breathe through tubes. But when insects grow large, their tubes do not grow in ratio to the increasing size of the body. Hence there never has been an insect of great size; this limitation on growth has held them all in check. If this physical check had not been provided, man could not exist. Imagine meeting a hornet as big as a lion!

Seventh: The fact that man can conceive the idea of God is in itself a unique proof.

The conception of God rises from a divine faculty of man, unshared with the rest of our world‹the faculty we call imagination. By its power, man and man alone can find the evidence of things unseen. The vista that power opens up is unbounded; indeed, as manıs perfected imagination becomes a spiritual reality, he may discern in all the evidences of design and purpose the great truth that heaven is wherever and whatever; that God is everywhere and in everything but nowhere so close as in our hearts.
 It is scientifically as well as imaginatively true, as the Psalmist said: "The heavens declare the glory of God and the firmament showeth His handiwork."

NEWS
"Why I Believe"‹Studies especially for teens, grades 7-12, Southside Church of Christ, Saturday, July 1. See times and subjects on announcement in foyer . . . Plans are being made for articles to be published in the local newspaper (Sun/Observer) beginning sometime in July. Look for them . . . Visitation group four will meet briefly after evening assembly . . . The evolutionary scientists who have assured us and our children of the "facts" supporting evolution have more problems. In an article in the Houston Chronicle, Friday, June 23, we read, "The fossil of a small lizardlike, flying reptile with a complex set of feathers challenges the theory that birds evolved from dinosaurs, a new study says. Researchers say the feathered  reptile lived 225 million years ago, proving that feathered  animals evolved millions of years before the appearance of the dinosaurs that most experts say are the ancestors of modern birds Š" Nicholas R. Geist, paleobiologist at Sonoma State University and co-author of a study appearing Friday in the journal Science said, "It is going to be a major monkey wrench in the theory about the dinosaurean origin of birdsŠ It is going to cause some people to take a real good second look at their data." But, read furtherŠ"However, Jacques Gauthier of Yale University, an expert on the evolution of dinosaurs, said that Longisquama is a poorly preserved specimen that is important only "if you allow your imagination to run wild." (all underlining mine, srf). Dinos before birds or birds before dinos? Which scientists do you believe? Arenıt you glad you stand on the unchanging and proven Word of God?! "The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple. The precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heartŠThe judgments of the Lord are true; they are righteous altogetherŠMoreover by them Thy servant is warned; In keeping them there is great reward." Psa. 19. Paul warned, "avoidingŠ what is falsely called OEknowledgeı  [or, "science"]." Do not let your faith be shaken by the ever shifting sands of the theories of evolution though they parade in the hypocritical garb of "facts" and "science."   

June 28 - Wednesday
Song Leader: Craig Ottersbach
Close: Jim Porterfield
July 2 - Sunday
AM
Announcements: John Whitehead
Song Leader: Dwight Osteen
First Prayer: Glenn Bogs
Preaching: Steve Fontenot
Closing Prayer: Doug Bernard
PM
Song Leader: Boyd Hurst
First Prayer: Jim Crain
Preaching: Steve Fontenot
Closing Prayer: Johnathan Bernard
Lordıs Table, AM & PM
Bread: Mark Ary
Fruit of the Vine: David Dickey
Contribution: Jeff Bogs
Assistant: Eddie Crain
If you are a scheduled song leader but know you will be unavailable, please notify Jim Crain.
If you are scheduled to serve in any other capacity but cannot serve as scheduled, please notify Boyd Hurst.