Truth

            Two sentences, two educated men, changed my thinking forever.  A high school biology teacher showed me how to blend science and religion.  A math professor at a religious university showed me they were never separate.  My faith in God and thirst for knowledge stand on the shoulders of these men.

            Mr. Atkinson taught biology at my high school.  The predominantly Christian student body objected to the unit on evolutionary theory.  Someone asked him how he could believe in God and still teach evolution.  In one simple sentence, he closed the gap between God and scientists by saying, “I have no trouble believing both.”  It was a definite ah-ha moment for me; church and school were no longer opposed in my mind.

            Dr. Wynn taught calculus at my college.  Because I went to a religious school, every teacher was required to invite God into the classroom in some way.  On the first day of class, Dr. Wynn said, “All truth is of God.  If what I teach you in this class is true, you can feel God’s presence here in the math building.”  Science and religion are not different things.  Human knowledge and discovery are approved by and even inspired by God.

            I got glasses when I was nine.  My eyes have become progressively worse, until I cannot see further than the end of my nose.  I wondered, at nine, why God no longer healed the blind.  In college I came to understand that I am healed every morning when I put my contacts in.  I see because God led someone to the discovery of refracted light, and from there to focusing light on my retinas in a way my brain can interpret clearly.

            Today I question the assumption that “nature,” a garden, is the best place to feel creative or at peace.  The work of humankind—architecture, civil engineering, mechanics, electronics—is no less natural than a beaver’s dam or a bee’s hive.  All creatures use the earth around them for shelter, support and comfort.  Soaring glass boxes inspire awe as easily as majestic mountains, and fountains as easily as rivers. 

            A bit of elegant, ornamental grass in the shadow of an architectural sculpture housing a college science department brings together the works of God and the works inspired by God, creating an oasis of knowledge and wonder, of awe at the incredible intellect of the dominant species, the creatures given more brains and bigger hearts than any other.