Last week, we talked about none other
than Bill Nye, “The Science Guy.” Not to
be confused the other two Bills that have also been in the news a lot lately,
i.e., Bill (Cosby and Clinton), “The Sexual Assaulters from the Past Guys.”
There’s something Nye said, that got
stuck in my craw, in such a way that it triggered my evolutionary “fight or write response.” Since
fighting’s illegal, and I don’t have enough frequent flyer miles for flight,
write I must. Perhaps, if I were
further evolved (like Mr. Nye) I wouldn’t have this troublesome craw. Alternatively, if Mr. Nye wasn’t so
arrogantly intolerant, my evolutionary requirement for a craw could be
eliminated. So what’d he say this time?
According to the Huffington Post…”The biggest danger creationism plays is that
it is raising a generation of children who ‘can't think’ and who ‘will not be
able to participate in the future in the same way’ as those who are taught
evolution.” Let
me make sure I get this straight – if a kid believes he is created by God he
will not be able to participate in the future in same way as a kid who is
taught that he evolved from a monkey?
Let’s test Mr. Nye’s theory on the
influence of Creationism (vice evolution) upon “thinking” and “participating”
using an empirical example. Sample A,
George Washington Carver, (c.1865-January 5, 1943), “an African American
chemist of international fame who introduced and popularized hundreds of uses for
the peanut, soybean, pecan and sweet potato, which revolutionized the economy
of the South by creating a market for these products.”
It seems that Mr. Carver found
inspiration and insights, not by denying God, but by seeking God. Here is what he told the director of the Blue
Ridge YMCA in 1920:
Years
ago I went into my laboratory and said, "Dear Mr. Creator, please tell me
what the universe was made for?"
The
Great Creator answered, "You want to
know too much for that little mind of yours.
Ask for something more your size, little man."
Then
I asked, "Please, Mr. Creator, tell me what man was made for."
Again,
the Great Creator replied, "You are
still asking too much. Cut down on the
extent and improve the intent."
So
then I asked, "Please, Mr. Creator, will you tell me why the peanut was
made?"
"That's better,
but even then it's infinite. What do you
want to know about the peanut?"
"Mr.
Creator, can I make milk out of the peanut?"
"What kind of
milk do you want? Good Jersey milk or
just plain boarding house milk?"
"Good
Jersey milk."
And
then the Great Creator taught me to take the peanut apart and put it together
again. And out of the process have come
forth all these products!”
What humility the distinguished
Mr. Carver demonstrates for us today.
How much more does the Great Creator demonstrate wisdom and love in the
works of His creation. Oh how He must
grieve when men, mortal men, those whom He created, choose to deny Him the
glory and praise He deserves!
The humble, ingenious, and industrious
Mr. Carver also provides us insight into how he looked upon scoffers and
critics like Mr. Nye:
“My attitude toward life was also my
attitude toward science. Jesus said one
must be born again, must become as a little child. He must let no laziness, no fear, no
stubbornness keep him from his duty. If
he were born again he would see life from such a plane he would have the energy
not to be impeded in his duty by these various sidetrackers and
inhibitions…Why, then, should we who believe in Christ be so surprised at what
God can do with a willing man in a laboratory?
Some things must be baffling to the critic who has never been born
again.”
Maybe, the thing Mr. Nye should really fear is the danger
evolution plays in raising a generation of children who "can't think"
and who "will not be able to participate in the future in the same
way" as those who are taught to know and fear the Lord.
Perhaps Mr. Nye could be helped by the thoughts of
Sir Isaac Newton, widely regarded to have been the greatest
scientist the world has ever produced, “God created everything by
number, weight and measure…In the absence of any other proof, the thumb alone
would convince me of God’s existence.”
Carver and Newton might just give a thumbs down to the
science guy.
Thank you, Colonel, for highlighting the dangers confronting our school children who may regrettably be led to think LIKE the evolutionist, and thus "would violate the very objectivity of science itself." It should not take a rocket scientist to figure that out, but in case someone prefers the opinion of an eminent rocket scientist, the above quote is a warning issued by one of the greatest design architects in the history of rocket technology (who also became the director of NASA), Dr. Wernher von Braun. In his letter to the California State Board of Education (September 14, 1972), he wrote the following response regarding the debate on the teaching of evolution in the classroom:
ReplyDelete"One cannot be exposed to the law and order of the universe without concluding that there must be design and purpose behind it all. In the world round us, we can behold the obvious manifestations of an ordered, structured plan or design. We can see the will of the species to live and propagate. And we are humbled by the powerful forces at work on a galactic scale, and the purposeful orderliness of nature that endows a tiny and ungainly seed with the ability to develop into a beautiful flower. The better we understand the intricacies of the universe and all harbors, the more reason we have found to marvel at the inherent design upon which it is based.
While the admission of a design for the universe ultimately raises the question of a Designer... the scientific method does not allow us to exclude data which lead to the conclusion that the universe, life and man are based on design. To be forced to believe only one conclusion—that everything in the universe happened by chance—would violate the very objectivity of science itself.
Certainly there are those who argue that the universe evolved out of a random process, but what random process could produce the brain of a man or the system or the human eye?"
The debate since 1972 has not invalidated Dr. Wernher's observation, but has rather answered the question posed in his quote above. To be sure, there is absolutely NO RANDOM PROCESS which can account for the DNA information systems that govern and sustain the marvelous workmanship observed in the brain, the eye, or any other aspect of human existence.
One does not not need to ascend to the Science Hall of Fame with the likes of Newton, Carver, and Braun to rightly observe and exclaim with the psalmist:
"I will praise Thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvelous are Thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well" (Psalm 139:14).
Sad to say, however, the likes of these three brilliant scientists would not have fared well in Nye's classroom.