On Being Able to Stand up Straight Again
"The BioLogos Forum" frequently features essays from The BioLogos Foundation's leaders and Senior Fellows. Please note the views expressed here are those of the author, not necessarily of The BioLogos Foundation. You can read more about what we believe here.
Today's entry was written by Darrel Falk. Darrel Falk serves as president of The BioLogos Foundation. He transitioned into Christian higher education 25 years ago and has given numerous talks about the relationship between science and faith at many universities and seminaries. He is the author of Coming to Peace with Science.
This month is my tenth anniversary. It is exactly ten years ago since I started one of the most fulfilling teaching experiences of my life—a Sunday School class for senior adults. As I began in August, 2000, the age of most class-members was between 75 and 85. That alone tells you a little about some the activities which have characterized our last ten years: lots of funerals. Today, our oldest class-member, my dear friend Elbert, is 92; several others are 90 or very close to it.
Most of the people in my class are life-long evangelicals who have never thought much about whether God created through an evolutionary process or not. Indeed, except for my first set of three guest lessons on creation ten years ago—after which they asked me to be their teacher—the subject of evolution has virtually never come up again. They know I believe that God created through an evolutionary process, and many in the class wouldn’t see creation the same way I do, but it has made no difference. We have many other things to talk about. They have been too busy being the Church. They have been too busy caring for each other. They have been too busy manifesting the fruits of the Spirit—love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control—to worry about whether their teacher has the details of creation right. As for me, I have been too busy reassuring them that the principles on which they’ve built their lives for the past 75 to 85 years still hold true: Despite the loneliness of departed spouses and friends, God is faithful. Despite the personal disruption and physical pain associated with the health problems of growing old, the Christian life is still packed with meaning and significance. In short, we have been too busy being the Church to think much about whether Genesis 1 through 3 is figurative or literal. It just hasn’t mattered to them or to me. What has mattered to all of us, however, is mining the richness of Scripture. We’ve spent hundreds of hours together doing this. We have been assured over and over again that the Word of God speaks to us in a manner that is more alive today than it has ever been. Their 70 to 92 years of living has not dimmed its message.
This week the scriptural passage is germane not just to members of my Sunday School class but, for different reasons, it also has an important message to our Science and the Sacred community—to all who are interested in mending the gulf between evangelical Christianity and the world of mainline science. Perhaps it is especially important though to another group as well—those who excavate the gulf and only want to see it grow even wider. I hope they will seriously consider this Scripture also. It is found in Luke 13:10-17 (see side bar). You likely will remember the story. Jesus was teaching in the synagogue on the Sabbath when he turned to a woman who was bent over as though she was carrying a heavy load. She had not been able to stand up straight for 18 years. Jesus laid hands on her and suddenly she was well. It was as though an overwhelmingly heavy burden had been lifted from her shoulders. Finally, she was free and she began praising God in celebration of her new life.
"On a Sabbath Jesus was teaching in one of the synagogues, and a woman was there who had been crippled by a spirit for eighteen years. She was bent over and could not straighten up at all. When Jesus saw her, he called her forward and said to her, "Woman, you are set free from your infirmity." Then he put his hands on her, and immediately she straightened up and praised God. Indignant because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath, the synagogue ruler said to the people, "There are six days for work. So come and be healed on those days, not on the Sabbath."
In the meantime the ruler of the synagogue was not happy. The healing had taken place on the Sabbath. Jesus was in trouble. In the eyes of the Jewish leaders, it was irrelevant that a woman had been made well, that a miracle had taken place, and that she and all the people were praising God. It was irrelevant to the Jewish leaders that a person carrying a heavy burden for most of her life was now able to return to normality. The jots and tittles of the law had not been followed to precision. The ruler of the synagogue was clearly upset.
Before Luke tells this story of the healing of the woman who had been hunched over for 18 years, he relates a parable Jesus had told his disciples. It was the parable of the fig tree that had born no fruit for three years and was about to be cut down for lack of fruit-bearing. The gardener asked the owner to give the tree one last chance, and with that the parable ends. From there we go to the woman struggling with the pain and stigma of a humped over posture, and a synagogue ruler so fixed on dotting all the “i’s” and crossing all the “t’s” that he loses sight of the purpose of the laws to begin with. The laws are there to help the people be the people of God—to care for each other’s needs—that’s what God’s people do. The fig tree story comes back to mind: the synagogue rulers have one last chance to be the people of God—to yield the fruit expected of the people of God. As the story ends, they are not doing well.
The Lord answered him, "You hypocrites! Doesn't each of you on the Sabbath untie his ox or donkey from the stall and lead it out to give it water? Then should not this woman, a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has kept bound for eighteen long years, be set free on the Sabbath day from what bound her?" When he said this, all his opponents were humiliated, but the people were delighted with all the wonderful things he was doing."
-Luke 13:10-17
The story of Jesus’ experience in the synagogue is not only about a woman stooped over in pain for 18 years and bound up longing to be free. Luke wants us to notice that it is also the story of God’s people unnecessarily carrying the heavy load of legalism. They were buckling under its load. That weight was preventing them from being the people of God. No fruit on the fig tree. No grapes on the vines. The people of God were not able to be who they were called out to be.
So who are the “synagogue rulers” in today’s church? Who demands that all the “i’s” are dotted in a particular way, while blinded to the fact that the demand for a specific dotted “i” is causing young science students and others who are academically inclined to lose their faith once they see how overwhelming the data is to support an old earth and creation-through-evolution. The rulers ask questions, like “why does the earth look so old, when it really isn’t?” They have no idea why it looks so old; the answer, they say, is known only to the “Ancient of Days.” The fact is, they have barely studied the science. They have little idea of how strong the evidence is and by ignoring it they are like the synagogue ruler who cared for his own donkey on the Sabbath while turning his back on the woman who had lived her life in agony. “Dot the ‘i’ my way”, they say, “if you don’t Christian theology will fall.” The young people, like the hunched over woman, are asked to carry a load under which many are surely buckling.
It doesn’t have to be that way. The “rulers” need to stop insisting that we all dot the “i’s their way. We don’t have to all think the same way. Young people must see that there are options, that there are sincere followers of Jesus who believe that God created through an evolutionary process. It is select church leaders that are forcing this load on the backs of our young people. Jesus wants the Church to get on with the task of bearing fruit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Here is my plea to the church leaders who are forcing young people to choose: please don’t load them down with the back-breaking burden that they have no choice but to dot the “i’s” your way. Tell them how you think and tell them why you think that way, but in the end let them know that there are other followers of Jesus whose lives have also been transformed by the power of the Holy Spirit, who dot those “i’s” in a different way. Let them know that those followers are praising God for creation too. Let them know that Jesus is in their midst too. Stop being the "rulers in the synagogue" who are so set that it has to be your way--that our precious young people conclude they have no choice but to buckle under the weight which you have placed upon their shoulders.
So my Sunday School class knows how I feel about all this. Many have read my book. They know how I dot my “i’s,” and they don’t care. For ten years, we have talked about Scripture and what it means to be the people of God. Not once has it mattered how I dot my “i’s.” I’ve been able to be their spiritual encourager, but most important to me, personally, is that they have been my mentors. If they had closed the door to me after my first three lessons on creation-through-evolution, I would have missed out on ten years worth of mentoring. No “rulers of the synagogue,” are they. They have been like Jesus, removing my load, holding me up, and helping to keep me standing straight. They have showed me love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. And ten years later because of that, because the love of Jesus has spilled over from their lives into mine, I am whole.
Let’s accept the various ways that Christians dot “i’s.” Then, having done that, let’s move on to more important things.
“Then He put his hands on her, and immediately she straightened up, and praised God.”
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September 7th 2010
PART I
Reply to this commentDaryl, what a wonderful blessing your article is to me and should be to all. It saddens me to see the sideways, byways and muddy trails the discussions have taken, sometimes even with less grace than desirable - a grace that was/is so evident in your senior’s class. On the positive side, I rejoice to know how you feel. I taught biology in a major Canadian university for nearly 30 years and, for most of that time worshiped with a pentecostal congregation, sang in the choir etc. I could hardly hide my work, and they all new my position. Nor could I hide my faith (had I wanted to) because the Sunday services were televised nationally and the choir had a front row seat. My brothers and sisters in Christ, like me, believed with all their hearts the line from the old hymn - “On Christ the Solid Rock I stand, all other ground is sinking sand”, and we believed both parts of that sentence, equally. Because of the focus of our belief, and with the help of the Holy Spirit, we trusted each other, leaned on each other for spiritual support, grew together and worshiped together. They accepted a pentecostal evolutionary biologist in their midst - it was no big deal!
September 7th 2010
PART II
Reply to this commentAt work, a human grace was also shown by my immediate colleagues, mostly evolutionary biologists, and many committed unbelievers. They trusted me to be a faithful servant in the fields of science. They understood that my faith was in Jesus Christ. We had enough coffee conversations over the years for them to know that this was not a faith in people, interpretations or even (here it comes) the Bible. That said, I do believe that God Himself says more than enough in and through the Bible to bring us to a life-changing relationship with our Lord and Saviour and to guide us for an entire lifetime as we grow in His grace. But, of necessity, it is written in a way that had to make sense then, now and until Christ returns. It was God’s decision to limit Himself to the inexactness of human language, our literary methods and inspired, but human, writers to communicate to us in writing. It works, wonderfully. We can directly observe (by their fruits we know them) that God can reach the willing heart regardless of the lenses being used to study His Word.
September 7th 2010
PART III
Reply to this commentInsistence on having a literal Word appears to produce two, extremely different results. Just as perpetual deconstruction can lead to never having to confront the truth for some, perpetual battle for ‘the Scripture’ can lead to never having to deal with scriptural diversity for others. Both create serious stumbling blocks, even walls, for many. BioLogos is doing a good work to break down these walls. Many thanks and with consistent prayer. Stand tall and straight!
September 7th 2010
@Darrel - just noticed I spelled your name wrong. Apologies. I have a similar problem.
Reply to this commentBev
September 7th 2010
Bev:
I agree with you that ‘perpetual battle for the Scripture’ is counter-productive. I’ve been trying to make that point here for a few months now.
I’m curious about your Pentecostal experience. I can understand that if your congregation trusted you personally, they could accept your belief in evolution. But—tell me if I’m wrong—I suspect that those in your Pentecostal church who thought about it much assumed that you believed that God guided or engineered or programmed the evolutionary process. In other words, God was in charge at all times. Did any of them—presuming there were some who (like myself) had taken the time to read Darwin, Gaylord Simpson, Carl Sagan, Dawkins, etc.—ever ask you: “How did God guarantee that the right mutations would come along in the right sequence to create anteaters, monkeys, and men?” Did he tinker a bit? Did he program it all? Or did he cross his fingers, and wait to see what evolution would produce?” What did you say about God’s role in the process? Or were there no such intellectually curious members of your church?
Reply to this commentSeptember 7th 2010
PART I
Reply to this commentRich,
I come at it from a different angle as far as God’s creative methods go. I think the following is an honest approach based on a reasonable understanding of modern biology and on faith in Christ and trust in the guidance of the Holy Spirit - holding both guides simultaneously. God is ever creative, it’s part of His nature. As for the material reality in which we dwell, I see it as His idea, his work under his ultimate control. From Him flowed a material reality that we can see in the record, left, not only in stones, but also in our molecular makeup. For example, all living things are genetically related in such a complete and magnificent way that it is absolutely breathtaking. Somehow, some can see this as evidence against a god, I see it as one of the most amazing, human derived, collections of evidence there is for God’s actions in this material world. I rejoice daily in the magnificence of the complexity of living things. When you know even a bit about this complexity, it’s scary to think how many physical things have to go right, every second, just for us to have this conversation. As for all the steps necessary for present species to be here,
September 7th 2010
PART II
now, all doing their thing in a relatively efficient manner….we will be busy on that one until Christ returns.
Now, do I know how He did it - beyond what we can learn from modern science - no. Do I know why He did it - yes - that is where the Genesis story begins.
The creation stories provide God’s true answer to some really big questions. For example, what happens when humans have attitudes that lead them to believe they are gods, or when they come to think they have no need of God? They fall….hard. How widespread is this problem in our species? It’s universal. Is there any human way back to God, if we come to the realization that we are not and cannot become god? None…we have signed our death warrant. This is a simple and terrifying summary of God’s view of our spiritual state without Him. We are all like this, so says the revelation of God in Genesis. We need only read the news for current confirmation. Fortunately, the rest of the Bible tells us about the working out of God’s provisions to solve our problem.
Reply to this commentSeptember 7th 2010
PART III
Many believers do not need a physically real Adam/Eve/snake/tree/garden to arrive at this understanding of our state and the way to redemption from it. We all, however, need a revelation from God of our fallen state and we do need to listen to this revelation. Reading the Genesis stories gives us pause so that we, perhaps, will hear God’s voice. The story could have taken other forms and still conveyed the same essential message. God chose these adopted stories. It was a reasonable choice, given the context of the human writer(s) that God also chose.
As for my brothers and sisters at church, they know (have experienced) whom they have believed and many are way ahead of me in Christian maturity. No biology talk will shake their faith, so why ask? Our experience in and of Christ should be of that sort. This is really what I am trying to say, I think. The lenses we wear as we look at scripture do not impede God in the least. He still speaks, but, as in Eden, big problems arise when we don’t listen. He also speaks outside of Scripture through many people, in many ways. “Even to imagine that those who are not saved cannot teach you is a very great and serious mistake. Dominion is not found in grace.” John Wesley.
Reply to this commentSeptember 7th 2010
PART IV
Reply to this commentIt may seem odd to follow up an essentially theological discussion with a reference to a book of science, but it confirms Wesley’s point. If you have some biochemistry background, do read Nick Lane’s “Life Ascending. The Ten Great Inventions of Evolution” It should make you Praise the Lord! Or, as Dr. Lane puts it in his Epilogue “Whether this grand theme is compatible with faith in God, I do not know. For some people, intimately acquainted with evolution, it is; for others, it is not. But whatever our beliefs, this richness of understanding should be a cause for marvel and celebration….....There is more than grandeur in this view of life. There is fallibility and majesty, and the best human eagerness to know.”
September 8th 2010
Dear Bev:
Thanks for your heartfelt reply. I take it that it wasn’t often that members of your church came up to you and asked you for detailed explanations of how slime turned into Shakespeare.
I had in mind something a little different. I’m a scholar in the area of science and religion, and I look at large questions such as the role of chance and necessity in evolution, the relation between providence and apparent chance events, etc. But I see that this is not your focus, so I will let it go.
I was struck with one passage: “When you know even a bit about this complexity, it’s scary to think how many physical things have to go right, every second, just for us to have this conversation.”
Yes indeed, and I cannot imagine how anyone could think that the complexity was not planned for, i.e., designed.
“As for all the steps necessary for present species to be here, now, all doing their thing in a relatively efficient manner….we will be busy on that one until Christ returns.”
Yes indeed, and again I cannot imagine how anyone could think that all those necessary steps were only the result of fortuitous sequences of mutations that just happened to have selective value.
Best wishes.
Reply to this commentSeptember 29th 2010
i believe that revelation is a story, highly symbolic, of man’s sin. martin luther said that he could not detect CHRIST in the book of revelation. i agree. 14:2-9 precisely describes aborted babies.
i believe JESUS is the author of the 4th gospel. it was written down by the beloved disciple. CHRISTOLOGY is highest in this book. this book has some symbolisms. e.g. the fig tree is the tree of life. the BRIDE is not the church. the man of perdition is a abortionist. i have revealed him.
Reply to this commenti believe that the level of truth is highest in the 4th gospel. the BRIDE is the HOLY SPIRIT.
i defend judas, peter, and the lady at the well from lieing accusactions.