Intelligent Design

 It has been 10 years since  Eric Hedin, an Assistant Professor of Physics at Ball State, promoted the idea to his students that the complex and intricate balance in nature reflects an intelligent design as opposed to a random series of accidental events.  The president of the University ruled that such teaching was not a scientific discipline and had no place in academia, an opinion widely shared in the academic community. Dr. Hedin once taught a course entitled The Boundaries of Science that was later cancelled.

 Baylor University was embroiled in the controversy when Robert Marks, Distinguished Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering set up a website and lab on the Baylor server to investigate intelligent design in 2007. Marks used the term “Evolutionary Informatics Lab.” Both the website and the lab were shut down within months and removed from the Baylor server. The lab continues on a third-party server at evoinfo.org.

 This month a bill permitting discussion of Intelligent Design in the classroom was passed by the House in West Virginia and sent to the Senate for approval.  The ACLU claims the bill violates the “establishment clause” separating church and state. 

 Regardless of academic positions on the subject, reflections on creation, purpose and intelligence beyond our own are important to all of us. We must ask the questions, “Are we alone?”  “Is there anyone else out there?” “Is the human race simply the result of eons of random chance on this third planet from the sun?”  “Have millions of years of random chance and survival of the fittest resulted in, well, ‘us?’” Or are we created in the divine image of the Creator? 

 We consider ourselves intelligent.  We can solve problems. We can manipulate the natural laws of physics to make them work for us resulting in mechanical and electronic machines that magnify our strength and accelerate our speed.  We can ponder ourselves and our own existence. We can imagine things as they could be.

 We are quickly making strides in our own creation of artificial intelligence, the design of robotic machinery that perform complex tasks. We already have cars that can drive themselves.  Information technology is taking us into realms reserved for the writers of science fiction. “Data,” the popular android on Star Trek, may not be so far-fetched after all.

 So, whenever we finally create “Data” and others like him, what will the androids think?  Will they sit around and discuss whether they were the result of random coincidence, concluding that they have no accountability or connection to the humans that created them?

 The Bible is quite clear regarding our own origin.  The Psalmist says, “For You formed my inward parts;

You wove me in my mother’s womb. I will give thanks to You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; wonderful are Your works, and my soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from You, when I was made in secret.” (Psalm 139:13-15).

 Something beyond science resonates within us when we stand in awe on the rim of the Grand Canyon; when we behold the beauty of a sunset splashing the sky with crimson, purple and gold; when we walk by the sea listening to the waves crashing on the shore. When we watch a bird take flight, singing in the branches of a tree.  Only worship will satisfy the emptiness within. The realization that we are part of a grand design in the mind of God calls us to accountability and fills us with meaning, purpose and peace.

The Art of Aging

 I have discovered another principle of physics.  As the body grows older gravity increases. When the body is young, its parts stay in place, firm and fit. But as age sets in the parts start to slide -- downward. And the energy expended to lift the body from a sedentary position increases.

 I love to watch children skipping and dancing down the sidewalk.  My grandchildren, 8, 6 and 2, run wherever they go, and climb anything they can find.  I enjoy the grace of teenagers gliding effortlessly on skateboards, sprinting after a fly ball, leaping to make the catch.  And I think to myself, once upon a time, that was me!

 There are different perspectives about growing old.  “Grow old along with me” wrote Robert Browning, “ the best is yet to be, the last of life, for which the first was made:  our times are in His hand.”

 Thomas Jefferson was not so kind. “First one faculty withdrawn and then another, sight, hearing, memory, affection and friends, filched one by one, till we are left among strangers, the mere monuments of time, facts, and specimens of antiquity for the observation of the curious.”

I have heard others say, “There is nothing good about growing old.”  And, “growing old isn’t for wimps.”  I met with some of my childhood friends last week.  Four of us were together in Mrs. Pritchett’s first grade class.  That was seventy years ago! We know a little bit about aging. 

 When Billy Graham was in his nineties he wrote, “I can’t truthfully say that I have liked growing older. At times I wish I could still do everything I once did – but I can’t. I wish I didn’t have to face the infirmities and uncertainties that seem to be part of this stage of life – but I do.” He asks the important question, “Is old age only a cruel burden that grows heavier and heavier as the years go by, with nothing to look forward to but death? Or can it be something more?”

 In his book, Nearing Home, Graham wrote, “Growing old has been the greatest surprise of my life. … When granted many years of life, growing old in age is natural, but growing old in grace is a choice. Growing older with grace is possible to all who set their hearts and minds on the Giver of grace, the Lord Jesus Christ.”

 My wife and I celebrated our fiftieth anniversary five years ago .  I wrote a book about our journey and published it on Amazon, Our Story.  It highlights our life together for more than half a century with joy, laughter, celebration, sorrow, loss and disappointment.  The longer we live, the deeper we discover life’s textures. The colors become more vibrant, and the blessings and goodness of God, more clear.

 Along with David, I can say, “I will utter dark sayings of old which we have heard and known, and our fathers have told us.  We will not conceal them from their children, but tell to the generation to come the praises of the Lord, and His strength and His wondrous works which He has done!” (Psalm 78:2-4).

Something About That Name

 When my daughter was little, I rocked her to sleep every night and sang the same song:  Jesus, There Is Something About That Name.  One line in song says, “Kings and kingdoms shall all pass away, but there is something about that name.”  My daughter is now the mother of three. When her children were little, she sang the same song to them.   

 A few years ago, my wife and I chose to launch our 50^th year of marriage with a trip to Israel. We spent several days in Jerusalem, walking through the Garden of Gethsemane, looking on the Holy City from the Mount of Olives, visiting the Pool of Siloam and the Western Wall.  We sat on the Southern steps to the temple and walked the Via Dolorosa. 

 Everywhere we went we were shoulder to shoulder with people from all over the world, tourists who had come to walk where Jesus walked.  We met a young man from New Zealand, another from Colombia, entire groups from Indonesia, China and Korea. They came from Africa, South America and Europe.  They were Catholic, Orthodox, Protestant, Non-denominational.  They came from everywhere.  Tour buses lined up on the streets of the city, in spite of the political tensions reported in the news. They came because “there is something about that Name.”

 We visited the Trans-Jordan site, just above the Dead Sea, the most likely place where Jesus was baptized by John.  A barbed wire fence runs down the middle of the Jordan River separating Israel from Jordan.  Armed guards are visible.  On the other side of the river, beyond the barbed-wire fence, a group of Orthodox believers were baptizing, joyfully and with passion. Separated by politics and boundaries, we could not speak to them or touch them, but, like us, they were drawn to that site because Jesus was there.

 In Jerusalem most of the actual places where Jesus walked are buried, beneath many layers.  The temple of His day, built by Herod, was destroyed in 70 AD.  Only the supporting walls remained, including the western wall where hundreds gather to pray every day.

 In the 2^nd century the Roman Emperor Hadrian rebuilt Jerusalem as a pagan city with a temple to Jupiter. After 325, Emperor Constantine rebuilt the city as a Christian center. Islamic rulers conquered the city in 638, the Crusaders in 1099. It was conquered by Saladin in 1187. Its walls were destroyed in 1219 then repaired in 1243. It was taken over by the Ottoman Empire in 1517.  Jerusalem has been conquered, destroyed and rebuilt numerous times.

 According to Thomas L. Friedman in his book, From Beirut to Jerusalem, Neil Armstrong visited Israel and stood on the steps to the Temple entrance.  He asked his guide, archeologist Meir Ben Dov, if these were the same steps Jesus walked on.  Ben Dov confirmed that they were. “I have to tell you,” Armstrong said, “I am more excited stepping on these stones than I was stepping on the moon.” 

 The very stones of the city, with the numerous archeological digs, bear witness to history.  Kings and kingdoms have come and gone. But the name of Jesus remains.  2000 years after Jesus first walked the streets of Jerusalem, His name continues to transform people of every language, culture and nation who trust in Him.  

What Time Ya Got?

 Next Sunday, March 10, we will spring forward for Daylight Saving Time.  On Monday, March 11, the Sun will rise an hour later and delay its setting until 7 PM for an extra hour of light.  Well, of course the Sun will rise and set as it always does. But we won’t.  For we are creatures of the clock.

 For most of human history we have measured time by natural phenomena, usually the movement of the Sun: dawn and dusk, shortening and lengthening shadows, and, at night the movement of the stars. Mechanical clocks did not appear until around 1300 in Europe. Pocket watches did not appear until the latter 1600s and were limited to the wealthy.  They were relatively inaccurate, gaining, or losing an hour a day.  They did not become widespread or accurate until the mid-19^th century with advances in technology.  Wrist watches did not become common until the 20^th century. 

Today we live by the clock: school, work, meetings, deadlines, travel, entertainment.  Almost everything we do is dictated by the clock.  The rising and setting of the Sun have become incidental, except for March 10.

 An open space with tall grass sits behind our house. Some would call it a  meadow, some a marsh, and a few might refer to it as a drainage ditch.  On most mornings I sit on our deck overlooking this grassy area at dawn.  In the last few weeks, a peculiar thing has occurred. The black birds have chosen it for their sleeping place. In the pre-dawn darkness, they are silent.  You would not know they were there. But with the first gray light, they begin to chirp to one another. As the light grows, they crescendo into a loud chorus of chirping. Then, at a precise moment, as if a conductor waved his wand, they fall silent for a few seconds. Suddenly, with the first light of day they take flight: hundreds of them, in waves, filling the air with the sound of their wings. They make a few circles and disappear to distant places  to spend the day. 

 Each morning, they fly a little earlier as the days lengthen.  A few weeks ago they flew at 7:15 AM , then 7:00, then 6:45.  This morning the precise time for Sunrise was set for 6:30 AM.  They flew at 6:26 AM. For them, day light saving is constant and daily.  Every day they fly within minutes of the rising Sun. And, in the evening they return, a noisy reunion in the bare-limbed trees above our house. This evening official sunset was 5:55 PM. They began their descent back to the tall grass at 5:54, by the hundreds.  They use every waking moment of the day with precision.

 The Bible encourages us to make good use of time. It reminds us that we are mortal, that time is fleeting and that we must choose to use the day efficiently, as the birds do.  The oldest Psalm is Psalm 90, a Psalm of Moses, written hundreds of years before King David was born.  The Psalm reminds us, “The days of our lives are but 70 years, or if by strength, 80.  So teach us to number our days that we may present to thee a heart of wisdom.”

 Jesus reminded us, “We must work the works of Him who sent me while it is day.  Night is coming when no man can work.”

Tinsley's Civil War Novel, Bold Springs is free as an eBook on Amazon March 5-9. Chosen Best Christian Historical Fiction by Reader's Favorite 2022. 

Miracle of Life

 All of the debate about in vitro-fertilization has made us question again, “What is human life?  When does it begin?” We know that each of us is the result of a single egg from our mother being fertilized by a single sperm from our father. The basis of our existence is amazingly mysterious and beautiful.  

 My daughter was born the year I turned forty. With two sons already thirteen and eight, we were not expecting another child.  In fact, the doctors had told us that having more children was impossible.  But the impossible happened.  The doctor’s first question was, “Do you want to terminate this pregnancy?”  We were stunned.  Such a consideration never entered our minds.  Nine months later my wife gave birth to a beautiful little girl who has blessed our lives immeasurably. I often thought of that doctor’s question when I rocked her to sleep and felt the weight of her slumbering body  against my shoulder. 

 Our daughter is now thirty-seven. Fifteen years ago, I walked her down the aisle.  I then performed their wedding ceremony and danced with her at the reception, one of the highlights of my life. Three years later, they came home and excitedly told us they were expecting a baby, our fourth grandchild.  When they gave us the news of her pregnancy, her baby was no bigger than a small marble. We listened to the baby’s heartbeat as she grew and watched her dancing in the womb.  She now dances around the room with her little sister and brother.

 Before retirement, my wife worked with pregnant and parenting teens in the public schools.  She constantly sought to help them have a healthy pregnancy, healthy birth, learn how to become a good parent, and stay in school to have a better future.  With children and grandchildren of our own and my wife’s occupation, you would think that the process of pregnancy and birth would have become commonplace. But it hasn’t.  In fact, it is quite the opposite.  The more I witness the miracle of life by which children are born into the world, the more I stand in awe. 

 David expressed it best in Psalm 139:  “For you formed my inward parts; you wove me in my mother's womb. I will give thanks to you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; wonderful are your works, and my soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from you, when I was made in secret, and skillfully wrought in the depths of the earth; Your eyes have seen my unformed substance; and in your book were all written the days that were ordained for me, when as yet there was not one of them.” To the prophet Jeremiah, God said, “Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you.”  (Jeremiah 1:5).

 Every birth, every child and every person is a miracle of God.  We are all more than mere flesh and blood, brain, bone and sinew.  We are made in His likeness, with the awesome freedom to choose good and evil, to bless others or to curse them. We have infinite possibilities and an immortal soul that will one day depart this mortal body. We are eternal beings living in a miraculous universe that astounds our senses. 

Alexei Navalny

Alexei Navalny’s death in Russia’s maximum-security prison in the Arctic Circle reminds us that this generation is like all those that preceded it.  Always there have been despots and regimes willing to commit murder, even genocide, to secure their power. Putin’s chief rival joins a long line of potential adversaries who have met an untimely death.

 The public reaction in Russia is muted.  Everyone knows the dangers of resistance.  According to news sources about 400 people in 8 cities were arrested by state Russian police when they attempted to attend vigils or lay flowers in tribute to Navalny.  A priest was arrested for planning a public prayer vigil. Russia is not the United States.  Freedom of speech and public assembly is not protected.

 I visited Moscow shortly after the Soviet Union dissolved.  It was a bleak place  I viewed the corpse in Lenin’s tomb and descended into the depths of the subway system, the deepest subway in the world, built to serve as bomb shelters during the cold war. 

 Navalny’s death reminds us of events almost a century ago, June 30 through July 2, 1934 when Adolf Hitler consolidated his power by killing adversaries who would oppose him, an event that would come to be known as the Night of the Long Knives.

 A few years ago, my wife and I spent the summer in Nuremberg, Germany.  While there, we toured the Dokuzentrum, the Document Center that was constructed in post WW II Germany at the Nazi rally site that drew millions during Hitler’s rule.  The Center was built to document the atrocities of Nazi Germany, including the Holocaust.  We must not forget the depths to which governments can sink and the need for every generation to protect human rights and freedom.

 The Cross of Jesus Christ casts a dark shadow across the landscape of human history. The Cross bears witness to the depths of human depravity, the injustices to which individuals and governments can sink.  Bound up in the Cross is the innocent suffering in every generation.  All of our sins are there, in the darkness that descended upon Golgotha.

 The Resurrection of Jesus dispels that darkness.  The eye-witness accounts of those who saw Jesus, who spoke with him, ate with him and touched him after he rose from the dead bear witness. Life overcomes death. Righteousness triumphs over evil.  Two thousand years of testimony by believers in every age and every nation affirm this truth. 

 As Isaiah wrote, “Do you not know? Have you not heard? Has it not been declared to you from the beginning? Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth? It is He who sits above the circle of the earth, and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers, who stretches out the heavens like a curtain and spreads them out like a tent to dwell in.  He it is who reduces rulers to nothing, who makes the judges of the earth meaningless. Scarcely have they been planted, scarcely have they been sown, scarcely has their stock taken root in the earth, but He merely blows on them, and they wither, and the storm carries them away like stubble. ... Yet those who wait for the Lord will gain new strength; they will mount up with wings like eagles, they will run and not get tired. They will walk and not become weary,” (Isaiah 40). 

Why So Lonely?

More people live in the world today than at any other time in history, more than 8 billion with another 200,000 added daily.  More people live in the United States today than at any other time in history, over 335 million with 80% living in cities.  We are more connected than ever before, by cell phone, text, email and social media. And, despite all this, we are lonely.

 A recent headline in USA Today,  proclaimed, “Americans are lonely and it’s killing them. ”The article went on to say, “ America has a new epidemic. It cannot be treated using traditional therapies even though it has debilitating even deadly consequences. The problem seeping in at the corners of our communities is loneliness.

 Perhaps our drive to gather in huge numbers is a symptom of our loneliness.  Stadiums and sports venues are overflowing.  The Taylor Swift Eras tour has packed out stadiums worldwide, averaging 72,000 per concert in the US. Swift jetted home from Tokyo to join more than 61,000 at the Super Bowl in Las Vegas, while more than 200,000 packed the Waste Management golf tournament in Phoenix.

 At one time or another we all feel lonely. Even though we are surrounded by other people.  Sometimes it stems from a feeling that no one seems to understand, that no one knows who we really are “inside.”  Sometimes it stems from having no one in whom we can confide. 

 Sometimes we feel like we just don’t fit in.  This can be especially acute for teenagers trying to find their way, searching for their own identity.  The urge to dress alike, look alike, talk alike and act alike can be overwhelming and leave us with a feeling that, for all our efforts to be accepted, we don’t belong.

 At other times, loneliness is the result of isolation. This can be especially true for the home-bound, the disabled and the elderly, widows and widowers.  Days may pass without having a visitor or someone with whom to talk. 

 So, how do we respond in this age of loneliness.  There are several simple starting places. 

 First, know that God knows you. He knows you better than you know yourself. “Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you,” (Jeremiah 1:5).  “Lord, you have searched me and known me.  You know when I sit down and when I get up; you understand my thought from far away.  You scrutinize my path and my lying down, and are acquainted with all my ways, (Psalm 139:1-3).  “

 Second, seek out a faith community.  Go to church.  Participate in a small group where you can be known and loved.  “Not abandoning our own meeting together but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the day approaching,” (Hebrews 10:25).   

 Third, be there for someone else.  Seek out the isolated, the ostracized and the rejected.  Be a friend to someone else.  Visit the homebound.  Pick up the phone. Call someone. 

 God never intended that we should be alone or feel lonely. From the outset of creation God saw that “It is not good for man to be alone,” (Genesis 2:18).  “A father of the fatherless and a judge for the widows, Is God in His holy dwelling.  God makes a home for the lonely,” (Psalm 68:5-6).

Order Bill Tinsley's newest book, We Beheld His Glory, a Novel, FREE eBook on Amazon Feb 13-17.