As I've mentioned previously, I'm currently in an astronomy class. But I don't think I've mentioned just how much I love it. I love my astronomy class. Despite the people who constantly feel the need to ask questions that the teacher just answered about three seconds ago, I still love the class. My teacher is a huge nerd which is awesome. But I love that we can be talking about stars exploding and suddenly my teacher's next slide in his power point is quoting Moses 1:35 when the Lord tells Moses that "many worlds have passed away by the word of my power." Or Abraham 3:24 when God says "We will go down, for there is space there, and we will take of these materials, and we will make an earth whereon these may dwell."
And you say, OK, nice scriptures, but why are they popping up in astronomy instead of your religion class? Think about it. Where does all the material come from that creates objects in space? From supernovas. We have elements heavier than hydrogen only because they are created by dying stars. Scientists estimate that our sun, Sol, is a fourth generation star. Just like God told Moses, many worlds have passed away in order to create the materials that were used to create the Earth. And all that unorganized matter was just asking to be created into something wonderous by the Master Creator.
Someone I know once said to me that perfect science and perfect religion mesh perfectly. Certainly we don't know everything about the creation of the universe, but we have the fullness of the gospel and even with the gaps in our scientific knowledge it's so cool to see how they fit together so well.
I'm so grateful to be attending a university where we can combine religion and learning so freely. It really helps bring everything together and makes sense. It really puts Christ where he belongs: at the center of everything.
And you say, OK, nice scriptures, but why are they popping up in astronomy instead of your religion class? Think about it. Where does all the material come from that creates objects in space? From supernovas. We have elements heavier than hydrogen only because they are created by dying stars. Scientists estimate that our sun, Sol, is a fourth generation star. Just like God told Moses, many worlds have passed away in order to create the materials that were used to create the Earth. And all that unorganized matter was just asking to be created into something wonderous by the Master Creator.
Someone I know once said to me that perfect science and perfect religion mesh perfectly. Certainly we don't know everything about the creation of the universe, but we have the fullness of the gospel and even with the gaps in our scientific knowledge it's so cool to see how they fit together so well.
I'm so grateful to be attending a university where we can combine religion and learning so freely. It really helps bring everything together and makes sense. It really puts Christ where he belongs: at the center of everything.
4 comments:
Well Said. I enjoyed reading it.
John
Amen to that!
One of the highlights of my undergraduate career was taking evolution at BYU. I don't think I would have enjoyed it without a professor who forced us to reconcile the science and the religion. It was an amazing experience and one that I'm extraordinarily grateful for.
Congrats on finally writing! :) I entirely agree with your quote about perfect science an perfect religion. Since I'm a biology major, it is impossible to have an educated discussion about some concepts without including evolution. This makes so many BYU students uncomfortable or even angry, which has always baffled me. We do not claim to understand all the mysteries of God; they are being reveled to us "line upon line." Similarly, the scientific community does not claim that evolution answers all the questions; there are still many phenomena that are yet to be understood. True, our current understanding of God and creation and the typical interpretation of the evolutionary theory don't mesh perfectly, but our understanding about either subject - science or religion - is neither perfect nor complete.
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