Norris Family News

Humpty Dumpty

I was responding to a dear friend in email who is having difficulty reconciling scientific facts and observations with the supernatural events of the bible, specifically with regard to the creation of the earth.

I was just reading some great essays by C.S. Lewis and had an epiphany. I think you are taking things way too literally. By that, I do not mean taking the Scripture too literally. I think we don’t take them literally enough. But I think you are taking the natural order too literally. Imagine if I showed you some gorgeous Rembrandt painting with vivid colors and hyper-realistic rendering. Then I gave you a sheet of paper and a charcoal pencil and said, "Go for it! You can make a picture just like the Rembrandt!" Of course you would look at the pencil and the paper and instantly recognize that the tools were not adequate for the task. In a sense, I believe that is the problem with trying to explain all of Creation with the incredibly limited palette of modern science. You are trying to squeeze all the marvels we see in the universe into a very limited toolbox and then insist that it all came about from tools (such as Time, Matter, Space, etc.) in that toolbox. Your thoughts about floods, geologic timescales, creation accounts vs. scientific cosmology, are all tightly confined inside a tiny toolbox that is wholly inadequate.

In an essay entitled Miracles C.S. Lewis said that the entire story of modern science can be summarized by the words "Humpty Dumpty was falling." Science can only provide information by observation and we are, cosmologically speaking, observing Humpty Dumpty’s fall. We have no information about how he got on the wall, nor where he or the wall came from, nor what will happen once he crashes to the ground. Further, we cannot imagine a mechanism by which he could ever be put back together again. Likewise, all of the observed universal order of matter is winding down. It is moving from some unknown state of being wound up toward some unknown, but inferred, state of being totally unwound. Science cannot even begin to speculate how the universal order was wound up in the first place. And yet this cannot be the way things have always been from all eternity, or else things would already be wound down into total disorder and total stillness.

Now look at the Gospels. Jesus gave us glimpses into other, formerly unknown, aspects of our universe. First, He displayed power over the created order, but completely consistent with that order. If you look at the miracles He performed, they were not fantastic, fairy tale things like making trees talk, turning people into toads, or some other truly magical thing. (again thanks to Lewis’ essay) Instead, they were consistent with nature but compressed in time or space in some way. Physical processes were reversed or accelerated to heal. Existing elements of the natural palette were combined to turn water into wine and multiply food. Note that He did not wave His hand with a wizardly flourish over the five thousand and cause meals to appear on everyone’s laps. C.S. Lewis points out that this does not diminish the miraculous aspect of the acts, but instead, establishes Jesus’ lordship over the created order. The King came into His own and was able to use His own creation in ways that we may never figure out. Second, we see glimpses into previously unknown aspects of space and time. A boat and Philip are instantaneously transported from one place to another. Jesus and Peter are able to walk on water. Later Jesus is able to enter locked rooms and defy gravity, while still having a physical, touchable form that eats. Isn’t it noteworthy that He made such a point of showing the disciples that His new body was not a purely spiritual ghost, but something altogether new? So before His resurrection we see that He is King, Lord, and Master over His creation, and after His resurrection we are given a sneak preview into other dimensions, or senses, and something entirely new to our experience.

Now, the "scientific" disposition may be offended by such an appeal to unobservable processes and dimensions to explain the seemingly fantastic aspects of the Scripture. But is this really so unscientific? Lewis pointed out that Schrodinger wanted seven dimensions to explain the simplest atom. How can the mind grasp seven dimensions? Quantum physics and astrophysics are constantly coming up with fantastical constructs to explain things. Compare dark matter and black holes, and the weak force and Schrodinger’s effect, to the seemingly fantastic events of the bible. Yes, some of the fantastic constructs of quantum physics came about through experimentation, but does that make them any less bizarre? The truth is stranger than fiction. In the very same way the things of the bible are proved out in our lives through the experimentation of living life in the Kingdom of God; where we discover that the Living God is every bit as real as the unobservable aspects of atomic physics.

So the issue comes down to this: what presuppositions do we bring to the table? The secular humanist, for reasons of his own, presumes that there is no God. Once God is out of the picture, he is free to speculate and even discover things that are genuinely supernatural (to begin with) and just say that his understanding of the universe has been expanded. He can say that there are seven (or more) dimensions without being labeled a magician, a witch doctor, or a religious fanatic. As a Christian, the presupposition I bring to the table is "In the beginning God." That presupposition, just like the secular humanist, completely biases and forms my understanding of reality. But I am at a great advantage. I have an ultimate explanation for cosmological questions, which is proved out daily in my life of faith. With this presupposition, I am free to speculate with the same "scientific toolbox" as the humanist, knowing that my discoveries will reveal further aspects of the Creation and further glimpses into the nature of the King of Creation. Note that my worldview can contain and explain the natural and the supernatural; including those "supernatural" things such as love, justice, mercy, reason, logic, etc. But the purely naturalistic worldview cannot explain the supernatural, not even those non-physical things (love, logic, etc.) that are most important to humans.

So how did the earth get created in six days? Who knows? It will be exciting to one day find out from the Maker Himself. Maybe the earth was folded into another dimension of the space time fabric during its formation and when it was unfolded into our space time fabric it is millions of years old? Note that I am using the language of science and science fiction. If I were a secular humanist physicist, no one would bat an eye at my wild theory. Einstein’s theories of space and time are just as fantastic on the surface. I have no problem with accepting the accounts of the bible at face value. In fact, I fully expect that science will "discover" things in my lifetime that make them all the more plausible. The core issue is that I am presuming God and moving forward from there.

In conclusion, it is very important to note that science cannot speak meaningfully about anything that really matters in life. What can science say about loving your wife, or about reason itself, or art or music or beauty or justice or mercy or...? But the God of the bible can not only speak meaningfully about those things, He truly has the Words of Life.

--Thaine