Ancient Bones

The following is a copy of the Thomas Question email devotional. You can subscribe to the email edition from our website and tune into our podcast.

Flipping through Discover magazine’s top 100 science breakthroughs of the past year, I came face to face with “Little Lucy” (she made it to number 37). She’s described as a “3-year-old female Australopithecus afarensis” and has become the oldest remains of a child “hominid” ever found. 3.3 million years is the estimate. She’ll become one more among many sets of bones which testify to an ancient mystery on a very old, very busy planet. Fascinating. What do you make of it? Do you think these skeleton’s are the imaginative improvisations of misguided paleontologists? Do you chalk the whole thing up as some elaborate and misguided bit of nonsense? Or are bones like these the work of the devil? (I could hardly even get myself to write that – but it’s out there, folks.)

I talk to literally hundreds of people each year – mostly young adults – who find their faith shaken in the face of these and other ancient mysteries for which they have been ill prepared. This past weekend’s conference in Edmonton was no exception. Sunday schools have given them a pat view of the universe based on felt board depictions of a blue-eyed Jew in long flowing robes and little else. That faith doesn’t so much crumble after high school or in University as it is torn limb from limb like a lamb among dinosaurs. Literally.

The problem isn’t that we haven’t tried to provide answers, because we have. It’s that we haven’t given them (or ourselves) a context for mystery and wonder. We’ve led them to believe there’s an answer for everything and we can find it. I find that idea at odds with the force of teaching in scripture on faith (Hebrews 11). I find it at odds with the concept of a God who is completely beyond us (Isaiah 55:8), a race of people “fearfully and wonderfully” made ((Psalm 139:14) and a universe that still takes our breath away even after we’ve stared into it for as far back as our collective memory goes. Who ever said it all needs to add up? Is that what faith is? Math? “Bean counting”? You just add it up? I think we should be finding things that don’t fit, and can’t be explained.

No doubt there are pastors who will be angry that I won’t provide some slick paragraph designed to cast doubt on the fields of archaeology and anthropology and expose every Museum bound stack of bones as some sort of fraud. Well I think THAT would be a fraud. I have a context for those things I can’t explain. I embrace the enigma. My faith budgets for mystery and I don’t need to have all the answers – and indeed some won’t be provided until after the fact anyway. Paul writes about a God-story that can look foolish and still be powerful (1 Corinthians 1:18). He also writes that the search for Him is not simply a matter of wisdom and signs (v 22) but faith – with parts of each but then a little beyond as well.

As a result of all this, we can join with the rest of the human race in drawing one huge exclamation mark behind the things we are uncovering through science and discovery and also celebrate the one who holds all the answers in Himself. We can look deep into the face of a mystery with unshaken faith and say simply, “wow – it really is amazing, isn’t it?”

This Sunday, we’ll be looking further into faith, certainty and these kinds of things with the question, “How can we be really sure?” This ends a triplet of questions which began on January 7th (you can visit our website or tune into our podcast.). Next Sunday we’ll be picking up a few questions in a totally different direction for the remainder of the series.

I hope to see you there, and I hope you bring someone with you.

CSW

REMOTE CONTROL PULPIT
For the first 6 weeks of the new year, the teaching segment is completely at your disposal. Have you ever wanted something said to the people you live and work beside? Have you ever wanted to ask a question of your own? The whole series will be available for free on CD and DVD so it can travel around. Hit reply to submit a question.

THIS SUNDAY
Rounding off a triplet of questions about certainty. We began with, “What about heaven and hell?”, then 2 Sundays ago, “Is Jesus the only way?” and next Sunday will be, “How can we really be sure?” You can visit our website or tune into our podcast.

NEXT SUNDAY
Good behavior, bad mistakes and second chances with the questions, “Do you always get a second chance? How far is too far? How do you know when you’ve gone there?”

ARE YOU SURE IT DOESN'T MATTER
The single hardest part in beginning any new endeavor is trying to convince people that the little things only they can do actually matter. Pray, invite, come. It’s how you build a great church.

BIG NEWS
Have you wondered if there is a plan? In between this and the next series, let’s talk about a vision for the next 6 months.