Thursday, July 9, 2009

Grief and Creationism

While I was preparing a funeral message, I happend to be reading Madeline L'Engle's Genesis Trilogy. Shortly after the death of her husband Hugh, Madeline got involved in the debate over origins, how the world came to be. She pointed out that the only question worth asking is whether or not the universe is God's. How the world came to be isn't as important. She stated...

"If I should find out tomorrow that God's method of creation was something quite different from either creationism or evolution that would in no way shake my faith, because that is not where my faith is centered. Thank God. If my faith were based on anything so fragile, how could I have lived through my husband's dying and death? How would I continue to live a full and loving life? My faith is based on the wonder that everything--all the laughter, all the pain, all the birthing and living and dying and glory, all our stories, without exception, are given dignity by God's awareness and concern."

Because this is God's world, life and death both have meaning. How do people who see human existence as an accident find any comfort in death? My comfort is that expressed by CS Lewis who said, "there are better things ahead than anything we leave behind."

1 comment:

David said...

If I should find out tomorrow that God's method of creation was different from what is described in the bible it would shake my faith radically as my entire eternity is built on the fact that God is the only being in the universe that keeps His word. If He were able to go back on His word, lie, or change then there would be nothing in the universe worth trusting. All hope would be lost and it would remain simply to be tossed around by what ever happens.

My hope is anchored in God who cannot lie, does not change, has always existed, and is perfectly Holy in all He does and is. Had He not revealed Himself then He could not be known.

Call it fundamentalism or whatever, but all else is like trying to hang a hat on a peg made of air.