From the Bench
AND GOD CREATED………..
They have been having quite a controversy in Cobb County schools recently.
They can’t agree on how to tell the kids how they got here. I’m not referring
to sex-education in the schools, although that also often leads to heated
debate.
No, this argument is between the test tubes and the Bibles. Last I heard,
it was heading for a draw……..they had about decided to teach both evolution
and creationism.
Reminds me of the old story about the new teacher who came to town. Seems
that half the town thought the world was round, and the other half insisted
that it was flat. The new teacher, obviously destined for a career in politics,
said, "Well, y’all just make up your minds. I can teach it round or
flat."
The controversy over the origin of man is not a new one. Charles Darwin
got it started about a hundred and fifty years ago by poking around on some
God-forsaken island and writing a book about what he found. Strangely, no
monkeys were on the island, and few humans had corrupted it; nevertheless,
Darwin, like all "good" scientists, was able to reach some abstract
conclusions linking the two, and the fat was in the fire.
More than half a century later, in Dayton, Tennessee, back in the 1920’s,
there was a test case about teaching evolution in the public schools called
"The Scopes Trial." I grew up about thirty miles down the road
from Dayton, and I remember as a child hearing about the "monkey trial."
Some of my kin, having nothing better to do, went to Dayton for the free
show and to look for relatives.
From what I have heard and read, and from the movie that was made about
the Dayton circus, I doubt that any self-respecting monkey would have ventured
within a hundred miles of the place. The most long-lasting effect of the
trial was the death of William Jennings Bryan, who defended the faith against
"America’s Lawyer", Clarence Darrow.
Bryan got so worked up that, at the end of the trial, he had a fatal heart
attack. The locals were so impressed by this final performance that they
established a small religious college in his name. To my knowledge, it is
still there, so perhaps some good was done after all.
Ever since the days of the Pharisees, who Jesus had a lot of trouble with,
men have been hell bent (and no pun intended) on imposing their religious
rules and regulations on the general population. It took the Jews a thousand
years or so to encrust their religion with so many "laws" that
nobody could do anything without "sinning".
Jesus would have no part of this tomfoolery; however, those who he "freed"
from the "law" have spent the past two-thousand years reimposing
many of the rules, though in different form and language.
From the takeover of the church by Roman emperor Constantine, to the legions
of clerics, priests, scholars, monks, kings, and assorted "influential"
people down through the centuries, Christianity has been parsed, diced,
and dissected to the point that some wonder if Jesus would recognize what
He started two thousand years ago.
Ecclesiatical opposition to science is nothing new. Several hundred years
ago, Galileo had the effrontery to write that the earth moved around the
sun. The church forced him to recant.
Today is no different. Millions of our brethren insist that God created
the human being from a solitary lump of clay, in one fell swoop. To think
otherwise is heresy.
This kind of talk worries some folks, especially those who have become so
immersed in ecclesiastical rules and jargon that their brains have been
immobilized.
I’m not bothered by it. Who am I to impose limits on God, however He decided
to accomplish the task?. Recall the way Jesus made a point? He used parables,
simple little stories about life, to cut to the chase and illustrate what
God is all about.
A little story…..a parable if you will…..which my friend, Tommy Lankford
tells, sums up my feelings.
A brilliant scientist was having a conversation with God. "You’re not
so smart," he said. "I have learned how to make a human being,
just like you did."
God said nothing. He merely picked up a lump of clay, massaged it, and presented
a live, human infant.
"I can do that," scoffed the scientist. He picked up a lump of
clay, but before he could continue, God stopped him.
"What’s the matter?" the scientist asked indignantly.
And God said, "Get your OWN dirt."
To both sides in the Cobb controversy, and those like them who are convinced
that they have ALL the answers, I would echo God ( without fear of blasphemy),
"Get your OWN dirt."