Faith that Hangs Upon a Hare
I sensed anxiety from the college student sitting across the table from me. He had only taken a few bites of his lunch, mainly he just played with the lettuce on his fork. Slowly, he began to explain to me that he was being taught the theory of evolution in school and didn’t know what to do. Should he confront his teacher? Should he complain to the administration?
I listened to him as he told me that so much of what his professor said in class contradicted what the scriptures taught. “The Bible is the Word of God, and the Bible tells us that God created the universe and world in six days.” He continued, his voice rising with passion, “My faith is the most important part of my life. If it comes to my faith or science, I’m choosing my faith.”
He spoke for a long time, and I listened quietly as he poured out his heart. He felt strongly that what his professor was teaching was at odds with scripture. He went on to tell me he couldn’t possibly continue his major in biology if it undermined his confidence in the Bible.
In my almost 40 years of ministry I had heard similar stories from college young people. They had been brought up in church and believed that the Bible was the Word of God. Many dreamed of entering scientific careers but so much of what they were being taught challenged their faith and made them uncomfortable. It didn’t take long for some of these students to change majors and opt for a different life. If they had to make a choice between science and scripture, they would choose scripture.
When young people, especially those who had grown up under my pastoral leadership, confided in me that they believed science was the enemy of faith, I felt that I had failed them as pastor. A pastor strives to enlarge people’s image of God, not shrink it. God is big! Infinitely bigger than our creeds, dogmas, or doctrines make him out to be. All that has ever been written about God, even scripture itself, is only the beginning of a faith journey.
I have never believed that science was the enemy of faith. Science is simply humankind’s efforts to understand a small part of the handiwork of God. What is the enemy of faith is a rigid interpretation of scripture that leaves no wiggle room for other points of view. Scripture was never intended to provide scientific information. Scripture was meant to reveal God’s love and concern for the world and how we human beings can enter into relationship with him.
In the wonderful movie Rudy, based on the true story of Rudy Ruettiger, an aspiring athlete desperately dreams of playing football for Notre Dame. Unfortunately, he doesn’t have the grades, money, or athletic ability to play for the “Fighting Irish.” But Rudy refuses to give up on his dream. He enrolls in a Junior College to sharpen his academic credentials and takes a job working for the Notre Dame athletic department, hoping to somehow earn his way onto the team.
As time passes, Rudy’s dream of playing for his beloved team grows dimmer and dimmer. He is at the end of his rope when he confides in a priest that he has done everything he possibly can but still God has not opened a door. He doesn’t understand why.
The priest patiently listens to Rudy and then responds, “There are only two incontrovertible facts: there is a God, and I’m not him.”
The priest was knowledgeable in Scripture and the traditions of the church but didn’t try to solve Rudy’s dilemma with dogma or quotations from scripture. He wanted Rudy to understand that God’s ways are not our ways and that our minds can’t figure out the inscrutable designs of the universe. There is much that will always remain hidden from us. Faith means learning to live with a certain amount of ambiguity, for certitude will always elude us. Perhaps that is why the Apostle Paul points out that we walk by faith, not by sight.
That’s not to say that everything is up for grabs. The two great commandments to love God and neighbor, for example, are threads that run consistently throughout the Bible. They form the basis of God’s universal law, the prophetic teachings, the Gospels, Paul’s writings, and the other writings of the New Testament. These two commandments provide the foundation for what it means to follow the Judeo-Christian God and are non-negotiable for people of faith. As someone has wisely said, “All the rest is commentary.”
In other words, there is much in scripture that was never meant to be a litmus test for faith. My young friend who was contemplating changing his major was shaken by the scientific explanation that evolution plays a key role in creation. He read the creation account in Genesis 1 and 2 and believed that the theory of evolution contradicted scripture. He believed that if he accepted the scientific view of evolution, he would betray his faith.
As gently as I knew how, I shared with my young friend that there was wide latitude for a variety of interpretations in regard to the Genesis creation story. What the creation story teaches is not “how” the universe and world were created but “why.” As we learn why God created all that is, there is ample room for us to learn from science the how.
Why do some Christians read the creation account literally but seemingly have no problem interpreting biblical cosmology figuratively? When the Bible portrays the earth as the center of the universe, or as standing still, or the sun revolving around the earth, or verses that suggest the earth is flat, few Christians raise an eyebrow. So, why is the creation story placed on such an inflexible pedestal of interpretation?
If we read the Bible as a scientific textbook, we will run into all kinds of problems. Take Leviticus 11:6 and Deuteronomy 14:7, for instance. A literal reading raises some rather interesting zoological difficulties. These verses warn us not to eat unclean animals, such as the rabbit, for the rabbit “chews the cud.” Actually, though, the rabbit does not chew the cud, but when the Israelites saw the rabbit chewing, it appeared to be chewing the cud. In other words, the Bible’s perspective reflects an ancient understanding but not modern scientific truth, which has led to the doggerel:
All the bishops have sworn to shed their blood
to prove ‘tis true the rabbit chews the cud.
Oh, bishops, doctors, and divines beware,
weak is the faith that hangs upon a hare!
Albert Einstein once said that science is concerned with true knowledge about the universe and the world of nature, while religion is concerned about humanity’s ultimate truths and values. Science can’t answer the questions that lie deeply within us, such as “Why are we here?” or “Why do we so often feel alone?” or “What is our purpose?” Only scripture can help us with these kinds of questions. But science, on the other hand, can enlighten our minds as we explore HOW God created all that is.
