"DEAR GOD, YOU SURE DON'T ACT LIKE YOU'RE ALIVE" - Day 24

Day 24 – relating and revealing (II)

 God is continually drawing us to himself in everything we experience.  –GERARD HUGHES

The artwork on the October 25, 2004 cover of Time depicted a young woman in prayer, hands folded and eyes closed. To her right was the caption “THE GOD GENE” and to her left this question: “Does our DNA compel us to seek a higher power?” The cover story inside discussed evidence—preliminary, but nonetheless intriguing—that our awareness of God may be encrypted in our genome. Somewhere within our genetic make-up, some scientists are predicting, is implanted an amino acid sequence that encodes our bent toward theism. Somewhere on one of our chromosomes is written the message: “There is a God!”

The story, of course, was replete with opinions and quotes from a variety of experts in the fields of science, philosophy, and theology. As would be expected, each person tended to fit this “God gene” into the worldview he or she already possessed. Atheistic scientists hailed the new discovery, claiming that such a gene gives belief in God a natural, rather than a supernatural, explanation. Our perception of God would be no more than a by-product of the nuclei of our cells. If that were so, there would be no need to maintain that God exists, at least in the sense that nearly all theists proclaim God’s existence. The supernatural God that so many of us acknowledge would be usurped by a God conceived and perceived totally within nature.

Theistic scientists and non-scientific theologians were persuaded otherwise. They asserted that the discovery of such a gene would not change their belief in God at all. If anything, it would strengthen that belief. The basic theological question (Does God exist?) and their answer to it would remain the same, the only difference being that the forum would now be pushed into the realm of genetics. Based on what I know as a theologian and physician, I concur. I do not think that proof of a “God gene” in each of us would fundamentally change any of the arguments for God. In particular, the arguments I gave in 5 Reasons would still hold true. When explained in everyday language, it is not difficult to see why I hold this opinion. With the sole purpose of making this point clear, consider with me the following analogy:

Suppose that upon awakening one morning and gazing out my window, I see a small airplane skywriting in bold letters the following words: “RANDY, THERE IS A GOD!” Not surprisingly, the first question that pops into my mind is: “Who sent me this message?” Immediately I reach for my cell phone and take a picture of the message in the sky. Grabbing my binoculars, I am able to make out the plane’s identification number and, after a couple of phone calls, trace the flight to my local airport. I dress quickly and hurry there, arriving just as the plane lands.

When the pilot exits the plane, I approach him with the picture and pose to him the same question: “Who sent me this message?” He tells me that the company he works for received a request and payment to write those words in the sky. He says that he does not know who made the request, but the people he works for probably do. After obtaining directions to his company’s offices, I proceed there without delay.

Thirty minutes later I enter the corporate office and show the secretary the photo. I ask her the same question: “Who sent me this message?” She finds in her computer database the address from which the order was placed. “It came from someone at 252 Pinnacle Point,” she informs me. That is surprising and even more puzzling, for that is my home address! This, for sure, becomes my next destination.

When I reach my residence, my wife greets me at the door and asks why I am home at this time of day. I tell her the story, show her the picture, and ask again: “Who sent me this message?” She confesses to me that she is the one who called the company and ordered the message to be put in the sky. But she informs me that she did so at my command. She says that I nudged her two nights ago while dreaming and told her to have the message “RANDY, THERE IS A GOD!” written there. I also made her promise not to mention a word of it to me when I awakened. “All I did,” she exclaims, “was what you told me to do.”

Frustrated all the more, I retreat to my bedroom and look again at the picture on my cell phone. Gazing into the mirror, I ask myself the same question: “Who sent me this message?” It is a question I have asked four other times today. As before, there is no definite answer. Was the message sent to me from someone else, even from God Himself, or was it something my mind made up as I slept? I really do not know. After a few minutes of contemplation, I determine that the best thing for me to do is to believe the message and act upon it. Thus I proceed to walk—in the midst of uncertainty but based on the evidence at hand—in true faith. 

In summary, I know all too well at the beginning and the end of the day that I have received a message, and I know exactly what that message says. But even after narrowing my focus from the sky, to the airport, to the company, to my home, and finally to myself, I am still unable to answer the question: “Who sent me this message?” I cannot explain its origin; all I can do is act upon it. 

In a sense, the history of our awareness of God’s existence is the same. Men and women long ago, as they gazed at the heavens above, became aware of a message there written: “GOD EXISTS!” The only question that remained was, “Who sent this message?” The majority believed that it came from God Himself. Atheists, however, claimed that nature, as if playing a trick on us, was its source. When humans looked closer to home—at the earth, not the heavens—they discovered the same message: “GOD EXISTS!” But once again the source of the message remained uncertain. Neither theists nor atheists could declare victory. Even when they peaked inside their own home, concentrating on their own species, they found the same message and the same unanswerable question. Now, as they gaze into the “mirror” of their individual genome and see the same message inscribed, they find themselves no nearer an answer than their primitive ancestors. Whether written in the skies, spoken to the heart, or encrypted within the DNA, the source of our awareness of the existence of God still remains an unsolved mystery. The question remains: “Who sent us this message? Did God or nature plant the message there?” An honest person would say that we just don’t know.

So where does this leave us today, we who sense that same message? Should we expose it as a lie from nature and write it off? Should we embrace it and nourish it as a truth from God? Or should we resign ourselves that we will never know for sure? My answer is that we should examine the two alternatives and determine which makes the most sense. And that is exactly what we did during our journey’s first leg. We asked ourselves then if humanity’s belief in God made the most sense in a theistic or an atheistic universe, and we came to the conclusion that the existence of God was the best explanation. 

In light of this, the Time article is to us exciting news. If the existence of a “God gene” were ever proven, it would signify to us that God planned from the start to let us know of His existence. And when we remember that He, so superior to us in every way, certainly had the option to remain hidden from our consciousness, we would in humble thankfulness acknowledge this gene as further evidence of His relational and revelatory nature.

The message: “RANDY, THERE IS A GOD!”

The question: “Who sent me this message?” 
The answer: God Himself! 
The reason: He must have wanted me to know. (It was His choice. Again, we see His sovereignty at work.)      
The result: God, by revealing Himself, established a relationship with me. 
What type of relationship? Stay tuned to tomorrow’s reading.