There has been quite a stir lately about a new series called “POV” (Point of View) on the local PBS channel here in the Indianapolis area. The show features Bill Nye – formerly known as “The Science Guy.” For years, he conducted experiments and taught kids the underlying reasons why things happened. He became something of an icon for reaching out and helping children get motivated with an interest in science.
Before Bill Nye, there was Carl Sagan, a very well known astronomer, who had a TV series called Cosmos, and had also written a book by the same name. He was very liberal in his thinking and became a lightning rod for all things dealing with the stars and space. Bill Nye had studied mechanical engineering in college and needed an elective. Based on the notoriety of a professor at the school, Bill signed up for an astronomy class to be taught by none other than Carl Sagan himself.
This ignited a passion for learning and even though Bill never earned a doctorate, he became known as the billboard for all things science. He eventually became known as a fierce advocate for the fight against global warming and his current series explores various issues facing our world today. In all honesty, I found him rather liberal in his positions. However, as a staunch conservative, I am sure that I can be viewed with similar biases in areas that I strongly believe in.
Part of the most recent episode dealt with the Creation Museum in Kentucky and there were several lively exchanges between Nye and Ken Ham, the founder and leader of the Creation Museum as well as the Ark Experience. The two men have debated on several occasions and the upshot of these encounters is that Christians have come to the aid of Mr. Ham and have supposedly raised more than $15 million in response to the need to spread the biblical account of creation to our children.
Bill Nye thinks that this approach is a travesty and said so during the somewhat heated exchange. Nye’s belief in the theory of evolution is clearly based on his claims of science and many of his adversaries submit that Nye’s background is not one that would lead anyone to believe that he was a legitimate scientist. This seems to have followed Nye for most of his career.
Regardless of which side of this debate you support, there is a huge disagreement between the creationists and the evolutionists. Passions run high when discussing whether the earth is many millions of years old, or whether it is merely thousands of years old. It seems to me that at this point in time, it really doesn’t matter. Frankly, either you believe in global warming or you don’t. And you believe that the biblical account of creation is correct, or you don’t.
The more important question is not what has happened in the past, but what we are going to do with the future. As Christians, are we going to spread the Good News or not? And does it really matter how old the earth is?
To be sure, I, for one, believe in a literal interpretation of the Bible. I know that is not a popular position, but I think that if you start deciding that parts of the Bible are true and other parts are not, then you have started down a slippery slope that makes it very difficult to know the truth.
Our verse for this evening is the first verse in the Scripture. Moses, the author of Genesis, tells us, in Genesis 1:1-2, “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.” This tells us that God the Father, the Holy Spirit, and Jesus (from John 1:1) were all there at the creation of the world. And frankly, we can either accept this or not. The choice is yours.
My encouragement tonight is that God and the other members of the Trinity want us to believe in them. My prayer is that we will embrace the word of God and that we will live in unity together with others who may not be of similar thought. After all, Jesus expected us to love one another, and that included people who didn’t necessarily embrace the same positions that we do. Have a great day in the Lord, grace and peace…