Presidents Message - 12/01/2024

NED News 

Fall is an especially beautiful time of year in New England. “[God] has made everything beautiful in its time,” says Eccles. 3:11, and this is certainly true of our fall foliage. I have often marveled that people can see the beauty of our world – or of the heavens; seven years ago in September I was vacationing on Nantucket and was awed by the spectacular view of the stars of the Milky Way – and believe that all of this just happened by an unplanned and undirected process of evolution. Even more amazing is to credit the beginning and development of life itself to evolutionary processes, for every cell of every living thing – be it a blade of grass or a human being – has within it DNA, a complex molecule filled with a vast amount of information that ultimately directs the duplication of that cell. How could incredibly complex information arise from nothing, and from undirected and chance chemical processes? Personally, I think it takes a greater leap of faith to believe this than it does to believe that an all-wise and powerful and good God created everything.

Recently one of our pastors shared a quote that his daughter sent him from her college (Syracuse U.) Astronomy class. Johannes Kepler (1571-1630), a German astronomer and mathematician who created the most accurate model of planetary astronomy with his three laws of planetary motion, said: “These laws [of nature] are within the grasp of the human mind; God wanted us to recognize them by creating us after His own image so that we could share in His own thoughts.” Kepler got this understanding from his Lutheran faith, which he followed devoutly. He is an example of a scientist who did not leave God out of science but saw His hand everywhere.

He was not, and is not, the only one. A group of leading scientists and philosophers of science today are members of a group called the Discovery Institute (www.discovery.org). Websites such as Wikipedia say they promote pseudoscience, but I encourage you to look them up and evaluate them and their resources yourself. They promote Intelligent Design, the idea that our world and universe, and especially the creatures that live within it, give ample evidence of purpose and plan, and so great intelligence, behind their existence. I first came across this in a book (1996) by Dr. Michael Behe, at the time a biology professor at Lehigh U., called Darwin’s Black Box. Later I purchased a DVD called Unlocking the Mystery of Life (2003), which begins with the gathering of scientists who created the Discovery Institute and
then goes into great detail to show the intricate and amazing processes that take place within an individual cell. Over the years I used this in confirmation and adult instruction classes as well as in Bible studies. Those of you who are techie can find it online and watch it for free. I encourage you to do so.

My point is simply this: although our faith does not rest on science, neither does it reject science. You are not an unthinking religious zealot if you believe the account in Genesis of the creation of all things by God, and by His voice alone. “The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork,” says David in Ps. 19; and the apostle Paul says in Rom. 1, “[God’s] invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made.” Let us not be afraid to believe and say this, and point out to others the scientists and scientific discoveries that support this!

In Christ, our Lord, Pastor Beinke