Real Life Answers

Some people feel that it is impossible to believe in God and to be an honest scientist who understands the scientific method. As a man of faith seeking to have a career as a researcher, I have pondered if this is really true. I would like to explore how I can sympathize with such concerns while disagreeing with the conclusion.

Image by Halfdan at Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA

A common criticism against combining science and religion is that believing scientists compartmentalize their life and thinking: for religious and ethical matters they rely on faith while for professional pursuits they employ the principles of science. This is true to some degree of many believing scientists I know. However, I am not convinced that using a variety of tools to understand the world around us is incompatible with the tradition of scientific thinking. In order to limit the scope of the post, I will not discuss the question of why someone would believe in science or in God in the first place. Instead, I will argue that one can be intellectually honest while using different frameworks to make sense of the world around us.

I would like to compare the division of labor between religious belief and the scientific method to two different frameworks within science. There are suitable examples from any discipline from biology to geology. I will focus on quantum mechanics and general relativity, the modern theory of gravity. Both theories have been experimentally verified to an incredibly high accuracy in their respective domains of validity; no credible physicist questions their usefulness in describing nature. Furthermore, most researchers believe that these two theories can be unified into a harmonious and elegant framework which includes both of them as approximations.

The last belief is interesting, since we have no experimental data from a situation that would require the combination of quantum mechanics and general relativity. As far as I can tell, the expectation of their ultimate unification relies on two things: their explanatory power in their respective domains of validity and the conviction that the world can ultimately be explained within a single consistent framework. I trust these arguments and believe in the existence of a quantum theory of gravity. Nevertheless, if one needs to make a practical calculation in the microscopic world, no one seems to object to only considering quantum mechanics. We blithely ignore the complications that would result from attempting to also include the ideas of general relativity. These theories deal with mostly different realms. Although there are areas of overlap, such areas are largely untested and of little significance to most current concerns.

Physicists use either quantum mechanics or general relativity depending on the question at hand. There are many similarities between this approach and the way believing scientists approach different issues through the lens of faith or scientific method depending on the topic. However, I would be deeply unsatisfied if we were forced to draw a clear line between science and religion and always assign every question to only one of these realms. Instead, I have found several areas of overlap where my scientific understanding and religious faith are consistent with each other. For example, I have sometimes received prayer answers that were quite surprising to me and thus most likely from a source outside myself. Yet often guidance received through these answers has proven to be extremely helpful. Such experiences do not prove that God exists but they give support to my belief the same way that experiments can support a scientific theory.  I look forward to a time when it is clear that our currents patches of understanding are imperfect approximations to the glorious reality of the universe.

I love to read, but I admit that I don’t typically get caught up in the scriptures like I do with a bestselling novel. While I believe God would like me to study the Bible and Book of Mormon with great intensity, I’ve often asked myself, “What’s the point of reading the scriptures?”

I recently found one pretty solid answer. In the book of 2 Nephi in the Book of Mormon, the prophet Nephi is delivering a message to his people where he describes what he calls the “doctrine of Christ” – the basics of our religion. This doctrine comprises faith, repentance, baptism, the companionship of the Holy Spirit, and then virtuously enduring until the end of mortal life (after which there are great things to come upon being reunited with God in heaven).

Some of Nephi’s followers were curious what they should be doing after baptism – what could they do to stay on a path that would lead them to eternal life with God? Here is Nephi’s answer:

“Angels speak by the power of the Holy Ghost; wherefore, they speak the words of Christ. Wherefore, I said unto you, feast upon the words of Christ; for behold, the words of Christ will tell you all things what ye should do” (2 Nephi 32:3).

So there you have it. The words of Christ will tell us all things we should do. And we can’t know the words of Christ unless we study them, and ponder them, and feast upon them. That’s where the scriptures come in.

We now know that feasting on the words of Christ (the scriptures) will tell us all things we should do, and we know it will help us gain eternal life, but those two things are a little hard to grasp on a day-to-day basis. I’ve turned to some thoughts from modern-day leaders of our church to help me get a closer look at why scripture study is beneficial to us.

One elder called the scriptures “a veritable banquet of insights and divine counsel.” He said, “let us feast at the table often.” So that’s an indication that to receive the benefits of feasting, we have to do it regularly. And then he gives the promise, or the “why”: He says that “if we do [this], the Holy Spirit will fill our lives, helping us to be ‘nourished by the good word of God.’”

So there is one practical reason to study the scriptures. If we do so, we’ll not only have the Holy Spirit with us, but it will fill our lives.

Another leader taught that we feast upon Christ’s words when we desire and obey them. So simply reading scriptures doesn’t count as feasting – we have to desire them, and then take action after we close the book by obeying the words. He says “to feast means more than to taste. To feast means to savor. We savor the scriptures by studying them in a spirit of delightful discovery and faithful obedience. When we feast upon the words of Christ . . . they become an integral part of our nature.”

Finally, feasting upon the words of Christ is one of the best ways for us to learn about Jesus Christ, to become more like Him, to draw near unto Him, and to properly make use of God’s greatest gift to us – the Atonement.

There is no better place than the scriptures to learn about Jesus Christ and the Atonement, for that is where it was all originally documented. We can read and study about the actual events themselves, as well as the accounts of all those who prophesied about Christ, those who lived and served with him, and those who continued to spread the gospel after his death.

The crucifixion of Jesus Christ

For much of the religious world, today marks the beginning of the holiest time of the year–Good Friday and Easter for Christians and (at sundown) Passover for Jews. What is Easter about? Easter commemorates and celebrates the self-sacrifice and resurrection of Jesus Christ. The events we remember at Easter are the culmination of Jesus’s ministry and mission. It was during this time that he was proclaimed the Messiah, the Son of God, that he took upon himself the sins of humanity, that he willingly gave up his life, and that he was resurrected on the third day.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, as part of the Bible Videos series, has produced a powerful (and in places quite graphic) depiction of the events surrounding Easter, including the Last Supper, the great intercessory prayer, the betrayal, scourging, and crucifixion of Christ, and the resurrection. You may not want to have your three-year-old watch it with you.

It is because of these events that we believe all humanity will live again beyond this life and that each person may be redeemed from his or her sins and made whole. In short, the events of these few days are the basis for our faith and hope, and for us the most important in the history of the universe.

This weekend is the semi-annual General Conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints,  one of two occasions a year when instead of usual church services, the leadership of the Church addresses the general worldwide membership. It’s a great chance to see how the teachings of the Church translate to guidance on how to live life, and it also answers the question: “if we have prophets and apostles still today, what have they said lately?”

Watch it here:

http://www.lds.org/general-conference/watch?lang=eng

Several years ago, a friend of mine was riding his bike in Taiwan when he had a life changing experience. He was on a road used by thousands each day, and as he went through a blind curve, he noticed what appeared to be water on the road. He continued on and subsequently went through this ‘water’ when he realized it was not water, but oil. He slipped and fell but was not hurt. He was in a hurry, but thought about the thousands of others who would come upon this oil slick. He thought about another biker falling, followed by a car, and the results could be devastating. He decided to go back around the curve and warn people. In broken Mandarin, my friend yelled and tried to warn everybody. One by one the bikers ignored him, and as they went around the curve they subsequently slipped and fell. Many picked themselves up and continued on. However, a few went back to help my friend. As more people stood together the bikers and cars started to slow down, some even stopping. Who knows how many lives they might have saved that day?!

When you read this parable, I hope you let your mind wander enough for it to teach you how to apply it in your own life. Some of you might have taken a service or leadership approach, others might have seen it a different way. Today, I would like to point out one specific principle that you might not have noticed, but could be life changing.

My lesson today is on the voice of warning. It is very rare for somebody to be fired, fall into temptation, or anything of that nature without first hearing a voice of warning. My friend saw the oil, but misinterpreted it. Once he realized what it was, he became a voice of warning for others who mostly didn’t pay attention to him. It wasn’t until the voice of warning had grown so others could not miss it that people started to listen. I believe that we all need a voice of warning to help us reevaluate our circumstances. I recommend sitting down with a friend once a month to see if your life, work, spirituality, etc. is going well and that you aren’t missing any voices of warning.

I emailed this post to a friend of another faith before I posted it on this blog and his response was very interesting. He told me he wished he would have received this about an hour earlier because he had made some poor decisions in that past hour. However, as he read this post he sat back and thought deeply about his life and was grateful I shared it with him.

Please share this with as many as you can and ask them to reflect on their own lives and the voices of warning which they receive. Share your thoughts with us … what did you learn from this parable? How will you apply it in your life? What voices of warning have you recently had?

One of the current Twelve Apostles (governing council in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints), Jeffrey Holland, gave a “Mormonism 101″ talk at Harvard Law School last week. With only a few minutes to summarize for the audience the essence of his faith, he distilled Mormonism into these eight points (I’m paraphrasing him here):

• Every human being is a spirit son or daughter of a loving Heavenly Father, created in His own image, and with the potential to become like Him
• Starting with Adam and Eve, people go through life in order to learn, grow, and gain experience
• God sent his Son, Jesus Christ, to be the Savior of humankind by atoning for the mistakes and transgressions people inevitably make which would otherwise prevent them from progressing and gaining happiness
• Life continues after death
• Salvation is offered to all humankind universally, but each must choose to accept it
• God the Father and His Son, Jesus Christ, are separate and distinct beings with glorified bodies of flesh and bone
• God continues to reveal truth to us today, as in biblical times
• God has restored the authority baptize and administer other saving sacraments (ordinances) in His name

I found this an excellent summing up of what we believe. Would someone who wants the elevator pitch on what Mormons believe feel like they have a good handle on the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints based on these eight points? Is anything crucial left out? Based on these eight points, are Mormons Christian?