by Dale Burnside
The greatest sin of education is the misconception that knowledge is our power. It is the same sin that Adam and Eve committed in the Garden of Eden. Science is particularly guilty of that sin because knowledge in science gives us so much capacity for manipulation. So humans proceed to use this power as if it were their decision of how to use it. The question in science boils down to not “If we should do it?” but rather “Can we do it?. If we can, we will. That egotism is a huge sin. This egotistical view is pervasive in science mostly due to the way we view ourselves because of the mistaken notion that the human creature has evolved from lower forms. This viewpoint rules out any need for a creator and implicates that we can give a fully naturalistic explanation for the presence of human beings in this universe. It rules out any power greater than that which we can understand and control. We even think that we can control major weather patterns when we know enough and have the techniques. Whose power is it anyway? In our courses, we need to repeatedly emphasize that all power and glory is the Lord’s.
The faithful Christian knows that Jesus
Christ is: “The Way, The Light, and The Truth”. He does not just think it or even believe it. He knows it. Every thought, word, and deed
should be led by the Spirit. Jesus
Christ is the Lord of All, the Lord of Light.
But
the light shines in the darkness and the darkness knows it not. Our students need to be continually exposed
to this. Jesus taught us the first
great commandment was to love the Lord our God with our whole heart, soul, and
mind. The emphasis in education should
be to learn how to love the Lord our God with our mind. We pray that the pursuit of knowledge be to love and glorify God. And again that any power derived from our
mental seeking be used only in ways that our pleasing to God.
What needs to be done on the
institutional level to accomplish the mission of Christian education is overwhelming
to me. I know that we need to stamp out
the rampant liberal secularization.
Lenoir-Rhyne needs to emulate the City of God in the midst of a world
that is the City of man. It needs to be
separate and distinct, not to go with the trends of society. And we have gone with the trends of society
for the sake of marketability. We have
sinned repeatedly. Forgive us Lord God. We need a massive movement to reverse all
this. It is far beyond the scope of a
one page paper to go into the details.
But leadership is all important.
We need to find a president for Lenoir-Rhyne who will vigorously pursue
the return of Lenoir-Rhyne College to Christian principles.
What needs to be done in science classes
(biology in particular) is much clearer to me. We need to debunk Darwinian evolution. We need to do it scientifically because that is our job as
science teachers. And it is easily done. The mathematical probabilities alone our
incredibly minute that humans are here by chance alone. There is insufficient evidence to support
macroevolution. There is factual data
for microeveolution. However, the
extrapolation of microevolution to macroevolution is illogical and scientifically
incorrect. A number of small changes
simply do not add up to big change.
The
debunking of Darwinian evolution is crucial because it affects enormously how
humans view themselves. Are we children of God? Or are we random accidents of nature?
I must comment on reproductive biology
and genetics. In these areas, we obviously
are putting our wills above the will of God.
This is a very great sin. Man
induced abortion is legally practiced every day across this land. This is called a “choice”. And I guess it is a choice. A choice to sin against God’s
commandment. This is such a pungent
stench in the nostrils of Jehovah.
Again if we are Christian institution, then we should take a stand on
such sinning. In vitro fertilization,
fertility drugs, birth control, stem cell research, cloning etc are all powers
of manipulation that scientific investigation has provided. We think that this is our power and our
right to decide what to do with such techniques. Yet, this is the biggest sin that we can commit: to put our will
above the will our Creator. I was
encouraged by the number of participants in the activity, but also shocked to
realize that several participants were unsure that a natural moral code
ordained by God exists. It is hard to
imagine being able to be a Christian leader with this doubt about such a
critical issue. I make sure that my
students know that I believe in an ultimate right and wrong, that things are
not situational, and that it is God who decides right and wrong (certainly not
us). We can decide legalities, but not
moral absolutes. Man’s laws (Caesar)
vs. God’s laws. If we desire strongly
to serve the Lord by teaching in a Christian manner led by the spirit, then we
must make these stances clear when addressing issues of reproductive biology
and genetics (or any other issues).
My own education was highly secular in
nature (Can you believe that?). However
God has led me every step of the way. I
love our Creator with my heart, my soul and my mind. That leads all my prayers and my thoughts.
This paper was written in the haste of
end of semester activities. I’m sure
that it is inadequate, but I assure you that it is sincere and is built out of
my Faith and thinking.
I am most thankful to Phil Blosser and
the Lenoir-Rhyne College Fund for Excellence for this splendid
opportunity. Although it was jammed
into a tight schedule at a busy time of the year, the Lord led me to realize
that it was the most worthwhile endeavor that I was involved in. I pray for more leadership and activity
leading to a renewal of Christian tradition and Christian commitment at
Lenoir-Rhyne College. The students want
it and they deserve it. I would welcome
further involvement in any other activity relating to the pursuit of Christianity
on this campus. It is a service to the
Lord and I pray unceasingly for our progress and success with this mission.
Led
by the Spirit in the Fellowship of Christ,
Dale