November/December 2011 Inter Sectons An Australan journal for Chrstan encounter and encouragement Edtoral Feature 2 Chrstan Worldvew Food for Thought 3 Orgns of Lfe, Postmodernsm, Scence and the Bble. Reflectons 5 Paulne Holyoak Book Revew 7 The makng of an athest Intervew 8 Ian Campbell Subscrptons InterSectons s avalable n PDF and prnted formats. Subscrpton for the PDF format s free. Subscrpton for the prnted format s AUD$22.00 per annum for 4 ssues (nclusve of GST). Past Issues Past ssues of the journal are avalable at: www.klessnsttute.com/ntersectons.html As ths ssue was beng fnalsed, our foundng edtor, Warren Holyoak, passed away on Thursday, 3 November 2011. Warren had been beset wth cancer for several years. Despte regular hosptal vsts and bouts of pan, Warren and hs wfe, Paulne, bravely soldered on. Up to hs last days as an elder wth The Pont Church n Brsbane and edtor of InterSectons, Warren was unswervng n hs good cheer, hs kndness and gentleness, and hs devoton to God and the Word. To honour Warren, we ve nvted Paulne Holyoak to wrte a short reflecton on hs lfe. Vale Warren we wll mss a fne and godly man. To replace Warren as edtor, Benny Tabalujan wll step n at least for the tme beng. We re also now lookng to strengthen the edtoral team as we move forward. So please pray for us as we take the next steps. Meanwhle, at the pont Warren graduated to glory, he had already edted much of ths ssue of InterSectons whch focuses on worldvews. Warren had a keen nterest n worldvews and studed them n some depth. He beleved qute rghtly that a person s worldvew affects that person s relatonshp wth God. Equally, our relatonshp wth God affects our worldvew. Last century, phlosophers coned the term worldvew to descrbe a partcular way of lookng at the world. They also dentfed two major shfts n Western worldvews. The frst shft was from what s called the premodern worldvew to the modern worldvew a shft often assocated wth the 18th century Enlghtenment. The second shft was from the modern worldvew to the postmodern worldvew ths s usually taken as havng started around the mddle of last century. In ths ssue, we begn wth Steve Wlson s foundatonal artcle whch examnes the key features of a Chrstan worldvew. The Chrstan worldvew was probably strongest n the premodern perod when belef n God and a sprtual dmenson to realty was more generally accepted by Western socety. Followng Steve Wlson s artcle we have three shorter artcles whch touch on more recent worldvews. Davd Carr looks at the supposed tenson between Chrstanty and scence. Ths harks back to the modern worldvew domnated by scence and humansm. Bevan Jackel explores the challenge of Charles Darwn s theory of naturalstc evoluton and the bblcal account of creaton. Fnally, Marvn Ancell examnes postmodernsm and how t can affect our understandng of human reason and bblcal truth. On a related note, Brett Chrstensen revews a recent book by James Spegel, The Makng of an Athest: How Immoralty Leads to Unbelef. In ths book, Spegel dscusses the moral and psychologcal reasons why an ndvdual chooses to become an athest. We have to understand athesm as a worldvew and the possble reasons why a person s an athest f we re to be effectve proclamers of the Gospel. Roundng out ths ssue s an ntervew of Ian Campbell, a church elder who also happens to be a respected cancer researcher and scentst. We hope you fnd ths ssue thought-provokng. The Edtoral Team 1
Feature A Chrstan Worldvew God gves great dgnty to human bengs. We are co-regents rulng wth God over hs creaton, wth our place as beng a lttle lower than God (Psalm 8:5). James Sre n hs book, The Unverse Next Door, descrbes a worldvew as a set of presuppostons whch we hold about the basc makeup of our world. 1 To thnk n terms of a worldvew s to thnk n very broad terms. A worldvew s not synonymous wth relgon, though every relgon reflects and flows out of a partcular worldvew. For example, thesm (.e. belef n the exstence of a god) s a worldvew whch encompasses many dverse relgons rangng from Judasm (an example of monothesm or belef n one God) to Hndusm (an example of polythesm or belef n many gods). Some worldvews gnore or reject outrght any noton of god (e.g. naturalsm s normally assocated wth athesm). Each one of us holds some knd of worldvew. Each human beng functons n lfe on the bass of belefs he or she holds about the world and ultmate realty. Our presuppostons may be true, partally true, or totally false. The tenets or assumptons underlyng our worldvew may be held conscously or unconscously. We may have thought about our belefs deeply or we may not have crtcally examned them at all. At tmes our actons may even be nconsstent wth our presuppostons. But all of us act out our lfe through the paradgm of our partcular worldvew. Sre suggests that every worldvew addresses seven fundamental questons. I propose to use sx of these questons as a means to descrbe and explore a dstnctvely Chrstan thestc worldvew nformed by bblcal revelaton. The frst queston relates to prme realty what s really real? For the wrters of the Bble, the exstence and prmacy of God s a gven: n the begnnng God made everythng out of nothng (Geness 1). Sure, our physcal world s real, but t s not eternal nor s t ultmate realty. Only God who s the self-exstent creator s eternal and ultmate all else derves ts exstence from hm and s sustaned by hm. Because God transcends hs creaton, we attrbute to God omnscence (God knows everythng); omnpotence (God s all powerful); and omnpresence (God s not lmted by tme and space). Further, God s personal and mmanent. God, as revealed n Scrpture, s self-aware and self-determnng. He s not a mere force or energy. He thnks and acts and, as soveregn creator, nothng s beyond hs nterest, control and authorty. The fundamental character of God mght be descrbed as absolute goodness expressed through holness and love (Matthew 19:17; Exodus 15:11; 1 John 1:5; 4:16). God s holy. Therefore he s the absolute standard of rghteousness and the only fttng object of worshp. God s love. Therefore he s the hope of humanty, even when we fall short of hs rghteousness. The second queston relates to external realty what s the nature of our world? For the Chrstan thest, God s creaton s an orderly cosmos of cause and effect. For example, the unformty and predctablty of the laws of nature (.e. God s laws) make scentfc enqury and dscovery possble. The world s no accdent and the sun rses and sets accordng to God s desgn. But whle the world s orderly, t s also an open system. God can, and does, ntervene through natural means (.e. provdence) and supernatural means (e.g. mracles). The thrd queston asks what t s to be human. For the Chrstan, human bengs are unquely created n the mage of God (Geness 1:26-27). As such, humans possess personalty we have self-awareness and self-determnaton or free wll (e.g. ntellgence, moralty and creatvty). As the offsprng of God (Acts 17:24f), our true meanng and value are derved from God and we are therefore accountable to hm and one another (e.g. Matthew 22:36-40). God gves great dgnty to human bengs. We are co-regents rulng wth God over hs creaton, wth our place as beng a lttle lower than the dvne (Psalm 8:5). As stewards of God s creaton, our rghtful place n ths world s above the rest of creaton whle remanng under God s rule. Fourth, what happens to a person at death? The Chrstan worldvew gves meanng to lfe, but t also sees meanng n death and beyond (Phlppans 1:19-26). To be human s to be an emboded sprt (e.g. Ecclesastes 12:7). Thus the apostle Paul speaks of the outward man (corruptble body) and the nward man (sprt) and ponts to the hope of Chrst s return when our human sprt and our resurrected ncorruptble body wll be unted so as to lve n eternty (1 Cornthans 15; Cornthans 4:16-5:10; Revelaton 20:11-22:5). If so, ths present lfe s to be receved and enjoyed as a gft from God, but t s not ultmate realty (Matthew 6:19-20). We are just plgrms here as the really real les beyond ths world (Hebrews 11:13-16). The ffth queston s: how do we know what s rght and what s wrong? The Chrstan responds: ethcs and rghteousness transcend human bengs who are fnte creatures (Jeremah 10:23-24) and are based on the character of God who alone s good. God has revealed the ethcal standard through the Bble (Psalm 1; 2 Tmothy 3:16-17) and demonstrated t through Jesus (John 1:18; 14:7-11). Fnally, what s the meanng of human hstory? The Scrptures reveal God to be the archtect of human hstory. Hstory s lnear n that t moves from a begnnng n a meanngful sequence of events towards the fulflment of God s purposes for humanty and the rest of creaton (Romans 8:18-30). But a bblcal or redemptve vew of hstory s also cyclcal n that t follows the movement of people away from God, only to be rescued by God and restored to hs orgnal ntentons. Contnued page 3 2
Feature: A Chrstan Worldvew Ths cyclc movement can be seen on a mcro level. Consder the repeated cycles of natonal unfathfulness consequences delverance fathfulness durng the tme of Judges n Israel, and the experence of the prodgal son n Luke 15. It can also be seen on a macro level. Consder ths cycle n God s scheme of human redempton: Tree of Lfe the Fall Messah Redempton Tree of Lfe. It s no concdence that John borrows magery from the garden of Eden when descrbng the new Jerusalem and the fulflment of God s restoraton of all thngs (Revelaton 22:1-5). Hstory wll come full crcle wth God s ultmate welcome home for those who respond to hs gracous nvtaton to be reconcled through and n Chrst. Ths, n broad terms, s what a bblcal Chrstan worldvew looks lke. Steve Wlson mnsters wth The Pont Church n Brsbane. stephen_wlson@optusnet.com.au 1. James W Sre, The Unverse Next Door (InterVarsty Press, 1997). Food for thought Worldvews on the Orgns of Lfe Two competng worldvews domnate the orgns of lfe debate. The Chrstan worldvew says we orgnate from God s act of creaton. The materalstc or naturalstc worldvew says humans emerge through organc evoluton wthout any dvne nterventon. Although these worldvews are dametrcally opposed, there are some remarkable smlartes n the way people thnk about them and use them. Many accept the theory of organc evoluton wthout any personal examnaton of the evdence or ts mplcatons. They essentally accept t wthout queston because they ve been told t s a fact and the experts must know what they re talkng about. Equally, there are many Bble belevers who accept the creaton account n a smplstc way and who have no desre to ponder ts mplcatons for the physcal unverse (e.g. when, where and how dd the moon get ts craters?). Then there are people n the mddle area whose orgns worldvew actually connects wth ther lfestyle and behavour and they re wllng to defend t from attack. Some hold to evoluton because t allows them to justfy ther contnued gnorance of God, the Bble, and ther accountablty to our creator who s also our judge. For others t s a convenent excuse for ther mmoral or materalstc behavour and the rejecton of absolute truth. Lkewse, there are Bble belevers whose creaton worldvew s drven by observatons of desgn and order n nature mplyng and demandng a desgner. For them, creaton connects drectly wth fundamental concepts of who God s, what he s lke and what he s capable of dong. It drves them to behave wthn a framework of moralty and responsblty. A naturalstc evolutonary vew s compatble wth a strongly athestc mndset. Athesm needs the evolutonary explanaton and naturalstc evoluton feeds an athestc worldvew. Rchard Dawkns s a promnent spokesman for the mltant evolutonary-athestc cause. Opposng them are the mltant creatonsts who are zealous of a lteral nterpretaton of Geness and n ther rejecton of the evolutonary worldvew. There s much good beng done by some creatonsts to counter naturalstc evoluton and to enhance our understandng of what God s done n creaton. Unfortunately, there are also some creatonsts wth a msplaced sense of overconfdence n ther own abltes to fll n the answers where God has not gven us detals. So, what can we make of all ths? Reachng out to people who have a smplstc acceptance of evoluton can be done wth a good njecton of common sense and some well presented facts from the wealth of nformaton now avalable. People who accept evoluton to justfy ther lfestyle are more dffcult to persuade. Helpng them to fnd salvaton n Chrst requres not only convncng them to repent of ther lfestyle, but also to change ther orgns worldvew. The zealots of the athestc-evolutonary worldvew are usually the bggest challenge. Overconfdent creatonsts can lkewse be a source of frustraton. Meanwhle, the avalable evdence for creaton and aganst the theory of organc evoluton has never been stronger. As Chrstans, we need have no fear about the valdty of the creaton worldvew of orgns as expressed n the Bble. The Bble gves us both the power of the Gospel to convct people s hearts regardng ther behavour before God, and the answer to where we came from, why we re here and where we re gong. Bevan Jackel s a member of the Pennsula Church of Chrst n Frankston, Vctora. frebee@optusnet.com.au 3
Food for thought Postmodernsm and Chrstans today Postmodernsm s a sgnfcant worldvew wthn Western socety today. Its language s often obscure and oblque. It arose as a reacton aganst modernsm. Whereas moderns beleved n human reason, scence, order and strct categores (e.g. rght and wrong, true and false), postmoderns tend to beleve the opposte. For many postmoderns, all that can ever be really known s that whch s personally true and relatve to the ndvdual s own stuaton and perceptons. Most thngs are relatve or subjectve. There s only a very lmted bt of factual knowledge. Most of that whch purports to be factual knowledge s frequently nothng more than subjectve vews. There s lttle that s absolute. For many postmoderns, ths leads to a gradual dsengagement wth the Bble as the authortatve voce of truth. If the Bble asserts that Jesus s the only way to God, ths s deemed far too absolute and categorcal. If the Bble condemns selfshness or homosexualty, ths s explaned away as a cultural norm or Paul s personal vews. Many postmoderns see truth as charactersed by pluralty, relatvty and subjectvty. Ths means there are no hard and fast defntons for us to fall back on. All language has to now be consdered culturally and contextually and truth has become relatve to the ndvdual and hs or her context. Postmoderns are hence usually more tolerant and acceptng than others. An ndvdual may be alone n hs belefs, but he s rght n every one of them because he has thought t through for hmself. Thus, for hm, t s so. Wth ths postmodern tolerance, the ndvdual regns supreme n all matters of truth, moralty and fath. You cannot say to such a person that an dea s bblcally wrong and expect to get anywhere n the dscusson. In contrast for the Chrstan, there are boundares that exst to whch we are bound to uphold and an dentfable fath whch we are to know and preach. Whlst some aspects of ths fath are more dffcult to understand than others, these truths apply to everyone. In fact, Peter nstructs us to make a defence (apologa) for the fath that resdes wthn us (I Peter 3:15). Further, Jude remnds us that fath n Chrst s a known and dentfable body of doctrne that he could call the fath (Jude 1:3). Peter and Jude artculate postons that are very dfferent to postmodernsm thnkng. Marvn Ancell mnsters wth the Coffs Coast Church of Chrst, Coffs Harbour, NSW. lancell50@optusnet.com.au Food for thought Scence & the Bble: Conflctng Worldvews Some people say that the Bble s about fath whle scence s about fact. The mplcaton s that scence s about provable facts whle the Bble s about unprovable belefs! How should we respond? Frstly, t s true that the Bble doesn t focus on scence and scentfc theores. In fact, t s good that ths s the case. Recall how many tmes scentfc explanatons of physcal phenomena (lke the orgn and functonng of the unverse, and the causes and cures of human dseases) have changed n the last 3000 years even the last 50 years! If the Bble had ncluded such theores whch regularly become obsolete how much credblty would the Bble have? Secondly, scence and the Bble each have ther place. Scence seeks to fnd truth about the physcal world, whle the Bble speaks of truth about the sprtual world. Ths s why scence and the Bble don t have to be enemes. In fact, many scentsts are belevers n God. From a Chrstan worldvew, all physcal realty ultmately has a sprtual orgn God but ths doesn t mean that such physcal realty can t be gven deeper understandng through scentfc research. Conversely, a scentfc approach to the understandng of lfe doesn t rule out the realty of a supernatural God. Ths s why scence stll can t really explan the orgn of the frst lfe. Scentsts and Chrstans should be people who are nterested n the evdence that leads to the truth of ther dscplnes. The evdence for God, Jesus, the Bble, and the world to come s a dfferent knd of evdence to that for nuclear reactons, bochemstry, botany or human physology. Scentsts shouldn t belttle Chrstans who are tryng to fnd sprtual truth, and Chrstans shouldn t be afrad of scentsts who are tryng to fnd physcal truth. Both felds of endeavour have ther rghtful place. The problem comes when ether dscplne goes beyond ts feld of endeavour and encroaches on an area t s really not qualfed n. For example, when scentsts try to explan the appearance of new bactera and start talkng about mutaton and evoluton, Chrstans shouldn t ntrude and say that scentsts must have t wrong because evoluton s false. Evolutonary concepts of mutaton and natural selecton are very helpful n explanng how new types of bactera develop. Contnued page 6 4
Reflectons on Warren Holyoak Warren was rased among acappella Churches of Chrst, frst at Pendle Hll and later at Merrylands, NSW. Hs mother and father placed ther membershp wth these congregatons after hs Dad waged a losng battle aganst what he saw as the drft away from bblcal teachng on baptsm among the conference Churches of Chrst. In hs teenage years, Warren drfted away from the church. He was under the nfluence of the evolutonary teachng that accompaned hs nterest n geology. When he and I became engaged, he began to reconsder hs sprtual poston. After studyng wth men lke Bll Hall and Arthur Arnott, we were both baptsed nto Chrst on 16 September 1973. Warren soon realsed that f he was gong to teach the Word he needed to really know what t sad. So began hs lfelong passon as a serous Bble student. He beleved Bble readng was good and necessary but not suffcent. One had to serously study the Book. Warren found that wth all the demands on hs tme t was easy to become slack wth Bble study. So he found t best to enrol n programs that ncluded an assessment or at least requred regular attendance. For many years he was a regular student at the Monday nght classes at Macquare School of Preachng (now MSOBS) n Sydney where men lke Dale Hartman began to deepen hs understandng of the Bble. When we moved to Brsbane, he enrolled n a BA n Bble at Chrstan Hertage College. However, he found that the transfer from the faculty of educaton to the faculty of mnstry nvolved a shft nto very Pentecostal teachng. Then he enrolled n Moore Theologcal College and completed two dplomas wth credt yet ressted ther Calvnst doctrne. When he dscovered Natons Unversty on the nternet, he enrolled n that too. Warren had a passonate desre to get others to be serous about Bble study partcularly young men. He beleved that f a man was gong to lead hs famly (and then the church) well, he needed to know God s Word well. He constantly looked for ways to accomplsh ths. He was always happy to dscuss the Word wth anyone you ddn t have to agree wth hm; you just had to have a well thoughtout poston from Scrpture and have a commtment to ts authorty. He could not abde the Well I thnk atttude that made Scrpture say whatever we mght fnd comfortable. He loved to dscuss hs understandng of a passage he was studyng at the moment and was delghted to receve feedback and engage n dscusson. Vstng preachers and academcs were often taken out for a day. He would dscuss the state of the church where they were from and talk theology. He also loved havng Amercan students n our home to challenge ther thnkng to see f t was bblcal or just tradton that they hadn t bothered to thnk about. Warren had wde rangng nterests. Sport and musc were near the top of the lst. He always seemed to be able to fnd somethng to chat about wth vrtually anyone. He had opnons on most thngs and he loved to talk; hence hs nckname Mr Have-a-chat. The chats usually took place over coffee so he could see where you were at and offer encouragement. There were never enough hours n the day to do all the thngs he wanted to do. He thought retrement would gve hm the tme he needed but soon came to wonder how he ever found tme to go to work. The two thngs I wll remember most about Warren are hs kndness and gentleness as a husband, father, frend and shepherd. He would rather encourage than rebuke; but he ddn t walk away from the latter when t was necessary. He had an extraordnary ablty to let thngs go through to the keeper (as he put t) and so he rarely took offence. He really ddn t beleve anyone could be mean sprted because he couldn t be so hmself. So he always put the best possble nterpretaton on any stuaton. To me, Warren eptomsed the characterstcs Paul descrbed as love n I Cornthans 13. Wrtten by Paulne Holyoak n memory of her husband. Paulne and Warren had been marred for 37 years by the tme Warren passed nto eternty on 3 November 2011. Warren s survved by Paulne and ther sons, Adam, Nathan and Crag and grandson Samuel. Paulne, Nathan and Crag are part of The Pont Church n Brsbane where Warren was an elder. Adam s part of the Townsvlle Church of Chrst. 5
Reflectons Quet s the Soul Quet the soul whch rests n peace thru storm and tempest tho t rage snce dawn to dusk o er many days and so n earnest wll t wage, to hurl relentless ganst the one who has been purchased by the Son, for hope s been gv n not by charm that those n Hm ne er come to harm, for hope that s promsed wll not fal ganst the fears of lfe s stormy gale, and ne er wll t e er take ts toll O the quet gv n to the soul. Reg Nald Alen n ths Land Gong home One day no more a chld. Food for thought Scence & the Bble: Conflctng Worldvews But scence gets out of ts depth when t extrapolates evolutonary theory to account for the orgn of all lfe and the unverse. The orgn of lfe and the unverse sn t really a scentfc ssue. You can t set up an experment to recreate the orgn of the unverse. You can t observe the orgnal creaton. As a one-off event, creaton s nether repeatable nor measurable. It s an hstorcal truth that can only be known f a wtness or the orgnator reveals how t happened (and God has!). Smlarly, scence can tell us that certan behavour wll produce certan consequences (e.g. multple sexual partners ncreases the rsk of HIV nfecton). But scence can t tell us whether such behavour s morally rght or wrong. That s the provnce of God. That s why scentfc and Chrstan worldvews aren t antthetcal to each other. In fact, they can and should be mutually supportve. Davd Carr lves n Metford, NSW, and mnsters to the Hunter Valley Chrstans. davdcarr@netspace.net.au InterSectons InterSectons s a quarterly journal desgned to nform, nspre and unte Chrstans n Australa seekng to restore New Testament fath and practce. The edtors are responsble for selectng materal for publcaton, but each artcle reflects the vews of ts author(s). InterSectons s publshed by Kless Insttute, the mnstry dvson of CommAsa Australa Pty Ltd (ACN 097136171 ABN 53702023602). Edtor: Benny Tabalujan Assocate Edtor: Jenny Ancell Board of Advsors: Trevor Baker, Dale Hartman, Allan McNcol, Davd Mowday Enqures: Kless Insttute, PO Box 700, Glen Waverley, Vctora 3150, Australa Art & Desgn: Gekko Graphcs / H.M.Cox Publsher: Kless Insttute www.klessnsttute.com Emal: ntersectons@klessnsttute.com Fax: +61 3 9806 1205 Gong home thru the skes yet stll a chld n hs Creator s eyes. Reg Nald Kless Insttute, 2011. Copyrght permsson s gven to anyone wshng to reproduce an ndvdual artcle for non-commercal purposes, as long as due attrbuton s gven to the author(s) and InterSectons. To subscrbe: PDF format: smply emal us at ntersectons@klessnsttute.com and request to be placed on the InterSectons malng lst, provdng us wth your name, malng address, phone & emal. Prnted format: wrte to Kless Insttute, PO Box 700, Glen Waverley, Vctora 3150, Australa, provdng your name and address and cheque payment for AUD$22 (per year for 4 ssues). You may also use the InterSectons subscrpton form avalable from www.klessnsttute.com and pay your subscrpton by credt card. 6
Book Revew The Makng of an Athest: How Immoralty Leads to Unbelef by James Spegel, Moody Publshers, 2010. The recent flood of publcatons and campagns aganst the belef that there s a God has brought on a countertsunam of materal from relgous publshers. Ths book s part of that wave. James Spegel s Professor of Phlosophy and Relgon at the evangelcal Taylor Unversty n Indana, USA. He looks at why people beleve what they beleve whch sheds some lght on thests and athests alke. But hs partcular focus s on the moral and psychologcal bass for the belefs of athests: ther denal of God s exstence n spte of overwhelmng reasons to beleve. He sums ths up thus: The descent nto athesm s caused by a complex of moral-psychologcal factors, not a perceved lack of evdence for God s exstence. The athest wlfully rejects God, though ths s precptated by mmoral ndulgences and typcally a broken relatonshp wth hs or her father. Thus, the choce of the athestc paradgm s motvated by non-ratonal factors, some of whch are psychologcal and some of whch are moral n nature. Whlst the book brngs helpful nsghts to ths topc, t s not a ground-breaker. If you know what God s Word teaches about why people reject submsson to God or even deny hs exstence, then Spegel s book sn t gong to rock your world. But the book does substantate and llustrate the truth that lack of evdence s not the athest s problem. Instead, the athest chooses to subjugate hs quest for truth to hs personal desres. Spegel says, My thess s that relgous sceptcsm s, at bottom, a moral problem. Further on he says athesm s the product of moral corrupton. Spegel knows very well that hs thess wll lkely draw the re of many people. It sn t hard to see why. Professng athests declare that ther belef that there s no God s based on reasonng from the evdence (or lack thereof) for there beng a Creator. Ther poston, they mantan, s the ratonal and reasonable one, for the evdence s on ther sde. But Spegel says, Athests are cogntvely handcapped and that they are unable (or unwllng) to perceve how ther vew actually undermnes ratonalty tself. He says: It s just an ronc fact that they have analysed relgous belevers n terms that actually apply to them. He uses phlosopher of scence Thomas Kuhn s concept of the paradgm, that scentsts do not observe the world objectvely but always nterpret what they see n lght of the scentfc theory to whch they are commtted. Spegel nvokes Kuhn and other respected authortes to support hs thess that athesm s not the product of evdence, but of preference. People are nclned to beleve accordng to ther desres; we tend to beleve what we want to be true. The book doesn t gve space to explorng how ths apples to thests; that s not wthn the book s scope. However, I am no postmodernst, and frankly consder the postmodern denal of objectve truth to be ncoherent. James Spegel t probably would have strengthened Spegel s thess had he addressed the obvous objecton whch athests would rase n response to ths clam ( Thests want to beleve there s a God ). Further on he says, Those who see the world through the lens of a false or dstortng paradgm suffer from what I call paradgm-nduced blndness. Ther theoretcal framework prevents them from seeng the truth, even when t s rght n front of them. Ths truth s as evdent today as t was n Jesus day. It can even manfest tself among those professng to serve God today. So ths sn t just somethng applcable to athests; t s a helpful remnder to each of us to watch our lfe and doctrne closely. Oddly enough, Spegel s own Calvnstc paradgm shows through when he suggests the drect nfluence of the Holy Sprt upon a person s needed to enlghten them to the truth of God s exstence. Spegel also speaks dsmssvely of relatvely perpheral doctrnal matters such as baptsm [and] the queston as to exactly who s saved. Hs own argumentaton s a demonstraton of how we are all prone to vew thngs n terms of our own paradgm, and ths s what every truth seeker must overcome n seekng the kngdom of God and hs rghteousness. Hs clam that a broken relatonshp wth one s father s a sgnfcant factor n athestc belefs lacks extensve supportng evdence. But he does cte enough cases to make us wonder. Hs statement elsewhere that the queston of evoluton s actually rrelevant to the debate about God s exstence probably overstates hs pont, but hs pont s a good one: Lfe cannot have started at all wthout a creator. Wthn the book, Spegel s fve chapters cover: Athestc arguments, errors and nsghts The rratonalty of athesm The causes of athesm The obstnacy of athesm The blessngs of thesm Ths book does hghlght the grm realty that evdences are rarely gong to make athests see the lght and change. Nevertheless, evdences do serve an mportant role n assurng Chrstans that fath n our great God and Savour Jesus Chrst s reasonable and ratonal. Ths s why the book wll do more good for belevers n God, than for those who are n denal. Brett Chrstensen s part of the Southeast Church of Chrst n Melbourne. qoheleth@optusnet.com.au 7
8 Intervew wth Ian Campbell Ian Campbell grew up n Western Australa and completed hs postdoctorate n the Unted Kngdom. Ian and Catherne and ther four chldren returned to Australa n 1999. An assocate professor wth the Unversty of Melbourne, Ian heads the Cancer Genetcs Laboratory at the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, a leadng cancer research centre and hosptal n Australa. He s also an elder wth the Belmore Road Church of Chrst n Melbourne. Tell us about your work as drector of the Cancer Genomcs Program at Peter Mac. My job s to orchestrate the research program as well as obtan research grants to fund the laboratory work. Much of my day nvolves wrtng research grants, communcatng wth other scentsts or analysng research data. In recent years research has become very nternatonal and t s vtal to keep up wth what s happenng n every part of the world. Ths often nvolves presentng our work at conferences and each year I ll attend around fve nternatonal conferences. I set the prortes of the research team so that we re as productve as possble and not duplcatng other research elsewhere. When some of the experments don t work or lead to a dead end, t s my job to help the team stay motvated and get back on track. In essence my job s to employ smart people and provde them wth the facltes where they can excel. Could you descrbe a recent noteworthy research fndng n the Cancer Genomcs Program? There are lots of exctng thngs happenng n the feld of cancer genetcs currently. Much of my research nvolves lookng for genes that cause cancer to run n famles. My partcular nterest s famles affected by breast and ovaran cancer. Untl recently the task of fndng whch one of the approxmately 22,000 genes n the human genome that was the cause of a famly cancer was largely ht or mss. Scentsts would have an educated guess at whch gene mght be responsble and then would sequence that gene n one of the famly members to see f t had an error n the DNA sequence. However, n the last three years there s been a revoluton n DNA sequencng technology. The new technology (Massvely Parallel Sequencng) enables us to sequence all 22,000 genes n one ndvdual n about two weeks at the same cost as sequencng one gene usng the old technology. Ths means that we can now take the guesswork out of whch genes to sequence n each famly. We just sequence them all! In the past sx months ths technology has enabled us to dscover the mutaton causng cancer n many famles. In the process we ve dscovered some new genes whch weren t prevously thought to cause breast cancer. It s an unusual stuaton now where each day I come to work there s a real possblty that we ll make a sgnfcant dscovery nto the causes of famlal cancer. Are there any conclusons from research fndngs that have strengthened your convcton n the exstence of an almghty God? Yes, ths happens all the tme. Even though we re makng great progress n understandng how cells control ther growth, t always amazes me that the story keeps gettng more complcated. Every tme we thnk we (scentsts) understand somethng fully, we make dscoveres that reveal a new layer of complexty. Each tme new dscoveres are made, t renforces to me the necessty of a desgner. The constant asserton by most scentsts that the complextes of lfe are just the result of chance seems more and more fancful wth every new dscovery. How has a personal fath n God mpacted your thnkng both as a scentst and a person ponderng human exstence? Beng a Chrstan and a scentst has gven me an opportunty to understand God s creaton from a perspectve whch others may not have (although I don t beleve that you have to be a scentst to apprecate how magnfcent and mysterous t s). Overall, I thnk my fath n God has asssted me to keep my research n perspectve. Many people n my lne are very dedcated to the good work that they do, but for some t becomes ther whole lfe. Also, because medcal research s seen by the communty to be a very noble professon t s perhaps easy to become prdeful. The Bble teaches us that God s no respecter of persons and no matter what our professon, we are all equal n hs sght. I wsh I can say that beng a Chrstan helps me to be more dedcated to fndng cures for cancer compared to my non-belevng colleagues, but n fact I fnd that, n general, the medcal research communty s very dedcated to makng a dfference n people s lves. Regardng fath and my understandng of the reasons for a human s exstence, I don t profess to have any profound nsghts nto the mysteres of lfe. Lke many of us, I stll struggle to reconcle a God who ll have fnal vctory over evl wth a world that seems to stagger from bad to worse and wth personal tragedes that seem unjust. When God seems remote from my personal struggles, I try to magne what words of comfort, rebuke or advce Jesus would say to me. God can sometmes seem alen and abstract but Jesus was one of us. On a personal level, what nfluences n your chldhood helped develop a fath n God? My parents were always nvolved n the church, so I grew up wth Sunday School. Church was part of my lfe. My father (Ron) n partcular often talked about how wonderful creaton was and how t was God and not chance that was behnd t all. My older brother (Max) was also very nfluental n gettng me (and my brother and father) more nvolved n the church. Much of my recreaton as a chld revolved around campng and fshng and explorng nature, and I thnk ths has been the bggest nfluence on my belef that there s a God who created and controls everythng. As a husband to Catherne and father of four chldren, what partcular aspects of famly lfe do you hghly value? Because my own chldhood was deeply nfluenced by famly campng holdays and outdoor actvtes, Catherne and I have tred to do the same thng for our famly. We have very fond memores of numerous caravan holdays to NSW, Queensland, Tasmana and partcularly Wlsons Promontory n Vctora. When the chldren were younger t was not unusual for us to go campng at the Prom four or fve tmes a year. The chldren, who are all n varous grades n hgh school, stll love campng and often say that our caravan holdays were the most loved part of ther chldhood. Catherne and I hope these famly holdays wll have formed a lastng bond between the chldren and an apprecaton of God s hand n all creaton. In your work as a church elder thus far, what experences, wsdom or personal strengths have asssted you n ths challengng role? Wthout a doubt my experences as a father have been the greatest assstance n my role as an elder. In many ways there s not much dfference between the joys and challenges of the church famly and one s mmedate famly. Ian Campbell s an elder of the Belmore Road Church of Chrst, Melbourne, Vctora. He was ntervewed by Jenny Ancell. an.campbell@petermac.org