The Supreme Artist
Posted on 2004.10.24 at 11:18Mood:
artistic
Noise: Strange Currencies - R.E.M.
This was brought to my attention a day or two ago by ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif)
flewellyn. The gist being that the Bush Administration is supporting a book being sold at Grand Canyon Museums/Gift Shops that takes a Creationist view of the Grand Canyon, claiming that the Grand Canyon was created by Noah's Flood, rather than by natural, geological forces.
I don't really object to a Creationist book being sold in addition to more Scientific books. But it does touch on why "Creation over Science/Evolution" bothers me. It assumes that these things have to be mutually exclusive; that "Science" has to be separate from "God". It implies that the Canyon being slowly carved into the landscape by rivers over a mindbogglingly long stretch of time is less impressive than it being formed in a worldwide flood, and inherently less of an "Act of God". It seems like a product of our culture to want things to be big, loud, exciting and catastrophic. Subtelty is less preferred than "Bigger, Faster, Louder, Harsher!" But to me, the scientific explanation for the Grand Canyon is just as impressive, if not more so. I don't feel like the Creator is absent in the explanation.
Many of you know that I like to think of God as "The Creator", because that is how I best relate and connect to the Supreme Being. To me, erosion and evolution are not Godless progressions, they are the work of a great, Supreme Artist, fine tuning his creations over countless eons.
Sure, it's the exciting, catastrophic, in-your-face miracles that made it into the Bible. But when I look at the world around me, the delicate balances in nature, the complexity of how our own bodies function, or the galaxy-dotted endless expanse of space, it seems that the Creator's more sutbtle, intricate work that is what the Universe is really made of.
But I guess that just doesn't make a best-selling book :)
flewellyn. The gist being that the Bush Administration is supporting a book being sold at Grand Canyon Museums/Gift Shops that takes a Creationist view of the Grand Canyon, claiming that the Grand Canyon was created by Noah's Flood, rather than by natural, geological forces.I don't really object to a Creationist book being sold in addition to more Scientific books. But it does touch on why "Creation over Science/Evolution" bothers me. It assumes that these things have to be mutually exclusive; that "Science" has to be separate from "God". It implies that the Canyon being slowly carved into the landscape by rivers over a mindbogglingly long stretch of time is less impressive than it being formed in a worldwide flood, and inherently less of an "Act of God". It seems like a product of our culture to want things to be big, loud, exciting and catastrophic. Subtelty is less preferred than "Bigger, Faster, Louder, Harsher!" But to me, the scientific explanation for the Grand Canyon is just as impressive, if not more so. I don't feel like the Creator is absent in the explanation.
Many of you know that I like to think of God as "The Creator", because that is how I best relate and connect to the Supreme Being. To me, erosion and evolution are not Godless progressions, they are the work of a great, Supreme Artist, fine tuning his creations over countless eons.
Sure, it's the exciting, catastrophic, in-your-face miracles that made it into the Bible. But when I look at the world around me, the delicate balances in nature, the complexity of how our own bodies function, or the galaxy-dotted endless expanse of space, it seems that the Creator's more sutbtle, intricate work that is what the Universe is really made of.
But I guess that just doesn't make a best-selling book :)