We Are All Scientists
I was watching a children's show with my little boy this morning featuring Dr. Robert Ballard of the Woods Hole Oceanogragphic Institution. Ballard was the leading scientist who discovered the wreckage of the ship, Titanic, in 1985. As he described the thrill of the search and the exuberance of the discovery, he concluded that we are all born scientists, desiring to know why we're here, where we came from and where we are going.
I thought of that for a minute and concluded he is exactly right. We are all scientists in that we are on a journey of discovery. There is something implanted in each of us that is unsatisfied with not knowing from where we came. It is a rare thing for an adopted child, for instance, to not set out, at some point in his life, to discover his birth-parents. Even if he desires no relationship with him, there is something satisfactory in the knowing.
Very often, people delve into their family's past in order to dig up their "roots." Only recently, I started doing that myself. How exciting it was to find out that on my mother's side of the family, I am a direct descendant of Betsy Ross, the one credited with creating the first American flag. I recently discovered on my father's side, my great-great grandfather was a pastor. However, I've not been able to find out anything beyond that and there is a sense of longing to know more; to not being satisfied with stopping there. There is an inner drive to know.
Another journey of discovery in the last few months was in relation to the fate of my father's oldest brother, William Thurman Price who was imprisoned by the Japanese for three years in World War II and then died in the sinking of the Japanese "hellship", Shinyo Maru, on September 7, 1944. Up until now, that was all that was known. However, because of the desire to know, I was able to provide my father and his surviving siblings more than they've ever known, including pictures of the actual ship, and the discovery that he was forced through the infamous Bataan Death March. In knowing, there was the satisfaction of closure; a sense that they could understand. From them came a deep appreciation for having received what they have not had--knowledge of the truth; certainty of what actually happened and an opportunity to understand the depths of his sacrifice and his heroism.
When we don't know where we came from, there is something unfinished. If we can get a hint of our origins, we inevitably want to know more...we need to know more. There is a reason for this. As a matter of fact, this longing, this determination is strong argument for the existence of God. Why this urge to know if there is nothing to be known? Why the desire to discover if it leads to nowhere...to nothingness? There is a desire to know because there is something to be known; there is Someone to be known...and deep down, we all know it. It appears that more and more people are realizing this as those who question the veracity of Darwinism, a theory and a map that truly leads to nowhere, continues to grow.
The simple fact is, our appetites for truth will not be satisfied with nothingness. We cannot fool ourselves into believing that we are here by accident and the very functions of our bodies and our minds developed by chance. Like sea-turtles, instinctively making their way to the sea after birth, we all arrive on this earth with a built-in quest for something that will satisfy our longing to know and to have purpose. Sadly, like many of those turtles, we don't all make it to the sea, but we all know that the little hole in the sand we came out of is not the end of our journey. Ballard was right, we are all scientists--that fact alone should be a clue into the depths of human purpose and origins pushing us on to the truth that purpose [A result or effect that is intended or desired; an intention.] can only be imbued by intelligence; One who intends and/or desires.
The words of C. S. Lewis are true not only in relation to our physical appetites, but also in relation to the unsatisfactory explanations that some people will settle for in their quest for answer to origins:
I thought of that for a minute and concluded he is exactly right. We are all scientists in that we are on a journey of discovery. There is something implanted in each of us that is unsatisfied with not knowing from where we came. It is a rare thing for an adopted child, for instance, to not set out, at some point in his life, to discover his birth-parents. Even if he desires no relationship with him, there is something satisfactory in the knowing.
Very often, people delve into their family's past in order to dig up their "roots." Only recently, I started doing that myself. How exciting it was to find out that on my mother's side of the family, I am a direct descendant of Betsy Ross, the one credited with creating the first American flag. I recently discovered on my father's side, my great-great grandfather was a pastor. However, I've not been able to find out anything beyond that and there is a sense of longing to know more; to not being satisfied with stopping there. There is an inner drive to know.
Another journey of discovery in the last few months was in relation to the fate of my father's oldest brother, William Thurman Price who was imprisoned by the Japanese for three years in World War II and then died in the sinking of the Japanese "hellship", Shinyo Maru, on September 7, 1944. Up until now, that was all that was known. However, because of the desire to know, I was able to provide my father and his surviving siblings more than they've ever known, including pictures of the actual ship, and the discovery that he was forced through the infamous Bataan Death March. In knowing, there was the satisfaction of closure; a sense that they could understand. From them came a deep appreciation for having received what they have not had--knowledge of the truth; certainty of what actually happened and an opportunity to understand the depths of his sacrifice and his heroism.
When we don't know where we came from, there is something unfinished. If we can get a hint of our origins, we inevitably want to know more...we need to know more. There is a reason for this. As a matter of fact, this longing, this determination is strong argument for the existence of God. Why this urge to know if there is nothing to be known? Why the desire to discover if it leads to nowhere...to nothingness? There is a desire to know because there is something to be known; there is Someone to be known...and deep down, we all know it. It appears that more and more people are realizing this as those who question the veracity of Darwinism, a theory and a map that truly leads to nowhere, continues to grow.
The simple fact is, our appetites for truth will not be satisfied with nothingness. We cannot fool ourselves into believing that we are here by accident and the very functions of our bodies and our minds developed by chance. Like sea-turtles, instinctively making their way to the sea after birth, we all arrive on this earth with a built-in quest for something that will satisfy our longing to know and to have purpose. Sadly, like many of those turtles, we don't all make it to the sea, but we all know that the little hole in the sand we came out of is not the end of our journey. Ballard was right, we are all scientists--that fact alone should be a clue into the depths of human purpose and origins pushing us on to the truth that purpose [A result or effect that is intended or desired; an intention.] can only be imbued by intelligence; One who intends and/or desires.
The words of C. S. Lewis are true not only in relation to our physical appetites, but also in relation to the unsatisfactory explanations that some people will settle for in their quest for answer to origins:
'Indeed, if we consider the unblushing promises of reward and the staggering nature of the rewards promised in the Gospels, it would seem that Our Lord finds our desires, not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.'There are some who cannot imagine the "holiday at the sea" offered in Scripture, so they determine that the "slums" they see are all there is. One who has never seen the sea cannot comprehend what it must look like (or even know if it really even exists). However, in Christ we hear from One who has been there and promised of its existence and provided a way to get there. The question is, will we use our God-given sense of discovery to find it, or will we go on foolishly making mud pies in the slums, being far too easily pleased?
Labels: David C. Price
posted by DAVID C. PRICE at 2/02/2006 09:05:00 AM
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