The Science of Life Points to Godഉദാഹരണം

Journey to Faith

I was raised in a household of atheists. I learned that religious faith was not only incorrect but actually evil. Like my father, a physical chemist, I rejected all forms of spirituality and became a biochemist.

Today I am a Christian with a deep sense of the grace of God and an ongoing feeling of wonder at the redeeming power of the Lord in all of creation. I remain a scientist, as I have been for the past 50 years. I find tremendous satisfaction in my absolute conviction that science and faith are complementary and mutually supportive.

What sort of journey led me from my youth of fervent atheism to where I am today? The answer is simple: God called me, insistently and clearly, though it took me decades to finally listen and hear.

My journey to faith began with a growing understanding of how the physical and biological features of the universe seem to be unexplainable by pure naturalism. This led me to consider myself an agnostic. I became interested in mysticism and transcendence. I started thinking about the idea of God, and out of curiosity I read the Gospels and attended church a few times. But I was an observer, eventually a sympathetic and friendly one, but still on the outside looking in.

I was finally given the gift of God’s grace directly from Christ in a dramatic and undeniable way. But in order to fully accept this gift, and to know that I belonged to Christ, body and soul, I needed to reconcile this new faith with my scientific sense of reason.

We know from physics that our world changes according to seemingly “random” influences, allowing for creativity and surprise at every turn. It is beautiful, not dull; highly complex, not simple. Biological organisms appear to have been formed with innate abilities to survive and prosper. And human beings, organisms with a soul, represent the grandest mystery of all.

We are able through science to find magnificent evidence for God’s intervention and ongoing engagement in our world, from its creation to our everyday lives, including in our ongoing discoveries of the secrets of the natural world. We now know that the universe was not always here. It had a beginning. It was created. That is gospel, but it is also science.

I learned that faith is a gift to be accepted by an open heart and an open mind. The best thing about my journey from atheism to faith is that it isn’t over. I have learned a lot, but there is still so much more to explore.