Thinking on my feet

The other day I was talking to some fellow Christians and I mentioned in passing that I was a geologist. Of course, the conversation immediately took a turn and the next thing I knew I was being asked "So... how old is the Earth"?

I quickly responded, "about 4.6 billion years... but let's not get into that right now."

The age of the Earth is always a hot topic so I'm going to have to start giving better responses to this type of question.

I thought about it a bit and came up with a different question:

Would the author of an ancient religious text really be trying to tell his audience about the age of the Earth or some other question related to physical science as we know it in the 21st Century?

Seems unlikely.

To me, the main purpose of the Genesis creation narratives is not to answer the question "How?", but instead to answer the questions "Who?". The ancient Hebrews were surrounded by cultures that had many gods. In fact, we see over and over and over again in the Old Testament how the Hebrews were almost constantly worshiping the gods of other cultures only to have their one God draw them back to Him.

Therefore, the most reasonable interpretation of Genesis would then be, first and foremost, to establish the Hebrew God as the author and creator of the world and all living things... a radical concept for a religion in that part of the world at that time in history. All other information we get from the text would be considered secondary.

So maybe I should have asked them to break the original question into two parts:

Part 1: How old is the Earth according to the Bible?

Answer: "It doesn't matter. Just know that God did it."

Part 2: How old is the Earth according to physical science?

Answer: "4.5-4.6 billion years."

So what's with the 7 days of creation in Genesis if the author wasn't concerned about time? The days could be a metaphor for the establishment of the sabbath day. They could be a literary device used to establish God as creator over all things (time, seasons, soil, light, rain, plants, livestock, people, etc). The author could have used 7 days for any number of reasons, but based on the literary style and historical context it seems most likely that the author was not intending to make any statement about the exact age of the Earth.

The End is the Beginning is the End

About two years ago, I quit my job working in the environmental consulting business and decided to go back to school. It's hard to leave a steady job and head off into the unknown, but it was especially hard when you worked for a small company with a really great boss. But Steve wasn't just a really great boss. He was a man I deeply respected.

I had been friends with his kids from church and he had volunteered with our youth group when I was an undergraduate. He heard that I was working towards my Geology degree and hired me. I wasn't all that fond of the work I was doing, but I worked hard because I didn't want to let him down. When I originally decided to quit and go back to grad school to study paleontology, he was understanding and encouraging. Then, a year later when I finally did quit to study geophysics, he supported me once again.

I saw him from time to time at various parties for his kids and our mutual friends and he was always very interested in my studies. We had some great conversations. But secretly, I felt a bit guilty when talking with him because I felt like we worked quite well together, I enjoyed working for him, and I was sad to have left that behind.

Of course, by the tone of this little narrative you can probably tell that Steve passed away recently. He leaves behind a wife, two children, and two infant grandchildren.

I typically don't get too emotional when dealing with death. Maybe that's because of my religious background, or maybe that's because I recognize that death is the ultimate destination for all life. But this particular death has caused me to pause and reflect more than usual. It could be because it was the result of a heart attack and was so sudden. Or maybe it was because Steve was in my life when I made some pretty major life decisions. But mostly, I think it is because he lived a life that you could be proud of. When I die, I can only hope that I have positively influenced so many people.

And that's what really gets me. As I get ready for the arrival of my first child in a couple of months (isn't she gorgeous), I want to become a better person. No. I need to become a better person. But the Christian faith isn't about pretending to be better than everybody else, obeying an enormous set of rules, and being "holy". It is about relationships and choosing to make other people's lives better even if it means sacrificing something in your own.

This, of course, does not come naturally. In fact, it is exactly the opposite of how we are wired to act as humans. Steve wasn't perfect. Nobody is. It's not about perfection at all. It's about knowing the kind of love that God gives and reflecting that love to other people in your life.

So as I complete my M.S. Degree, start my Ph.D. and prepare myself to teach college students about the wonders of the Geological Sciences, I remind myself that all of these things are secondary to wonder of love... true, pure and unconditional love.

The Double-Life

It's been a busy 6 months and I've had little time to spend on the blog.

Grad Student by Day:

I spent the Spring semester as a TA for Mineralogy, which is a very time consuming assignment... especially since I had to basically re-learn the whole subject after a 5 or 6 year break. My Masters Thesis is due by the end of Summer, and my defense is scheduled for a few weeks from now. I'm looking forward to being done and getting these results published so I can move on to something new. Studying earthquakes in Arizona has been fun, but I'm looking forward to seeing what new projects will come my way as I start towards a Ph.D. in the Fall.

Musician by Night:

For the last part of the Spring semester I was spending many of my nights and weekends getting ready to play bass for a Jr. High camp that we just finished. Jr. High kids have so much energy... way more than a dozen drunk guys at a dive bar. Learning 27 songs does not happen overnight, but all the hard work definitely paid off. The camp was the most fun I've ever had playing music, and it re-kindled that long-neglected desire to do nothing but play bass.

Maybe I should have named the post "Triple-Life". My first child will be here in about 5 months. We find out if it is a boy or girl this week. I can't imagine that I will end up with more time to post on this blog when my Thesis is done because we will be in preparation for the New Family Unit. Still, I won't let this blog fizzle out. There are so many things I've been wanting to discuss that have had to sit on the back burner. I'll move them to the front sometime soon.

I feel stupid.... and that's a good thing.

Well it has been a crazy couple of weeks for me. I have a lot of uncertainty ahead of me, but luckily I'll be too busy attempting to finish my thesis by the end of this Summer to really notice.

Oh, and I feel stupid too.

I feel like I could sit and read for a month straight and still not know as much as I should. I've grown especially angry at my TV lately... lousy machine is always sitting there calling out to me. And it feels so good to numb the mind for a bit that it's hard to resist. Of course, it doesn't help that all of our furniture is pointed at it.

Maybe the Red Hot Chili Peppers were on to something when they told us to "throw away your television".



Anyways, I was just reading an article called The Importance of Stupidity in Scientific Research and wanted to get down some thoughts. The article basically says that even the smartest people in the world don't have all of the answers. This means that when scientists start asking questions that nobody has the answer to, they are the ones who end up having to go and figure it out.

That's been the thing about grad school that I have really started to enjoy. I love the fact that I'm working with a data set that nobody has seen before. It's awesome to try and answer questions that nobody else is even asking.

It's funny because I know lots of people who think that science is out to disprove the existence of a deity, but when I look at nature I can see the infinite character of God is displayed in every scientific field. We keep learning, and then we keep finding more to learn.

So yeah, we're all stupid... but that's a good thing.