Dr. Aby P. Mathew

The title may be confusing to some rationalists but let me proceed before receiving a comment from them. As somebody said correctly, the scientific developments in 20th Century onward is more than all the developments which took place up to 19th Century from the beginning of human civilization. When this is the situation and the theory of evolution is being taught even in Kindergarten, how dare one makes a statement that “Eve is our great Grandma”!

Bible says that the word of our God shall stand forever (Isaiah 40:8). The Bible also says that all scripture is God breathed (2 Timothy 3:16). To prove these statements, the Bible should stand all kinds of tests. One tendency among some biblical scholars is to avoid certain scriptures, because they fear it may be a mistake. The modern day science has such an effect on us that sometimes Satan tempt us to learn Bible by fully depending on contemporary scientific facts.

May be this is one of the most important reason why in many parts of Europe Churches are becoming empty. It is rightly said half knowledge is more dangerous. And the leaders who should lead the sheep sometimes look into scientific facts with fear as if it is an enemy of the word of God or they simply avoid it. My opinion is that it is always good to learn the developments and find Biblical answers through devotions, discussions and consultations so that church leaders can give the right kind of counseling to any confused people. This is important because now we have young people in our Churches who frequently hear and learn things which are contradictory to the teachings in the word of God. If we do not deal with this issue, there is nobody else to do it.

I want to share with you one example of how the efforts of Man ultimately reach the conclusions that Bible is a book of truth which contains the incomparable knowledge of God and is revealed to mere human beings in a way which they can understand.

Some of the many common teachings in our secular Schools include the following: Man is not created but he has evolved through evolution in different parts of the world. Man is genetically the most complex organism and contains much more genes than any other organism because he is the last member in the chain of evolution; Man is evolved millions of years ago. Some of these teachings are against the teachings of the Bible but every student including Christians are forced to write these answers in order to get marks in examinations. So in the very beginning of education Satan is planting some seeds in the mind of Child. He finds it difficult to cope up with what is taught in Sunday School and in regular school. But because the school results are not going to affect the child’s immediate future and in secular school he/she should get good marks as it is important to assure a ‘safe’ future and also is the primary interest of many parents, Satan succeed in his mission. So in the very beginning the child is forced to take a double standard. For him and her, in school Man is evolved through evolutions and in Sunday School Man is created by God!

But What is the fact?
I will request your attention to some of the most sophisticated biotechnology research laboratories of the World like National Institutes of Health, USA and Celera Genomics. The scientists there were involved in one project called genome project and came out with some revelations which according to the Scientific World are greater than Man achieving the target of reaching the moon in 1969. What is genome project? To understand this let us look into the make up of Man. Every human being (Organism) is made up of different organs like heart, kidney, eye etc., each organ is made up of tissues and each tissue can further be divided into cells which can not be seen by naked eye. In each cell there are DNA along with other parts. This DNA is scientifically called the basis of life and every character of one person is determined by the chemical structure of DNA. These DNA are made up of genes or in other words almost every character of a person is determined by genes or in DNA. Almost every things about me is written in my genes like my color, nature of hair, intelligence, some kind of diseases etc., which are in the form of chemical codes. Though scientists knew that genes are highly responsible for human existence, they did not know its sequence of arrangement in DNA in human beings and till recently it was thought a task impossible. But Genome project was meant for this task and it happened!. They have found out the genetic sequence of human beings! The predicted impact of these findings are such that by the year 2030 or so the life span of an average human being will reach 100 years and many of the genetic diseases will disappear for ever through treatments based on these findings. Another threat to the authenticity of Bible!! Actually no and in fact many of the findings are supporting the everlasting facts which are written in the Bible. Four conclusions of this research and some comments on it I want to present before you.

1. Human beings have only 30,000 genes; a rat too has 30,000 genes. A fly has 10,000 genes and a bacteria has 6000 genes.
Being the most complex and last organism in evolution, it was generally thought by scientists and taught to students that human beings would have the maximum number of genes; at least 1,00,000. But the above finding is a testimony of science proving a scientific myth false which was believed to be true by the scientists and taught in educational institutions.

2. Barring a few genes, the genes in the mice and other forms of lower animals are similar to that found in human beings.
What science thought and taught was that Man being the super intelligent organism and last in the evolutionary chain will have highly sophisticated genes. Really the present one is an upsetting finding because science teaches that genes determine the physical and mental, internal and external nature of an organism. If so how come Man and mice having almost same genes but still Man is so different and ruler over other beings! The answer is very well reflected when David says ‘what is man that you are mindful of him........ He made him ruler over the works of your hands’ (Psalms 8:4-6; emphasis mine) and also David says ‘I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made.......I know that full well (Pslam 139: 14; emphasis mine). Science will find an answer because it has to. But Bible already revealed it to his holy men and women before thousands of years.

3. The genome study revealed that Man could probably have originated in the earth only about, 1,00,000 years, a very short time in evolutionary terms. Where is millions of years which was predicted by science till these findings took place and 1,00,000 years. The writings on the wall is very clear. Science cannot be the same yesterday, today and forever. Scientific “facts” continue to change but the word of God alone stand for ever (Isaiah, 40:8).

4. The striking genetic similarities between different races conclusively prove that human beings descended from one Mother.
“We might have all descended from Eve after all........” (India Today, Feb. 26, 2001 p.53).

The bible says ‘Adam named his wife Eve because she would become the mother of all the living” (Genesis 3:20). Black, White, Short, Tall.... All descended from one Mother. No place of Aryanism, Brahmanism etc. Nobody is that special that they can be considered as head and they only can do worship even for others. A real blow to four Varna concept. Hilter who thought German blood is superior and killed Jews to remove inferior people form the face of earth is proved wrong. Yes there is no inferior and superior blood; all evolved from one mother and carry the same kind of blood in their body. Again this underlines what is written in bible “...... sin entered the world through one man and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men...........” (Romans 5:12). But Bible tell us about a kind of superior blood which can purify human beings and make them superior.

“........ and the blood of Jesus, his Son purifies from all sin:" (1 John 1:7) The more and more knowledge grows the more and more it proves the word of God to be relevant, applicable and living!

Let me conclude here:
Once a boy tried to find out the secret behind rainfall. He tried his level best using all his imaginations and all his efforts to find out the reason. But as he was very small he could not find out the exact reason. He used to reach some conclusion but never satisfied with it because he felt it may not be the correct findings. Once he went to his Father and asked him how does rain fall on earth. His Father explained Water Cycle to him in a simple way and the boy understood it clearly and started telling himself ‘how simple; only if I would have come to my Father before’ Our Father will explain to us every thing; here and then we feel it so simple and too real!

(Dr. Aby P. Mathew, Director, Center for Integrated Development PATNA Bihar.)