A young man who wishes to remain a sound Atheist cannot be too careful of his reading. There are traps everywhere — 'Bibles laid open, millions of surprises,' as Herbert says, 'fine nets and stratagems.' God is, if I may say it, very unscrupulous." – CS Lewis

                                                                                   

                                                                            Francis Collins

On Monday, October 4, 2010, Al Mohler wrote an excellent article for his blog entitled Between the Boy and the Bridge — A Haunting Question.

 

He dealt with the tragic suicide of a Rutgers student, Tyler Clementi, whose “friends” filmed, without his permission, his gay sexual encounter with another man. They then posted this video for the world to see. Tyler committed suicide soon after. The posting of this video has sparked outrage from around the globe. Mohler said the following:

 

“I am haunted by the one question that seems so obvious and clear in the account of Tyler Clementi's tragic death. In those days of crushing anguish, humiliation, and confusion, was there no one who could have stood between that boy and that bridge?”

 

This is a question that needs to be asked quite frequently in Christian circles. We claim that we want to reach the lost but we are often hindered by our personal biases, theology committed to secondary beliefs and a profound gap between our life experiences and those we are trying to reach. Yet God has gifted us each uniquely in order that we might carry out his divine command to reach the whole world, without exception, for the Gospel.
 

Francis Collins is universally regarded as one of the finest scientists of our generation. He mapped the human genome and will win (and should win) the Nobel Prize for his work. His work has profound implications for medicine. Genetic therapy, based on his groundbreaking work, will lead to cures for many diseases. Collin holds both an MD and PhD. During his training for his medical degree at the University of North Carolina, Collins became convinced of the existence of God when he was forced to confront the reality of death in his patiends.. He became a Christian and considers himself to be Baptist in denomination. He has a great love for CS Lewis and believes in miracles such as the Virgin Birth, etc. He believes that God is the Creator. He is also a committed theistic evolutionist and believes that perspective and Christianity are compatible. Here is a link to the Wikipedia article. You may link to his blog at Biologos from our blog roll.

 

Much has been written about the vehemence and growing international prominence of the New Atheists. They have little use for Christians or any other religion, for that matter. They look at believers with derision and believe that religion is a net negative for society. The four men often associated with this movement are Richard Dawkins, Christopher Hitchens, Sam Harris and Bart Ehrman. Many well-known Christians have debated these men but have been unable to move them from their staunch, rabid stand against faith. In fact they believe God followers to be stupid and deceived.
 

Yet, I believe that God loves these men and wants to reach them for the gospel. However, many Christians I know believe that these men are beyond redemption, have hardend hearts and should be relegated to the pit of hell. I have an example of this in a few paragraphs.
 

However, there is a rather interesting development in this saga. Christopher Hitchens, a hard drinking man of impressive intellect, has been diagnosed with a tumor in his esophagus. His prognosis is not stellar.
 

Hitchens has been writing about his struggle with this disease in a fascinating series in Vanity Fair. Although I have read Dawkins, Harris and Ehrman, I have not had the occasion to read Hitchens. He just seemed too angry to me and not worth my time.
 

However, I have been reading his series with great interest and I have a confession to make. He is a brilliant writer and I have found his writing to be compellingly whimsical. What a surprise! He irritates and frustrates me but I find myself laughing and crying in spite of his cussedness. He seems a bit like GK Chesterton minus the faith and a bit rough around the edges. I think I finally understand his appeal to the masses. Here is a link to the particular piece in Vogue that I want to highlight, called Unanswered Prayers.

 

Hitchens discusses how some Christians have responded to his diagnosis and prints one verbatim from a web site.

 

“You haven’t lived, if I can put it like this, until you have read contributions such as this on the Web sites of the faithful:

 

Who else feels Christopher Hitchens getting terminal throat cancer [sic] was God’s revenge for him using his voice to blaspheme him? Atheists like to ignore FACTS. They like to act like everything is a “coincidence”. Really? It’s just a “coincidence” [that] out of any part of his body, Christopher Hitchens got cancer in the one part of his body he used for blasphemy? Yea, keep believing that Atheists. He’s going to writhe in agony and pain and wither away to nothing and then die a horrible agonizing death, and THEN comes the real fun, when he’s sent to HELLFIRE forever to be tortured and set afire.”
 

His response to this tirade is fascinating and rather logical.

 

"First, which mere primate is so damn sure that he can know the mind of god?

Second, would this anonymous author want his views to be read by my unoffending children, who are also being given a hard time in their way, and by the same god?

Third, why not a thunderbolt for yours truly, or something similarly awe-inspiring? The vengeful deity has a sadly depleted arsenal if all he can think of is exactly the cancer that my age and former “lifestyle” would suggest that I got.

Fourth, why cancer at all? Almost all men get cancer of the prostate if they live long enough: it’s an undignified thing but quite evenly distributed among saints and sinners, believers and unbelievers.

If you maintain that god awards the appropriate cancers, you must also account for the numbers of infants who contract leukemia. Devout persons have died young and in pain. Bertrand Russell and Voltaire, by contrast, remained spry until the end, as many psychopathic criminals and tyrants have also done. These visitations, then, seem awfully random. With my so far uncancerous throat, let me rush to assure my Christian correspondent above, is not at all the only organ with which I have blasphemed."

 

He then goes on to discuss the response of Christians and others around the world. You will note that Larry Taunton of Fixed Point is one of those. There is a link to his site on our blog roll. On Monday I shall be discussing a lecture by Hugh Ross that I attended at Fixed Point in Birmingham.

 

"Of the astonishing and flattering number of people who wrote to me when I fell so ill, very few failed to say one of two things. Either they assured me that they wouldn’t offend me by offering prayers or they tenderly insisted that they would pray anyway. Devotional Web sites consecrated special space to the question. (If you should read this in time, by all means keep in mind that September 20 has already been designated “Everybody Pray for Hitchens Day.”)

 

Pat Archbold, at the National Catholic Register, and Deacon Greg Kandra were among the Roman Catholics who thought me a worthy object of prayer. Rabbi David Wolpe, author of Why Faith Matters and the leader of a major congregation in Los Angeles, said the same. He has been a debating partner of mine, as have several Protestant evangelical conservatives like Pastor Douglas Wilson of the New St. Andrews College and Larry Taunton of the Fixed Point Foundation in Birmingham, Alabama. Both wrote to say that their assemblies were praying for me. And it was to them that it first occurred to me to write back, asking: Praying for what?"
 

He goes on to assess this situation. I particularly like the quote by Voltaire at the end.

 

“If I were to announce that I had suddenly converted to Catholicism, I know that Larry Taunton and Douglas Wilson would feel I had fallen into grievous error. On the other hand, if I were to join either of their Protestant evangelical groups, the followers of Rome would not think my soul was much safer than it is now, while a late-in-life decision to adhere to Judaism or Islam would inevitably lose me many prayers from both factions. I sympathize afresh with the mighty Voltaire, who, when badgered on his deathbed and urged to renounce the devil, murmured that this was no time to be making enemies.”

 

However, his response to Francis Collins is fascinating. I think all Christians could learn something from this. First he introduces Collins, showing his profound respect for his accomplishments. He trusts him because he is a dedicated scientist. This is someone Hitchens can relate to. (Bold print is my addition).I can assure you that Hitchens rarely gives anyone accolades.

 

“I have saved the best of the faithful until the last. Dr. Francis Collins is one of the greatest living Americans. He is the man who brought the Human Genome Project to completion, ahead of time and under budget, and who now directs the National Institutes of Health. In his work on the genetic origins of disorder, he helped decode the “misprints” that cause such calamities as cystic fibrosis and Huntington’s disease. He is working now on the amazing healing properties that are latent in stem cells and in “targeted” gene-based treatments. This great humanitarian is also a devotee of the work of C. S. Lewis and in his book The Language of God has set out the case for making science compatible with faith. (This small volume contains an admirably terse chapter informing fundamentalists that the argument about evolution is over, mainly because there is no argument.) I know Francis, too, from various public and private debates over religion.”
 

Now lets take a look at how Collins approaches him. He shows a profound understanding of the needs and wants of Hitchens. Collins knows Hitchens' opinion of prayer so he uses a different approach. Maybe it isn’t a calculated tactic at all but an outpouring of genuine love and compassion with no strings attached. Maybe a bit like Christ Himself? As the recipient of such visits from kind friends when my daughter was battling cancer, I can tell you that nothing speaks volumes than a busy person taking time to be there.
 

“He has been kind enough to visit me in his own time and to discuss all sorts of novel treatments, only recently even imaginable, that might apply to my case. And let me put it this way: he hasn’t suggested prayer, and I in turn haven’t teased him about The Screwtape Letters.”

 

What is Hitchens take away point from this. Do I detect a bit of softening in this attack dog? Note that he calls Collins “our most selfless Christian physician.” He so respects Collins that he wants to identify with him. Note what he believes that many Christians think about him. Sad.Is it true? 

 

“So those who want me to die in agony are really praying that the efforts of our most selfless Christian physician be thwarted. Who is Dr. Collins to interfere with the divine design? By a similar twist, those who want me to burn in hell are also mocking those kind religious folk who do not find me unsalvageably evil.”
 

 

Then Hitchens returns to his more typical diatribe against the issue of faith. Yet we are left with a momentary glimmer, that all is not hopeless, and that maybe, just maybe, a man like Francis Collins can make a difference in this unique arena.
 

 

Perhaps Collins is, as we Christians like to say, a man created for such a time as this. Yet so many in the YE crowd deride Collins stating that he is a heretic for his beliefs in theistic evolution. Al Mohler has also made it a point to vocally disagree with Collins’ theological conclusions. Might they be missing something?

 

 

I think Francis Collins may be an answer to Mohler’s question about the Tyler Clementi tragedy. Collins is the one standing between the bridge and the water for Hitchens and others in the New Atheist movement. I, for one, see God’s hand in uniquely qualifying, gifting and placing Collins in the eyes of an admiring world for a time such as this.