On Christmas morning, the wonderful world of Twitter was treated to a tirade by astrophysicist and cosmologist Neil Degrasse Tyson.
Mr. Tyson is, to put it mildly, “not a believer.” Among the many rude tweets that he treated his 2.8 million followers to was this: “On this day long ago, a child was born who, by age 30, would transform the world. Happy Birthday Isaac Newton b. Dec 25, 1642.”
Now, to begin with, the date of Sir Isaac Newton’s birth is actually in some dispute. But, more interestingly, Sir Isaac Newton himself believed diametrically differently than Tyson does. Newton said, “This most beautiful system of the sun, planets, and comets, could only proceed from the counsel and dominion of an intelligent being. … This being governs all things, not as the soul of the world, but as Lord over all; and on account of his dominion he is wont to be called ‘Lord God.'”
Contrary to the protestations of people like Tyson, there are and always have been highly intelligent people who believe that God created the world just exactly like described in the book of Genesis. In fact, it was on Christmas Eve of 1968 that a very profound thing took place.
Apollo 8 astronauts Bill Anders, Jim Lovell and Frank Borman were orbiting the moon. As they did, in the most-watched television event of all time up to that point, they read a message for the inhabitants of earth. Bill Anders began: “We are now approaching lunar sunrise, and for all the people back on Earth, the crew of Apollo 8 has a message that we would like to send to you. ‘In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. And God said, Let there be light: and there was light. And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness.'”
Jim Lovell picked it up from there: “‘And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day. And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters. And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament: and it was so. And God called the firmament Heaven. And the evening and the morning were the second day.'”
Frank Borman then concluded: ” ‘And God said, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear: and it was so. And God called the dry land Earth; and the gathering together of the waters called he Seas: and God saw that it was good.’ And from the crew of Apollo 8, we close with good night, good luck, a Merry Christmas — and God bless all of you, all of you on the good Earth.”
I think we can all agree that these astronauts were no dummies. Nor was Sir Isaac Newton, nor are the myriads of reputable scientists today who still believe in God and the Bible. A good read for anyone who wants to know who some of these fine men and women are is “In Six Days: Why Fifty Scientists Choose to Believe in Creation” by John F. Ashton.
So whether it be at Christmas or Easter or any other time someone attacks God, Christianity or the Bible, just remember that some of the greatest minds in all of history have stood firmly shoulder to shoulder with simple grandmas and old fashioned preachers in choosing to believe what God has said.
Bo Wagner is pastor of the Cornerstone Baptist Church of Mooresboro, N.C., and the author of several books which are available at wordofhismouth.com. Contact him at 2knowhim@cbc-web.org.