The Chicken & The Egg

I love science.  I really do.  But I think now and then that God gets a good chuckle out of scientists, don’t you?  Consider this recent story I read on my newscast:

“British scientists claim to have finally come up with the definitive answer to the age old question, ‘Which came first, the chicken or the egg?’  According to researchers at Sheffield and Warwick Universities the answer is…the chicken!   Their proof?  Well, apparently there is a certain protein in the shell of the egg that can only be produced inside a chicken’s ovaries.   Now that that question’s been answered, scientists say they will now begin working to determine why the chicken crossed the road.” (That last sentence wasn’t part of the study.)

That’s nice to know, isn’t it?  But I wonder how in the world they got funding for this project.  I mean, with all the issues scientists could be devoting themselves to is this really the best use of their resources?  Plus, didn’t Moses answer that question about 3500 years ago when he wrote,“And God created…every winged bird after its kind; and God saw that it was good.” (Gen. 1:21) I know they don’t fly but I would still consider the chicken a winged bird, wouldn’t you?

Still, I do love science.  Yeah, I know that many scientists have devoted their lives to disproving the existence of God but they’re not good scientists.  They may be smart but the scientific method says you don’t draw a conclusion until after all the evidence is in.  And as scientists continue to pursue the truth the evidence is mounting for the existence of a creator.  Just ask Dr. Antony Flew.

A few years back I wrote about how Dr. Flew, a legendary British philosopher and atheist who had been a champion for unbelievers for decades, suddenly reversed his course.   The year was 2004 when after years of bitterly deriding creationists Flew announced to the world that he “had to go where the evidence leads” and stated, "It has become inordinately difficult even to begin to think about constructing a naturalistic theory of the evolution of that first reproducing organism." (Philosophy Now Magazine, August-September 2004) All that bloviating is just scientist speak for, “There had to be a creator.”

Now I know there are all sorts of arguments that can be made on both sides of this faith/science/creation/evolution battle and I’m not nearly smart enough to even engage in many of the debates but I don’t lose sleep over it.  Because the fact of the matter is Christians have nothing to fear from science.  The Bible is perfectly clear when it says, “For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse.”(Rom. 1:20)

Which means while tomorrow there may be headlines splashed from one side of the globe to the other about the discovery of the latest missing link or how bacterial life was discovered on another planet or that aliens brought life to this one but fear not.  The truth will get out and the science will prove it.  Science followed to its logical conclusion will always confirm the existence of God because God did indeed create the heavens and the earth. (Gen. 1:1) I’m not saying Science is Faith and Faith is Science but they can coexist rather nicely.  For more on this subject I encourage you to read a book written by someone much smarter than I.  In fact it’s called, Can a Smart Person Believe in God, by Michael Guillen.

So what’s the big deal about knowing the chicken came before the egg?  Simple, it’s just one more tiny drop in a sea of evidence that God is real.  He’s as real as the rings of Saturn, as real as a strand of DNA, as real as a new born baby.  And if God is real then maybe Jesus is real.  And if Jesus is real then maybe there is a purpose and a plan to my life.  That’s something worth investigating.

By the way, you do know why the chicken crossed the road, right?  To prove to the armadillo it could be done.

Matt Mosler is the author of Way Off Base.  Find out more atwww.beautifulfeetministry.com