Photo courtesy of NBCnews.com

My friends, at the risk of opening the proverbial can of worms today, I want to talk about the statement Pope Francis made this past week about evolution and the Big Bang Theory being real. You can read the short article here.

My goal today is not to argue or prove anything but to share how this has impacted discussions between my husband and I. As I’ve shared in the past, we both love the show Big Bang Theory (I share a humorous story here.) and that alone has opened up some discussions for us over the last few years, one of which having to do with how we all came to be here.

I have many a time said to my husband that I don’t fully understand all the details, but why does it have to be faith or science? Why can’t it be both? Parts of both? Why can’t it be God who started the big bang? Who used evolution to bring man into being as described by the breath of God breathed into man’s lungs? (Yeah, that one may be a stretch, but I’m just throwing out ideas here.) Why can’t it be a God who initiated it all with His spoken words?

Our God is immense, and we can in no way understand the full scope of our Creator. For centuries religion and science have tried to dominate and push the other away as hypocrisy and falsification. And I’m sure the enemy was the instigator.

But what we have lost sight of is that God created all the physical laws of this world as well. If I may say, He is the first and greatest scientist of all. Why wouldn’t He go to great lengths to create a fascinating world for His children to discover? A world that continues to grow and create from His spoken Word…

As I said, my goal is not to justify or prove anything, nor to argue. Mine is to ponder and celebrate. I see the Pope’s statement as the first steps of faith (not religion) and science merging to prove the truth of God’s presence, authority and power. For too long it has been one side or the other without any willingness to consider each side may have part of the story right and may need the other to more fully embrace the larger scope of creation. Nor should we expect to be able to understand completely as God’s ways are so far above what we can understand (Isaiah 55:9). But we can have fun discovering!

And at the very least, this has provided more opportunity for my husband and I talk, to discuss, to consider, to ponder and to wonder. God is so very much in every detail, even in these discussions, and I very much welcome these opportunities to bring His presence into my marriage and plant more seeds in my pre-believers heart, even if it is challenging and uncomfortable at times.

God wastes nothing. And if I am willing to listen and consider what my husband believes, then by example and action (1Peter 3) I believe he will be more willing to listen and consider what I believe.

The rest I will leave in God’s most capable hands. I don’t have to prove anything. God’s work and truth will always speak for itself.

Have an amazing weekend pondering, my dear friends!