Manna and Coffee

I became a scientist because I have always been curious about how the world around me works. For instance, I think that most people can appreciate the beauty of a tree, but when I look at a tree, I want to know why the leaves are green in the summer and why they change to brown, red and orange in the fall. It doesn’t stop there. I wonder how do my eyes work and communicate with my brain when I’m looking at the tree and why do I think that trees are beautiful?

I became a Christian because knowing how a tree, my eyes and my brain work gave me some satisfaction, but this knowledge didn’t address or satisfy the emptiness that I still felt in my heart. An encounter with Jesus in my late 20’s was the only thing that ultimately addressed and satisfied this emptiness. Now when I look at a tree, I know how the tree works and why it was put there in the first place so that both my brain and my heart are satisfied.

So as a scientist and a Christian, when I look at the hate and violence that is going on in the world because of skin color it is difficult for me to understand. Skin color is simply a product of genetics, just like hair color, eye color, height and sex. When one person harms another person simply because their skin color is different than their own, it just doesn’t make any sense to me. I am a white male and I understand that white males have used skin color as an excuse to enslave and harm other men who have black skin. This is not right! It is simply wrong to use your skin color or sex as an excuse to gain an advantage over another person no matter what color of skin or sex that you are.

As a scientist, I know that skin color was most likely an adaptation of man to differing climates as we spread around the globe from Africa. As a Christian, I know that our desire to take advantage and harm another person because of skin color or gender is because we are prone to selfishness and sin. Whether you believe in evolution, or the Biblical account of Creation, the truth of the matter is that all races can trace our origins back to the same parents, Adam and Eve, who were very likely more black than white. So when we harm another person because of skin color we are truly harming our biological brothers and sisters and are disrespecting the God who made us all in His image.

The Bible says that we were created to love; to love God and to love one another. In fact, Jesus said all of religion can be boiled down into two simple commandments, to love God and to love people. Can you imagine what could happen if we would stop fighting over politics and the color of our skin long enough to actually do this?

Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” – Matthew 22:36-40