Why I Don’t Believe Something Just Because a Scientist Says It

Francis Crick by all accounts was a veritable genius and should be regarded as such.  Crick and his partner James Watson are responsible for discovering the structure of the DNA molecule.  Obviously, this finding was revolutionary, earning both of them the Nobel Prize and having tremendous impact in the future of genetics and medicine.  And while it’s important to remember a man in light of his accomplishments it also behooves us to look at his failures to recognize that he – like the rest of us – was not without his shortcomings.

Later in his life when the weight of his prior accomplishments caused him to be regarded as an expert – if not the foremost authority – on DNA and living cells in general, he both spoke at conferences and published papers about how he thought the first living cell came about.  He postulated that the first living cell was so complex that it had to have come about through a process known as “Directed Panspermia”.

Directed Panspermia.  Sounds pretty sophisticated and well thought out right?  I mean when I see words like that it makes me think that a lot of work has gone into a theory like this.  That there is a whole body of evidence that perhaps a dedicated group of expert researchers and scientists have been pouring into for a significant amount of time and that at the end of this extensive study they have come up with this phrase to best encapsulate their findings.

Directed Panspermia.

What does it really mean?

In simple undressed language it means aliens sent life on earth.  No joke that is seriously what it means.  Don’t believe me?  Break down the words.  Directed – Something that is guided to go from one place to another.  Panspermia – The sperm or seed of life.  This is not some kind of misunderstanding it is actually what both Francis Crick and even Richard Dawkins have used to explain how life began on earth.

If you are anything like me then you may be shocked to find out that scientists – who we have been told don’t ever put their names on things that can’t be proven – would do something so brazenly dishonest. You are likely flustered by this because you have been told your whole life that such individuals “value truth above all else and won’t believe something unless it can be verified” and that you, being a Christian, are “foolish” because you think that life, the universe, and existence are so inscrutable that they point to Transcendence.  Which is to say that the world we live in is based on factors that are so profoundly above anything that we can understand that the sensible and intellectually honest thing to do is to say that it all points to a giant mystery, a proverbial question-mark in the sky.

That such a recognition of the limits of our ability to know something in and of ourselves – which is the purest form of humility – would be perceived by the scientific community as “foolish” is itself an indictment of their own lack of self-awareness and inability to listen to critiques from anyone outside their own echo-chambers.

But as honest, free-thinking people, we must shake off the dust from our shoulders and soberly recognize that we can’t know everything about everything.  We instead marvel at the reality that we live in a mysterious world. It’s a kind of love poem that hasn’t been signed by an author, but where we wait expectantly for the Writer to show Himself, because we know somehow that this love letter was written for us.

And this mysterious Poet has actually revealed Himself to mankind as the Triune Creator God. A revelation that – while taking faith to receive – is personally, intellectually, and morally satisfying.  And even extends further because to experience belief in God is the beginning of a life-long relationship with this mysterious, powerful, loving Being who has revealed Himself to mankind in the pages of the Holy Bible.

But the Christian is not afraid to admit that faith is involved because the Bible teaches us that faith is necessary to know and experience God.  Faith comes first and then experience on God’s terms follows (Hebrews 11:6).  As such we are in a dance with this transcendent yet intimate, this powerful yet often purposefully hidden Being.  The God who hides not from us but for us because He has designed us to pursue Him and wants to reveal Himself to those who will treasure what they find (Proverbs 25:2).

So yes, faith is a part of the Christian life.  But atheistic scientists who sneer at the concept of a Divine romance or of trusting Someone you can’t see because “all they care about is the evidence” – whatever that really means – should be called out when they say that life on earth started because green aliens decided to FedEx a living cell to earth.

It wouldn’t bother me as much if it wasn’t so deceptive.  Why can’t they just say it?  Just say “I don’t know how this happened”.  It’s actually easy to do – I do it all the time.  You can use all sorts of variations.  You can say “Hmmm, I’m not really sure” or “Man, beats me”.  Both of those will work.  Or if you are at a loss for words a simple shrug of the shoulders will do.

But the fact that you dress an idea up in obscure latin-rooted language and then without any evidence at all present it as if it is a viable scientific theory is just plain dishonest.  Its Wizard of Oz, pulling-the-curtain-over-people’s-eyes stuff man.

But they can’t admit this.  And this is the problem with atheism.  It has to explain everything, all the time, and has to always be right and you religious people can’t say anything about it.  Because if you say anything about evolution or how life came about well then your anti-science.  And being anti-science well that’s just bad.  It’s immoral really.  Who are you to question someone as decorated and as smart as Francis Crick?

So then because atheism has to always explain everything and because it can’t leave room for mystery – because to leave room for mystery is to leave room for Someone who transcends what we are able to understand – then when confronted with something he really didn’t know and couldn’t understand he made something up, dressed it up with fancy words and treated it like it was a viable thing.

He later corrected this and came to say that “an honest man armed with all the knowledge available to us now, could only state that in some sense, the origin of life appears at the moment to be almost a miracle, so many are the conditions which would have had to have been satisfied to get it going” (Metaxas, IAD).  His is a cautionary tale and one that should instruct us today.  Just because someone is an expert in their field and has accomplished great things in their career doesn’t mean they are infallible and doesn’t mean that their word should be considered as Gospel.  Rather the burden of a scientist is to prove their theories by reproducing them from tests in a lab.  If they can’t do that then we have no reason to believe something they have to say even if they present it in an earnest and passionate way.

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* All References to (Metaxas, IAD) refer to the incredible book Is Atheism Dead? by Eric Metaxas that can be purchased here: https://socratesinthecity.com/product/is-atheism-dead/