The truth of the Christian story

At the same time, natural science has broken its own bounds and has taken on the task of providing its own story of the human. The problem is that this story is thin gruel. For example the only purpose to human life, we are told, is the transmission of genetic material. But why would we want to do that? While the biblical story places the earth and man at the centre of creation natural science goes the other way and tells us that the earth is a mere speck in a universe filled with silent worlds. Humanity has been in existence for only the last few seconds of the life of the universe. The theory of evolution tells us that we are here by accident, we are not the product of an intentional creator.

Now all of this is true, but taken as an existential framework it is a wonder that we don’t all just lie in our baths and slit our wrists. If this is the only framework that we give the young then it is no wonder that they become shallow, hedonistic materialists, what other option do they have? The scientific existential framework is a recipe for despair and suicide and drug use.

Governments attempt to promote science, it is the goose that has laid the golden egg of technology. They despair that more students do not enrol in science units and wring their hands at the scarcity of technologists and researchers. While not deprecating the practical sciences, (I still earn a living from the same) they do nothing to help our spiritual malaise.

What we need is an educational program that teaches the two realms just as literature is taught alongside natural science. But this must be done so that the historical/imaginative construct of Christian theology is given equal weigh for being “true” as it does that of natural science.

The church schools that are increasing their intake every year are in prime position to do this. Indeed their denominations should expect them to embark on such a program instead of relying on the thin notion of pastoral care for students. The best pastoral care they could give their students would be to equip them with a robust Christian identity which is immersed in the structured time of the Church calendar of worship.

Such a program can only work if teachers are brave enough to make the distinction between the knowledge of nature and the knowledge of God. This would mean, for example, that the creation stories are separated from modern cosmology but given equal weight as stories that tell us of the nature and destiny of man rather than the mechanics of the big bang.

It is ironic that many mourn the loss of Aboriginal culture and see the destitution that has resulted but do not make the connection that we too have lost our culture and that we are similarly threatened by the void that opens before us.