By Ted Hodkinson

I find it remarkable how the passing of Stephen Hawking has been so feted and recognized as a great loss to our human family.  Only two weeks before he died, Billy Graham passed away and it is almost the contrast between the passing’s of Princess Diana and Mother Teresa of Calcutta back in 1997: a stark contrast very different individuals who’ve impacted culture over many decades.

But when you compare and contrast the lives of Stephen Hawking and Billy Graham you likely couldn’t find two more polar opposite individuals when it came to commenting on the origins of life in the universe and life on earth. Stephen Hawking until two weeks before he died was still holding out on his theory of the multiverse: an unproven and entirely speculative musing on the existence of multi and he may even assert, infinitely existing multiple universes. This concept has no basis in fact. Whether it is in fact the case, Billy Graham would say only this is known to God, and He would reveal it to us denizens of earth in His time, if at all.

But the debate between science and faith is a millennial old one, and has resounded in the halls of my Church (I am very catholic!) for hundreds of years, but to the uninitiated it has always seemed that faith and reason were at odds and somehow warring: contentious opponents within the halls of my faith.  The two Popes prior to Francis, St John Paul II and Benedict XVI were two of the great apologist’s for exactly the confluence of faith and reason as they both understood and articulated the synergy and compatibility of each in the lives of all believers. When you think about it, since faith and our human reason are both from the very hands of our divine Creator, how could they in any way be at odds.

Liberal theologians and liberals outside of the Christian faith would have folks believe that in fact there is a war between faith and reason. This is simply and abjectly a distortion of reality: a twisting of truth but as with any ruses perpetuated by the Devil, they take a “good” and pervert and distort it.

Take for example Darwin’s thesis that he expounded in his work in the mid nineteenth century:

“The Descent of Man” that supposedly started this whole revolution that has somehow explained natural selection as the architect of our human design. He in fact would be abjectly horrified if he lived today and saw how his observations were so entirely twisted and perverted that they would be unrecognizable to him. He essentially observed the differences in certain animals and insects on his travels aboard “The Beagle” and surmised that in fact there was something at work behind the scenes that impacted how certain species progressed and others became obsolete: his explanation was natural selection where species competed for resources and the strongest and most adaptable survived the conflict. THIS theory is entirely consistent with our Judeo-Christian beliefs, since nowhere in the explanation I just offered did he claim that “natural selection” in fact authored life. That is patently absurd and as with Dr Hawking’s musings, God rest his soul, are entirely devoid of support in fact or argument. They are in essence, the statement of faith of atheism, the true “theological” progenitors of the Devil’s pronouncement in John Milton’s Paradise Lost:  I would rather reign in Hell than serve in Heaven.

But this brings me to where I wanted to be in connecting certain aspects of protecting our natural environment and preserving God’s creation while not similarly acceding to the unsupported scientism that is more politics than science: climate change, global warming- whatever iteration of the climate du jour crowd wants to proffer. As someone who unapologetically believes in the total aspect of God creating the entire universe out of nothing and maintaining its continued existence by the supreme act of His love, with the fruit of this love relationship with us expressed in the life and death of his Son, and the continued consolation of the presence of His Holy Spirit, we can all agree that this is the only planet we have been gifted by God and we all need to do everything we can to protect it. Trying to get people to accede to labels like “climate change” or castigating them for a lack of adherence to these unsupported ideations, is the time worn battle between believers and unbelievers.  Here however the climate change devotees in many senses see man as the cause and man as the solution, but as such it is a humanistic approach:  God is left out and forgotten. A shame since in order to solve the problems man created, in time God once had to send his only son to reconcile the problem creators, “us” to the problem resolver, “Him” by the death of his son. We are at that tipping point again, and many would argue the severe weather swings are a sign of God sending a message again to repent, since his son is no longer capable of dying a second time to bring us back to completeness as we were first born to so be.

I am a solar sales professional because I believe in preserving the creation that God has given us by the very thing he has created: the sun.  It provides a limitless source of clean and non-polluting energy that will last for still billions of years. A virtual inexhaustible supply that He has created for our use which will allow us to preserve his creation in ways we cannot even foresee now, the possibilities are so vast.

As a conservative creationist who believes in clean and renewable power that is more affordable each day my goal is to take back the ground that has been too long surrendered to the Stephen Hawking crowd: those who see man as the cause and the solution. As men and women, God allows us to participate in His creation and to help solve problems that we create, and some we don’t. But is always and absolutely with Him, by Him, and for Him. And I urge like-minded people of faith to join me on Earth Day at Bristol Community College in Fall River April 18 at 11:00 AM – 1:00 PM to join in the cause of creation preservation. For we don’t “worship the earth” but “worship on it” in a hoped for clean and responsible way.