| Mike L Anderson's web site |
| My story
My wife, Janice, is the nicest person I know. She has a quirk, though. She doesn't like creepy-crawlies. This is a bit of problem because the rest of the family does. The children get this condition from me and I inherited it from my parents. My father once failed to stop a goal because he was distracted by some ants on the soccer field. My mother loved all creatures except caterpillars. Our eldest daughter, Rachel, is fearless. Don't try this at home, but she will hold our pet scorpion in her hands. Our son, Nathan, is molly about dinosaurs. He could read the word 'Triceratops' before he could read the word 'they'! Our youngest daughter, Sharon, is as inquisitive as the rest. When she was four years old she asked Janice, "Mommy, did God build this house?" Even at this young age she was trying to figure out how God fits into this world. Now imagine that Sharon was your daughter, how would you answer her? Some say "No", but then in order to give God something to do, add something like " … but He did supply the materials." Notice the natural curiosity children have for understanding God's relationship to the world. For some, however, this curiosity can turn to dread. This happened to me. Allow me to tell you my story and how I got over it.
Before I became a Christian, I thought that science was everything. I even thought it could answer the big questions - such as the meaning and purpose of life. So, it was with high expectations that I began university to study the life sciences. I had half-expected the big answers to come in a lecture theatre. Instead, they came when two students knocked on my door at the men's residence. They explained that the purpose of life is to have a personal relationship with God and He had made this possible through the death of His Son, Jesus Christ. For the first time I appreciated the extraordinary lengths God took to reconcile us to Himself. My heart melted and I gave my life to Jesus Christ. I am very glad about the decision I made for Him.
I would like to be able to say that everything went well from then on, but it did not. The chief difficulty was trying to reconcile my new-found faith, which was so important to me, with my studies. At first it was easy. When threatened I simply dismissed evolution as "just a theory." But as I became more acquainted with the evidence, this approach became increasingly difficult to sustain. I fell into intellectual anguish as I tried to harmonise my studies and my faith. Deep down I did not think they could be reconciled. Doubts arose about some key tenets of the Christian faith. I would sing hymns and feel hypocritical because I could not sing whole-heartededly; I would skip over certain parts and feel guilty – now because I was not worshipping God as I should. I could not enjoy my studies either, because I felt they were a threat to my faith.
Today I am able to sing hymns (still badly) with gusto. My faith remained intact not because I discovered some theory that finally reconciled the creation and evolution debate but because the Founder of the Christian faith came to be the Foundation of my faith. Jesus came to be not just Who I believed in, but also the reason for my belief. I came to realise that when Jesus said, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father but through me" He was saying that He is the only ultimately significant truth there is - not the only truth there is. His identity does not depend on a resolution of any scientific issue whatsoever. Jesus is who He is whether the earth is flat or round, young or old and whether evolution is true or false. I developed deep convictions about the Person of Jesus - that He is the Son of God and the Messiah. So, it was in knowing Jesus that my faith remained intact even though I had no answers to some very troubling and difficult questions. To the extent that my faith was truly in Him, I found myself unshaken by contemporary scientific controversies and free to follow the fossil evidence – wherever it might lead.
This website is devoted to sharing both the joy I have found in Christ and the enjoyment I have found in science - including evolutionary science. I hope you find this too!
My passion is to build-up believers for outreach in the context of the challenges and opportunities afforded by the information age, to develop gospel-friendly educational software at the interface of faith and science and to centre on Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour and as the best foundation for faith.
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