Science vs Faith

    Science versus Faith… We cannot believe in science and have faith in a God at the same time. That is the point that Satan convinces people to believe in. But WHY? Why does he do that? And how can that work for his benefit? If we look to the creation as an example, the truth is that if you only believe in science, you will believe in an evolution without God. On the other hand, if you believe only in a blind Faith the theory is that the Earth was created out of nothing. And guess what? Both are lies. BIG LIES. And is not that the purpose of Satan, to make us all to get farther and farther from the truth? Well, so if he can make us believe in either way – believing only in science or only in faith – he will achieve his purpose.

But....Why cannot we believe in a God who uses science to fulfill His purposes?        
 
     When I thought about that question someone very special came to my mind. He is boy who I met in Mauá, SP - Brazil, when I served a full time mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Saints. He is one of the smartest boys I have ever met, who truly seeks for truth and at that time had this same confusion: science vs faith. It was a little hard for him to believe in the mesage of the Restored Gospel we had to share with him, because seemed to be contrary to the science he knew. I think that he probably does not remember that, but I can remember very clearly when my mission companion and I told him that as members of the church we also believe and have great appreciation for science, and that we seek for truth wherever we can find it. I can remember his face being lit with joy.

This is one of the great reasons why I am so grateful that the Gospel of Jesus Christ was restored in our days. Through Joseph Smith teachings we can learn that God did not create the Earth out of nothing. He ORGANIZED unorganized matter. Just as we do not bake a cake out of nothing, but following the laws of physics and chemistry we bring ingredients together, God following the same laws brought together and organized a bunch of unorganized matter, transforming all of it in something AMAZING: The Earth! Then, we have a God, who is not a passive being, but who is perfectly intelligent, who knows all about science, and through hard work created every single creature and beauty that we can touch, smell, see, taste and hear on the face of this world.  That proves the point that science and faith does not have to be two separate things. One does not annul the other. On the contrary, science and faith can prove and validate each other. Therefore, it does not matter where truth can be found – whether in a scientific article, or in the scriptures - I will seek for it. And I hope you can do just the same. 

Who is God?

     Even though the ideas and concepts of who God is are very different and varied around the world, more than 80 percent of the worldwide population believes that exists a supreme being. However, who God really is? And what difference He can make in my life and in the way I face my struggles?

     Well, I have always heard that God is my Father, but this week during my class of Jesus Christ and The Everlasting Gospel as we studied and discussed the first chapter of Moses and the nature of God I learned so much about my Father in heaven and my identity, which helped me find more peace in life and deal with my challenges.

     What does it mean to say that God is our Father, or that we are children of God? Let's think through this: God is the "Lord God Almighty, [...] without beginning of days or end of years" (Moses 1:3), He is the supreme being, full of glory and power. However, as the prophets said, "of all the titles of respect and honor and admiration that are given to Deity, He has asked us to address Him as Father." Why? From many possible reasons, these following two are the ones which I consider most important.

     First of all, Heavenly Father is not focused on His own power, but in the relationship He wants us to build with him, a relationship of father and child. A relationship of love, trust and proximity. Even though we have the theoretical knowledge of this, how many times have we talked to our Father in Heaven as a child talks to her parent? Every time I have a hard decision to make, a problem going on in my life, a struggle or difficulty, I call my father and discuss with him about it. If I believe that God is my Heavenly Father, why would not I call Him and discuss with Him about what is going on in my life? I love the record of the conversation between Moses and God in Moses 1, because it brought me the confidence that even God having SO many things going on with all of His infinite children, He had time to talk personally with Moses and teach him very specific and important principles related to Moses’ life. If He was concerned about teaching and preparing Moses to do a great work, why would not God be concerned about me and take His time to listen to my problems, to give me advice and teach me how I can accomplish my purpose of being on this Earth?

     Second, He wants us to comprehend our divine identity and potential. What is the mortal life if not only a water drop in the immensity of the ocean of eternity? However, we "cannot behold with [our] natural eyes, for the present time, the design of [our] God" concerning everything that has already passed by, either those which are to come (D&C 58:3). Why? Because we are so drowned in our struggles, problems and challenges of this mortal life that it is so hard to step out of all of them and see the big picture. There is a Brazilian expression that says “The son of a fish, a little fish is.” The same is for us. As children of God, we are beings with an eternal and divine potential. At the beginning of our class Dr. Griffin had written in the board “Who am I?” and I automatically thought that it would be one more class repeating the very well-known principle that we are children of God, and I was ready to just hear a lot of repetition of what I had already learned. He then asked us how old we are. All of us answered with ages between 18 through 28. Then he taught us a very simple principle that helped me to expand my understanding of I really am. He said: I asked how old are you, not how old your physical and mortal body is. That blew my mind. Why have I never thought about that before? Many times when we think about our divine identity we focus a lot on what we can become and in the eternity in front of us. But what about our pre-mortal life and the experiences and promises we made to our Heavenly family there? What about everything I learned there? And the skills I developed? And the gifts and characteristics I have received from God? Why do I have to limit myself to this mortal existence? The physical body I have now may be 22 years old, but my body is not the only thing that makes me. I am not only this mortal body with struggles and problems. These struggles and problems are not what defines me. They are just a very tiny part of a probatory time I have here on the Earth to learn how to develop the attributes that will help me to become like my Heavenly Parents. And that is a big reason that God wants us to call Him our father. However, just as Satan tried to deceive and mess up with Moses’ identity trying to convince Moses to believe that he was a child of man (Moses 1:12), Satan tries the same with us in nowadays. With his cunning and tricks he tries to make us forget of our divine heritage, and to focus in the weaknesses and flaws of our mortal bodies, which as a little kid, we are just learning how to use and control. By doing so, he stops us from achieving our full potential, and he rejoices on that.

     Because God is our Heavenly Father and loves us, He provided a way for us to connect with Him and become like Him. And the scriptures say “there is none other way nor name given under heaven whereby man can be saved in the kingdom of God” (2 Nephi 31:21) and “there shall be no other name given nor any other way nor means whereby salvation can come unto the children of men, only in and through the name of Christ, the Lord Omnipotent.” (Moses 3:17) Only through Jesus Christ we can access our Father in Heaven. Only through Jesus Christ we can achieve our eternal and divine potential. Just as Moses failed trying to cast out Satan by himself for three times, we will also fail if we try to do so alone or with the strength of men. However, if we seek for God’s help, through Jesus Christ, we will receive power and grace not only to fight the enemy of all righteousness, but also to overcome every challenge, weakness, flaw and struggle we are facing or may face in this life.