My name is Vaughn Starr and I have taken perhaps the oddest journey which has lead me into pastoral ministry. As a young man, I didn’t set out on such a carer path. In fact, I could barely have considered myself much of a believer by the time I graduated from high school. Had someone told me that I would one-day be a pastor, I would have probably passed whatever I was drinking at the time through my nose. I was, after all, a scientist.
I became a science teacher by education and a believer in my field. Why wouldn’t everyone be? Science has done some amazing things. So, it seemed self-evident to me that science proves itself. However, science has its limitations. Pop-science does not share the known limitations of the field and, by graduation, many, like me, believe that science has adequate explanations for everything. by It’s tempting to confuse science with scientism – that is the metaphysical prospect that materialistic naturalism can explain all that could possibly be.
Persuaded that this is not the case and there might actually be something to this faith thing, I set out on my own research project into the array of modern religions and worldviews. Eventually, I concluded that if anything was ultimately true, I would most want Christianity to be that truth. Yes – this is a bias, but no – that doesn’t mean it is a blinding bias making me bent and determined to make everything either align with my understanding or disable me from recognizing where things do not align.
Science, as I see it, isn’t at war with faith, or vice versa, except in the minds of those who are egotistical enough to believe they have all the answers. People over-estimate the ability of materialistic chance to the degree it contradicts science – or those expecting the bible authors to be extrapolate naturalistic points with their 3,000-year-ago audiences that would somehow align with or force modern understandings.
Why Christianity? I believe it truly describes the human condition and the only remedy for the maladies of that condition. And, it really does work – it has changed the heart of a man like me so that I can truly say that I have learned to love the unlovable and forgive the unforgiveable. Besides, if we stick with scientism, there is not God, and therefore, no heaven, no right or wrong, no truth, and no point.
I am beginning this conversation to reach the seeking. Please follow, question, and comment. Never stop seeking.