The Red Pill or the Blue Pill?

The world is changed. I feel it in the water. I feel it in the earth. I smell it in the air. Much that once was is lost, for none now live who remember it. Galadriel, Lord of the Rings. 

Paradise lost. Do you feel it? A sense that something in the world has been lost and that things are not as they should be. Why do terrible things happen such as human trafficking, genocide, rape, or murder, to name a few?

What about in your own life? Do you sense something has been lost or perhaps taken from you? I'm not just talking about someone beating you out of the last parking place at the mall. Perhaps you have been abused or wounded, either physically or emotionally, or you have lost loved ones, etc.

So what is really going on in the world and in our lives? Do you ever wonder? Is there any way to find out? As it turns out, the Scriptures are surprisingly clear about it. If you are a person who asks these deep questions, there really is a way to know more. The only requirement is that you really have to want to know, for the Word of God promises that those who seek will find (1).

An excellent analogy to this comes from the movie "The Matrix". If you have seen it you probably recall the scene where the main character Neo (Keanu Reeves) is offered a choice between a red pill and a blue pill (you can Google it and watch it on youtube if you like). If Neo takes the red pill he learns the truth about the matrix, which permeates the world around him but is really only an illusion. In the movie, the matrix is like a veil pulled over everyone's eyes to hide the fact that they were all born into bondage. By taking the red pill he can learn the truth about and escape the prison of the matrix. Conversely, if Neo takes the blue pill he can remain and live in the deluded world of the matrix, totally ignorant of the truth that something is terribly wrong. I'll let you watch the movie if you want to know more!  :)

This concept is really quite a stunning analogy to the spiritual world as described in the Word of God. Part of the purpose of this post is to encourage you to "take the red pill", so to speak, to begin to learn more about the nature of the world around us as taught through the Scriptures. Paradise really has been lost (2). We are all born into bondage (3, 4). Things unseen really are more important than things seen (5). Freedom and redemption are available (6, 7), all weeping will one day cease and death will be destroyed (8). And those who choose redemption will receive treasure in this life (9) and one day will take their place in paradise restored (10). Don't misunderstand, there are some things we will never understand this side of heaven, including some of our sufferings. But a little clarity now would do us wonders as we face the trials of everyday life.

A good summary of this can be found in the book Epic, by John Eldredge, which is a short 104 page read that gives a bird's eye view of these things. If you click the link here and scroll down the page, there is even a brief overview of the book. It is worth spending a couple of minutes to read!

                                                                                                 

Footnotes:

Scientists Who Believe in God

In this short interview (<4 min) Dr Francis Collins (Director, National Human Genome Research Institute) explains why he believes in a personal God and how his faith is compatible with science. For a brief article about Dr. Francis Collin's road to faith, see Why this scientist believes in God.

Given the apparent "rift" between science and faith in God in our modern world, it is perhaps surprising to learn that many famous scientists of the past had a deep faith in God! Many of today's scientists do too although you may not often hear about them. And like believing scientists before them (see a partial list below), they don't see a conflict between Christianity and science. Dr. Collins in the youtube video above is one example.

This topic is one I hope to visit time and again, but today I simply want to list a few scientists whom you may have heard of who were devout Christians:

1. Nicholas Copernicus (1473-1543): Polish astronomer who put forward the first mathematically based system of planets going around the sun.
2. Sir Francis Bacon (1561-1627): Philosopher known for establishing the scientific method of inquiry based on experimentation and inductive reasoning.
3. Johannes Kepler (1571-1630): Brilliant mathematician and astronomer. He did early work on light, and established the laws of planetary motion about the sun.
4. Galileo Galilei (1564-1642): Galileo's troubles with the established church are famous, but his problem was with the institutionalized church, not Christianity. His controversial work on the solar system was published in 1633.
5. Rene Descartes (1596-1650): French mathematician, scientist and philosopher who has been called the father of modern philosophy.
6. Blaise Pascal (1623-1662): French mathematician, physicist, inventor, writer, and philosopher.
7. Isaac Newton (1642-1727): In optics, mechanics, and mathematics, Newton was a figure of undisputed genius and innovation.
8. Robert Boyle (1791-1867): One of the founders and key early members of the Royal Society, Boyle gave his name to "Boyle's Law" for gases, and also wrote an important work on chemistry.
9. Michael Faraday (1791-1867): The son of a blacksmith who became one of the greatest scientists of the 19th century. His work on electricity and magnetism not only revolutionized physics, but led to much of our lifestyles today, which depends on them (including computers and telephone lines and, so, web sites).
10. Gregor Mendel (1822-1884): The first to lay the mathematical foundations of genetics, in what came to be called "Mendelianism".
11. William Thomson Kelvin (1824-1907): Kelvin was foremost among the small group of British scientists who helped to lay the foundations of modern physics.

LIFE and death

The immortality of the soul is something of such vital importance to us, affecting us so deeply, that one must have lost all feeling not to care about knowing the facts of the matter"  Blaise Pascal

Me in the cockpit of a Piper Pawnee C, which I flew during
the summer of 1980 to apply pesticides to crops and pastures
near Scotia, Nebraska where I grew up.

My tension was rising as I powered my Piper Pawnee airplane down the short runway. I had been crop dusting all summer at my small-town airport but somehow this takeoff seemed different. The plane was fully loaded, sluggish, and had already passed the "point of no return" (where the airplane was moving too fast to safely stop even if I throttled back and applied brakes). The plane didn't seem to want to lift off, and the end of the runway was rapidly approaching. Immediately beyond was a county road with ditches on both sides and a barbed wire fence and tall corn field just beyond that. I knew the airplane wouldn't fare too well if I couldn't lift off by the time I got there, but worse, I knew I wouldn't fare too well either. By the time I got to the end of the runway the plane was still on the ground.That was not how I had planned for that day to go.