Science, Music, and God

I’m one of those rare exceptions to the rule when it comes to science and God. The more I learn about creation through science, the closer I am drawn to our Creator. Throughout my life, whenever I have learned something really interesting about our universe, my response has been “OK God, that’s pretty cool.” While science offers up explanations about “how” things work, it doesn’t answer the “why” questions.

Music is a great example. Physics explains how music works by measuring the frequency of vibrations. Middle C on a piano has a frequency of 261.626 Hz. Math can also tell us how different notes combine together to form chords. But science can’t explain why we like music. It can’t explain why some music makes us feel happy, and other music makes us feel sad. Evolution can’t explain why we developed this appreciation for music and our drive to create music. Even songbirds make music, and science will tell us they developed this for attracting mates, but why do songbirds use combinations of notes that sound musical? Why not just a single note or two or three random notes? Why do dairy cows produce more milk if classical music is played?

I found a video on youtube that is part of a science series taken from the World Science Festival in 2009. This series is about “Notes and Neurons” and the scientists are discussing theories about our reaction to melody and rhythm, and whether it is hard-wired into our brains or part of our cultural experience. A musician named Bobby McFerrin shows how universal this appreciation for music is. Watch and listen to this clip, and hum along if you can.

Remember, this is a “science” festival, not a music festival. The audience is made up of other scientists and science enthusiasts, and yet they somehow intuitively know what that next note should be in the scale. I’m sure most of them don’t know what the pentatonic scale is by name, but they know the sounds of the notes. And as Bobby indicates, he does this all over the world with the same result. The implication is that our appreciation of music is hard-wired into our brains. But they don’t really explain why it is hard wired. If you want to hear the whole presentation you can go to http://www.worldsciencefestival.com/video/notes-neurons-full

“That’s pretty cool, God. Show me more.”

Jac

When the going gets tough...

One comment about Elders came to me via this blog from someone outside our church. I decided to not publish the comment since it dealt with a specific personal issue, but it contained an important question. Basically, how does someone stop being an Elder (ie a resignation), and how does the church handle such a request? We discussed this in one of the shepherd fold meetings regarding the “life-long appointment” of Elders. In some circumstances, the process is easy and obvious. For example, an Elder may move to a different community for reasons related to employment, family, health, or retirement. Or a Pastor may accept a call to a different church. When this happens, it makes sense to “release” the Elder (or Pastor) from their appointment and give them our blessing in the next chapter of their life.

But what about when an Elder feels they can longer support the leadership of the church or disagrees with the direction the church is taking, and they wish to resign so they can attend a different church?

In this type of situation, the impact on the church body is more important than the impact on an individual (or as Spock put it in the movie “The Wrath of Khan” – ‘The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the one.’) What I mean by this is that whatever resolution the leadership comes to, it should not adversely impact the rest of the church body.

Science tells us that when faced with a confrontation, our animal instinct presents us with two options – fight or flight. So when faced with an issue in our church, we can try to fight it out (get our own way), or leave and seek a different church to attend that is more in line with our own person vision of how church should be done. But we are not animals; we have a third option – obedience. Provided that the issue is not one of salvation (ie the church is not doing something contrary to Biblical guidelines), the best response is to set aside our personal preferences and follow the direction the rest of the Elders have charted.

This is not an easy task. And even if we can do this initially, continuing to belong to a church where some things are done contrary to our own personal preference can prevent us from being fully engaged in the mission of the church, leading to frustration and disappointment. In these situations, we need to be praying for God’s help and guidance, and to be open to the possibility that the problem may be with us and we need to change, rather than trying to find a church that suits our personal preferences. I have seen many families move from church to church, trying to find that perfect fit. Even when they find one, that church inevitably changes (as all churches should) and they are off again in search of the perfect church. If we find ourselves (or someone we know) stuck in that pattern, we need to be reminded that this is not what we are called to do. The seeds of dissention, sown by Satan, can sprout into weeds of personal preferences that cloud our vision and prevent us from seeing the True Goal.

If you find yourself thinking you want to leave your church because you don’t like the style of music, or you find the Pastor’s preaching skills just don’t meet your standards, or you just can’t get along with one of the Elders, or you aren’t on board with the direction the church is heading – take some time to reflect on the following: Am I called to be served, or to serve? Is what I want more important than what I need? Have I confused a personal preference with God’s leading? Is it time for me to humbly submit in obedience to the leadership of the church, and accept the problem is with me and not with them? Can I, with God’s help, put past hurts behind me and move forward with the church body to fulfill our mission? What’s really preventing me from supporting the leadership – personal issues or serious theological concerns? Is it better for the church body for me to leave, or to stay?

When the going gets tough, what will you do? Fight? Flight? Or Obey?

Jac

PS to Andre - I personally don’t feel it is appropriate for any leader to submit a letter of resignation – this is essentially a unilateral decision made by one leader regarding a particular situation. A much better approach is to openly discuss the situation with the leaders and reach a mutual agreement on the best course of action, keeping in mind the desire for unity within the membership. A leader could formally request a “release” from their obligations as a leader, but it should be up to the remaining leaders to determine if this is the best solution. When a mutual agreement can’t be reached, the leaders should seek assistance from outside their church, preferably from their denomination or gifted Christian mediators. I would expect that in most circumstances, the preferred solution would be to release the leader from their obligations rather than try to force them to remain in a leadership position knowing they have an irresolvable issue with the direction the church is taking. But every situation is unique. May God help you and your family find your way.