BreakPoint Commentary by Charles W. Colson.


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BreakPoint Commentary - November 5, 1998

Astronauts Who Found God
A Spiritual View of Space
By Charles W. Colson

Astronaut, John Glenn's return to outer space 36
years after his awe-inspiring orbit around the earth
is a reminder of the kind of heroism that makes space
exploration possible.  What author, Tom Wolfe called
the "right stuff."  What you may not know, however is
that for many of the early astronaut heroes, the
"right stuff" included deep religious faith. Neil
Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin are best known as the first
astronauts to land on the moon and take that "giant
leap for mankind." But you probably don't know that
before they emerged from the spaceship, Aldrin pulled
out a Bible, a silver chalice, and sacramental bread
and wine. There on the moon, his first act was to
celebrate communion.

Frank Borman was commander of the first space crew to
travel beyond the Earth's orbit. Looking down on the
earth from 250,000 miles away, Borman radioed back a
message, quoting Genesis 1: "In the beginning, God
created the heavens and the earth." As he later
explained, "I had an enormous feeling that there had
to be a power greater than any of us-that there was a
God, that there was indeed a beginning."

The late James Irwin, who walked on the moon in 1971,
later became an evangelical minister.  He often
described the lunar mission as a revelation. In his
words, "I felt the power of God as I'd never felt it
before."

Charles Duke, who followed Irwin to the moon, later
became active in missionary work.  As he explained,
"I make speeches about walking ON the moon and
walking WITH the Son."  Guy Gardner is a veteran
astronaut who speaks in churches on the reality of
God.

What is it about being in space that seems to spark
our innate religious sense? Two centuries ago the
philosopher Immanuel Kant said there are two things
that "fill the mind with ever new and increasing
admiration and awe: the starry heavens above me and
the moral law within me." Reflections about these
things, Kant wrote, lead our minds to contemplate God
Himself-the moral law revealing His goodness, the
heavens revealing His power.

As the psalmist put it: "The heavens declare the
glory of God."  Or as John Glenn put it just a few
days ago as he observed the heavens and earth from the
windows of Discovery: "To look out at this kind of creation
and not believe in God is to me impossible.  It just
strengthens my faith."

Many of us have thought that science is antagonistic
to faith. Yet most of the great figures who shaped
the scientific enterprise from the beginning have
been devout believers-people like Blaise Pascal, who
invented the first calculator; Isaac Newton, who
discovered the law of gravity; and James Maxwell, who
formulated the laws of electromagnetism. All were
Christians who felt that the study of nature did not
challenge their faith but rather strengthened it.

And that's exactly what space exploration can do in
the lives who take part in it.  If you're watching
the Discovery mission with unsaved friends, explain
to them how over the decades space travel has
provided an unexpected dividend. Astronauts who
powerfully encountered the God who created the heavens
and the earth.

(c) 1998 Prison Fellowship Ministries




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BreakPoint Commentary - September 3, 1998
Doing the Right Thing
Christianity and Compassion
by Charles W. Colson

Today's idealists believe that compassion for the individual
is a universal trait, but it isn't so.  The following story
illustrates how, as our Judeo-Christian heritage is weakened,
our own society can manifest an abject lack of compassion.

The year was 1968, and Kenneth Swan was a young army surgeon,
just arrived in Vietnam.  One of his first cases was a 19-year-old
soldier who had been blown up by a grenade, losing
his eyesight and both legs.  It took seven long grueling hours
at the operating table to put him back together.

Dr. Swan was surprised the next day to find his fellow
surgeons sharply critical of him.  For not doing a good job?
No-for doing the job at all.

"That kid was so badly mangled," they told him, "you shouldn't
have even bothered to treat him.  He would have been better
off dead."

For the next 20 years, Swan was haunted by those words.  Had
he had done the right thing in trying to save that soldier's
life?

Swan determined to find the soldier he had patched up so many
years ago in Vietnam.  It took more than two years, but in the
end he managed to locate him.

And what he found was nothing short of astonishing.

Yes, the man is blind and in a wheelchair.  But he is not
languishing in any hospital.  He is married and has two
daughters.  He attended college, learned to scuba dive, and
trained to help others with debilitating injuries.

Now in his forties, the former soldier has a zest for life-and
a faith in God.  When a reporter asked him about his success
in life, he responded simply, "I give the credit to God."

What a testimony.

And it's a great example of the life-changing power of
compassion.  But without a sense of duty to a higher standard--
a commandment, for example, to treat life as sacred, to love
our neighbor-moral decision making is often driven by purely
utilitarian considerations.

In the case of most of Dr. Swan's colleagues, the wounded
soldier's life was not deemed worthy of the time and effort
necessary to save him.  But try telling this Vietnam vet's two
daughters that their daddy's life wasn't worth saving.

You see, each of us has a right to expect that no effort be
spared to preserve our own lives and those of our loved ones.
And the Christian worldview provides us with the basis for
that expectation.  That's because each of us is created in the
"image of God."  And all life-not just that which is judged
"worthy," but all life-should be treated as a gift from God.

Whether through medical missions, humanitarian relief, or
fighting the killing of the unborn, Christians have
historically borne witness to the dignity of human life.  We
can learn from Dr. Swan's example and never hesitate to act
with compassion-to do the right thing.

And oh yes-if your secular neighbor's life should ever be in
danger, he should be very happy he has a Christian living next
door.

(c) 1998 Prison Fellowship Ministries




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BreakPoint Commentary - September 4, 1998

Eternity in Their Hearts
God's Existence Is Self-Evident
by Charles W. Colson

In my novel "Gideon's Torch," there is a pivotal
encounter between Attorney General Emily
Gineen and pro-life pastor Daniel Seaton.  The
exchange brings into focus the self-evident
nature of truth and the existence of God--the
ultimate Truth.

In the passage Emily visits Daniel, imprisoned
for bombing an abortion clinic. While regretting
the unintended consequences of his actions,
Daniel expresses his conviction that "God does
not make mistakes. . . . He has spoken. His word
is Truth."

Emily replies: "What do you mean?  It sounds
so presumptuous. . . . How can you be so sure--
how can you even know there is truth?"

"First of all," Daniel responds, "[you know]
because you asked that question.  Something in
you causes you to ask it.  We have a mind, a
consciousness. . . . there is something, some
ultimate reality, and the mind and soul are
restless for it."

Emily then protests:  "But even if there is
some ultimate reality, one can't know it with
certainty."

"Ah," replies Daniel, "but that's the search.
Look at the order of the universe.  Think about its
physical realities."  Daniel then lifts his manacled
arms high and lets them drop, the chains rattling.

"Gravity is a physical law," he says. "If there
are known physical laws, why would we even
suggest that there aren't known moral laws?
Certain behavior produces certain predictable
consequences. . . . And if there are physical and
moral laws, there has to be a Lawgiver. That's
what I mean by ultimate reality. It is God."

I won't give away Emily's response to this
cogent argument for God's existence.  But note
that Daniel does not marshal proofs for the
existence of God.  Rather, he presupposes that
each individual has an awareness of the divine

In the same way, the Bible itself does not
attempt to prove God's existence.  Rather, the
Scriptures begin with one cardinal, indisputable
truth:  "In the beginning God . . . "

A number of years ago, Don Richardson
wrote a fascinating book entitled Eternity in
Their Hearts. Richardson documented how
primitive cultures, even in the most remote
regions of the world, have a knowledge of an all-
powerful supreme being.

Even atheistic indoctrination cannot erase that
one indelible awareness from man's
consciousness.  Consider Irina Ratushinskaya, the
Russian poet.  When Irina was growing up during
the Soviet regime, her communist teachers
taught her there was no God. Irina had no reason
to believe otherwise--no Christian influences,
no tracts or missionaries.

But through the process of a child's simple
understanding, God manifested himself to her.
"There must be a God," she thought.  "Otherwise
they wouldn't tell us over and over that there is
no God."  Irina eventually obtained a Bible and
became a Christian.

During this series we've examined important
reasons to commend the Christian faith to our
neighbors.  But I daresay that none is more vital
than to encourage the willingness to--in the
words of the author of Hebrews--"believe that
he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly
seek him."

Would that others could see eternity in our
hearts, and in our lives a reflection of the God
who is?

(c) 1998 Prison Fellowship Ministries




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BreakPoint Commentary - August 26, 1998

Tornado-Designed 747s - The Irrationality of Atheism
by Charles W. Colson

I remember an incident back during my Watergate days that
illustrates how utterly irrational atheism is. I had approached
one of my colleagues to offer spiritual help. He was on his way
to prison.

"No thanks," was his reply. "I'm a rationalist." He'd decided
that God was merely the figment of a pious imagination.

For a time his "rationalism" seemed to work. After his prison
term, he went on to a successful business career. He seemed to
have it all together-without God.

But years later rumors reached me that my former colleague was
reading Christian literature, seeking deeper answers to life.
"I can no longer be an atheist," he wrote to me, "for I cannot
get by the question of how life began. The scientific
rationales are themselves simply irrational."

But, of course, my friend came to realize what some of our best
scientific minds are telling us: that it is irrational to
believe that the universe came into existence through purely
natural causes.

In his book Origins, Robert Shapiro describes a set of
calculations performed by Yale University physicist Harold
Morowitz. Morowitz calculated the probability of generating a
single bacterium by chance as 1 chance in 10 to the 100
billionth power: that's the number 10 followed by 100 billion
zeros.

Shapiro concludes that "the improbability involved in
generating even one bacterium is so large that it reduces all
considerations of time and space to nothingness." In other
words, belief in the random generation of life requires a
Herculean leap of faith.

It's no wonder that British astronomer Sir Fred Hoyle dismissed
the idea of the random origin of life. It is "as ridiculous and
improbable as the proposition that a tornado blowing through a
junkyard may assemble a Boeing 747."

Well put. In fact, the onus is on the nonbeliever to provide a
credible explanation as to how life could have come into being
without God.

Some quite imaginative ideas have been proposed. Francis Crick,
the scientist who discovered the double helix structure of DNA,
realized the impossibility of such complexity arising on Earth
by chance. Crick's solution? He theorized that DNA had somehow
been transported to our planet from elsewhere in the universe.

That, of course, absurd as it is, just moves the problem back a
step. The real question is how something as complex as DNA
could have developed by chance anywhere in the universe
A worldview predicated on the existence of a Creator-far from
being irrational sentiment-is actually the only intellectually
defensible position. Historian Paul Johnson writes that there
has been "an orgy of scientific God-questing . . . books by
eminent scientists" disillusioned with the failures of current
theories.

So don't be intimidated by worn-out charges that faith in God
is blind and irrational. It's quite the contrary. Why don't you
share this entire special series with your neighbors?

Atheists can't be too careful. Like my Watergate pal, when they
subject their atheism to rigorous scrutiny-they soon realize
that their flight from God is no more rational than a tornado-
designed 747.

(c) 1998 Prison Fellowship Ministries

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