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A Scientific Challenge to the Proposals on Life's Origin
By Erin conner, Writer and communications associate
"I am trying here to prevent anyone from saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: “I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept His claim to be God.” That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher." -C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity
On a warm Friday evening in a packed lecture hall in one of Princeton's prestigious science buildings, Dr. James Tour began his presentation with a picture of his family.
He explained how much he loved them, and he acknowledged the support of his wife in the audience, who had traveled with him to four universities—Harvard, Yale, Dartmouth, and Princeton—for speaking engagements that week hosted by Christian Union. In a world that uses people and values things, this man stood before his audience illustrating in a simple yet profound way that relationships are the meaning and reason for it all.
Dr. Tour is a world-renowned chemist, nanotechnologist, and professor at Rice University, known globally for his groundbreaking research in graphene, nanomedicine, and carbon nanomaterials. With over 700 research publications, 150 patents, and decades of pioneering contributions, he has been recognized as one of the foremost scientific minds of our time. During his presentation, he reviewed some of the projects that he and his team are working on in his research lab. All projects shared one trait in common: from traumatic brain injury research to more efficient ways of recycling expensive materials—all hold the potential to give life by better stewarding resources and by solving meaningful problems.
Slide by slide of his presentation, Tour, an expert chemist, poked holes in the origin of life researchers' claims about the scientific likelihood of a cell arising from random molecular processes. Exploring the nature of molecules, Tour shared, in part, that molecules never move toward life unless an organism is acting upon them. Simply stated, molecules have no propensity to evolve toward life.
As a professor, Tour used examples from the college classroom to illustrate concepts and explained that science is very good at examining the characteristics of life but not the meaning of it. He suggested we look in the Bible for that. So after explaining some principles upon which God designed the physical world to work, Dr. Tour began to explore the principles upon which God designed the metaphysical world.
Right in the middle of a chemistry lecture, Tour put up a slide that read, "If you declare with your mouth that 'Jesus is Lord' and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved" (Romans 10:9).
His audience of 150 people at Princeton that night, whether professors, science majors, PhD candidates, or non-science undergraduates, sat face-to-face with the truth of salvation—a significant part of the meaning of life. Tour explained the Bible can be "tested" by historians and still stand. He shared evidence of why.
The audience was given an opportunity to then ask questions. Dr. Tour answered them all, staying long past the 90 minutes assigned to this event.
Dr. Tour's talk revealed to his audience that we all have faith. We all believe in something. In the classroom that night, spiritually speaking, Tour tore down the idol of human achievement or accomplishment. As one of the most accomplished chemists in the world, he shared the powerful, countercultural idea that scientists are just mere men and women; they have flaws, insecurities, and issues like everyone else. They have temptations to take the easy way out, to do the wrong thing, or to be motivated for the wrong reasons, just like anyone else. They are not God. The people who do research, write articles, and peer review them are flawed human beings who do not know all things, nor do they always do everything with perfect motives and methods.
The part of the question-and-answer session in which Tour problematized a culture of exaltation of scientists and asked the scientists in the room to push back on research by challenging it in meaningful ways to lead to a deeper understanding of truth was arguably one of the most powerful parts of the lecture. What if scientists are wrong about something we all believe to be true? What if people are wrong about who Jesus is? Do we have faith in mere men or faith in God?
We all are placing our faith in something. This is the reality that Tour implicitly had his audience face, not just at Princeton, but at Harvard, Yale, and Dartmouth as well. Following Tour's presentation at Dartmouth College, a doctor who attended, shared, "I can't recall a presentation so enlightening."
Every spring, for over two decades, Christian Union has proclaimed the gospel in a comprehensive way: through scientists, street evangelism campaigns, and other methods of outreach because, in a culture of deception and despair, there is nothing more logical and loving than sharing the truth of God's metaphysical love through the physical revelation of Jesus Christ.
As we step into the spring quarter, we thank God for his continued work on our campus and for your partnership in prayer and support. With new opportunities ahead, we ask for your prayers as we seek to make Christ known at Stanford!
Something big is continuing to stir at Yale! This past month has been nothing short of remarkable. God is moving mightily at Yale, and we are seeing students boldly proclaim the gospel like never before.
Night after night, 20-25 students are walking across campus, sharing the good news of Jesus and praying with their peers. The hunger for truth is undeniable. Just before our evangelistic prayer and worship event at Battell Chapel on February 21-22, an email titled, “What is the Purpose of Your Life?” was sent out to every student on campus. That email ignited a firestorm of discussion, going viral on Yale’s internal social media platform, Fizz, with 2,100 comments in a single day! The curiosity and spiritual hunger this initiative sparked is overwhelming.
“And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.” -Matthew 24:14
Even as the spring semester comes to a rapid close, we have had a flurry of great events here, and the campus is buzzing with spiritual conversations! In mid-March we hosted CU Proclaim!, a week of evangelism training and evangelism on campus where students at Princeton and students visiting from CU Lux at Yale, CU Vox at Dartmouth, and CU Lumine at Columbia honed their skills and boldly proclaimed the gospel across Princeton’s campus!
“And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts.” -Acts 2:46
Home to the students at CU Libertas is the Judson Ministry Center. This is a warm space on campus where student leaders flock together for Bible courses, discipleship meetings, and to break bread with one another. Before spring break, the students arranged a fasting day, prayer, and a meal together at the ministry center. The students agreed to fast for the entire day to pray for the campus, our ministry, and one another. The fast was finished together that evening with prayer and a meal with one another. The word that comes to mind when I think of the growth thus far with CU Libertas is “unity.”
Dear CU Lumine Cornerstone Partners and friends of the ministry,
Grace and peace from New York City.
As our students return from spring break, please continue to pray for Columbia University and Barnard College. During the past couple of weeks, we’ve had protests taking place on and around campus. Our students are becoming weary and overwhelmed at times, as you can imagine. However, they believe God is stirring the hearts of their peers and see this as a great opportunity to share the gospel with those who are struggling during these difficult times.
Dear CU Vita Cornerstone Partners and friends of the ministry,
What an incredible month March was here at Christian Union Vita! The winter weather finally lost its hold on Cornell’s campus for some much-needed sunshine and relative warmth, and students and faculty alike experienced lifted spirits and joyful gratitude to feel the sun’s warming rays after months of bitter cold, gray skies, and lots of snow.
"The heavens declare the glory of God,
and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.
Day to day pours out speech,
and night to night reveals knowledge.
There is no speech, nor are there words,
whose voice is not heard.
Their voice goes out through all the earth,
and their words to the end of the world."
-Psalm 19:1-4 ESV
One of the greatest ways that people are exposed to the gospel is through the inimitable beauty of nature. You can’t miss the grandeur of God's creation, especially in a place like Dartmouth! And the great thing about what God has made is that it’s not just on the surface. No matter how deep you go, it just gets more incredible. Far from being in conflict, the deeper you look, the more science and religion work together!
Our Lord Jesus Christ has charged us to keep our lamps burning. Many are praying together for the light to increase across NYC and advance his kingdom. Scripture makes it clear that when Christians are strong in the Lord, when their lamps are burning brightly, they can expect increased blessings and flourishing in their own lives and in their communities and cities.
“The essence of sin is man substituting himself for God, while the essence of salvation is God substituting himself for man. Man asserts himself against God and puts himself where only God deserves to be; God sacrifices himself for man and puts himself where only man deserves to be.” – Fleming Rutledge, The Crucifixion
As we enter this Easter season, our eyes are fixed once again on the cross—the place where justice and mercy meet perfectly, not in abstraction but in a Person. At Harvard Law School, where many are striving to uphold the law and seek justice in a broken world, we are continually reminded that the truest justice was poured out on Christ and the deepest mercy offered through Him.
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