Newsworthiness of Dr. Collins
The reason why Dr. Collins is so newsworthy is based on the fact that as a scientist, he has admittedly stated that he once thought that the origins of the universe and all its processes could be explained with mathematical equations (Collins, 1). However, as he learned more about the different arguments both for and against the existence of God, he came upon the conclusion that despite the plethora of scientific evidence that explains otherwise, God still exists (Collins, 1). This is definitely a very interesting point of view taking into account this prominent member of the scientific community as well as a noteworthy researcher in the field of genome research, his views should have veered towards the nonexistence of God rather than his existence.
What you have to understand is that science is often called “the killer of religion” because it is correlated as a means of explaining away various mystic and miraculous instances as having a scientific basis in the natural world. Thus, scientists are often thought of as atheists or agnostics due to their predilection towards logical thinking, which asserts that the belief in God is illogical due to the lack of evidence that explains otherwise. It is due to this that Dr. Collins becomes that much newsworthy given his stance on the existence of God despite his focus on utilizing the scientific method in explaining the natural world and its various processes.
Statements
From the article “The Scientist as Believer from National Geographic”, the first statement that truly caught my eyes was the following: “First of all, if our ultimate goal is to grow, learn, and discover things about ourselves and things about God, then unfortunately a life of ease is probably not the way to get there” (Horgan, 1). I wholeheartedly believe in this phrase since, for me, someone that has not truly suffered can never become better than they are. I believe that we should all seek to become better versions of ourselves and that the only way to do so is to go through hardship and suffering.
Growth and learning do not occur when a person merely stays in one spot and does nothing, rather, it only occurs when people strive to achieve something by putting in the necessary hard work to do so. The presence of hardship and suffering is not evidence that God does not exist, rather it is evidence that the world, as we know it, is full of challenges and that the only way to truly become better versions of ourselves and to know God is to overcome such challenges.
The second statement that I found interesting was when Dr. Collins said “An alternative is the notion of God being outside of nature and time and having a perspective of our blink-of-an-eye existence that goes both far back and far forward” (Horgan, 1). I actually believe in the concept of the clockmaker God which espouses that God brought forth creation and left it to its own devices. I believe that free will is not the exclusive domain of humans alone, rather it is something more than that.
Conclusion
When going over the experience of Dr. Collins, it became apparent to me that it mirrored my own. I have always debated over the existence of God within my own mind. The same arguments presented in the article involving faith, suffering and free will have entered and exited my thoughts on numerous occasions and I have always wondered whether the existence of God is real due to the proliferation of suffering and negative experiences for other people on the plant.
Based on what I learned through the article and from the explanation of Dr. Collins, I have come to the conclusion that suffering and hardship are not the forms of evidence against the existence of God, rather they help to prove that he does exist. While such an assertion may not make sense, you need to take into consideration the fact that humans in general are habitual species in that we tend to prefer having a certain habitual way of living. It is only when something drastic occurs in our lives that we tend to change our habits along with these occurrences and become better than we were in the past. The suffering and hardship that exist in the world today are not a result of the nonexistence of God; rather they are there to help humanity become better than it was before.
A person that has led an easy and comfortable life does not have the same strength of will and determination that someone, who has been through hardship, endured. Some of the most successful people in the world today originally go through some of the hardest experiences, yet they rise to the challenge and become the titans of modern day industry that they are today. It is based on the fact that my own faith experience through the work of Dr. Collins is reaffirmed since for me it is clear that if there is a God, he would help us fulfill our maximum potential through hardship instead of merely letting us languish in paradise, yet never truly evolving and becoming better versions of ourselves.
Works Cited
Collins, Francis. Interview by Anderson Cooper. “Dr Francis Collins interview on CNN.” From Anderson Cooper 360. 2007. CNN. Web.
Horgan, John. “Francis Collins: The Scientist as Believer.” National Geographic. National Geographic, n.d. Web.