God, Science and Making Sense of a Complex World: An Illustrative Example

The short AP article was titled: "Woman in Vegetative State Awakes, Slips." It reads:

A woman who went into a vegetative state in November of 2000 awoke this week for three days, spoke with her family and a local television station before slipping back on Wednesday. "I'm fine," Christa Lilly told her mother on Sunday — her first words in eight months. She has awakened four other times for briefer periods.

"I think it's wonderful. It makes me so happy," Lilly told television station KKTV-TV. She also got to see youngest daughter, Chelcey, now 12 years old, and three grandchildren.

Her neurologist, Dr. Randall Bjork, said he couldn't explain how or why she awoke.

"I'm just not able to explain this on the basis of what we know about persistent vegetative states," he said.

A vegatative state is much like a coma except her eyes remain open.

"The good Lord let me know she's alright, he brings her back to visit every so often and I'm thankful for that," said Minnie Smith, her mother and caregiver after Christa slipped back into the vegetative state.

A couple of points are worth talking about in this article. They highlight limitations and opportunities.

One: the scientist/doctor lacked the conceptual tools to explain the phenomena. He could not account for why she was waking up and then slipping back into a vegetative state. The phenomena is tapping the edge of scientific knowledge, its limit.

Just on the other side of the inexplicable another kind of answer waits, which brings me to the second point. As the mother said: the 'good Lord let me know she's alright.' While the scientist cannot explain the situation, the mother can. Her conceptual toolbox offers opportunities where the scientist is left empty handed. She makes sense of this baffling experience by pointing to God. God offers a comforting knowledge that isn't a hypothesis to be tested, but a faith to be cherished and felt.

Science and faith are not at war--as many theists and atheists shout and wring their hands. They complement one another. But they cannot be reduced to one another--creationism is faith posing as science. They are similar in some respects, and yet ultimately different. They serve different purposes and offer different ways of making sense of the complex world in which we live.