In many ways I owe my faith to my father. He was a highly intelligent man who had served in the Royal Australian Air Force during World War Two and after he returned studied and eventually became a doctor. He was the youngest son of a Methodist minister. One day he caught me using the Lord's name in vain and what he said to me that day has stayed with me ever since. Apart from strongly encouraging me to go to church (no he didn't make me go cause he rarely went himself and mum said that he wasn't a hypocrite) he only spoke to me once about his and my faith.
My father said "you don't want to do that son, taking the Lord's name in vain. There is only one name given under heaven by which man can be saved and that name is the Lord Jesus Christ. Be very careful. Look after that name and defend it because one day you are going to need it and you will want Him to respond."
As I said. That was the only time my father directly spoke to me about God. I saw his life of dedication and service to the community. I listened as he would cry out to God some nights praying that a patient would pull through. He was a surgeon, one of the best, but he would be shattered when he lost a patient. It it through his example that I know that science and faith are not mutually exclusive.
I was reminded of all this when I was in friendly conversation with a young doctor at a social event and we got talking about faith and meaning in life, as you do. This video is a result of that conversation. I was astounded and appalled when he related this story to me and I hope that we can stamp out the madness that allows others to brand us as loonies and bring the balance that is so needed if we want to reach intelligent people with the Gospel. It is not mutually exclusive and NO, we don't need to change it, we just need to live it properly so that people can make sense of it.
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