Darwin and St Bernadette - A World of Coincidence

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Bernadette Soubirous

We live in a globe of coincidences, some tiny and some not so little. We are surrounded by happenings that leave us in mystified awe at the strangeness of our globe. From the easy every single day "How weird, I was just thinking about you and now here you are" to the slightly much less usual of meetings in between many people from distinct locations and backgrounds but with that link that is so really slightly uncanny.

I have been employed to them and also fascinated by them ever given that I realised how generally they happen and how considerably and for that, how small we are involved in their existence. In fact I just about spend time consciously looking for them. But, the 1 that prompts me to write crept up on me without any inkling.

Most coincidences like coins have two sides, necessary to make them take place, and the two parts of this awesome happening could not have been further apart and would never have come together for me except for one more a great deal smaller incident.

I attended a lecture just for the reason that my wife wished to go to it. I thought no a lot more of it than I was going to spend an evening in the business of her and other parishioners from our church listening to a visiting speaker Michael Schutzer Weissmann speak on what appeared to be the strangest of subjects.

Darwin and St Bernadette: Revelations of 1858.

Not becoming extremely nicely versed in either Darwin or the Saints but getting heard of both, I could definitely see no connection between them and the date meant nothing to me.

Very soon right after the start of his speak all was revealed. Darwin had published his book - The Origin of Species in 1859 but had given the paper to an audience the year prior to in order to forestall being 'pipped to the post' by an additional botanist with a similar theory and St Bernadette had noticed her vision of Our Lady in the grotto above Lourdes in the exact same year.

Nicely, there is a coincidence but I had to ask exactly where does that take us. I was no wiser as the evening progressed as Michael unpacked his wares. I failed to see the connection among these two events as he attempted to lay out the differences in the two worlds of the two completely several persons. Darwin, an eminent scientist who was about to stagger the whole planet with his theory on Natural Choice Bernadette, a poor and pretty young peasant girl who was also about to stagger the world but from a completely distinct aspect.

Still the connection was not made, at least not for me two earth shaking revelations in the very same year were a coincidence of sorts yes, but what far more was there?

That question remained unanswered as far as I was concerned for the reason that I had been taken ill during the talk feeling decidedly poorly inside and just ahead of the end I felt as if I was going to faint. I had hoped to buttonhole our speaker at the end of his speak in an attempt to unravel the queries that had been aroused in the course of the evening but was just not in the mood to do so. I just managed to extricate Anne, my wife from her huddle talking to one of the elderly Sisters from the convent and we headed property. For the subsequent 24 hours I was attacked by a most horrible bug and of course becoming a mere male meant that I was feeling particularly sorry for myself indeed.

The one fantastic thing about my misery was that I spent time praying and asking for support to alleviate my suffering and as with all prayer there is at all times a bonus side to any answers that we are given. By the time that I was back on my feet all had develop into clear.

The clouds in my mind rolled back and my memory returned to a train of thought that had been running via my head and which I had visited each and every now and then for numerous years due to the fact performing science, physics and biology at school. They had continually been passions of mine but unfortunately the similar could not be stated of the maths, geometry, algebra and trig that seemed to be necessary in those days to take them any where. Had I been able to master those elusive weirdoes I would have no doubt continued my studies for the rest of my life.

Regretfully it was not to be and so following a brief sojourn in retails sales I joined the police force and spent the subsequent 35 years of my life pounding many beats in London till I retired in 2000.

Now I was retired with time to think once again and most critical of all I had been Reborn to Christ as an adult in the early 80s. He was now my be all and my end all and had brought me back into my Father's fold. Bible studies and courses as effectively as the almost unrequited thirst for information that The Holy Spirit instils in us has moulded my thoughts in all things spiritual. I lived in the world that God had created for us and as a result was even extra absorbed by the wonders that He had also designed around us and for us.

I knew how the stars and the galaxies and worlds had come into existence and lived fairly happily alongside all the other residents both human and otherwise. In truth it would be accurate to say that the alot more I saw and learned the simpler it was to accept that God had been so rather a great deal responsible for every thing and something.

How uncomplicated it was to say to the doubters " Never mind trying to prove the existence of God. Attempt to prove that He does not " Who could possibly live surrounded by such magnificence and not know the presence of The Almighty?

Yes I fully realise hat we are surrounded by war and pestilence and the victims of poverty. That people today are suffering from the lack of the basics of humanity and I continually hear the question "How can an all loving God allow that?"

But I have to remind myself and the questioner that He is nor responsible for what we do to ourselves and to His excellent Earth. We abuse each other and the resources that we were given so lengthy ago in the Garden. He gave us Absolutely free Will and Choise and we have exercised them both as we feel fit. In our greed and lust, selfishness and thoughtlessness we have allowed ourselves to sink till we are much less than the animals, fish, birds and reptiles that surround us.

We have developed our own Laws of the Jungle - Dog eat Dog - survival of the fittest a mirror of the animal world. Except that we lack their dignity. We also lack their reason for living as they do - the food chain and their instinct to survive at all costs. We are the only species on God's earth to have no predators - we are at the top of the hill. That is why God gave us dominion over the animals and the flora and fauna. He told us that they had been there for our benefit and that we need to respect them and use them wisely. Have we? Of course not.

That is why we are referred to as to repent. Until we live in peace with what God has given us and with every other there can be no return to Paradise on Earth. Rather we shall have to await His judgment when Christ comes once more in His Glory. In the meantime we are pointed in the diverse directions of our existence. On the 1 hand science, physics and all the 'ologies' show us how the earth was constructed and Darwin shows us how it was stocked for our living. Our Bible and our Faith then tells us how our loving Father having observed that all was ready for us, placed His great image in the midst of His creation. Ancient wisdom coupled with modern day science - a total picture. All able to live with and alongside each other. Why need to the Christian and the other Higher Being faiths turn a nose up at Darwin and the sciences. Logic tells us that this should be the way it was done. How else? A Massive Bang. The laws of physics. The universes and galaxies. Stars, suns and moons. So marvelous and so simply believable. Into all this we were placed. Virtually like an alien. We are not from this earth but we are of it. We did not evolve or create. We were placed into the midst of all that had evolved and developed over billions of years.

We might have met and mixed with primitive forms of humanoids but we were usually meant to be unique to be above and over. Man in His image. Even the monumental advances in DNA science has however to prove otherwise. We are diverse from all the other species that also inhabit this globe and until we obtain that elusive missing link and establish contact with other beings on other worlds then I am happy to accept the status quo. We are God's unique beings living alone and deciding on how to live in a celestial universe running on remote control according to Natural Laws alongside the lower occupants running on instinct and Natural Selection. There is the connection in between Darwin and God. No wonder he calls on us to repent by means of the visions given to the innocents at the identical time that Darwin published his theory. We may possibly call it a coincidence, we have them in our world. God does not. He has His purpose and even nowadays is still working it out. How significantly better that we must work with Him than against Him. Through the Holy Spirit, in the Name of Christ and with the Blessings of God the Father.

February 2009.

Darwin -Theory of