God and Nature Summer 2023
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By Phil Silva
“What about dinosaurs? Didn’t they come first?”
A second 5th grader chimed in before I could answer: “Dinosaurs aren’t mentioned in the Bible! My theory is the aliens brought them before God got around to making us.”
A third child, who is already baptized but clearly does not have a fully formed theology yet, added, “Someone’s just going to have to rewrite scripture because so much of it is wrong.”
Thus goes a Sunday evening as a volunteer leader for preteens at church.
When I first started volunteering for my church, I stated my desire to serve with the high school students because I wanted intellectual, tough questions. But our church had plenty of volunteers for that age, and the middle schoolers as well. The suggestion came back: How about the pre-teens? My response was along the lines of I’ll try it, but I really don’t know if I’m suited for that.
“What about dinosaurs? Didn’t they come first?”
A second 5th grader chimed in before I could answer: “Dinosaurs aren’t mentioned in the Bible! My theory is the aliens brought them before God got around to making us.”
A third child, who is already baptized but clearly does not have a fully formed theology yet, added, “Someone’s just going to have to rewrite scripture because so much of it is wrong.”
Thus goes a Sunday evening as a volunteer leader for preteens at church.
When I first started volunteering for my church, I stated my desire to serve with the high school students because I wanted intellectual, tough questions. But our church had plenty of volunteers for that age, and the middle schoolers as well. The suggestion came back: How about the pre-teens? My response was along the lines of I’ll try it, but I really don’t know if I’m suited for that.
But all sorts of topics that hit the intersection of science and faith run wild in the imaginations of this age group. |
It’s now six years later, and in some ways, I have discovered my science background is perfectly suited. As my background focuses on air quality, atmospheric emissions, and chemistry, anytime a discussion moves into giggles about fart jokes, I can indulge it briefly or shut it down by telling them I will ready a lecture on which chemicals cause which odors. This plays well to a room full of potential Bart Simpsons.
In our church the program for these upper elementary grades is called “Bridge,” and it is meant to prepare them for middle school and the beginning of youth group. It has gone through several curriculum changes to find something that builds on the AWANA program of the lower grades. For anyone concerned about the rise of cancel culture or young people being afraid to speak their minds, I encourage them to talk to a class of preteens. They are old enough to not take the words of adults at face value, but young enough that the shyness or the I might look stupid saying this thoughts have not yet kicked in—so you get many unfiltered thoughts spoken out loud.
But this experience has caused me to wonder: Are we doing what we need to in our churches to disciple the next generation on science-and-faith issues? Are we starting young enough, or do we just assume that tougher questions should be saved for later, when our students have more maturity? Do we have any concept of what is influencing the thinking of kids who have not hit the youth group?
The rise of a generation of “Nones” and recognition of the impact that science questions have on faith and doubt has led to an increase of new sources of curricula and programs. Organizations like Biologos, Science for the Church, and others are on the frontline in this. This is a good thing. Having once seen a college student have a crisis over science and faith, I believe it is an improvement to where things used to be.
However, most of the new content is either curricula for homeschooling families who have all day to work with their children, or aimed at youth and college ages within the church. I feel like we are missing something—specifically in church, where we may have only one or two hours a week to reach the younger ages and spend our time on the basics. We are living in a time when preteens are asking questions and wanting to have discussions on topics that I would never have thought to ask at their age.
We have an expectation that this age group should learn the spiritual basics first—books of the Bible, key memory verses, and the basic teachings about Christ and salvation. We believe children early in their spiritual journey need to be on milk. The meat will come later. In Paul’s day as well as in ours, even some adults need to be on spiritual milk after years of being in church. But what if the world around them is already feeding them meat—and sometimes rotten meat? How do we prepare their spiritual journeys for this when those of us who volunteer at church may only see them for one hour a week? And what happens if we don’t have time to engage the questions they have, and they wind up being one of those that drop out of church before they even get to the youth group where the tougher issues might be discussed? Will they become one of the future Nones?
The specific discussion that started these thoughts occurred when we were simply reviewing the books of the Old Testament. So, not unexpectedly, Genesis brought up some questions. Fortunately, I attend a church where the ministry team allowed us to delay the intended curriculum to address the conversation while it was still fresh in the kids’ memories the next week. Two other scientists from our congregation joined me and we spent an hour talking about dinosaurs, origins, and different viewpoints Christians have, and encouraging them to ask questions. The creation questions are relatively easy to deal with because so much has already been written, and of course we can’t divert the curriculum on every topic that comes up.
But all sorts of topics that hit the intersection of science and faith run wild in the imaginations of this age group. Among them: What if robots come alive? How would God want us to treat them? How about aliens? If we hear some day that aliens are real, does that mean that the scriptures aren’t true because it doesn’t mention them? Or are we supposed to take the gospel to them too? And, naturally, there were comments during the pandemic about whether wearing masks means we don’t trust God enough.
Of most concern to me is that some of the questions hitting the intersection of science and faith don’t appear to originate from either science or the church. One evening, while in the midst of a discussion on the nations of the Bible, one boy wanted to discuss “growing evidence” that Atlantis was real and destroyed by a catastrophe, and whether that has a relationship to the flood in Genesis. I don’t know any mainstream science, faith, or news source that has touched that topic. But I do know that YouTube is loaded with videos on this subject thanks to Graham Hancock’s appearances on Joe Rogan’s podcast and all the YouTubers who seem to exist only to respond to whatever Rogan is talking about. This kid was one of those we would often see watching YouTube videos on a tablet, so I’m fairly sure that was the source of this topic.
The implications to me are big. We have a concept that faith/science issues will come to a head in youth group and college. I experienced this myself in my faith journey years ago. But we now have a generation of kids growing up whose science-and-faith views aren’t just coming from science and faith—they come from a mix of school, church, YouTube, movies, anime, Minecraft and Roblox friends, and who knows what else. Some who struggle to locate John 3:16 in their Bibles have already heard of the Younger Dryas, and all this information mixes in those inquisitive brains God gave them.
How should the church respond? I don’t think we have a full grasp of the issue; I feel like I don’t, and I probably have noticed it more than most from years of interactions with this age group. But I would encourage the organizations focused on issues of science and faith to consider whether there needs to be a sustained effort aimed at the younger ages and their questions. If the church waits for maturity (high school/college) to deal with these issues, I’m certain some of them won’t be attending the youth group by the time we get around to it.
Phil Silva is a member of ASA and is an analytical and atmospheric chemist. With a PhD from UC Riverside, Silva previously taught at Utah State University and currently works at a federal laboratory. His research focus is on air emissions, chemistry, and mitigation. He volunteers with the preteens at Bowling Green Christian Church in Kentucky, where he is kept on his toes while leading games and teaching. He writes this in his personal capacity.
In our church the program for these upper elementary grades is called “Bridge,” and it is meant to prepare them for middle school and the beginning of youth group. It has gone through several curriculum changes to find something that builds on the AWANA program of the lower grades. For anyone concerned about the rise of cancel culture or young people being afraid to speak their minds, I encourage them to talk to a class of preteens. They are old enough to not take the words of adults at face value, but young enough that the shyness or the I might look stupid saying this thoughts have not yet kicked in—so you get many unfiltered thoughts spoken out loud.
But this experience has caused me to wonder: Are we doing what we need to in our churches to disciple the next generation on science-and-faith issues? Are we starting young enough, or do we just assume that tougher questions should be saved for later, when our students have more maturity? Do we have any concept of what is influencing the thinking of kids who have not hit the youth group?
The rise of a generation of “Nones” and recognition of the impact that science questions have on faith and doubt has led to an increase of new sources of curricula and programs. Organizations like Biologos, Science for the Church, and others are on the frontline in this. This is a good thing. Having once seen a college student have a crisis over science and faith, I believe it is an improvement to where things used to be.
However, most of the new content is either curricula for homeschooling families who have all day to work with their children, or aimed at youth and college ages within the church. I feel like we are missing something—specifically in church, where we may have only one or two hours a week to reach the younger ages and spend our time on the basics. We are living in a time when preteens are asking questions and wanting to have discussions on topics that I would never have thought to ask at their age.
We have an expectation that this age group should learn the spiritual basics first—books of the Bible, key memory verses, and the basic teachings about Christ and salvation. We believe children early in their spiritual journey need to be on milk. The meat will come later. In Paul’s day as well as in ours, even some adults need to be on spiritual milk after years of being in church. But what if the world around them is already feeding them meat—and sometimes rotten meat? How do we prepare their spiritual journeys for this when those of us who volunteer at church may only see them for one hour a week? And what happens if we don’t have time to engage the questions they have, and they wind up being one of those that drop out of church before they even get to the youth group where the tougher issues might be discussed? Will they become one of the future Nones?
The specific discussion that started these thoughts occurred when we were simply reviewing the books of the Old Testament. So, not unexpectedly, Genesis brought up some questions. Fortunately, I attend a church where the ministry team allowed us to delay the intended curriculum to address the conversation while it was still fresh in the kids’ memories the next week. Two other scientists from our congregation joined me and we spent an hour talking about dinosaurs, origins, and different viewpoints Christians have, and encouraging them to ask questions. The creation questions are relatively easy to deal with because so much has already been written, and of course we can’t divert the curriculum on every topic that comes up.
But all sorts of topics that hit the intersection of science and faith run wild in the imaginations of this age group. Among them: What if robots come alive? How would God want us to treat them? How about aliens? If we hear some day that aliens are real, does that mean that the scriptures aren’t true because it doesn’t mention them? Or are we supposed to take the gospel to them too? And, naturally, there were comments during the pandemic about whether wearing masks means we don’t trust God enough.
Of most concern to me is that some of the questions hitting the intersection of science and faith don’t appear to originate from either science or the church. One evening, while in the midst of a discussion on the nations of the Bible, one boy wanted to discuss “growing evidence” that Atlantis was real and destroyed by a catastrophe, and whether that has a relationship to the flood in Genesis. I don’t know any mainstream science, faith, or news source that has touched that topic. But I do know that YouTube is loaded with videos on this subject thanks to Graham Hancock’s appearances on Joe Rogan’s podcast and all the YouTubers who seem to exist only to respond to whatever Rogan is talking about. This kid was one of those we would often see watching YouTube videos on a tablet, so I’m fairly sure that was the source of this topic.
The implications to me are big. We have a concept that faith/science issues will come to a head in youth group and college. I experienced this myself in my faith journey years ago. But we now have a generation of kids growing up whose science-and-faith views aren’t just coming from science and faith—they come from a mix of school, church, YouTube, movies, anime, Minecraft and Roblox friends, and who knows what else. Some who struggle to locate John 3:16 in their Bibles have already heard of the Younger Dryas, and all this information mixes in those inquisitive brains God gave them.
How should the church respond? I don’t think we have a full grasp of the issue; I feel like I don’t, and I probably have noticed it more than most from years of interactions with this age group. But I would encourage the organizations focused on issues of science and faith to consider whether there needs to be a sustained effort aimed at the younger ages and their questions. If the church waits for maturity (high school/college) to deal with these issues, I’m certain some of them won’t be attending the youth group by the time we get around to it.
Phil Silva is a member of ASA and is an analytical and atmospheric chemist. With a PhD from UC Riverside, Silva previously taught at Utah State University and currently works at a federal laboratory. His research focus is on air emissions, chemistry, and mitigation. He volunteers with the preteens at Bowling Green Christian Church in Kentucky, where he is kept on his toes while leading games and teaching. He writes this in his personal capacity.