Getting God a Pass
Science, Theology, & the Consideration of Intelligent Design
by John Mark Reynolds
My son Ian loves Disneyland. Several weeks ago, he loved it so much that he decided to stay. Our four-year-old wandered away from us in a store. We spent the next twenty minutes looking for him. When he was discovered, appropriately enough, near Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride, we were relieved. We found him sitting in the middle of a group of doting Disneyland cast members. He was wearing new mouse ears with his name on them and was carrying a brand-new Mickey Mouse plush toy. His brother and sisters were not amused.
We were so happy to see him that we could not punish him. Carrying him out to the car, his mother began to quiz him on what had taken place in the twenty minutes he had been out from under her care. Thriving on the attention, Mr. Ian responded by telling an expansive tale of his adventures with the big men from security who had tried to catch him.
Finally, her gratitude overflowing, Hope said, “Well, Ian we are so thankful to God for bringing you back to us. Mommy and Daddy prayed and Jesus heard us.”
Ian looked at his mother with the slightly bemused look usually reserved for the mentally disabled. “Mom,” he said with care, “Stop it. You are ruining the story.”
Hope was shocked. “What do you mean, Ian?”
Mr. Ian replied, “God had nothing to do with the story. The story is about me.”
“But Ian,” she vainly tried to reply, “God is everywhere.”
Our four-year-old rolled his eyes and explained, “Mom, to get into Disneyland you must have a pass. God does not have a pass to Disneyland.”
Those Christians involved in the boycott of Disney might be tempted to agree with my son’s statement. In the end, however, all Christians have to agree that while God may not have a pass to Disneyland, he is certainly there. It is understandable when a small child makes such a mistake. After all, superficially God had nothing to do with his “rescue.” Because of his simple view of causation, God was not necessary to explain the events in the park that day.
John Mark Reynolds is the founder and director of the Torrey Honors Institute and Associate Professor of Philosophy at Biola University. The author of Toward a Unified Platonic Human Psychology (University Press of America), he writes an active weblog on religion and science (www.johnmarkreynolds.com). He, his wife Hope, and their four home-schooled children are members of St. Michael Antiochian Orthodox Church.
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