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?One of the greatest movies of all time turns 30 this year: Stephen Spielberg’s Jurassic Park. I remember reading Michael Crichton’s book when I was in sixth grade – a lot went way over my head. But I wanted to be ready that summer when I got to experience it on the big screen.
Do you remember that scene when Dr. Hammon is taking his guests through the park? They’re all in jeeps, and Dr. Sattler finds a prehistoric plant that’s somehow alive. She’s exclaiming at how impossible it is when Dr. Grant stands up, his eyes bulging as they catch something in the distance. He grabs Dr. Sattler’s head and turns it and she sees –
A real, living brachiosaurus.
Hammond sees their expressions and says, “Dr. Grant, my dear Dr. Sattler, WELCOME! To…. Jurassic Park!” and then that iconic John Williams score swells as the camera pans to a whole valley full of dinosaurs.
I mean seriously… in the 30 years since, it remains one of my top five cinematic experiences ever.
Which is pretty strange because I grew up in a church that was anti-science. That same year, our church brought in a speaker from a young earth creationist group to explain to us how scientists like those who consulted with Crichton and Spielberg on Jurassic Park were part of a global conspiracy to turn us all into atheists by teaching us that the Bible is false because the Earth is actually 4 billion years old.
Even at that early age, I felt that strange tension the Church has wrestled with at least since the dawn of the Enlightenment and the Scientific Revolution.
It’s sad because I actually think Jurassic Park has a really important message that should have resonated with the Church. (Okay it actually has a lot – we could talk about the sense of awe in the face of creation that scene I just described evokes.)
It’s from a later scene when Hammond and Malcom are debating the ethics of bringing dinosaurs back to life. You know the scene (it’s become one of the more famous memes):
“Your scientists were so busy asking whether they could, they never stopped to consider whether they should.”
Malcolm points at a curious limitation of science: it’s amoral. Not evil… that’s immoral. But non-moral. Science isn’t good or evil. It’s a tool. What matters is who’s using the tool. And Malcolm’s concern – which of course turns out to be correct – is that the Jurassic Park scientists don’t have any humility before the awesome feat they’re attempting.
The truth is, a good scientist doesn’t have to reject faith. And a faithful person doesn’t have to reject science.
Being a dino-obsessed Christian kid taught me a value we’re going to explore today: Curiosity. How can I love T-Rex and God? The King of Lizards and the King of Kings?
That was far from the last question I’d ever ask about my faith. And friends, as we’re moving into our final core value today, we’ll see that God created us for curiosity. It’s a posture God invites us to take that clashes with the posture of certainty we so often associate with people of faith.
