I drove up to the window at Captain D’s and waited for my food. (A slab of grilled salmon on a bed of iceberg, mmmm) Through the speaker, I could hear the a woman ordering from the car behind me, so I asked the attendant how much she owed. I handed her some cash and paid for her lunch.
I love doing that. It’s a simple, practical way of showing God’s love. As I drove away, I felt good inside. Somehow, in my tendencies toward selfishness and hoarding, I feel like I’m being a little bit like Jesus. You know, Jesus said it’s better to give than to receive. I believe that truth because I’ve learned to trust what Jesus says. He’s proven his word to me again and again. He’ll prove himself even when we don’t believe him. It’s how he teaches us faith. What he said would be true whether I believed him or not, but in his school of faith, he lets us experience his truth over and over so we learn to trust him.
Well, now science has proven the principle to be true, and we’re all sure to be relieved. Once again, science has proven Jesus to be right. I write that tongue in cheek (is that the same as saying something tongue in cheek??). Our world view has taught us well to trust science as the real discoverer of truth. We could believe Jesus, but we really don’t. But now that some university did a study and polled people after they had given money to others, and compared their feelings with people who spent the money on themselves, they’ve concluded that the old adage is true. God’s command to his people is good, but now science has enabled us to have proof. Now, it really is true that it’s better to give than to receive (at least it is if ‘feeling good’ is also the true meaning of ‘better’, but that topic can wait for another day). But can we believe that without science proving it? Our acceptance of the scientific evidence at face value reveals our world view, which is biased toward science as more reliable than God’s revelation to us. Similar to what Paul Spears has said, theological truths cannot be arbitrated by the methodology of modern science. Science is an amazing tool by which we come to understand the empirical world, but it is ineffective at explaining Biblical concepts like giving and how that is better than receiving.
Catch a Wave 
