Four views; one dilemma

I was hot from the hike to my dorm and nervous as I entered into my assigned room, and saw my new roommate reverently placing a framed picture on his desk. He turned around when he heard me drop my duffle bags on the bed opposite his.

“Hi, I’m Adam.” He stuck his hand out.

“I’m Chuck.” I shook his hand. I glanced at the picture he had placed on the well used desk.

“Oh, it’s a picture my Dad took when he was on an airplane going to Vietnam. It reminds me of him. He died last year and I found this in a box of his things. My mom told me he took it.”

“Oh, sorry…” I could see it wasn’t a typical portrait. “Um, what is it? I see someone, but…”

Adam picked it up and handed it to me. “It’s the Lord.”

I examined it. I didn’t know what to say. Yes, I could see the airplane wing in the foreground, and Jesus floating in the billowy clouds above it. “Yeah, …nice. That reminds you of your dad?”

“Yeah, like I said, according to my mom he took the picture. She said he was a nervous wreck flying to Nam. When he looked out the window and saw the Lord, he knew he wouldn’t be alone. He felt a deep peace come over him.”

“That’s great.” I didn’t know what else to say. It wasn’t that I didn’t believe in God, it’s just that I figured it was a Photoshopped picture. Somebody had something wrong about the picture.

“Hey dudes! I’m Izzy.” A rather loud voice said behind us. We’re in the next room. This is Darrell.” He pointed to the guy behind him as they entered the room.

Darrell and Izzy glanced at the picture. They both frowned.

Adam frowned back at them. “My mom said my dad took it on his way to Nam.”

Darrell took it from Adam. He said what I was too polite to say. “How do you know it isn’t Photoshopped?”

Adam looked defiant. “I believe my mom. Why would my dad lie?”

Darrell, Kirk, and I exchanged glances as we shrugged.

Darrell, replied, “Look I’m not putting your mom or dad down, but this is just too easy to fake.”

Adam sighed. “How would I know if it’s fake. I didn’t take it. It was taken before I was born. That would have been before Photoshop.”

Darrell continued. “Well, I think it interesting that Jesus was a mid-eastern Jew. All the portraits of him give him European hair and facial features. Doesn’t that bother anyone?” He looked around at all of us.

I added, “Yeah, you’re right on that count. The Bible never described his physical features, so scholars figure he was the average height of the time which was about five and a half feet. He had olive skin and short, wiry, mid-eastern hair.”

That didn’t seem to set well with Adam. “Look, if you guys are unbelievers, that’s your problem. I believe the Bible is the word of God, and my dad felt his protection while in Nam.”

“Whoa, didn’t mean to get you upset,” Darrell said, “but I guess I have to be honest, too. I’ll put my bet on Darwin. Hope that doesn’t offend you.”

Adam still looked like he had some steam to let out. “You can believe what you want.”

Derrell looked at Izzy. “We might as well all spill our guts. What do you believe, Izzy?”

Izzy looked at Adam. “I don’t question your dad’s feeling of protection. I’m kind of suspicious of the photo, though. If Jesus were a vision in the clouds, would a camera be able to capture that?”

I spoke up. “Good point, but what do you believe about creation?”

He screwed up his face. “I believe… there is an intelligent designer behind the universe… but not in the six-day creation story. Evolution and random selection have no explanation for the origin of DNA and the origin of cell life, so something intelligent must have been involved.”

“Ha,” said Darrell who appeared to be the one on the defensive, now. “Just because they haven’t discovered the answers yet, doesn’t mean scientists won’t figure it out in time.”

Izzy went in for the kill. “Scientists have been giving that excuse for the last century. All they have come up with is more theories that don’t pan out. DNA is like computer code. That’s pretty much agreed on. It can’t randomly be created like the evolutionists say. And life has to be present in the cell already for it to evolve.”

Darrell frowned, “How did you become such an expert. I thought you said you were a business major.”

Izzy smiled. “I am. My dad and I watch Youtube together. My dad is a biologist, so the subject interests us.”

I turned to Izzy. “What does your dad think about religion?”

He smiled again. “He said he went through phases. He was raised a Methodist, then in college he lost his faith, then more recently, with all of the new scientific evidence, he says he believes in God, again, for the reasons I mentioned, but doesn’t necessarily subscribe to any particular religion. I guess that’s where I stand, too.”

Everyone looked at me. Darrell said, “Ok, your turn.”

I looked away for a second to compose my thought. “I guess, the best way to describe the direction I’m leaning is to mention Donald Hoffman’s Consciousness Hypothesis. Life is like an AI simulation. There is a universal, intelligent reality underlying our world, but our world here isn’t what it appears to be.”

They all looked at me like I believed in aliens, or something.

After a pregnant pause, Darrell spoke, “Dude, that’s a new one on me. You take the prize for far out theories. How did you get to that conclusion?”

I nervously thought about what to say. “The only thing we absolutely know for sure is that we are conscious. There is a whole field of investigation about that. Quantum physicists have also determined that the observer of an experiment unwittingly effects the outcome indicating a link to consciousness. The guys who discovered that just got the Noble Prize. String theory also has determined that there is communication faster than the speed of light between linked particles. There’s a lot more that I can’t explain, but it appears that scientists are now proving that the prophets of Bible times were onto something when they described a Divine Intelligence.”

Izzy smiled. “Yeah, see!”

“You lost me on that one, but whatever.” Adam added.

Darell looked at us. “Ok, we are all probably thinking everyone else is nuts, in order to get off on the right foot and enjoy our semester together, I suggest we all agree to disagree and we all go have some dinner!” With that he turned around and headed through the doorway.

The rest of us followed.

“No talking religion,” Adam added.

“No man, we need to talk it out.” Izzy complained. “I want to hear how you guys reason this out, even though I know you’re wrong!” He chuckled.

“Ha, I’m going to sick my good friend, Stephen Hawking, on you and your Intelligent Design theory,” said Darrell as he slapped Izzy on the shoulder.

Izzy bopped him back. “Hawkins can’t explain the Cambrian Period explosion of new life forms let alone the impossibly short time frames between evolving species.”

Adam turned to me. “My dad got pinned down on a field on a night patrol in Nam where the enemy shelled his unit for six hours. When the dawn came and the shelling stopped, the mortar holes were all around him. He served four tours of duties in combat and never took a hit. You couldn’t tell him there is no God.”

Darrell starred at him for a second. “How do you know he wasn’t just lucky.”

Adam shook his head. “He never had PTSD, either. You try living in combat for four years and not have nightmares.”

We exited our dorm suite and into the hallway. “Doesn’t convince me,” said Darrell.

Izzy laughed as we dodged some other guys milling around their dorm suites. “Dude, nothing’s going to convince you!” He continued. “How about if I walk on water? Would that convince you there’s a God?”

Darrell slapped him on his shoulder. “No way! Now, maybe if I’m the one walking on water…but then there’d have to be an explanation in physics for either one of us doing that, so sorry try again.”

Izzy pushed the panic bar on the side exit door of Fellowship Hall. We formed a single file as we followed him through it into the cool, evening air. If this was any indication of the semester to come, I figure we wouldn’t solve any of the world’s problems, but we could enjoy the debates without letting them drive a wedge between our newly formed friendship. I released my earlier fears about meeting my dorm mates.