A Sign From the Past or a Light For Today?

   I have been caught up in a conversation of sorts with my grandson who is finishing his sophomore year in college. One of my blog posts some days back concerned the supposed banishing of God from the  educational system, and he was kind enough to read it and to write back a three page paper in a rebuttal of sorts.

   Without going into a lot of the nuances of my earlier post and his thoughts in answering, I pick out one thing that he reported to make his point. Of course this is from the college perspective and not the elementary or high school realm, and, in this case, the example is from his school and may not apply to others. But, again it may.

   There is a building on his campus, built in 1894 and renovated in 1998, that houses the departments of Physics, Mathematics, and Computer Science. There is this inscription above the front door.

   "Nature's Laws are God's Thoughts"

   I looked all over and could not find the source of the quotation, but it is a good one, I think.

   Questions arise: Who said this? Why was it used on this building? Was it applicable back in the last of the 17th century? Does anyone notice it today? Does it indicate that God does have a place in science? Do any of the students and faculty who use that doorway read that, and would they agree with the inscription?

   Of course, I cannot answer any of these, but they are interesting food for thought.

   I'll see if I can get a student there to find out for me. I might have to change my opinion of liberal college education.

   And then this, from the Dedicatory Program of this same building in 1894:

   "From I Thessalonians: “Prove all things, hold fast to that which is good.” A fitting Scripture for a Science Building, and I would define "good" from God's perspective, not man's.