FRANCIS S. COLLINS
“The God of the Bible is also the God of the genome. God can be found in the cathedral or in the laboratory. By investigating God’s majestic and awesome creation, science can actually be a means of worship.”
FRANCIS S. COLLINS
Physician-geneticist Francis S. Collins is one of the top practical scientists of our time. Collins leads an international team of scientists to decode human DNA. He has also revolutionized modern methods to screen genes for diseases.
Collins currently serves as the director of the National Institutes of Health, the largest supporter of biomedical research in the world. He has won numerous awards for his scientific contributions and serves on several prestigious medical and scientific boards.
CENTERED ON CHRIST
Once an atheist, Collins began questioning his beliefs in medical school after interacting with critically and terminally-ill patients and families in life-altering situations. Collins witnessed faithful Christians clinging to their beliefs in the midst of suffering. He realized that he had rejected faith without collecting any data about it, contrary to his own scientific training. Collins began researching the evidence for Jesus, which soon revealed to him that believing in God is rational. At age 27, he chose to believe in Jesus as God.
“[A] search to learn more about God’s character led me to the person of Jesus Christ,” Collins said. “Here was a person with remarkably strong historical evidence of his life, who made astounding statements about loving your neighbor, and whose claims about being God’s son seemed to demand a decision about whether he was deluded or the real thing. After resisting for nearly two years, I found it impossible to go on living in such a state of uncertainty, and I became a follower of Jesus.”
Throughout his career, Collins has championed the interrelationship of science and faith. He has written several books on the subject, including “The Language of God: A Scientist Presents Evidence for Belief.”
“I have found there is a wonderful harmony in the complementary truths of science and faith…,” Collins said. “The God of the Bible is also the God of the genome. God can be found in the cathedral or in the laboratory. By investigating God’s majestic and awesome creation, science can actually be a means of worship.”
As he studied the human genome, Collins has come to see “DNA, the information molecule of all living things, as God’s language, and the elegance and complexity of our own bodies and the rest of nature as a reflection of God’s plan.”
SHARE ON
