A few years ago during a summer semester, while working as an adjunct at the University of Southern Indiana, I decided to take my lunch and go to an area near the student center. In my opinion, it was one of the most beautiful areas on the small college campus. It was a sunken plaza that had a fountain with a waterfall, a small pond, a couple of picnic tables and hundred of flowering plants. I have always found it odd that a place that prides itself on being an “institution dedicated to higher learning” fails to grasp the simple lesson offered by this well constructed and landscaped feature.
As I pursued both my Masters degree and my Ph.D., I was often told by fellow classmates and college faculty that academics and religion do not mix; that one cannot be considered a true historian and continue to blindly place their faith in a religion that had been “historically disproven.” It always amazed me that those that have that opinion are the embodiment of the verses: Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, And changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things (Romans 1:21-23).
The Business and Engineering Building under construction at the University of Southern Indiana’s campus around January 2009
On every college campus there are a variety of projects and landscaped areas that are a constant reminder of the truths of the Bible. On the same campus, a few years later, a new building project on campus soon would demonstrate the same lesson that my favorite sunken plaza had openly declared each year since its construction in the mid 1980s – every campus project had a plan that included an architect. Whether it was the landscaping or a new building project, nothing could happen until the designer came up with a plan that would guide the works of others to achieve the desired end goal.
It astounds me how on a campus with so much that bears witness that there must be a designer can openly reject the very concept of an Almighty God. They openly reject God that has not only designed and planned life, but did the work to bring it all into existence. Just as the materials needed for the building project did not spring up on their own, didn’t evolve from iron ore, sand, clay, and stone. The steel girders, brick, glass, mortar, and stone did not stack themselves in such a manner where a completed, sturdy, and secure. It took architects, iron workers, and various other engineers to actually make the plan into reality.
As a part of God’s plan for the natural world, He planned from the beginning that it would testify of its own to the glory and nature of God. The apostle Paul wrote For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse (Romans 1:20). Everything in nature testifies of the presence of God to the extent that there is absolutely no doubt that He does exist. Trees, flowers and plants, and the various animals that scurry about campus testifies to God’s greatness. Even on a college campus where those that teach seeks to distance themselves from God in a vain attempt to “seek truth free from religious constraint” will be left without excuse; if they will not hear the word of truth, they can see it demonstrated from the smallest cell to the greatest creature that walks the campus.
