Introduction -

It is no great mystery that we view life and its vagaries through the lenses of our individual perceptions. Those perception-forged lenses can be tinted to a greater or lesser degree by our experiences, our likes, and our dislikes. They can even be altered because of the experiences of those closest to us such as our siblings, parents, or grandparents. As believers in and of God, it is reasonable to conclude that the lenses through which we view spiritual things are formed in a similar manner. Over the last 10 years of my life, my spiritual lens has been profoundly modified by an appreciation for the methodology of our Creator.

There was a time when I perceived God as some sort of master magician. One who could pull rabbits out of hats, pull silver dollars from behind your ears, and speak worlds into existence. I figured, assumed, and concluded that God could do what He wanted because the rules He created to govern us didn’t necessarily apply to Him. Those rules certainly didn’t, or couldn’t, constrain him, similar to the Do as I say, not as I do card our parents sometimes played.

I was not aware of how my beliefs—although vaguely lobbed in the direction of the true God—were decidedly off target and innately superstitious. However, I am convinced now that God desires love and allegiance based upon an intelligent understanding of who He is and how He operates. I also know and understand more thoroughly that God is in fact bound by rules. The rules, or rather principles, that bind Him are the consistencies of His character which, in turn, are reflected in and through His methods. In Malachi 3:6 He says “For I am the Lord, I change not ….” The fact that He does not change is because He does not need to change.

If you were a first-time guest in someone’s home, it is quite natural and even likely that you would take in the décor, the fabrics, the construction, and the design of your host's abode and draw certain conclusions about their personality and values. Understanding God, in principle, should be no different. The color, composition, and arrangement of His handiwork, including His construction of us invariably reveal His personality and values to us. We have become so oblivious and unappreciative of our unmanipulated natural surroundings that we are numb to their profound significance. A renewed, or even first-time focus on the dynamics of the natural world will reveal the how, what, and why of our Creator.

Thus far the greatest epiphany of my spiritual life has been the comprehension of the truths contained in the biblical verse, Romans 1:20. “For the invisible things of Him [God] from the creation of the world are clearly seen (comprehended) being understood by the things that are made, even His [God’s] eternal power and Godhead so that they are without excuse.”

This Bible verse describes succinctly the manner in which God works and reveals Himself to His intelligent creation and is also the working premise of this book. It has helped me to comprehend, more clearly than ever, that the principles which govern the physical growth of a plant, animal, or human also govern the unseen forces of our lives. It has also helped me to understand that truth is based upon principles. Principles themselves are immutable, so truth can be certain only if it rests upon an immutable principle.

For example, gravity is independent of Christianity, Islam, atheism, or any other spiritual paradigm. It is a truth accepted with equal conviction by those who believe in God and those who do not. No country has gone to war in order to convince or subjugate others into accepting the truth of gravity. No one goes door-to-door looking to debate their neighbors over the issue of gravity. Those things don’t happen because they are a complete waste of time. Those things don’t happen because gravity is immutable, its expression is not arbitrary, and its existence is not subject to personal interpretation.

However, men have gone to war over religion and personal philosophy because those things are not fixed, their existence is arbitrary and their expression is married to personal interpretation. The concepts inherent in those beliefs are too frequently not based upon immutable principles. They are subject to vanity, selfishness, and whimsical interpretation because men, unlike God, change from day to day and are as inconsistent as the wind.

With that said, theological doctrine should not and in fact does not have a separate reality from immutable principles. If there is a theological belief which is not rooted in an immutable principle, it is almost certainly not true. If your theology is true, it is almost certainly married to an immutable principle.

My purpose in writing The Science of Salvation is to share my insight and appreciation for how God’s plan for the restoration of humanity to His image is mirrored and revealed in the processes and principles of the natural world. It is also to clearly demonstrate how God’s awesome and tangible architecture is intrinsically woven into the spiritual renovation of human beings, which in a nutshell, is the Gospel—(good news).