ENTRUST JUDGMENT TO A JUST, MERCIFUL GOD

My brother, Gordon, wasn’t a regular church-goer. Science guided his search for truth, and nature was his cathedral of worship.

Before he died this month of Lou Gehrig’s Disease, he had become one of the top crop and weed scientists in the world. Twenty years ago he was named the nation’s No. 1 young scientist by the Weed Science Society of America, and his work continued religiously until a few days before his heart gave out.

He published more than 1,800 journal and research reports and gave over 100 scientific presentations at conferences all over the world. He was on a United Nations committee to help Third World nations wipe out hunger.

Kie Janzen, an ag chemical executive wrote of Gordon: "No other researcher in weed science produced the high quality and the wide variety of research as Gordon. Nor has any researcher been the topic of so many discussions in conference rooms of chemical manufacturers. Gordon’s research often contradicted the research of many chemical manufacturers. In every case, Gordon and his research were right."

Gordon loved science, but he also loved nature. Over the years, he averaged one day a week either hunting or fishing. His pets since growing up near Basin City included dogs, parakeets, hamsters, snakes, frogs, salamanders, chipmunks, squirrels, rabbits, pheasants, owls, a hawk, fish, a coyote, and even badgers.

He owned a 500-acre "farm," of which all but 40 acres were dedicated to wildlife. He stocked his woods with hundreds of pheasants, partridge and quail, and he stocked his streams with fish.

He and his family watched such miracles of nature as a doe giving birth, and our Christmas presents typically included homemade maple syrup and audiotapes of nature recorded in their living sanctuary.

Gordon had quit going to church 15 years ago when his pastor began preaching liberal politics. The final straw was when he preached misinformation about pesticides and refused to listen as Gordon tried to correct some of his misunderstandings.

Ironically, although Gordon was a staunch political conservative, among his many mourners was a communist Cuban who chairs the U.N. committee on which Gordon served. Despite political differences, they shared a passion for helping feed the hungry.

A 30-year member of the church where Gordon’s funeral was held noted that she had never seen the building so full of people, as many flew in from thousands of miles away. And numerous people noted how full of love the church was, too.

Men who make their living speaking before large, influential crowds of policy-makers could not speak at the funeral for fear they would break down in tears. Many had spent days in the wilderness with Gordon on fishing and hunting trips. Many had enjoyed weekends with him at his private refuge. Many had spent years admiring and benefiting from his commitment to scientific truth. And many had been "adopted" and mentored by him as his graduate students.

And all had learned to love his wry sense of humor, his cock-eyed grin, and his numerous pranks, such as inviting them over for dinner and feeding them – in their ignorance – such delicacies as turtle casserole and weed salad.

A short time before his death, a good-meaning Christian wrote Gordon and urged him to accept religion again before his soul was damned to hell.

I have many Scriptures I could share to correct this person’s misconceptions about judgment, but space prevents my extended thesis on the subject of afterlife.

I can say, however, that I do not and can not believe that God damns good men who live according to the light they are given.

I have heard some religious leaders preach that good men in China, India or Africa who have never even heard of Christianity will nonetheless be damned and tortured eternally for not being baptized.

If we learned of a dictator in some foreign nation who was imprisoning and torturing American tourists for ignorantly failing to bow in his presence, we might pressure our leaders to do whatever was necessary to correct the injustice.

Yet that is the kind of injustice and evil some would attribute to God. I declare solemnly that God is the epitome of justice and mercy, and I believe these two great characteristics of God were unitedly fulfilled in the sacrifice of his son, Jesus Christ.

Gordon couldn’t quote Scripture as I do, and he might not have spent 1% the time I do in church-related activities.

But Gordon did naturally what I mostly theorize about. He opened his home and his heart to hundreds of people. He loved them and shared his time, his knowledge, his food, and his accommodations with them. And as his scientific knowledge is shared with people around the world, who knows how many lives he has saved and will yet save from hunger and starvation.

I’m not unconcerned about Gordon’s status with God, but I know I’m not worthy to judge him. And I have much more concern about those of us who sit in church every Sabbath but fail to care for God’s children the other six days of the week.

I’m more concerned for those of us who say we are born again but live entrapped by old vices that Gordon didn’t have time for. I’m more concerned for those of us who take God’s creations for granted, for those of us who pass through this life without making a significant difference, and for those of us who are unwilling to stand up for truth of whatever kind – spiritual or scientific.

As for Gordon, I willingly entrust him to God’s mercy and justice. I know he’s in good hands.