On his podcast, Justin Brierley has conversations with people who tell interesting stories about their spiritual journeys. It’s the story, the process that interests him more than anyone’s fame.
A British chap, Mark Baldwin, was one such guest. Baldwin’s philosophy had centered on three aspects of reality. He believed in a First Cause, “but not an entity you could pray to.” Second, he embraced Greek philosophy, the Logos-Sophia (word-wisdom) “through which reality is held together and made intelligible.” His third belief was in meditation, “a sense of communing with something.”
One day Baldwin began reading the gospel of John looking for ways to disprove its authenticity. He was aware that John, speaking to a culture influenced by Greek philosophy, used “Logos” or Word to describe Jesus as the center of reality. His reading introduced the possibility of a relationship with the Logos, challenging his prior beliefs. This speaks of Jesus: “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us” (John 1:14). This began to change Baldwin’s thinking.
Baldwin had come to understand by philosophy that an intelligence, a reality, precedes the material universe. This is not unlike the conclusion reached by theoretical physicist John Wheeler. Wheeler published in the fields of general relativity, nuclear fission, and quantum information. In 1990, 58 years after earning a PhD, he caused quite a stir in the scientific community. He published a report showing that something had to exist before the material universe. “Every physical quantity, every it, derives its ultimate significance from bits,” he wrote. “It from bit symbolizes the idea that every item of the physical world has at bottom an immaterial source and explanation.” In other words, there must be a Logos. Yet again, science arrives at a place where the Bible has been all along. “In the beginning was the Word (Logos)… and the Word was God. All things came into being through Him” (John 1:1,3).
The thought of personally knowing the Word captured Baldwin’s imagination. One day while walking and meditating in an English garden, he had a sudden awakening. “I just looked up and said, ‘Thank you Lord.’ It was like something burst in me. I was filled with overwhelming joy! I found a bench and cried my eyes out. I had been living in active rebellion against God. I just gave myself to Jesus. The essential difference between my atheistic philosophical kind of logos thing and Christianity was a two-way relationship.”
Science and philosophy converge on the truth that a rational Mind pre-existed the material universe. The good news is you can have a relationship with your Creator through faith in Jesus Christ. To Baldwin’s point, anything else is active rebellion. You can find the Logos. He is very near. Read about Him in John’s gospel.