Bible: Do Science and the Bible Collide or Merge?

PART ONE

Man1 -- (enters with Man2 arguing, stroll slowly across stage) Listen, if the Bible says the universe was created in six days, then it was created in six days. That means that the earth could not be more than eight or ten thousand years old.

Man2 -- But that flies in the face of scientific measurement. How do you explain the blue galaxies.

Man1 -- What blue galaxies?

Man2 -- They're galaxies discovered on the other side of the universe. The light we see from them in the big telescopes was emitted over sixteen billion years ago. Explain that.

Man1 -- I don't know, but you're wrong.

Man2 -- You're wrong.

Girl -- (young, enters) Cool your jets guys. You're both right.

Man2 -- What do you know about it, you little pip squeak.

Man1 -- Yeah, get lost, you little twerp.

Girl -- According to the theory of relativity, time is relative. It all depends on where you put the clock.

Man1 -- What clock? (to Man2) What is she talking about?

Man2 -- What are you talking about?

Girl -- According to the formula e = mc squared, time is inversely proportional to the gravity applied to it. Therefore, while billions years may have ticked off in a relatively small gravity like planet Earth, back at the beginning of time, when all the stars in the universe were packed into one big ball, if you could put a clock there, only seven days would have ticked off by now.

Man1 & Man2 -- (look at each other, then back to Girl)

Girl -- It's a moot point anyway, since the speed of light has been slowing down as we move away from the center of the universe. We don't really know how long it took the light from the blue galaxies to get here. (exits)

Man1 & Man2 -- (point at Girl) I knew that. (exit)

PART TWO

Man1 -- (enters with Man2, they stroll across the stage) So, you see, it's possible that the Lord created all the species THROUGH evolution.

Man2 -- So, what you're saying is: I can believe in evolution AND be a Christian too? Sounds good.

Girl -- (enters) Only if you ignore the fossil record.

Man2 -- What do you know about it, you little pip squeak.

Man1 -- Yeah, get lost, you little twerp.

Girl -- The biggest problem with the theory of evolution is written in Charles Darwin's own book, "The Origin of the Species". He said that there is no proof of transitional forms in the fossil record.

Man1 -- The fossil record. (looks to Man2, shrugs)

Man2 -- Transitional forms. (looks to Man1, shrugs)

Girl -- You know what Pterodactyls are?

Man1 -- They're the flying lizards from the days of the dinosaurs.

Man2 -- Yeah, I saw them in the museum. (points off stage)

Girl -- If evolution really happened, for every fossil of Pterodactyl you see in the museum, you should see hundreds flightless Pterodactyl fossils with varying lengths of wings and hundreds of fossils of land lizards with elongated front legs.

Man1 & Man2 -- I knew that.

Girl -- So, did you see any fossils like that at the museum? (exits)

Man2 -- (to Man1, laughs) Of course I didn't see any flightless pterodactyls. There's now way they could defend themselves. They would be eaten by the other dina... (pause) Oh.

Man1 -- See? I knew you were wrong about evolution. (exits)

Man2 -- Me? It was your idea in the first place. (exits)

PART THREE

Man1 -- (enters, crosses)

Man2 -- (follows, carrying printed page) Professor!

Man1 -- (turns) Yes?

Man2 -- We're finally getting somewhere on my experiment.

Man1 -- You mean the simulation of evolution?

Man2 -- Yes. I have 1000 monkeys in the lab (points offstage) pounding at random on 1000 typewriters, hoping that by chance one of them will write a Shakespeare play by accident. If the experiment is successful, it would prove that all the species of the world were created by pure chance. And now, after two and a half years, we're finally getting some results. Here. Look. (hands Man1 page)

Man1 -- "To be, or not to be. That is the gezorgenplat." (slaps the page back against Man2's chest) I'm not impressed.

Girl -- (enters) You would be even less impressed if your experiment included corrections for the second law of thermodynamics and the law of chemical equilibrium.

Man2 -- What do you know about it, you little pip squeak.

Man1 -- Yeah, get lost, you little twerp.

Girl -- The second law of thermodynamics and the law of chemical equilibrium state that the universe always goes from order to disorder, from high energy to low energy, from complexity to simplicity -- not the other way around. In order to simulate these forces in your experiment, the monkeys should throw every page they type into the ocean.

Man2 -- No way. We'd never be able to accumulate more than one page at a time.

Man1 -- And even if you could find and retrieve the pages, the paper would disintegrate. You certainly wouldn't be able to read the words.

Girl -- Most organisms are at least 90% water. You do the math. (exits)

Man2 -- How much do you suppose I could salvage if I sold off 1000 typewriters? (exits)

Man1 -- I don't know, but where are you going to get rid of 1000 monkeys? (exits)

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