Expert: Marilyn - 7/3/2008

Question
Here are a couple questions quite appropriate.

(1) What passage(s) of the Bible describes Christian arbiration in the following paraphrase from old memory:

"First go gently to your brother that you have ought with and correct them.  Then if that doesn't work, then more firmly exhort them from the word.  And if that doesn't work, then bring another with you and councel with the brother."

I've tried several searches on HTTP://Biblos.com/ but the words are too dispersed, and the one verse proximity search fragments my attempts.  Perhaps you know these verses more readily that I can recall.

(2) What passage(s) of the Bible talk about roughly, "[Jesus|God|trinity] is the [complete|whole|X] [form|work|image|template|Y].  From the lecture I remember, though correlated, I still don't think it refers to Matthew 21:42 "Jesus saith unto them, Did ye never read in the scriptures, The stone which the builders rejected, the same is become the head of the corner: this is the Lord's doing, and it is marvellous in our eyes?", or Luke 20:17 "And he beheld them, and said, What is this then that is written, The stone which the builders rejected, the same is become the head of the corner?", or Psalms 118:22 "The stone which the builders refused is become the head stone of the corner".  But my impression of the passage(s) might be wrong recalling.
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I read a little on Francis Collins, and he is an inspirational admirable personage, and familiarly relatable for me.  Thank you for the reference on my Blog.

(1) (c) http://www.genome.gov/10000779

Francis S. Collins, M.D., Ph.D., is the director of the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI) at the National Institutes of Health (NIH). He led the successful effort to complete Human Genome Project (HGP), a complex multidisciplinary scientific enterprise directed at mapping and sequencing all of the human DNA, and determining aspects of its function. A working draft of the human genome sequence was announced in June of 2000, an initial analysis was published in February of 2001, and a high-quality, reference sequence was completed in April 2003.

From the outset, the HGP ran ahead of schedule and under budget, and all the data is now available to the scientific community without restrictions on access or use. Building on the foundation laid by the HGP, Dr. Collins is now leading NHGRI's effort to ensure that this new trove of sequence data is translated into tools and strategies to advance biological knowledge and improve human health.

Dr. Collins received a B.S. from the University of Virginia, a Ph.D. in Physical Chemistry from Yale University, and an M.D. from the University of North Carolina. Following a fellowship in Human Genetics at Yale, he joined the faculty at the University of Michigan, where he remained until moving to NIH in 1993. His research has led to the identification of genetic variants associated with type 2 diabetes and the genes responsible for cystic fibrosis, neurofibromatosis, Huntington's disease and Hutchinson-Gilford progeria syndrome. He is a member of the Institute of Medicine and the National Academy of Sciences

(2) (c) CNN: Collins: Why this scientist believes in God
9:37 a.m. EDT, April 6, 2007
By Dr. Francis Collins, Special to CNN

F.C.:  I had always assumed that faith was based on purely emotional and irrational arguments, and was astounded to discover, initially in the writings of the Oxford scholar C.S. Lewis and subsequently from many other sources, that one could build a very strong case for the plausibility of the existence of God on purely rational grounds. My earlier atheist's assertion that "I know there is no God" emerged as the least defensible. As the British writer G.K. Chesterton famously remarked, "Atheism is the most daring of all dogmas, for it is the assertion of a universal negative."

But reason alone cannot prove the existence of God. Faith is reason plus revelation, and the revelation part requires one to think with the spirit as well as with the mind. You have to hear the music, not just read the notes on the page. Ultimately, a leap of faith is required.

For me, that leap came in my 27th year, after a search to learn more about God's character led me to the person of Jesus Christ. Here was a person with remarkably strong historical evidence of his life, who made astounding statements about loving your neighbor, and whose claims about being God's son seemed to demand a decision about whether he was deluded or the real thing. After resisting for nearly two years, I found it impossible to go on living in such a state of uncertainty, and I became a follower of Jesus.

So, some have asked, doesn't your brain explode? Can you both pursue an understanding of how life works using the tools of genetics and molecular biology, and worship a creator God? Aren't evolution and faith in God incompatible? Can a scientist believe in miracles like the resurrection?

Actually, I find no conflict here, and neither apparently do the 40 percent of working scientists who claim to be believers. Yes, evolution by descent from a common ancestor is clearly true. If there was any lingering doubt about the evidence from the fossil record, the study of DNA provides the strongest possible proof of our relatedness to all other living things.

But why couldn't this be God's plan for creation? True, this is incompatible with an ultra-literal interpretation of Genesis, but long before Darwin, there were many thoughtful interpreters like St. Augustine, who found it impossible to be exactly sure what the meaning of that amazing creation story was supposed to be. So attaching oneself to such literal interpretations in the face of compelling scientific evidence pointing to the ancient age of Earth and the relatedness of living things by evolution seems neither wise nor necessary for the believer.

I have found there is a wonderful harmony in the complementary truths of science and faith. The God of the Bible is also the God of the genome. God can be found in the cathedral or in the laboratory. By investigating God's majestic and awesome creation, science can actually be a means of worship

Cheers & regards Marilyn,
Shawn

Answer
Hello Shawn;

Great to hear from you again.

Here's the passage you've been searching for:  In Matthew 18:15-20, Jesus says, "If your brother sins against you, go and who him his fault, just between the two of you.  If he listens to you, you have won your brother over.  But if he will not listen, take one or two others along, so that 'every matter may be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses' (Deuteronomy 19:15).  If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if he refuses to listen even to the church, treat him as you would a pagan or a tax collector.  I tell you the truth, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.  Again, I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything you ask for, it will be done for you by My Father in heaven.  For where two or three come together in My Name, there am I with them."

I'm not sure I understand what you're asking in number 2.  If I've interpreted it incorrectly, please restate and/or clarify and/or give more context.  I think the one you're looking for may be Hebrews 1:3, "The Son is the radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of His Being, sustaining all things by His powerful Word."

Thanks for the blurb on Collins.

Sincerely,

Marilyn