All illnesses have some heredity contribution. It's been said that genetics loads the gun and environment pulls the trigger.
Francis CollinsRead
I believe God did intend, in giving us intelligence, to give us the opportunity to investigate and appreciate the wonders of His creation. He is not threatened by our scientific adventures.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote emphasizes that intelligence and scientific exploration are intended by God to appreciate creation, suggesting no conflict between faith and science.
Francis Collins highlights the idea that intelligence was given to humanity to explore and understand the marvels of the world around us, which includes scientific pursuits. He asserts that God welcomes our curiosity and exploration rather than feeling threatened by it, suggesting that faith and science can coexist harmoniously and enrich our understanding of creation.
Themes
IntelligenceScienceFaithCreationExplorationWonder
In practice
Example use cases
During a seminar on the relationship between faith and science, this quote can be used to bridge discussions.
More from Francis Collins
All quotes →I think history would say that medical research has, throughout many changes of parties, remained as one of the shining lights of bipartisan agreement, that people are concerned about health for themselves, for their families, for their constituents.
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I finished up my graduate degree in quantum mechanics, but underwent a bit of a personal crisis, recognizing that I didn't want to do that for the rest of my life. It was too abstract, too far removed from human concerns.
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The brain is the most complicated organ in the universe. We have learned a lot about other human organs. We know how the heart pumps and how the kidney does what it does. To a certain degree, we have read the letters of the human genome. But the brain has 100 billion neurons. Each one of those has about 10,000 connections.
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I took biology in high school and didn't like it at all. It was focused on memorization. ... I didn't appreciate that biology also had principles and logic ... [rather than dealing with a] messy thing called life. It just wasn't organized, and I wanted to stick with the nice pristine sciences of chemistry and physics, where everything made sense. I wish I had learned sooner that biology could be fun as well.
Francis CollinsRead
Nobody gets argued all the way into becoming a believer on the sheer basis of logic and reason. That requires a leap of faith.
Francis CollinsRead
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