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Tuesday, July 23, 2019

Soopa! Soopa!

My favorite living chemist, James Tour:

September 3, 1993, at 6:00 AM in the hotel room on the edge of campus, I was on my knees reading the Scriptures and in prayer concerning the lecture that I was to deliver. I was a newly tenured Professor of Organic Chemistry at a major east coast university and I had been invited to give a lecture at Purdue University’s Department of Chemistry on the subject of molecular electronics.

As was my daily practice, I was reading the Bible precisely where I left off the day before, and that morning, I was in Matthew chapter 21. I always start reading in Genesis chapter 1 and then continue through Revelation chapter 22, and when I am done, I start again. I don’t read rapidly. In fact, I read the Bible slowly and deliberately. It can take 2-3 years for me to complete the Bible at the daily pace that I read. But that’s just fine with me, and I suspect it’s also okay with God. God speaks to me almost every day from the pages of that book. And that morning I read,

And Jesus answered and said to them, “Truly I say to you, if you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what was done to the fig tree, but even if you say to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and cast into the sea,’ it will happen.” (Matthew 21:21)

I responded to God saying, “Lord, you are raising my faith through this passage. So I pray that the chemistry seminar that I give today will be the best seminar that has ever been given in that department. The very best.” Then it occurred to me, How would I know if it is the best seminar that has ever been given in that department? So I said, “Lord, that department is probably 100 years old, so how will I know if it really is the best?” In light of the scripture that I had just read, I sensed that I should ask for some sign to know the level of quality of the seminar – a mountain of sorts, being cast into the sea. Then I said, “Lord, if it is the best seminar, I pray that Professor Negishi says that it was a super seminar.” s

Professor Negishi was the advisor for my Ph.D. research work that I completed several years earlier. He had never said that any of my work was super. On the contrary, when I was a graduate student in his research group, whenever I had done something that I thought was really good, he would face his palm downward and move his open hand horizontally in from of his belt buckle and say, “Pretty good, for your level.” I never seemed to get above his belt buckle. Therefore I was emphatic, “Lord, make it the best seminar, and confirm it by Professor Negishi saying that it was a super seminar.”

Before I ever give a seminar or a lecture, whether it be in my academic line of work such as a university chemistry lecture, or a Sunday school class exposition, I always pray and ask God to permit the Holy Spirit to overflow through my life. I cry, “Lord, blow them away through me. Hit them with the power of the Holy Spirit!” Yes, I find this equally important in the academic lectures that I administer. And it is always a delight to see God blow the socks off a bunch of unbelieving scientists and their students who think that they have the keys to the knowledge of life. As far as I’m concerned, there’s never a dull moment in service to Jesus in my secular line of work. And He certainly did not disappoint me on that day.

When I completed my seminar that afternoon, I knew that God had anointed and He had blessed. As soon as I concluded and thanked the audience for their attendance, Professor Negishi, who was sitting in the front row of the lecture hall, rose to his feet, raised his arm, pointed his index finger in the air and cried in his Japanese accent, “Soopa! Soopa!” Indeed, God had confirmed it! And I bowed my heart for a moment and quietly thanked Jesus before answering the audience’s questions.

As those in attendance were filing out, I walked over to 82-year-old Professor H. C. Brown, the recipient of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1979. Professor Negishi had studied under the tutelage of Professor Brown, and due to the common academic lineage, Brown and I were also well acquainted. He was on the third row’s aisle seat, his common location. I extended my hand to shake his and I said, “Thank you for attending the seminar today.” While still holding my hand he said, “That was the best seminar I have ever seen in my life.” I replied, “That’s kind of you to say.” In a typical Nobel Laureate fashion, Professor Brown scolded, “I’m not saying it to be kind. I really mean it!” I again bowed my heart and praised God who fulfills His word in the lives of His children.

Indeed, the Lord confirmed His word that day as He has done for me many times through my simple practice of daily reading and meditating upon the words written in the Bible. Could that work for others? Yes! A thousand times, yes! How do I know? Because it is so written in the Bible. It’s God’s promise.

Every word of God proves true! (Proverbs 30:5a, ESV)

Tour's entire series of meditations Faith of a Scientist: The Impact of the Bible Upon a Christian Professor are well worth reading.

11 comments:

  1. > Every word of God proves true!

    Sorry to sound churlish, but supposing the things he'd asked for had not happened? Would the implication of that be that God's word wasn't true?

    God answers prayer in different ways, and his answers have meanings. But they don't necessarily have the meanings that the people praying construe.

    The "this verse that I happen to be reading today really means God is promising to do precisely *that* in my situation today" is a school of interpretation that I personally can't find warrant for in the Bible, ironically. I want to also know how many times the people who assert this sort of thing were sure that some text was telling them something specific about their day that *didn't* happen. Do they only have "successes", or do they only report the successes? Am I allowed to ask this?

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    1. I think that’s a good and fair criticism. I think it might have been better if Tour had simply said he was thankful he had what seemed to have been a legitimate answer to prayer and left it at that.

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  2. You know you've breached the nerd event horizon when you have to specify that it's your favourite _living_ chemist

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    1. Lol, Vaughn! I don’t know what to say. You got me. :)

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  3. I had never heard of this "James Tour" until a Muslim recently put up a video by him. Glad you also had a post about him here; I didn't know where he was coming from, and did know he was an Evangelical believer.

    Interesting that Muslims are also using James Tour material in their Da'wa (Invitation to Islam) vs. atheism/ skepticism / Darwinism, etc.

    https://bloggingtheology2.com/2019/07/20/why-i-am-not-an-atheist/comment-page-1/#comment-14528

    The beginning chemistry stuff was over my head, so I did not listen to the whole thing. I would need a refresher on the terminology / concepts and exactly what is he saying.

    But David Anderson's point is also right. That text is abused almost every minute of the day all over the world, by the Charismatics and Pentecostals and the whole "word of faith" / prosperity - guaranteed healing (health and wealth "gospel") movement.

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    1. James Tour gave a great (super) lecture on the mystery of the origin of life here. It's aimed at a popular audience so it's easy to follow, I think.

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  4. I did NOT know he was an Evangelical believer.

    I make so many typos. sigh . . .

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    1. "I make so many typos. sigh . . ."

      It's cool. I won't tell anyone if you won't. :)

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  5. I don’t read rapidly. In fact, I read the Bible slowly and deliberately. It can take 2-3 years for me to complete the Bible at the daily pace that I read. But that’s just fine with me, and I suspect it’s also okay with God.

    I can relate to that. Trying to finish the whole Bible in those 1 year plans is too fast for me. I prefer the 2-3 year plans.

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    1. I hear this one is good. :)

      https://ransomfellowship.org/article/bible-reading-program-for-slackers-shirkers/

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  6. This year, I got bogged down in Numbers chapters 26-36 and had to go to the NT, Psalms, and Proverbs.
    After the narrative on Balaam, etc. in chapters 22-25, it got really dry and I had a hard time slogging through it.
    Some parts of Leviticus were that way for me also, but I slogged through it; but some parts are great lessons and excellent reminders.

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