Medicine, creation,
and mission
While he originally thought that
he might practise medicine on an
overseas mission field, Dr Leslie’s
mission field turned out to be closer
to home, as he served people in rural
and disadvantaged areas in Oklahoma
and now in New Mexico. “I loved the
research I pursued, understanding how
the creation worked,” John says, but
medicine was fulfilling on a whole
different level. “It put me right in the
middle of people’s lives, helping them to
address not only their physical problems,
but their emotional, social, and spiritual
problems.”
As a Christian, John sees this as
a great challenge and a wonderful
opportunity. As a doctor, he also sees
the importance of understanding the
consequences of sin and the Fall. This
makes it possible to understand how
sickness, pain, and death came into
God’s creation: “God made a good
creation in the beginning, but now
due to sin, things are falling apart.”
An understanding of creation and
redemption provides hope. As a doctor,
John says, “My job is to alleviate
suffering,” following Christ’s example
while on earth. This job points forward
to our ultimate hope—full restoration
through the consummation of Christ’s
work, as He brings about new heavens
and a new earth.
Looking forward
John’s journey has been full of
unexpected, exciting turns. He and his
wife want to continue to let God work
through them, to “bring God’s grace
and healing to other people’s lives,”
whether through overseas medical
missions, pro-life activities, or teaching
on apologetics. On science, religion,
philosophy, or archaeology, his goal
“is to help people—especially young
people—to think critically and stand
against deceptive teachings of this age.”
John wants everyone to “come to know
the mercy and grace available from God
to them, through Jesus Christ—and for
those who already know Him to grow in
their knowledge and in their relationship
with Him.” >>
References and notes
1. Though the percentage is steadily falling.
Matt Canham, Mormon portion of Utah
population steadily shrinking, Salt
Lake Tribune, 24 July, 2005, sltrib.com/
ci_2886596.
2. For more about Mormonism, and what is
wrong with it, see
creation.com/cults-and-creation and creation.com/mormon.
3. Sandberg, L.B., Soskel, N. T., and Leslie,
J,G., Elastin structure, biosynthesis and
relation to disease states. N. Engl. J. Med.,
304( 10):566–579, 1981.
4. The New York Times calls it the world’s
most prestigious medical journal. Abigail
Zugor, A., A journal stands out in prestige
and longevity, New York Times, 19 March
2012, nytimes.com, acc. 3 May 2013.
5. Ph.D., in Experimental Pathology,
University of Utah, 1980. The
dissertation, along with other writings
by Dr Leslie, is available online at
defendingthechristianfaith.org.
6. Leslie, J.G., and Pallaghy, C.K., The
religious nature of evolution theory and its
attack on christianity, Creation 7( 4): 42–48,
June 1985,
creation.com/evolution-religious.
7. The 2012 dissertation was ‘Evaluation
of the Noah Flood Account as a True
Narrative Representation’ also available
at defendingthechristianfaith.org. For this
John was awarded a Ph.D. in Archaeology
and Biblical History from Trinity
Southwest University, Albuquerque in
2012.
Daniel Davidson
Daniel Davidson has undergraduate and graduate
degrees in humanities-related fields. He has been
active for a number of years in researching issues
related to design, creation, and evolution. For
more, see creation.com/daniel-davidson.
John Leslie and his wife Barbara have been involved in pro-life issues for the 32 years of their marriage. Barbara has
worked both as a volunteer at and as the director of a
pregnancy resource centre. The centre she directs offers
free pregnancy tests with peer counselling on pregnancy
options, as well as parenting classes. It also runs a
regional school program that teaches a whole-person
teen health approach in mid and high school classrooms.
