As we continue to take a close look at the Creation account in Genesis, knowing that we can’t cover all the details in this format, I think that I’ll select a verse or two of interest each week for the remainder of this blog series. The verse that strikes me today is 1:16 … And God made the two great lights – the greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night – and the stars.
Wow! Almost parenthetically, God “made … the stars.” All 200 billion trillion of them! Let me say that another way: all 200 sextillion of them! In case you’re wondering, that’s 200,000,000,000,000,000,000,000. From our perspective – and I’m so glad that the Bible communicates with us from our perspective – the sun and the moon will figure most prominently in our daily rhythms, but we don’t want to miss the wonder of the much bigger picture here! It’s an overused word, friends, but our God is simply AWESOME. The Creators of the heavens and the earth spoke into existence all 200,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 of those incredible stars.
We’re up to Creation Day 4 now, but we already see clearly a remarkable pattern of design and order. Not to mention beauty. As you know from science, “randomness” doesn’t evolve into order, but rather it devolves into chaos. But chaos is not what we see in early Genesis, thankfully.
In fact, here’s what I see when I look through either a microscope or a telescope. I see design, order, and beauty. The harder I look, the more I see: design, order, and beauty. I’m no expert on these matters, but I’m simply sharing with you what I observe: design, order, and beauty.
I’m going to go out on a limb here and submit to you what I believe. I believe that “nature” itself points to a higher and deeper reality. I see that in at least six different ways …
LAW. The mere existence of natural laws reminds us that universe itself obeys certain rules. This is no inconsequential observation. You won’t have to worry about gravity doing its thing today, and neither will I. These laws are quite precise, and some are in fact mathematical. I submit to you that these natural laws are in place, and that we observe them as logical, because they have a God who is logical as their origin. In fact, I can’t think of any other possible explanation.
LOVELINESS. I think that it’s safe for me to claim that scientists of nearly every worldview agree that the universe is exquisitely fine-tuned, and that it’s exquisitely fine-tuned for human life – and for life in general. Scientists don’t all agree on the why, admittedly, but they see the “fine tuning” of what are generally referred to as the physical constants. When I think of making a case for the evidence of God, I think of this as my Exhibit A. It’s not “proof” of God in the test tube sense, but it’s certainly some very compelling evidence in my humble opinion. This world is simply gorgeous in its intricate design! (I’ll refer you to the newest images from the Webb Telescope.)
LIFE. I know that we haven’t yet reached Creation Day 6 in this series, but I have to mention that the origins of life and consciousness sway me even further to believe the claims of the Bible – and specifically the claims of Jesus Christ. Like C.S. Lewis, I believe that the human conscience uniquely provides genuine insight into reality. Did the Nazis treat the Jews in a cruel manner? Of course they did. This is more than a historical observation, isn’t it? That inner knowledge of right and wrong, though we may try to hide from it all too often, becomes somewhat of a universal moral argument for the existence of a holy God. Call me crazy, but I think that we sometimes feel guilty because we are guilty.
LOVE. The staunchest atheists you know have relationships that matter deeply to them. They love others (at least somebody, somewhere), and they desire deeply to be loved by others. From where does the real existence of love come? Again, I submit, this can’t be explained by a strictly materialistic view of the universe. Love makes no sense without a gracious Creator God who is Himself Love.
LOGIC. I’ve already hinted at this, but I’d like to take it one step further. Could it be that what we refer to as “the laws of logic” are really just descriptions of the ways in which God thinks? Let’s take the rules of inference, for example. I can’t imagine these as human conventions! (You couldn’t even make an argument for that without employing the laws themselves. LOL.). On a lighter note, this time I’ll quote C.S. Lewis verbatim: “I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen: not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else.”
LIGHT. I have to tell you how I see it, because I can do no other: I believe that there has never been a human being who has not been addressed by God deep in their inner being. There is at least some knowledge of our Creator wondrously present in every human soul (Romans 1:19). Somehow, perhaps strangely, love arouses knowing. Please let that sink in. Love arouses knowing. I’ll bet you haven’t forgotten when your first child was born. Or the first time you saw the ocean. Or your first kiss (yes, that kind of kiss). Such defining moments in our lives often open our hearts to consider higher and greater realities. Such moments seem to us, and rightfully so, to be more than the sum of all possibilities. Philosophical arguments have their place, but sometimes we just know.
Again, I’m no expert. But I can’t tell you how excited I am to be able to share these things with you. I welcome your input, correction, and ongoing dialogue. Iron sharpens iron.
Yours by grace,
Pastor Charles
“Paul, who turned the world upside down, could not be turned upside down by the world.” (William Secker, the Consistent Christian)