Language of God Part 2

Thoughts have been flying around in my head for about a week now, so I'll see if I can make some sense of them on "paper". First, the BIG BANG! Science is in support of the Big Bang theory - go figure! It's intriguing to me how often science and archeology are proving Bible stories to be historically accurate, pointing to a real God who is involved in the world. It also intrigues me that even agnostic scientists seem to reluctantly come to this conclusion. Astrophysicist Robert Jastrow is quoted as saying: "At this moment it seems as though science will never be able to raise the curtain on the mystery of creation. For the scientist who has lived by his faith in the power of reason, the story ends like a bad dream. He has scaled the mountains of ignorance; he is about to conquer the highest peak; as he pulls himself over the final rock, he is greeted by a band of theologians who have been sitting there for centuries." (from God and the Astronomers) Isn't that great!

There are bits in this book that remind me of Narnia. It made me wonder, was C. S. Lewis so incredibly smart that he knew and understood some of the things science has discovered? For example, scientists believe that our sun is not the first sun, but maybe the 2nd or 3rd sun. In one of the Narnia stories, the children are in a world with the witch, and she says that the sun is a dying sun, and that world is ending. The other part that reminded me of Narnia was when Collins says "Nearly all of the atoms in your body were once cooked in the nuclear furnace of an ancient supernova--you are truly made of stardust". That reminded me of how in Narnia the stars were people. I always loved the idea of the stars being persons, so it's nice to know I have a little of that in me. Also, the Bible says that God knows all the stars by name so I like to think of them as living persons (kind of silly, I know).

As you read Language of God, you learn how everything had to be in certain measurements--there had to be just the right amount of quarks and antiquarks , mass and energy, gravity - everything had to be precisely right in order to have this universe that we live on be habitable for human beings. If anything was just a fraction off, earth would not have been. It rather boggles the mind, especially when you're not totally understanding everything you're reading. An example would be quarks - neutrons and protons are made of 6 quarks, and although I don't think I fully grasp what they are, I find it very whimsical that scientists named the quarks "up", "down", "strange" "charmed" and "bottom"!

I have to re-read so much because I think I grasp it when I read it, but then I don't fully remember it. I do find so much of it to be very interesting, and I like how Collins continually comes back to how Science and God don't have to be against each other, but in fact can support each other.

The Language of God

I started a new book: The Language of God by Francis S. Collins, head of the Human Genome Project. Are you suitably impressed? Collins is not only an extremely smart man, but a believer, and the book's focus is on the compatability of science and faith. Some of the book will be a stretch for me (as in can my brain comprehend everything he is saying), but so far, I'm liking it. The first chapters deal with his life as an unbeliever, and his becoming a follower of Jesus. He was heavily influenced by C. S. Lewis. I love how on page 40 he says:

The church is made up of fallen people. The pure, clean water of spiritual truth is placed in rusty containers, and the subsequent failings of the church down through the centuries should not be projected onto the faith iself, as if the water had been the problem.

Isn't that so true. I am just a rusty pot, doing the best I can, and hoping I don't turn someone away from the pure water by what I do or say. It puts me in mind of a poem by Christina Rossetti - the last verse is:

My life is like a broken bowl,
A broken bowl that cannot hold
One drop of water for my soul
Or cordial in the searching cold;
Cast in the fire the perish'd thing;
Melt and remould it, till it be
A royal cup for Him, my King:
O Jesus, drink of me.

Although I don't particulary like being remolded and melted, I love the picture of being a royal cup for the King.
Collins goes on to say on page 42 that the earnest seeker must look beyond the behavior of flawed humans in order to find the truth. I like that too. People always think that Christians must be "perfect", and some Christians act as though they are, but we're just learning and growing right along with the rest of the world. As you can tell, the first chapters rely heavily on his conversion, and questions like: How can a rational person believe in miracles? Why would a loving God allow suffering? I'm on the chapters that deal with the origins of the Universe. Will I be able to absorb the "anthropic principle", "quarks" and "quantam mechanics"? I'm thankful I have Phil right next door to me to help unravel this scientific jargan! My brother likes to say he believes in the Big Bang theory - God spoke, and BANG, it was here. I don't have any trouble believing that God can create the world with one word, but it's interesting to learn how science is supporting that the universe was created by One being. Even Darwin alluded to it in the last chapter of his book - but, I have to go back to work now so I'll have to write about that another day.