The Fragile Beauty of Life
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Today's entry was written by the BioLogos Editorial Team.
"What is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him?
- Psalm 8:4, NIV
At times, the Earth can seem like a massive place. As we look at the wonders of living creatures, from the massive to the microscopic, we can feel overwhelmed by the beauty and vastness of it all. But as we pull away into the sprawling cosmos, our place in this universe can also seem small. As one astronaut recalls from his journey beyond our planet:
"The Earth reminded us of a Christmas tree ornament hanging in the blackness of space. As we got farther and farther away it diminished in size. Finally it shrank to the size of a marble, the most beautiful marble you can imagine. That beautiful, warm, living object looked so fragile, so delicate, that if you touched it with a finger it would crumble and fall apart. Seeing that has to make a man appreciate the creation of God and the love of God." - James Irwin, U.S. Astronaut taken from The Hand of God
The vastness of the cosmos is a source of wonder and admiration for its Creator. Our existence is fragile and delicate, and yet the Psalms assure us that God made us "a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned [us] with glory and honor." The same God who created the farthest stars and the smallest creatures still cares for us.
To paraphrase the final verse of Psalm 8: "O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name throughout the universe."
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October 3rd 2010
Science largely gives us cause for increased faith.
But some would twist it’s meaning th other way.
Does string gheory make belief in God “unnecessary”?
The ads for a new best selling book say that.
But when you read the book you find that everything is made up of tiny vibrating strings.
And all of the subatomic particles that we have catalogued in our particle accelerators do not exist.
I think there are around 226 of those particles rcognized now with thers postulated.
Now string theory says it is really only one particle,..a small loop of “string” and the multiple forms are based on DIFFERENT WAYS THAT THE STRINGS VIBRATES.
THEN THE UNIVERSE IS SIMILAR TO A VIOLIN!
It is just a stringed instrument that can be played to produce different music.
But does this make God unnecessary?
A few weeks ago I heard a lovely young lady play a beautiful violin solo in church.
The sanctuary was filled with moving sounds.
And when I looked in the bulletin is credited Beethoven as ths composer of the piece.
Would I have been satisfied with a statement that the classic work was created by THE STRINGS?
I think not!
Smoeone “composed” you and I..
Reply to this commentString theory does not make a God unnecessary
October 4th 2010
The world is indeed a beautiful place - such a pity it’s marred by it’s bondage to decay. It must have been incredibly beautiful just after the six days of creation.
I constantly marvel at the sight of the now almost tame pigeons that walk in the centre of town with the heads and necks bobbing up and down, back to front and the way they cock the heads from side to side to see if there’s any food or threat. God made them too. Just incredible.
Reply to this commentOctober 4th 2010
Yes Trevor,.. and it is all based on how little cosmic strings vibrate,...... when God composes the music.
Without God, there i nothing.
Reply to this commentOctober 6th 2010
After reading this article, even though it was short, it was very powerful message. I believe the quote from the astronaut was great. It made me realize something so large to us (the earth) is really just a small piece in the universe. Because God created the entire universe, it can sometimes feel like the creation of earth and people was no big deal but actually it is. God created us and all creation is important to God and He loves us.
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