Solving the God Puzzle

The more we study and learn about the sciences – physics, chemistry, astronomy, biology – the more we are overwhelmed in trying to understand it all. The daily dose of science, revealing new discoveries, seems to happen faster than we can begin to grasp the last bit of information. Rather than diminish our belief in God, those miracles of science should continually reinforce our spiritual foundation. And nothing is more powerful than the contemplation of the mysteries of our universe.

Hardly a day goes by without some news about the discovery of another milestone in our space exploration efforts. But, the question of whether or not any form of life ever existed on Mars pales in comparison to the simple discoveries of just how vast our solar system or galaxy in our universe is.

Over the years we have developed a method of visualizing the vastness of space by means of mathematics. Most everyone is familiar with the concept that the earth orbits the sun at an average distance of 93 million miles. Yet, it is a distance so vast on the human scale that we attempt to grasp its meaning by converting that physical dimension to time – the time it takes for light to travel at a 186,000 miles per second. In the case of light from the sun, we calculate eight minutes. For the larger distances, we calculate the distance that light would travel in a year’s time.

Using similar calculations, astronomical observations and other science hocus-pocus, we expand our understanding of the incomprehensible numbers that describe our world and our place in the universe. Mathematics becomes our tool to visualize the values that are beyond our human experience.

Our science tells us that our sun, a yellow dwarf by definition, is one of the more than 200 billion stars that comprise the Milky Way galaxy. To expand our vision even further, we recognize that our galaxy is only one of at least 100 galaxy groups and clusters that make up the Virgil Super Cluster.

When we start calculating the number of stars, planets, and moons that might exist in just one area of the night sky, the numbers again, become incomprehensible.

Yet, we believe, even though none of us has the slightest direct experience.

If these concepts which require the abstract visualization via mathematics are so difficult to grasp, how can we deny the existence of a God merely because we find His existence unproven by means of our physical senses?

As science continues to attempt to define the universe we inhabit, every new discovery provides more evidence that our existence is too improbable to be a cosmic accident.

In all the universe, our earthly home exists in just the right conditions for our existence. Is it possible that there was a purpose in that convenient placement?

As Albert Einstein once said “That deep emotional conviction of the presence of a superior reasoning power, which is revealed in the incomprehensible universe, forms my idea of God.”

(For those just joining us, this is a repeat of the very first post to this website.)


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