From time to time, our scientific community publishes “new” information about the expanses of the universe. More often than not, it is a new appraisal of the size of the universe or the distance to some celestial object. Lately, the topic of discussion has been a question of where the universe “ends.”

Astronomers crank up their newest telescopes. Mathematicians try out their latest formulas, and NASA launches another probe into space.

In the end, we have no answers that are truly comprehendible by the average human. Yes, our scientific community may suggest that they understand, but it is probably only within the limited parameters of their own area of expertise.

The problem is that the answers that are presented are clothed in terms that most of us cannot truly appreciate or comprehend.

We measure those vast distances in terms of “light years,” but what exactly is that scale? We speak of the number of miles that light could travel in the course of a year, yet most of us could not describe or envision what a “mile” is. To further complicate the issue, we use the term “year” which is the time it takes for the earth to complete a single orbit around the sun, and we measure that time in terms of days which, in turn, is defined by a single rotation on its axis.

Whew!

So, what has that to do with our faith? The comparison is really quite similar.

Our faith depends on believing in circumstances and events that lie outside our human experiences. Our faith depends on a belief in a supreme being that we call God.

And it is accepting the concept of God that we stumble.

We struggle to believe that the single entity of God could supervise and coordinate the actions of millions of humans over the centuries. We struggle to believe that God could possibly hear and respond to millions of prayers at any moment. We struggle to believe that God could love all of humanity. We struggle to believe that God could possibly create all the stars, planets, and other heavenly bodies that we observe.

The numbers are just too overwhelming.

Science to the rescue.

As science gradually compiles the list of known objects in our universe, as science finally concedes that there is no known end of the universe, those mathematical and observational foundations of our knowledge are the proof that we need to grasp that the reality of our existence exceeds the intellectual tools of humanity.

In short, we don’t know what we don’t know, and it is that missing knowledge that is the foundation of our faith.

Next stop – infinity.