Language of Prayer

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It’s hard to imagine how many prayers are directed toward God at any given moment. Beyond that is the question of how many languages those prayers are offered in. Does God understand French, German, and Swahili? Does He hear the prayers of the Hindus, Buddhists, and those who practice Shinto?

Surely God, the Creator, would count among His skills the ability to communicate in all languages.

But perhaps the answer is much simpler than that. Perhaps all prayers, regardless of the native language, are heard by God in a universal language.

And this is another case where science and logic are easy companions to faith.

Once again, if we step back from the life we have become accustomed to, we might recognize the learning pattern we all experience as we develop our language skills. It is the same pattern we employ when teaching our children to communicate.

In the earliest stages of our learning, we are taught that the word “table” is connected to a physical object or visual representation. As time goes on, we learn more and more words and the images they represent. As our learning progresses, we begin to connect certain words to abstract concepts that are not easily visualized. Either way, the word itself always has a connection. It may be a physical object, an emotional feeling, a concept, or even a sound or color.

Every word carries a meaning.

We can now recognize that, when we pray, we are projecting the meaning of the words in our prayer. The universal language we use to connect with God is, therefore, emotions, thoughts, and images. Even though the Creator of the universe would most certainly be capable of mastering all of earths’ languages, it is not necessary.

The universal language of thought is much more efficient, and makes the meaning of our prayers fully transparent.

 

 

God’s Wisdom

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Most of us are accustomed to familiar texts from the Bible. Few of us reflect on the wisdom contained in those texts. And one of the most familiar quotes from the Bible comes from the Lord’s Prayer.

“Forgive us our trespasses (or debts) as we forgive those who trespass against us.”

It is a prayer spoken aloud in various languages, in various denominations in Christian churches all over the world. It is a prayer that is repeated over and over again in many a lifetime.

Yet most of us fail to appreciate is the profound wisdom contained in that simple plea.

With a history of research and study in the impact of emotions on our physical health, we are now capable of realizing that the act of sincere forgiveness has a profound affect on the health of the forgiver. We now know that harboring anger or resentment toward another has a toxic influence on those who cling to their anger.

In the simplest terms, harboring those toxic feelings creates havoc on the body of the one feeling that anger. The person who is the subject of that anger may not even know of the ill will toward them, or might not even care.

The act of forgiveness releases the angry one from the burden they carry – the burden that continues to poison them.

In terms of our quest for logical connections between science and faith, we should ask ourselves, “who would have understood the connection between forgiveness and health, in those early days? Who would have been inspired to share such a subtle message?”

We may be guilty of underestimating the wisdom of ages past, but the depth of understanding contained in this simple phrase in the Lord’s Prayer is a strong indication that there was a Devine Power behind a profound concept.

God’s Voice

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Face it. When someone claims that God is talking to them, most of us would chalk that up to a mental illness. And, no doubt, when that voice they claim to hear is prompting them to commit a crime or an assault on innocent victims, that is a pretty good indication that all is not right in that head.

Sadly, that means that, if God did speak to someone, the receiver of that message might doubt their own sanity. They would probably be frightened. They would probably disregard the message.

While the Bible does suggest that some did hear the voice of God, those occasions were in a simpler time, unencumbered by all the noise we experience today. Between advertising messages, movies, music, and electronic chatter that bombard us, God would have to shout pretty loud to get through the din of our daily existence.

In simpler times, we were also unencumbered by the flood of knowledge that clutters our minds.

Perhaps God does speak to us, in a forgotten language that we have failed to recognize. Perhaps God’s language is simply the mental images and inspirations to which we, in our ignorance, claim ownership.

While we may not recognize the voice of God, we practice the language without realizing it. We use that language every time we pray. When we silently pray, we do so with confidence that God hears our thoughts. Across the globe, in every language, prayers are offered with the same confidence.

Perhaps we are tapping into a silent form of communication that exists beyond our five senses. We know that there are frequencies of sound that we cannot hear. We know that there are frequencies of light that our eyes cannot detect. Armed with that experience, it isn’t a stretch to imagine that there may even be a form of communication that we cannot easily detect or measure.

In our fledgling effort to utilize this mystery force, we refer to it as mental telepathy, and we fumble to make it work, and struggle to duplicate it on the rare occasions when it does seem to work. We are grasping at straws that we can’t even see.

When that moment of inspiration strikes, or when that emotion of compassion or love sweeps over us, perhaps we need to recognize it as the voice of God, speaking in that lost language. Perhaps we need to listen harder, especially when the message is wrapped in love.

 

The Sky is the Limit

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It’s a common expression – “the sky is the limit.” The implication is that there is no limit. The sky is symbolic of infinite possibilities, infinite opportunities. With our feet on the ground, the sky seems limitless.

But we are limited by our perspective. With our human scale, the sky seems to represent the vastness of our universe and by comparison, the vastness of what might be available to us. But we are deceived by the limits of our ability to observe. We are deceived by our ability to comprehend.

It is a powerful reminder of the inconceivable power and resources of our Creator. It is equally, a reminder of the preposterous notion that our universe, and all it contains, is merely a cosmic accident.

As science continues to struggle to understand the complexities of our existence, much of that struggle revolves around discovering the secrets of mass, energy, time, and space. Science continues to explore the dimensions of our universe and the incalculable number of celestial bodies it contains.

A recent effort has begun a project to map out a 3-D model of roughly half the observable universe, comprised of 35 million galaxies – or so it appears to those on this project. In truth, no one knows how many galaxies exist.

When we consider that each galaxy may contain 100 billion or more stars, and each star may have multiple planets surrounding it, the numbers spiral out of control, and the questions multiply accordingly.

But the primary question remains the same. Is our universe and our very existence the result of chance, or is it the work of a Creator? Did it take billions of attempts by nature to deliver a planet capable of supporting life, or is our existence the result of a carefully crafted design by that force we call God?

Are all those stars the residue from billions upon billions of failed attempts, or are they strategically placed in the cosmos to be close enough to view and inspire human efforts, but far enough away to grant humanity an unlimited resource for striving?

As we gaze into the dark skies, we may believe that “the sky’s the limit.”

But perhaps there is no limit, and that may be one of God’s greatest gifts to humanity.

 

In another

God’s Climate Engineering

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It is amazing how many examples of intelligent design we can recognize when we open our minds. Lately, there has been a great deal of discussion about the earth’s climate and the impact human activity has on our environment. We hear about global warming, ocean currents, sea-level rise, weather patterns, and atmospheric gases. Each of these topics is a piece of a very intricate puzzle.

What seems to be missing in this puzzle is the very large part God plays in the whole picture. In fact, we need to recognize that the complex balancing act of the earth’s environment is convincing evidence of the work of an intelligent plan by a Being with unlimited power and knowledge.

What else would we call it but the work of God.

With each group focused on their particular area of concern, it is easy to lose sight of the bigger picture. And it is a picture that paints a portrait of the master artist we call God.

Once we step back to view the bigger picture, we begin to see the incredibly complex combination of elements that allow life to exist on earth.

The tilt of the earth creates the seasons that drive the recycling of plant life that lives, grows, and dies, only to feed the next generation of its species. That same seasonal cycle creates the freeze/thaw cycle that turns mountains into plantable soil. While we might complain about summers that are too hot or winters that are too cold, that seasonal rotation is critical to life on this planet.

The rain that spoiled our picnic plans is critical to providing moisture for plants to thrive.

The rotation of the earth provides a cycle of activity and rest for animal life. More importantly, the timing of that rotation prevents the surface of our planet from becoming too hot or too cold to support life. That same rotation cycle allows water to exist in liquid form, an essential ingredient for life.

The earth orbits our sun at just the right distance to allow life to exist. This is commonly referred to as the “Goldilocks Zone, ” and is a critical factor that science uses to judge whether life might exist on planets outside our solar system.

The thin layer of gases that forms our atmosphere provides our ability to breathe and drive our metabolism. That same layer of gases serves to protect us from the sandstorm of meteorites that rains down daily.

Earth’s magnetic field does more than help us navigate. It also serves as a shield to block much of the sun’s lethal radiation.

Taken as a whole, this incredible combination of elements is what makes life on earth possible. Those who would believe that our existence is just the result of a series of accidents of nature probably have never truly examined the miracle of our existence.

 

 

 

God’s Blueprint for Life

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Any home builder works from a blueprint before the first nail is driven. He may make adjustments or modifications along the way, but the basic techniques are all planned out. It might be interesting to realize that many of the same basic construction principles used to build a house also apply to building an automobile, an airplane, or an ocean liner.

Even more interesting is the fact that the same materials that define a human life also apply to virtually any life form on earth. It’s all in God’s blueprint for life – DNA.

We have all become accustomed to DNA being used to identify criminals or identify our ancestors, but few of us have fully recognized the miracle that DNA represents or the hard-core evidence that it provides to verify intelligent creation – the hand of God.

Our science can’t begin to totally comprehend, let alone duplicate, the incredible intricacies of DNA.

(DNA) is a nucleic acid that contains the genetic instructions for the development and function of living things. It is the ultimate blueprint for life forms. Contained in each cell of a living organism, it provides the instructions for the development, growth, and reproduction of that lifeform. The sheer volume and complexity of that information would easily overwhelm science’s most powerful computer.

And all that information is contained in that microscopic double helix that we have seen in science documentaries that leave our heads spinning.

While it is commonly known that humans share some DNA with other animals, we also share DNA with plant life. Like the comparison with construction principles, DNA is the key building technique of all life forms. Yet, somewhere in the mix of human DNA is the combination of chemicals that miraculously translates into intelligence and self-awareness.

Once again, as we juggle our belief in science, logic, and faith, we are forced to acknowledge that the remarkable package of information contained in DNA is too extreme to be an accident of nature. Add to that, the fact that all cells are composed of different combinations of chemicals, it is beyond the limits of imagination to believe a random combination of chemicals could result in intelligence.

Even if we accept evolution as one of God’s tools for the development of life on earth, it is a tremendous stretch to imagine that the chemical salad of DNA should somehow become self-aware and capable of self-replication.

Perhaps this is one case where logic supports faith. This is one case where creation and intelligent design, rather than evolution alone, is the only logical answer.

 

 

 

Faith’s Greatest Challenge

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As I witness friends and relatives losing loved ones to death’s inevitable victory, I struggle to find the words or the means to offer comfort and hope in life’s most tragic moments. Dark times occur in everyone’s life, and coping with the death of a loved one tops the list. When logic and emotion are in conflict, emotion almost always wins. This is especially true when it comes to grief. The intense emotion of those moments overwhelms logic’s feeble effort to provide comfort with reason.

“Please God, no!”

No doubt this phrase, this plea, has been uttered countless times, in countless languages over the centuries. Equally likely, few have received a positive answer to this desperate prayer.

We can only imagine how many have felt betrayed and abandoned by the God they have worshipped. How many have uttered the follow-up question, “Why did You take … (fill in the blank) …from me?”

Perhaps it is in those very questions that we find the answers. Perhaps it is in that moment when faith seems to have failed us that we find comfort in logic. This is the one time when logic can win over emotion if we embrace that solution.

Just as the cycle of the seasons and the recycling of nutritional materials provides for new growth in our garden, the grief we feel at the loss of a loved one provides us with the means to experience the love and caring that others provide at such a moment. It gives us the opportunity to grow in love and get closer to others. And most importantly, it gives us the compassion we need to be there for others when it is their time to experience such a loss.

It is logic that allows us to accept the inevitable, no matter how unpleasant. We all know that we are mortal and that each of us must ultimately take that last breath on earth. We know that physical death is irreversible but continued existence in the spiritual realm provides the hope of being reunited with our loved ones.

Yet, somehow, it is the timing and the choice of who that we struggle to accept.

Why him or her, and why now?

Ultimately, it is logic that allows us to embrace and be strengthened by our faith. It is logic that opens our minds to the reality that we are incapable of fully grasping God’s plan for us. It is logic that helps us realize that, handicapped as we are by the limitations of our earthly experiences, our best option is to choose to trust God and His plan to give us the tools we need to embrace love and use those tools to help others. And we can trust His plan for our existence beyond death.

While we can mourn the loss of the companionship of our lost loved one, we can find hope in that trust. And that is when faith’s greatest challenge becomes faith’s greatest opportunity.

Ultimately, it is that trust that will give us peace.

Miracle of Life

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Many of us look for provable miracles to bolster our faith. It is those unexplainable events that seem to provide the proof we need to overcome our doubts. At the same time, we become so accustomed to the routine of our daily lives that we lose sight of the most obvious miracle of all.

Life itself.

We may quibble over the idea of Adam and Eve being the first humans. We may struggle to reconcile the concept of creation with the discoveries of science and archaeology. We may celebrate the miraculous survival of people who experience near-death events. We ponder the stories of those who claim to have suffered death and returned to life.

Somehow it never occurs to us that every breath we take is the result of one of God’s greatest miracles, one of His greatest works.

By now, most of us are generally familiar with the basic concepts of DNA, genes, and the blending of male and female traits in human reproduction. We understand that offspring traits are the result of what seems to be a random combination of traits from the parents.

But that is just scratching the surface.

We don’t often think of it, but the fertilized egg in a woman’s womb is a very simple first step in producing the child that will grow to be a fully functioning adult. It is then that the real miracle begins and continues to expand throughout the pregnancy.

We might think of the DNA/chromosome package as the blueprint for building the human being. The idea that all that information could be contained in such a microscopic package is astounding. Yet the greater miracle is the sequence of events that is the development of the fetus.

We know that the growth of the fetus from the earliest stages involves cellular division. One cell divides and becomes two, then the two becomes four, and on and on. What remains unexplained is how those dividing cells become specialized.

How does one cell start a family that becomes an eye, while a neighboring cell starts the process of becoming a heart or a liver? What determines these choices? It would seem that all these instructions must exist in the earliest stages, but how and when those dividing cells begin and continue to specialize is the great mystery.

If we need to witness miracles to believe in the Creator, perhaps all we need to do is look in the mirror.

 

Achieving Perfection

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If you expect this posting to be a “how-to” on achieving perfection in your life, guess again.

It ain’t gonna happen.

From a religious perspective, achieving perfection is for the sole purpose of guaranteeing a pleasant existence in the afterlife. Other than that, there is little incentive to seek perfection. To borrow a common phrase, we would say “what’s in it for me?”

Let’s face it, we were all born selfish. Sharing and giving weren’t in the original recipe. Anyone who is a parent knows the challenge of teaching children to share. While we might not express it so formally, “Thou shalt not steal” is one of the first lessons we teach our children in preparing them to function in society. It is one of the first steps we take in trying to mold them into moral perfection.

Despite our best efforts, it remains an impossible goal. If you question that statement, take a look in the mirror and ask yourself if you are eligible to cast the first stone. Who among us isn’t guilty of snatching a piece of candy from the grocery store bulk bin or telling that little white lie about why we stayed home from work?

It is only human for us to rate our sins on a sliding scale. Surely, walking away when the cashier gave us too much change isn’t as serious as murder, is it?

Either way, we fall short of the perfection required of a citizen of God’s heaven.

Many of the world’s religious philosophies encourage a life of obedience to higher moral principles as the key to a paradise in the afterlife. Only Christianity acknowledges “it ain’t gonna happen” through human effort. Only Christianity recognizes that, as flawed humans, we are incapable of achieving perfection.

So, what are our options if we cannot achieve perfection? If it is an impossible task, what incentive do we have to even try?

The answer, of course, is the very foundation of Christianity. Christian faith is based on the concept that Jesus Christ took on the burden of our inability to live a perfect life. It was His sacrifice that paid the debt we owe for our inability to achieve that perfect life.

The incentive we have to strive for perfection is that, by doing so, we strengthen our relationship with our Creator. That effort is our way of acknowledging and repaying that debt to the extent we are able. It is our way of demonstrating our appreciation for the opportunity to reach that heavenly reward.

Will any of us reach that level of perfection?

It ain’t gonna happen – and that is all the more reason to try.

 

 

 

Let There Be Light

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One of the earliest verses in the Bible, in the creation story, is “let there be light.” That simple sentence reveals not only the important sequence of events, but also reveals the vital role that light plays in our universe. In our on-going effort to justify our belief in God as the Creator with our education in science and logic, we may find that the ability to step back from our ordinary experiences allows us to see beyond the obvious.

That is exactly the case with light.

Light allows us to read our newspaper or computer screen. Light and the absence of it determine our night and day cycle. Light reveals colors that allow us to appreciate the beauty of our world. Light allows us to photographically capture images that we can view at a late time. Light allows us to judge distances and locate lost items.

Light from the sun provides the energy to power plant growth that results in the food on our table.

Even those among us who cannot see, also benefit from the heat that warms our planet, transmitted by light from the sun.

Sunlight, reflected off the moon brightens a dark night. That same light, reflecting off our planetary neighbors in our solar system, allows us to see those planets whose existence would be otherwise hidden from us.

Light from distant stars allows our science to discover the vast expanse and complexity of our universe. The simple dimming of light as planets pass across the face of those distant stars provides us with evidence of planets outside our solar system.

Once again, we are confronted with the question, “who but the Creator could even conceive of such a miracle as light?”

Light is such an integral part of our existence, that it is impossible to imagine our existence without it. Even the most brilliant of our world’s scientists and engineers would be unable to conceive, let alone engineer, a concept as all-encompassing as light.

Again, we are confronted with the question, “is it possible that light is merely an accident of nature?”

Or, did God simply say … “Let there be light.”