It is very difficult not to admire the courage of Professor Stephen Hawkins, the Cambridge astrophysicist. After wasting his prodigious intellectual talents in his ‘teens, he was stung in his early twenties into intense and diligent research into the universe by the onset of a progressive wasting illness. He has shown enormous character in the battle of life.
It is profoundly tragic, therefore, that, as yet, he has been unable to leap from the vast erudition of his studies into a grasp of the Creator God. One can only sincerely pray that he will do so. Like a supreme technician analysing exactly how a masterpiece was painted, but never standing back to see what the masterpiece is saying, so Professor Hawkins’ focus is on the "how" of creation, not the message of creation. But the “how” will never yield the “why” – that is a totally different perspective.
For Paul the Apostle the message of this masterpiece of creation was all too clear. He writes, “God has made it plain. Since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities - his eternal power and divine nature - have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made”. The words, “plain” and “clearly seen” stand out. It seems to me three things at least demand that we see God in creation; the incomprehensibility of time and space, the sheer unspeakable beauty of it all and the meticulous order of it all. It is a most extraordinary thing that we are actually consciously aware of time and space; we know that something must lie beyond it. That very awareness points to an eternal being.
David, the psalmist, spent many a night as a shepherd contemplating the stars (something of which our city life has deprived us). He, just as plainly as Paul, saw the message of the masterpiece he was surveying; “The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands” (Ps. 19). Clearly he was reading the majesty and the beauty of what he saw. He also may well have been frequently in awe of what he was seeing. Certainly he would have been in awe if he had known as much as we do about the distances and time involved in creation.
The heavens “spoke” to him; “Day after day they pour forth speech, night after night they display knowledge” – a constant reminder of our Creator. Not only the heavens spoke, but his own self as a created being spoke to him; “I am fearfully and wonderfully made” (Ps 139), not merely physically but mentally, emotionally and spiritually.
Secularism goes on battering at us and has plenty of sympathetic scope in the media, certainly more than the Christian viewpoint. Thank God, however, he has left us a witness that can never be totally obscured. The very creation, as Paul reminds us, leaves us “without excuse”. May God open the eyes of many to the obvious.
Bob
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It is profoundly tragic, therefore, that, as yet, he has been unable to leap from the vast erudition of his studies into a grasp of the Creator God. One can only sincerely pray that he will do so. Like a supreme technician analysing exactly how a masterpiece was painted, but never standing back to see what the masterpiece is saying, so Professor Hawkins’ focus is on the "how" of creation, not the message of creation. But the “how” will never yield the “why” – that is a totally different perspective.
For Paul the Apostle the message of this masterpiece of creation was all too clear. He writes, “God has made it plain. Since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities - his eternal power and divine nature - have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made”. The words, “plain” and “clearly seen” stand out. It seems to me three things at least demand that we see God in creation; the incomprehensibility of time and space, the sheer unspeakable beauty of it all and the meticulous order of it all. It is a most extraordinary thing that we are actually consciously aware of time and space; we know that something must lie beyond it. That very awareness points to an eternal being.
David, the psalmist, spent many a night as a shepherd contemplating the stars (something of which our city life has deprived us). He, just as plainly as Paul, saw the message of the masterpiece he was surveying; “The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands” (Ps. 19). Clearly he was reading the majesty and the beauty of what he saw. He also may well have been frequently in awe of what he was seeing. Certainly he would have been in awe if he had known as much as we do about the distances and time involved in creation.
The heavens “spoke” to him; “Day after day they pour forth speech, night after night they display knowledge” – a constant reminder of our Creator. Not only the heavens spoke, but his own self as a created being spoke to him; “I am fearfully and wonderfully made” (Ps 139), not merely physically but mentally, emotionally and spiritually.
Secularism goes on battering at us and has plenty of sympathetic scope in the media, certainly more than the Christian viewpoint. Thank God, however, he has left us a witness that can never be totally obscured. The very creation, as Paul reminds us, leaves us “without excuse”. May God open the eyes of many to the obvious.
Bob
To make a comment: click on word “comments” below, write your comment in the white box which appears and add your name and e mail address (if you wish), choose “select profile”, click “anonymous” and then continue.
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