God is Reasonable

"The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament shows His handiwork. ² Day unto day utters speech, and night unto night reveals knowledge. ³ There is no speech nor language where their voice is not heard."

Psalm 19:1-3

The heavens and earth declare the glory of God, and everything that is has been created by God's wisdom and power.  It is remarkable to me people can observe the rising of the sun every day and the phases of the moon, the orderly march of days, weeks, months and years, and not consider this world is more consistent, precise and orderly than we are at our best.  I have never written anything in my diary on a particular date on accident, yet there are intelligent people who assert today is a fortuitous accident--the culmination of billions of years of natural processes that has resulted in things like stable elements, the water cycle, dolphins, rabbits, and human beings.

Last night I watched a bad science fiction movie that provided a good illustration of how we ascribe purpose and intentionality to even small details.  In the film, explorers noticed a "heat signature" that revealed a pyramid shape under the ice in the Arctic.  The explorers (as well as the viewers) know pyramid-shaped stone structures do not just happen:  they are designed and must be built by someone or something.  As the explorers delved deep into the compound, the experts in various cultures recognised markings and inscriptions that were like a puzzle to be solved.  Not one of the people suggested the artefacts, carvings or stones just happened to be piled in a symmetrical shape, and no reasonable viewer would have imagined that either.    When an explorer was drawn to touch a deposit of slimy goo out of curiosity, not one viewer assumed the goo started dropping from the ceiling because of random, natural processes--but knew it came from something--an alien that would soon be introduced with a jump scare.

It is entirely unreasonable to see living plants, birds and animals on earth that reproduce after their own kind teeming in the wild and assume they came to exist without design or purpose.  No movie has ever been made without a maker or by accident; no book has ever been written without a writer.  In the same way, no creature has ever existed without a creator.  H.R. Giger is credited with designing the well-known xenomorph alien creature in film, yet it is remarkable many people are reluctant or refuse to credit a Creator for designing human anatomy, living cells or DNA.  As difficult as drawing, airbrushing and sculpting is, creating a living creature that reproduces after its own kind is infinitely more complex.  If sculptures do not sculpt themselves, how can we reasonably say human models used by painters and sculptors are the result of a series of ancient cosmic accidents--and not far superior to art in their own right?

I recently recommended a book to a friend I need to read again, and it is titled The Everlasting Man by G.K. Chesterton.  In this book Chesterton shows in his heady, humorous fashion how mankind is unlike all other living creatures--to the point there is really no comparison between them at all.  After this point is well-established, he goes on to show how Jesus Christ is no ordinary man:  He is the everlasting Man, our Creator and God in human flesh.  While science has much to give to help us observe and determine how things work, knowing Jesus helps us to better understand why God has created us and our purpose in this world.  We are more than a jumble of cells but living souls created to know, trust and love God. who loves us.  The heavens declare the glory of God, and may we who are made new creations in Christ proclaim how awesome and good He is so all might come to know and praise Him.