Monday, October 3, 2011

Awe and wonder

Contemplating the natural world can produce awe and wonder. The greater understanding that comes with scientific knowledge can lead to even greater awe and wonder. How might we respond?
Should we feel insignificant in light of the vastness of the universe? We live in the orbit of one star which is just one of 200-400 billion stars in one galaxy. Yet there are more than 100 billion galaxies in the whole universe.

We should be humbled. Psalm 8 says

3When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers,
   the moon and the stars, which you have set in place,
4 what is man that you are mindful of him,
   and the son of man that you care for him?
 5Yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings
   and crowned him with glory and honor.
6You have given him dominion over the works of your hands;
    you have put all things under his feet

Aside: Why should we have such strong feelings of awe and wonder?
Does this tell us something about our connection to the material world?

There is something even more striking and awesome than the natural world. It is that the same God who created all these stars actually cares so much about each one of us that he sent his one and only Son Jesus to die for us.

This post was inspired by hearing a sermon this morning along these lines by Rodney Holder. An earlier post which explores some similar issues is How should we respond to scientific success?

No comments:

Post a Comment