Supernovas and Caterpillars

Just read a National Geographic article about dying stars. When a star dies it implodes, the result is a supernova that is as bright as an entire galaxy. Once every second somewhere in the universe a star implodes. We have observed this through telescopes, the closest ones are hundreds of light years away. I am always amazed at how much scientists know about things that are billions of miles, or billions of years apart from us. I do think that science can give us lots of useful information and make some pretty good predictions. It definitely has given us a better understanding of our universe. But when I hear detailed descriptions of the mechanics of something that we cannot come close to touching, I have to wonder. It seems that whenever we make new discoveries we learn that what we thought was right before was actually wrong. I am sure that will continue to happen. The more we learn about our universe, the more we realize how little we know. To me this is a testimony to the existence of God. Science cannot prove that God did not create, that God does not sustain. Anything that we observe in the natural world is just that, an observation.

The basic structure of our Solar system can be compared to the structure of an atom. Imagine for a minute with me that the earth is an electron zipping around a nucleus, the sun. (Atoms are mostly empty space.) This atom, combined with millions of other atoms make up a leaf hanging in the top of a tree. Scientists on this earth send out probes, look through telescopes, and use very complicated mathematics to help them figure out what is "out there". They can only see surrounding atoms, they know there are millions of them. Their probes that have been traveling for years have only penetrated adjacent atoms. They have no idea that rain is falling on the leaf that they are a part of. They have no understanding of the monkey sitting on a branch near by. They don't even notice the caterpillar eating away just a few inches from where they are. It would take billions of years traveling at the speed of light to reach it. And even then it wouldn't look like a caterpillar. I guess what they could see would look like their own solar system, another atom. Now imagine that the
tree is also on a planet that is really an electron zipping around a nucleus. . . You get the idea.

We have no clue what is really out there. Not to mention other dimensions. It is not at all illogical to believe that God created us. That our endless universe could be a speck in God's domain. That other universes could exist right next to us, but we cannot discern them because they are in a different dimension. Or maybe they are right next door, a trillion light years away. Science makes some pretty bold claims about our origins and our future (Did you know our sun will not implode as a supernova? It is going to simply burn out in a couple billion years.)
There are some things that we just cannot observe. Faith is believing without seeing. It takes just as much faith to believe what National Geographic tells me as it does to believe what the Bible tells me. I think I'll stick with the Bible. It's author has a little larger perspective on things.

christopher's picture

christopher says:

Fantastic! Here I sit pondering -- I can do no other.

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