God or Nothing

Chuckle: One Easter Sunday morning a preacher held up an egg and asked the children, "What's in here?" "I know!" a little boy exclaimed. "Pantyhose!"

Quote: "The sun, which has all those planets revolving around it and dependent upon it, can ripen a bunch of grapes as if it had nothing else in the world to do." --Galileo

"In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth . . . God saw all that he had made, and it was very good . . ." (Genesis 1:1,33 NIV).

Galileo (1564-1642), was a pioneer of modern physics and telescopic astronomy. A spacecraft, named for Galileo, was launched from a space shuttle on October 18, 1989 to orbit the planet Jupiter. Many years ago, Alfred Noyes made the following comments in reference to today's quote from Galileo.

"This was Galileo's answer to those who attacked him when he said that the earth was not the center of the universe. His system, the critics said, made human beings insignificant. Galileo's answer, made three hundred years ago, is a source of strength in our time. For today many of us again feel that the individual is insignificant in the immense universe of modern science. But if the physical sun can be so responsible for the minutest flower in the field, there is certainly no reason to feel that there is any limit to the scope of the central Power (God), which created all the suns, all life, all spiritual values and the spirit of man himself. Behind Galileo's defense was his own belief that the universe is centered on neither the earth nor the sun -- it is centered on either God or nothing. If the latter, there can be no real belief, no sense of philosophy. Out of this blind alley, he turns naturally to the other alternative -- God. Galileo's words, the first voice of modern science, call us back to faith, hope and true belief."

In our day, there is a constant battle between creationism and evolutionism; between intelligent design and science, with the "big bang" theory thrown in for good measure. In this brief space, I cannot begin to address all the aspects of this ongoing debate, even if I had the understanding to do so. But as I read the words of Galileo and a discussion of his conclusions, I was reminded once again of the central truth of the universe. God, in all his power and majesty, created all there is and yet is still mindful of each of us. “What is man that you are mindful of him” (Hebrews 2:6b). God wants our lives to bloom to the fullest for his glory. As the sun nurtures the bunches of grapes and the flowers in the field, He nurtures each human life.

Because of his great love, that nurture has as its first goal to reconcile each person to himself -- to make us acceptable in his sight and presence -- through faith in his One and Only Son who was sacrificed for our sins. Then his nurture includes maturing each Christian into a beautiful, blooming, and productive life. He does this through his Word, and the indwelling of his Holy Spirit in a similar way as the rays of the sun nurture each living thing on earth. He wants his Son to be to you what his Sun is to a bunch of grapes or a beautiful rose in your yard -- as Galileo put it, "as if He has nothing else in the world to do" but tend to you. . . .

Love, Jerry & Dotse