I love science.
There are some who believe that scientific discoveries are explaining away God.
I believe quite the opposite. I believe our discoveries through science are
revealing the true wonder and majesty of God. Let me share an example that will
help illustrate my point. As humans, we have used the rising and setting of the
sun as well as its position in the sky to determine days, months, seasons and
years. The movement of the moon has also been used for similar purposes. For
centuries, we did not understand why the sun and moon moved in the sky. There
were theories or beliefs, many of which have been proven wrong with more
learning and understanding of astronomy.
Today, with our
understanding of astronomy, we know that the Earth circles the sun and that the
moon circles the Earth. With our knowledge of gravity and the laws of motion,
we can explain in scientific and mathematical terms how and why this happens.
We know that the Earth travels at just the right speed and at just the right
distance from the sun that it continues to orbit the sun indefinitely. It all
comes down to gravity and centrifugal force being in just the right balance. If
the Earth moved too fast, it would leave its orbit and travel off into space.
If it were to slow down, it would spiral into the sun. Either case would be a
disaster for all life on the Earth. But, it has been in this perfect
equilibrium for billions of years.
If we believe that
this just happened by chance from all the matter flying around the universe,
that the rock that we now call Earth just happened to be speeding by the sun at
just the right speed to get caught in a perfect orbit around it, we'd have to consider
the statistical probability of such an event. In order for all the conditions
to be met, the probability would be very, very small, such that this would
probably be the only planet, or at least one of a few, to have accomplished
such a feat. But, remember, we don't just have the Earth orbiting the sun, we
have the moon also orbiting the Earth. The probability of this happening twice
in the same location would be exponentially smaller. But that's not all either.
We have nine planets circling our sun (yes, I considered Pluto a planet). If
this all still happened by chance, the probabilities are infinitesimally small.
The fact that we have nine planets with all of their moons in perfect
equilibrium in our universe and that they have been in this state for billions
of years is incomprehensible from a pure chance, probabilistic point of view.
But, we still aren't done. Our solar system is one of millions in the Milky Way
and the Milky Way is one in millions in the Universe. And throughout the universe,
there are other solar systems with planets in the same state as ours. All of
this has been discovered by science and it is amazing.
With all of these
systems that have met all of these necessary conditions to be in equilibrium
for billions of years, chance just can't be the explanation. As I wrote at the
beginning, I believe that science is helping us discover the wonders and
majesty of God. God does not work by magic. He works by natural laws. His
understanding of those laws is perfect, whereas our understanding is still in
its infancy. But the more we learn, the more we should be wonder at His works
and His creations. He put all of this in motions. He is the reason that despite
the impossible statistics for the galaxies, suns, planets and moons to all have
reached their current state, they have. The moon continues to circle the Earth
as it is has for billions of years and the Earth continues to circle the sun as
it has for billions of years. All so that conditions would be just right for us
to have our short stay here on planet Earth. I think understanding the Science
behind it makes me marvel even more at the grandeur of our God.
