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Jim McCrory

Finding God in the Stars

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Edited by Jim McCrory, Tuesday, 17 Sept 2024, 19:48


Creation itself makes His undying power and divine identity clear


Image courtesy of https://unsplash.com/@martiko11


I suppose it must have been the late summer. I had been spending summer on an idyllic Island off the coast. We had a cabin with no running water or electricity. My job was to go and fill up the water containers from the communal well. Cows would cautiously approach and stare curiously whilst the smaller ones would shuffle through for front-row viewing.

At dusk, we would light paraffin lamps to illuminate the nights. My father would read children’s books. We were all ears as he read Heidi, Tales From 1001 Nights and Chinese Folk Tales. We ate freshly made pancakes washed down with jam and small glasses of sweet stout. The lamp caused a sibilant sound as it burned up kerosene. It flickered and fostered sleepiness. It finally slumbered for the evening, and we would retire.

I lay there in my bed watching the stars cascading through the window; every one of them. And I wondered if the Chinese farmer boys, or the Bedouin shepherd boys or the milk maids in the Swiss mountains were seeing and feeling the sense of awe that I felt in my heart as the universe entered in. God whispered his presence.

***********

Childhood memories like that visited me often and reminded me of my spiritual awareness
from an early age, albeit in my own childish way. I had an ache to know who created the stars, the moon, and the beautiful island that was so distant from my industrial town where idle men lingered on street corners like characters from a Loury painting. Where post-war tenements blocked natural light. Where unkempt dogs savaged through bins for scraps. Where it always seemed, there was better places to be raised.

Later I read the following verses,


"When I gaze to the skies and meditate on Your creation—

    on the moon, stars, and all You have made,

 I can’t help but wonder why You care about mortals—

    sons and daughters of men—

    specks of dust floating about the cosmos. Psalm 8:3,4.


"From the beginning, creation in its magnificence enlightens us to His nature. Creation itself makes His undying power and divine identity clear, even though they are invisible..." Romans 1:20 (Voice).




Scripture taken from The Voice™. Copyright © 2012 by Ecclesia Bible Society. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Writing:  © 2024 Jim McCrory
















https://unsplash.com/@martiko11

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Jim McCrory

The None-Theist Quandary Part 2: What Prompts Photons and Electrons to Perform Their Wonder?

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Edited by Jim McCrory, Wednesday, 10 July 2024, 11:28

When you realize that the laws of nature must be incredibly finely tuned to produce the universe we see, that conspires to plant the idea that the universe did not just happen, but that there must be a purpose behind it.”

.                                                                 John Polkinghorne, (Physicist).


https://unsplash.com/@bmowinkel


There are thoughts that shimmer in our heads and hearts in our silent moments. Arising unexpectedly like the Northern Lights. Awe-inspiring in their scope. They reach the deepest parts. 

Why are we here? Why is there something rather than nothing? Why does our solar system work? Why is the earth filled with a bountiful array of fruit and vegetation. Why do we love? Why is the earth so pretty. Who made all this? 

As a child I had an ache to know who created the wonderful planet we live on. Afterall, this didn't just happen, it all seemed so purposeful. 

One profound fact that confirmed this as I got older, was the  fine-tuning of the cosmos. Four of those  fundamental physical forces are  electromagnetism, gravity, strong nuclear force, and weak nuclear force. The minutest tweak with any of these constants would send humans into oblivion.

I would ask questions like "What prompts the electron to spin round the atom?" "What compels the photon, when you cut it down the middle,  and  put one half in Australia and the other in UK,  that it still behaves as one in this dance of molecular entanglement ?" I could only see a wise and purposeful designer behind all this?

Some may argue that with all the possible universes that exist, by the law of averages, one solar system would have accidently produced the goods for life. Really? We are dealing with figures that are infinitely unlikely and beyond the laws of averages. Besides, even if that were true, there is still the matter of where matter came from.

But that is not all. What about DNA? Look at the image above, what do you see? Would you say that these crude images just appeared on the rock by accident? No. The truth is some intelligent mind formed it on the landscape. Now look at the image below. It is far more complex than the Mount Rushmore images of former presidents of the USA. And yet, many acquiesce  to the irrationality of it all.




The Occam's Razor concept proposes that we go for the simplest explanation 

"For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood from His workmanship, so that men are without excuse." Romans 1:20 (BSB).


DNA  image by https://unsplash.com/@3dparadise

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