November 4, 2008
"I wonder how much we spend nationally on those 'I Voted' stickers..."
Hmmm... you never hear politicians talk about cutting spending on patriotic paraphernalia.
Tuesday, November 4, 2008
Sunday, November 2, 2008
Beauty, part IV: Simplicity, Complexity, Majesty
November 2, 2008
The fourth and final installment on beauty. I'm not going to completely explain all my thoughts here; just follow along...
God's beauty: Simplicity, Complexity, Majesty
Simplicity. I wake up in the morning; the sun is beginning to rise. As it does it casts light over the earth. By this light I can see--see to walk, see to read, see other people, see creation, etc. Simple: sun rises, gives light, every day, I use that light to go about my daily routine.
Complexity. "Deep in the sun's core, nuclear fusion reactions convert hydrogen to helium, which generates energy. Particles of light called photons carry this energy through the sun's spherical shell, called the radiative zone, to the top layer of the solar interior, the convection zone. There, boiling motions of gases (like in a lava lamp) transfer the energy to the surface. This journey takes more than a million years. In addition to light, the sun radiates heat and a steady stream of charged particles known as the solar wind." (nationalgeographic.com)
To see, you need light. Light reflects off of objects, into your eyes. The light passes through the cornea and the iris, which will contract or dilate to adjust the amount of light that goes deeper into the eye. The light eventually reaches the retina where it hits the photoreceptors (rods and cones). Signals from the photoreceptors travel along nerve fibers to the optic nerve to the brain where the information is processed and interpreted. (webmd.com) It's a whole lot more complicated than this and it all literally happens in the blink of an eye.
Majesty. Job 26: 7-14
He spreads out the northern skies over empty space;
he suspends the earth over nothing.
God's beauty is far greater than I can comprehend, but I know that I see it or at least glimpses of "the outer fringe of his works". Nature and science are just oozing with God's beauty. From the simplest bacterial cell (which is honestly still pretty complex) to the most complex chemical reaction, God's creativity shines in the range of his creation.
The fourth and final installment on beauty. I'm not going to completely explain all my thoughts here; just follow along...
God's beauty: Simplicity, Complexity, Majesty
Simplicity. I wake up in the morning; the sun is beginning to rise. As it does it casts light over the earth. By this light I can see--see to walk, see to read, see other people, see creation, etc. Simple: sun rises, gives light, every day, I use that light to go about my daily routine.
Complexity. "Deep in the sun's core, nuclear fusion reactions convert hydrogen to helium, which generates energy. Particles of light called photons carry this energy through the sun's spherical shell, called the radiative zone, to the top layer of the solar interior, the convection zone. There, boiling motions of gases (like in a lava lamp) transfer the energy to the surface. This journey takes more than a million years. In addition to light, the sun radiates heat and a steady stream of charged particles known as the solar wind." (nationalgeographic.com)
To see, you need light. Light reflects off of objects, into your eyes. The light passes through the cornea and the iris, which will contract or dilate to adjust the amount of light that goes deeper into the eye. The light eventually reaches the retina where it hits the photoreceptors (rods and cones). Signals from the photoreceptors travel along nerve fibers to the optic nerve to the brain where the information is processed and interpreted. (webmd.com) It's a whole lot more complicated than this and it all literally happens in the blink of an eye.
Majesty. Job 26: 7-14
He spreads out the northern skies over empty space;
he suspends the earth over nothing.
He wraps up the waters in his clouds,
yet the clouds do not burst under their weight.
He covers the face of the full moon,
spreading his clouds over it.
He marks out the horizon on the face of the waters
for a boundary between light and darkness.
The pillars of the heavens quake,
aghast at his rebuke.
By his power he churned up the sea;
by his wisdom he cut Rahab to pieces.
By his breath the skies became fair;
his hand pierced the gliding serpent.
And these are but the outer fringe of his works;
how faint the whisper we hear of him!
Who then can understand the thunder of his power?"
God's beauty is far greater than I can comprehend, but I know that I see it or at least glimpses of "the outer fringe of his works". Nature and science are just oozing with God's beauty. From the simplest bacterial cell (which is honestly still pretty complex) to the most complex chemical reaction, God's creativity shines in the range of his creation.
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