"19For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. 20For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. (Romans 1:19-20)"
Passages like this send hope into my world. Every year on this earth, man is seeing the majestic work of God in His creation. Studying physics is amazing. Humans have tried to analyze the physical world for so long (many for different reasons searching for answers, knowledge, money, "the common good" etc.), and from every angle there is a resounding YES to intelligent design. This is arguable, but how can you examine the vast expanse above or the subatomic particles of a atom or the chemicals in a leaf turning rays of light into oxygen... or the human body! and not recognize their perfect, complex and intricate nature without paying homage to something greater. I don't speak as if everyone should know and cherish this truth, as many, even most do not! It's always advantageous to know, that part of every human being devises ways or schemes or ideals to make themselves feel better or above another. BUT WE KNOW THE TRUTH do we not? Be careful. Arrogance in knowing the truth is different then speaking it in love. Discern truth, love God, love others.
I enjoyed a phrase Richard Feynman coined in 1974 called "Cargo Cult Science." He instructed his graduated students "The first principle is that you must not fool yourself—and you are the easiest person to fool. So you have to be very careful about that. After you've not fooled yourself, it's easy not to fool other scientists. You just have to be honest in a conventional way after that." He got the phrase from Cargo Cults which are essentially cultures who adopt beliefs in cargo, specifically in indigenous peoples, where they worship and hold foreign cargo (guns, radios, technology etc.) as spiritual items to be desired and worshiped. It's common to see these people groups as millenarianist, believing that the coming of these goods will bring an eventual positive period of time to be hoped for, not dissimilar to what we see in Christianity, as we hope for eternal life in heaven in the coming of King Jesus.
We can see 'Cargo Cult Science' in the experiment to measure the electric charge of an electron in 1909. The 'Oil-drop' experiment used drops of oil suspended by an electric field between two metal electrodes. Robert Millikan conducted this experimented and calculated the elementary charge, which he concluded to be about 1.5924(17) x 10−19 coulombs (the 17 in parentheses represents the uncertainty), when after so long we have come to know the elementary charge to be 1.60217653(14) x 10−19 coulombs. Here's a quote from Feynman
"Why didn't they discover the new number was higher right away? It's a thing that scientists are ashamed of - this history - because it's apparent that people did things like this: When they got a number that was too high above Millikan's, they thought something must be wrong - and they would look for and find a reason why something might be wrong. When they got a number close to Millikan's value they didn't look so hard. And so they eliminated the numbers that were too far off, and did other things like that. We've learned those tricks nowadays, and now we don't have that kind of a disease." Feynman lecture at Caltech in 1974
"20For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope 21that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God. (Romans 8:20-21)"
We are frustrated, antagonized, confused, coerced, hardened, all the while spitting and shoving and complaining and thirsting for the blood of fairness, that we deserve, that we need our will, our own scheme of righteousness outside the peace that creation has shown us. Next time your hurt, depressed, broken, busted, disgusted, rusted & mistrusted, look to the sky. Look up in the effin sky and remember that your life is but a vapor in the whole of redemptive history. You think your elect?* Start acting like it.
Passages like this send hope into my world. Every year on this earth, man is seeing the majestic work of God in His creation. Studying physics is amazing. Humans have tried to analyze the physical world for so long (many for different reasons searching for answers, knowledge, money, "the common good" etc.), and from every angle there is a resounding YES to intelligent design. This is arguable, but how can you examine the vast expanse above or the subatomic particles of a atom or the chemicals in a leaf turning rays of light into oxygen... or the human body! and not recognize their perfect, complex and intricate nature without paying homage to something greater. I don't speak as if everyone should know and cherish this truth, as many, even most do not! It's always advantageous to know, that part of every human being devises ways or schemes or ideals to make themselves feel better or above another. BUT WE KNOW THE TRUTH do we not? Be careful. Arrogance in knowing the truth is different then speaking it in love. Discern truth, love God, love others.
I enjoyed a phrase Richard Feynman coined in 1974 called "Cargo Cult Science." He instructed his graduated students "The first principle is that you must not fool yourself—and you are the easiest person to fool. So you have to be very careful about that. After you've not fooled yourself, it's easy not to fool other scientists. You just have to be honest in a conventional way after that." He got the phrase from Cargo Cults which are essentially cultures who adopt beliefs in cargo, specifically in indigenous peoples, where they worship and hold foreign cargo (guns, radios, technology etc.) as spiritual items to be desired and worshiped. It's common to see these people groups as millenarianist, believing that the coming of these goods will bring an eventual positive period of time to be hoped for, not dissimilar to what we see in Christianity, as we hope for eternal life in heaven in the coming of King Jesus.
We can see 'Cargo Cult Science' in the experiment to measure the electric charge of an electron in 1909. The 'Oil-drop' experiment used drops of oil suspended by an electric field between two metal electrodes. Robert Millikan conducted this experimented and calculated the elementary charge, which he concluded to be about 1.5924(17) x 10−19 coulombs (the 17 in parentheses represents the uncertainty), when after so long we have come to know the elementary charge to be 1.60217653(14) x 10−19 coulombs. Here's a quote from Feynman
"Why didn't they discover the new number was higher right away? It's a thing that scientists are ashamed of - this history - because it's apparent that people did things like this: When they got a number that was too high above Millikan's, they thought something must be wrong - and they would look for and find a reason why something might be wrong. When they got a number close to Millikan's value they didn't look so hard. And so they eliminated the numbers that were too far off, and did other things like that. We've learned those tricks nowadays, and now we don't have that kind of a disease." Feynman lecture at Caltech in 1974
"20For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope 21that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God. (Romans 8:20-21)"
We are frustrated, antagonized, confused, coerced, hardened, all the while spitting and shoving and complaining and thirsting for the blood of fairness, that we deserve, that we need our will, our own scheme of righteousness outside the peace that creation has shown us. Next time your hurt, depressed, broken, busted, disgusted, rusted & mistrusted, look to the sky. Look up in the effin sky and remember that your life is but a vapor in the whole of redemptive history. You think your elect?* Start acting like it.
