Thought for Today
Genesis 1:1 In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth,
Psalm 8:3 When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars that you have established;
Matthew 24:29 "Immediately after the suffering of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of heaven will be shaken.
Acts 27:20 When neither sun nor stars appeared for many days, and no small tempest raged, all hope of our being saved was at last abandoned.
"’God of the gaps’ is a theological concept that emerged in the 19th century, and revolves around the idea that gaps in scientific understanding are regarded as indications of the existence of God. This perspective has its origins in the observation that some individuals, often with religious inclinations, point to areas where science falls short in explaining natural phenomena as opportunities to insert the presence of a divine creator. The term itself was coined in response to this tendency. This theological view suggests that God fills in the gaps left by scientific knowledge, and that these gaps represent moments of divine intervention or influence.” (en.wikipedia.org)
Yesterday I encountered a word that reminded me of that concept above. The word is ‘irregular.’ The word does not appear in the Bible. Its antonym, ‘regular,’ primarily appears in the context of offerings to be made in the Temple in Jerusalem.
I was initially trained as an engineer. Engineers and scientists are dependent on the regularity of creation and reality. If we encounter an irregularity, it exposes a flaw or gap in our knowledge and in our theories about how things work. It also frequently offers an opportunity for new ideas and inventions.
All of our science and technology depend on the regularity of our universe. If we find an occasion where 2 + 2 ≠ 4, something is amiss. Gravity always makes things fall; it never makes things rise. The sun always rises in the east and sets in the west . . . everywhere, every day and night. From Genesis to Revelation, the writers of the Bible understood that truth.
The history of mathematics, science and technology reveals that sometimes we analyze and understand the deepest mysteries of God’s Creation correctly, and sometimes we completely misunderstand them. No matter how many thought or still think the sun revolves around the earth, the opposite is true.
So, why did reading the word ‘irregular’ make me think about that concept I first encountered in seminary? In part, because that concept is inherently flawed. It completely misunderstands both God and science. All of our scientific knowledge, all of our mathematics, all of our technology is merely our unveiling some of the mechanics behind Genesis 1:1.
The real question about the relationship between God and those ‘gaps’ is asked by the psalmist in verse 8:4, “what are human beings that you are mindful of them, mortals that you care for them?” And that question always reminds me of a favorite trope of my Systematic Theology professor, “The only thing God cannot do is not be God.”
We use words like omnipotent, omniscient and omnipresent to try to comprehend God. Those words are all, obviously, true of God. But how can human language ever hope to capture the totality of the Creator of Creation with mere words? How can created human minds ever hope to capture the totality of the Creator of Creation with mere human thoughts?
I believe the reality of that impossibility was behind Paul’s words when he wrote, “1 Corinthians 13:11 When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child; when I became an adult, I put an end to childish ways.” It is not that all of our science, mathematics and technology are childish. It is that the totality of God is far beyond our comprehension. What we understand as ‘irregularities’ are not irregular. We just cannot fully comprehend the knowledge, the power and the universality of our Creator. Fortunately, we also cannot fully comprehend the infinite and eternal love of our Creator and the grace God extends to us all.
Stay safe, find God in everything and everywhere, trust God,
Pastor Ray