Day 60 – the summit of God’s existence
For the scientist who has lived by his faith in the power of reason, the story ends like a bad dream. He has scaled the mountains of ignorance; he is about to conquer the highest peak; as he pulls himself over the final rock, he is greeted by a band of theologians who have been sitting there for centuries. –ROBERT JASTROW
In his letter to the church at Rome, Paul argued that humans should be able to come to believe in God just by looking at the world around them. Even if they had no family to tell them, no angel to enlighten them, and no Bible to inform them, they could still perceive "God's invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature” —by looking at "the things that are made."
I have come to the conclusion that Paul was right. You and I are no different in many ways than primitive men and women thousands of years ago. We may not be as illiterate and unlearned, but we inhabit the same universe, one that bears a divine handprint. God first planted the seed of His awareness in us; then he put us in a universe with evidence of Himself all around us. If we would just take the time to examine our fascinating and complex world, that seed would begin to take root, sprout, and bloom.
This is what many of you have tried to do on our journey. Over the past sixty days, you have invested much time and effort trying to cultivate that seed of faith. My prayer is that the same God who planted it will reward you with a harvest, that you may come to believe and receive the reality of God.
With the "amen" of this prayer, we have reached the end of the first leg of our journey. I hope we will meet again at a later stage of our pilgrimage. Until then, be assured that I will always be grateful for the opportunity to have ascended the slope of God's existence with you. My faith in God has grown stronger as together we have walked over territory so familiar to me. If you likewise desire stronger faith, I encourage you to retrace these steps in the future. You, too, will better understand and more tightly embrace the reality of God. In this case, familiarity will breed contempt's opposite: reverence.
Daily Quotation
Quoted in Los Angeles Times, June 25, 1978, Part VI, 1, 6.
Romans 1:19-20 NIV
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