The Science of God - how a lover of physics found the truth in Christianity

Chapter 6

If we can come to grips with the issue of eternity, timelessness, and the infinite expanse of the universe, then we can begin to understand the God spoken of by Jews and Christians. The problem is, of course, that we cannot come to grips with any of those things. Therefore, it is an impossibility to even begin to grasp the God who created it.

I'm sorry, there's that word again. God. It's the one thing that seems to stop the man of science cold. The image of the great sky fairy cannot be shaken from his consciousness. And for this he cannot be blamed. After all, for centuries, the God of the Hebrew bible, the one that struck awe and fear into the hearts of the strongest men, the one who Moses couldn't even look at "lest I should die," has been reduced to the kindly old daddy of modern Christianity.

Abba, father, is our favorite, isn't it? Not the God who sent down fire and brimstone on Sodom and Gamorah. We've lost our fear. There is no trembling in His presence. Approach the throne room boldly, we do, and entreat him with our presence. "Jesus is my homeboy" bumper stickers grace the cars of the faithful.

But this god isn't the God mentioned in the bible. Yes, Paul tells us that we are adopted sons and daughters, grafted in to the vine, etc., etc., but he also makes it clear that the grafted vine can be lopped off, tossed into the fire with the weeds and other plants that produce no fruit.

We ignore these phrases in favor of our "homeboy" god. It is no wonder that the cultural tide has shifted in favor of atheism or, at least, agnostacism. I, for one, struggle to believe in the great homeboy upstairs. But if I go back to my love of science and the expanse of the universe, with the knowledge that an energy force greater than I can conceive created all that, then there is no image of a homeboy, nor of a kindly sky fairy granting the requests of his loyal childrenn.

I fear this God. For what am I in the presence of such power? The image of the ant at the mercy of the man doesn't even come close. The Milky Way is the ant if we are to use more accurate proportions. In that sense, what am I? And we find these lines in the Hebrew bible. Men so overwhelmed with the vastness of the universe and the countless stars that they wonder why the creator of it all would even remember their presence on this one tiny spec among those stars.

If we can, Christians, work toward regaining the fear that we've lost, of refusing to even lift our eyes in His presence, lest we see His face and die, then perhaps we stand a better chance of refuting the sky fairy atheists who see us as dancing fools, praising a god in the manner that a child praises Santa Claus.

Because, if we are honest with ourselves, we are praising a fantasy god. One who does not exist. If we stop praising that god and start fearing The God who is so immense that a mere glimpse of Him would drive us mad and kill us on the spot, then we have a chance.

Or, more specifically, the world has a chance. Because if we don't turn the tide, we'll still be on the ark, but we will not be able to shield our eyes from the millions we've allowed to drown.