Odds Are We Are Unique

I'm going to make a radical departure from the prior discussions of cooking, cleaning, and home-ownership today. Instead, I'm going to recommend an article from the March 2006 Christianity Today magazine about astronomy and math.

Hey, don't click away just yet!

I'm quite serious. And you need to know that this is the recommendation of a seriously math-impaired person. I do words. I do colors. I do perception and theory. I do not do math. And I am not impressive at science. But lately I've found myself reading books about the history of scientific development--Simon Winchester's fascinating Krakatoa and Dava Sobel's Longitude. These books put scientific exploration and development in the context of the political, cultural, and even religious history of the day and provide the perspective and continuity I need to enjoy and keep reading. Not to mention providing the education I didn't receive/retain as a child.

This is why I'm recommending this article. Even the math-impaired can benefit from the discussion of how theoretical mathematics points away from the popular assumption that there are plenty of habitable planets in this universe and toward the existence of God. As this article states:

Today, numbers from astronomy, biology, and theoretical mathematics point to a rational mind behind the universe. To be sure, they do not point to the personal God of the Bible as such. Yet they are not inimical to the biblical God, either. The apostle John prepared the way for this conclusion when he used the word for logic, reason, and rationality—logos—to describe Christ at the beginning of his Gospel: "In the beginning was the logos, and the logos was with God, and the logos was God." When we think logically, which is the goal of mathematics, we are led to think of God.

If you have non-Christian friends who are interested in science, this article could start an interesting conversation. But I think you will also find it bolsters your faith and expands your knowledge base. To read the rest, visit Christianity Today's website for "God by the Numbers."

Comments

[Christina]

That was an incredible article. There is something fulfilling about appreciating, studying and attempting to wrap even a bit of our minds around the mystery of it all. I loved that he included descriptors like "profound elegance, beauty and utter serendipity" and that it all came back to logos.