“And behold, all things have their likeness, and all things are created and made to bear record of [God], both things which are temporal, and things which are spiritual; things which are in the heavens above, and things which are on the earth, and things which are in the earth, and things which are under the earth, both above and beneath: all things bear record of [God].”
I
believe God created all things and that natural laws are His laws. This is why
I have chosen the title “Material Miracles”. Many believe that miracles happen
only through a supernatural force, but I feel this is too limiting. Just
because we can explain something, and science is incredibly powerful at doing
that, does not mean it is any less a miracle.
We
can see the testimony of God and His plan in everyday things of the physical
world. I hope to convey my observations of the natural realm as a testimony of
Him. For me, many of these connections have come in the form of analogies and
symbolism. Forgive me the simplifications that will inevitably come with such
comparisons; I still learn from them and hopefully others also will.
The
other area I will likely post about are autobiographical experiences I have
dealing with my chronic neuropathic pain as I have spina bifida and a tethered spinal cord. This part of my life has given me the
opportunity to see how generous we humans can be as well as how loving our God
is. I truly see His kind hand in all things. With this will likely be some quotes I find inspiring or in some way poignant.
One
thing that will likely come up as I tend to think about it often, but is not my
intended focus of the blog, is the integration of science and faith. Others
have written extensively on this topic (http://www.sciencemeetsreligion.org, http://biologos.org), and I
think it is important. In fact, twice I have given a fireside (a church forum) on
this subject for my church. I just also think that focusing on why both science
and religion testify of God gets past the contention that can arise from such
topics and helps us see the richness of their combination.
Two
things I will do my best to avoid are speculation and contention. Though I plan
on making analogies of scientific/natural concepts and discoveries, I do not
wish to indulge in idle speculation of how they make us understand religion.
For example, looking at the last genetic ancestor common to all humans, or the
timing of that event, does not tell us anything about Adam and Eve. I believe
they existed as two individuals that would be indistinguishable from those we
see everyday. I have no idea when they lived or by what means they are the
parents "of us all", but I accept that they did live and are the
parents of us all.
As
to contention: I don't like contention, but I welcome constructive critique or perspective. For a good talk on how this should be
approached see Elder Quentin L. Cook's talk “We Follow Jesus Christ” starting
with "Many in this world are afraid...". You can contact me with gmail at 'materialmiracles', for those truly interested. Sorry, if I don't respond.
I guess this is less "About the Blog" and more what I hope the blog to be. I
hope you find something of use in this blog.
UPDATE[2 Oct 2012]: I am going to start allowing moderated comments on the blog and see how it goes.
UPDATE[2 Oct 2012]: I am going to start allowing moderated comments on the blog and see how it goes.