God and Astronomy – Study Project

It is sad that our everyday experiences do not enrich our spirituality, much less our theology. We don’t look at the star-littered night sky and make theological assertions as much as we do on a Sunday morning service during ‘praise and worship’ (at least this is my experience). But, the psalmist could sing God’s praises when he looked at the night sky: “ The heavens declare the glory of God and the firmament his handiwork” (Ps 19:1); When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained; …O LORD our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth!” (Psalm 8:3,9); “He telleth [counts] the number of the stars; he calleth them all by their names.” (Psalm 147:4). The grandeur and the complexity of the universe do not evoke the sense of wonder. Are we losing our humanity? Hugh Ross contends, “Gazing at the night sky seems to raise profound questions not only about the Universe but also about ourselves”. Why is it that we don’t get into a reflective mood when we gaze into the night sky? No wonder, our spirituality is shortsighted, dull and boring.

The bible affirms that, “ In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth [ Gen 1:1]. Why is that we have resigned the study of the universe to those with “ God-is-not-necessary-to-explain-anything” persuasions. Actually, it is Christians who should be the first to engage in the study of astronomy because it tells us much about God’s vast creation and his daily care for us. George Roche contends, “ it really does matter and matter very much, how we think about the cosmos”. Today we know a lot amore about the universe than we did a century back. Ironically, we know that we don’t know much about the universe. However, the discoveries in the last century have brought “God” into mainstream academic discussion. Astronomers are now talking a lot about God and new findings make for the case for a universe designed by God so compelling. In the book, Creator and Cosmos, Hugh Ross writes,” No other generation has witnessed so many discoveries about the universe…Not only can we measure certain aspects of the universe, but in these measurements we are discovering some of the characteristics of the one who fashioned it all”

The study of the universe informs our worldview – how we look at all of life, how we answer questions of origin, identity, meaning, morality, salvation, history and destiny and how we live and order our lives. Historically, anyone who accepted a particular cosmological model has had to re-orient his thoughts drastically in many areas. We live in an age where the dominance of science is felt in every arena of life. Worse, their influence has spilled over into the entertainment arena. Atheistic scientists/filmmakers/storywriters are vocal in their “god-less” pronouncements about the universe. Our kids are watching their sci-fi films and serials, reading science fiction books, and reading other published material about the universe. It is time we stand up to “ declare the glory of God revealed through the cosmos”.

At the wisdomtree – the academy of the faithful, we have begun a study project on God and astronomy. Hopefully, this would evolve into some publishing material. We are also involved in the production of presentations for young people titled; The story of the Universe, Is there someone out there?, and An Earth made for life. For more information contact writespace4sam@gmail.com