From Dean Ohlman on February 22, 2011

God’s angry displeasure erupts as acts of human mistrust and wrongdoing and lying accumulate, as people try to put a shroud over truth. But the basic reality of God is plain enough. Open your eyes and there it is! By taking a long and thoughtful look at what God has created, people have always been able to see what their eyes as such can’t see: eternal power, for instance, and the mystery of his divine being. So nobody has a good excuse. What happened was this: People knew God perfectly well, but when they didn’t treat him like God, refusing to worship him, they trivialized themselves into silliness and confusion so that there was neither sense nor direction left in their lives. They pretended to know it all, but were illiterate regarding life. They traded the glory of God who holds the whole world in his hands for cheap figurines you can buy at any roadside stand (Romans 1:18-20 in Eugene Peterson’s paraphrase The Message)

Cat’s Eye Nebula, Hubble image

For years I referenced Romans 1:20 without “taking a long and thoughtful look at what God created,” what the King James Version calls the “invisible things of him from the creation of the world [that] are clearly seen.” So several years ago I decided to study the created world to see if I could discover with the human senses attributes of the natural world that demonstrate concepts that would strike the human mind and reveal God’s eternal power and the mystery of his divine being, an expression that means that the attributes of the creation will compel us to worship—and humans will worship either the Creator or the creation. If one is tempted to think that humanists do not worship, consider the godlike creative power they grant to Mathematics, the Laws of Physics, and Evolution and the “temples” to each they have erected on virtually every secular university campus.

Below is the list to which I keep finding attributes to add. Perhaps you might take a long and thoughtful look at what God created over the next few days and see if you can add to this list. Use the comments link to add your own discoveries.

Aspects of the natural world that demonstrate our Creator’s “eternal power and divine nature.”

1. Mysterious light and matter
(which still defy human definition and understanding)2. Seemingly endless time
(no clearly apparent beginning or end)3. Seemingly endless space
(eternality seen in the microcosm and macrocosm)4. Preservation of energy
(the inexplicable laws of thermodynamics)5. Astronomical extravagance and magnitude
(“Billions and billions” according to Carl Sagan, who never appeared to see the Creator)6. Wonderful life
(inexplicable in its essence and origin—and known on earth alone)7. Fearsome, but essential, death
(which is marvelously linked to life)8. Profound mystery
(aspects that are beyond human understanding)9. Abiding orderliness
(out of what seems chaotic)10. Mathematical precision
(to the point of being beautiful and elegant)11. Unfailing regularity
(making the creation mostly predictable)12. Sabbath peace
(the balance of rest with activity)13. Inexplicable love
(warming the human soul)14. Revitalizing stillness
(calming and healing the human soul)15. Remarkable harmony
(comforting the human soul)16. Unfathomable complexity
(defying human simplification)17. Awesome power
(far exceeding our own)18. Incredibly informed design
(absolutely beyond human duplication)19. Virtually endless variety
(unbelievable biodiversity)20. Amazing adaptability
(micro-evolutionary change)21. Overwhelming beauty
(thrilling the heart and soul)22. Extravagant fruitfulness
(offering people more than enough)23. Sacrificial nurture
(parents willing to die for their young)24. Abundant joy
(the celebration of life even by animals)25. Limitless sensory stimulation
(providing “candy” for all our senses)26. Complex interrelationships
(life depends upon community)27. Impressive resourcefulness
(animals confounding human attempts to restrict them)28. Exceptional efficiency
(nature’s economy unrivaled by human effort)29. Waste-less recycling
(nature providing the “gold standard” for human effort)30. Dedicated perseverance
(animals putting people to shame)31. Natural models for human work and leisure
(structures fundamental for human creativity)32. Animal fear of people
(grieving the human soul)33. Creation in agony—groaning
(awaiting the end of the curse and the rule of the loving Creator Jesus, and the children of God)34. The image of God: mankind
(An unbridgeable gap between people and the other created things—people alone having the capacity for creative thinking and behavior, abstract reasoning, and symbolic language—and having innate morality and the instinct to worship)

Image

Upload an image file, pick one from your media library, or add one with a URL.UploadMedia LibraryInsert from URL

Cat’s Eye Nebula, Hubble image

For years I referenced Romans 1:20 without “taking a long and thoughtful look at what God created,” what the King James Version calls the “invisible things of him from the creation of the world [that] are clearly seen.” So several years ago I decided to study the created world to see if I could discover with the human senses attributes of the natural world that demonstrate concepts that would strike the human mind and reveal God’s eternal power and the mystery of his divine being, an expression that means that the attributes of the creation will compel us to worship—and humans will worship either the Creator or the creation. If one is tempted to think that humanists do not worship, consider the godlike creative power they grant to Mathematics, the Laws of Physics, and Evolution and the “temples” to each they have erected on virtually every secular university campus.

Below is the list to which I keep finding attributes to add. Perhaps you might take a long and thoughtful look at what God created over the next few days and see if you can add to this list. Use the comments link to add your own discoveries.

Aspects of the natural world that demonstrate our Creator’s “eternal power and divine nature.”

1. Mysterious light and matter
(which still defy human definition and understanding)2. Seemingly endless time
(no clearly apparent beginning or end)3. Seemingly endless space
(eternality seen in the microcosm and macrocosm)4. Preservation of energy
(the inexplicable laws of thermodynamics)5. Astronomical extravagance and magnitude
(“Billions and billions” according to Carl Sagan, who never appeared to see the Creator)6. Wonderful life
(inexplicable in its essence and origin—and known on earth alone)7. Fearsome, but essential, death
(which is marvelously linked to life)8. Profound mystery
(aspects that are beyond human understanding)9. Abiding orderliness
(out of what seems chaotic)10. Mathematical precision
(to the point of being beautiful and elegant)11. Unfailing regularity
(making the creation mostly predictable)12. Sabbath peace
(the balance of rest with activity)13. Inexplicable love
(warming the human soul)14. Revitalizing stillness
(calming and healing the human soul)15. Remarkable harmony
(comforting the human soul)16. Unfathomable complexity
(defying human simplification)17. Awesome power
(far exceeding our own)18. Incredibly informed design
(absolutely beyond human duplication)19. Virtually endless variety
(unbelievable biodiversity)20. Amazing adaptability
(micro-evolutionary change)21. Overwhelming beauty
(thrilling the heart and soul)22. Extravagant fruitfulness
(offering people more than enough)23. Sacrificial nurture
(parents willing to die for their young)24. Abundant joy
(the celebration of life even by animals)25. Limitless sensory stimulation
(providing “candy” for all our senses)26. Complex interrelationships
(life depends upon community)27. Impressive resourcefulness
(animals confounding human attempts to restrict them)28. Exceptional efficiency
(nature’s economy unrivaled by human effort)29. Waste-less recycling
(nature providing the “gold standard” for human effort)30. Dedicated perseverance
(animals putting people to shame)31. Natural models for human work and leisure
(structures fundamental for human creativity)32. Animal fear of people
(grieving the human soul)33. Creation in agony—groaning
(awaiting the end of the curse and the rule of the loving Creator Jesus, and the children of God)34. The image of God: mankind
(An unbridgeable gap between people and the other created things—people alone having the capacity for creative thinking and behavior, abstract reasoning, and symbolic language—and having innate morality and the instinct to worship)

As a further exercise, try to think of examples of these attributes you are familiar with in the creation.PageBlock

As a further exercise, try to think of examples of these attributes you are familiar with in the creation.