The Fingerprints of God

Since the creation of the world His invisible attributes,

His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen,

being understood through what has been made ...

Romans 1:20

I do some of my good, deep thinking in the shower. (Too much information?) Anyway, the source of this most recent pondering is my cancer.

It's not a big deal; there's no need to worry.  It doesn't even remotely compare with those who are suffering through leukemia, breast cancer and the like. I have had malignant melanoma in the past. It's a genetic gift from my mother. (Thanks, Mom!) I get checked out annually at Sunnybrook and the amazing Dr. Mary Mackenzie keeps a close and caring eye on me! She noticed something unusual in colour on one of my moles and referred me to another doctor to have it removed. Not the first time, probably not the last. It'll give me another cool scar to make up some ridiculous story about!

What sparked the "deep thought" was that, when I went to the plastic surgeon, I also had him look at something unusual on the side of my nose. He immediately identified it as a basal cell.

What made me think I should point it out to the doctor? That little bump on the side of my nose wasn't behaving the way it was supposed to.

Isn't that interesting? The fact that it wasn't behaving as it was supposed to implied that there was a way in which it was supposed to behave. According to what? Or who?

The truth is, your cells ARE supposed to behave a certain way; it's in their internal programming, in the DNA. But why? If we are to believe that we (as living organisms) arrived by random, naturalistic processes, then why would ANYTHING have a "supposed to" state at all?  Logically, chaos + time on its own does not equal order + structure; it requires the external input of intelligence. I see this as I look out the window at my lawn and gardens; heaven knows I've waited a long time, and the chaos has not come to order by itself! It's going to require my (ahem!) intelligence to bring some order and structure to the chaos that is there. Left to itself, it will revert back to wilderness. The very fact that there IS a structure, and order, and predictability, to the universe, is an argument for a Creator.  Even Charles Darwin said, "The impossibility of conceiving that this grand and wondrous universe, with our conscious selves, arose through chance, seems to me the chief argument for the existence of God."

I am a marine biologist by training, and a teacher of mathematics by profession. However, I am not just a scientist because I've been trained to be; it's in my very nature (you can ask my wife). If my faith was indeed blind, if it required me to ignore or refuse the facts, the truth, I could not; it would contradict every part of my being. But in fact, what I find is that what I read and learn from God's Word, the Bible, beautifully and cogently explains what I see and what I experience in the world around me.

The Bible tells us that God wants to be known by us, that He desires to reveal Himself to us so that we can have a relationship with Him. Romans 1:20 (above) indicates that He reveals something about Himself in the very universe He created, just as we might learn things about a painter by examining the painting, or about a sculptor by examining the sculpture. The creation reveals that the Creator is powerful, and creative; artistic, and detailed. The creation shows us that the Creator must, by definition, be outside of His creation, beyond His creation, free from the limits of His creation.

But I can't ever truly know Picasso, or Michelangelo, or any other famous artist, just by examining their work. To truly know a creator, I would have to be able to meet them and spend time with them.

And that's precisely what God, the Creator, made possible. He came to this world, in the person of Jesus, to have us meet Him, and be able to spend time with Him, to truly know Him. He explained God to us through His words, and He showed God to us through His actions. Most importantly, He demonstrated the incredible, incomprehensible love of God for us by going to the cross and dying in our place, so that a relationship with God could become a possibility, even a reality!  And God left us the Bible so that we could read this "letter from God" and understand His plan, His design, and His heart for us.

Dear reader, I'm here to tell you that you are not an accident; you are an intentional part of God's magnificent work of art!  He came up with the idea for you, and He formed you with intent and purpose. He knows you, and He wants you to know Him. And those of us who know Him and are known by Him want that same beautiful intimacy with God for you! One way to explore this topic in a very open and non-threatening way is through Alpha. My wife and I are presently hosting an Alpha course. Every Monday, we share a meal together with the group, watch a 25-minute video and then spend some time in discussion. We love the friendships we develop with some fascinating people! If Alpha sounds like something you might enjoy, see if there is an Alpha course being offered in your area here.

Sir Francis Bacon, great scientist of the 1600s, wrote "Let no man or woman, out of conceit or laziness, think or believe that anyone can search too far or be too well informed in the Book of God's Words or the Book of God's Works: Religion or Science. Instead, let everyone endlessly improve their understanding of both." Both God's Works and God's Word reveal His character and His nature.

And as a result, I can even find it possible to thank God for the things He's teaching me about Himself through my cancer.