{"id":59,"date":"2009-06-27T08:00:00","date_gmt":"2009-06-27T08:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/scienceandthesacred\/2009\/06\/the-wonders-of-the-universe.html"},"modified":"2014-05-19T09:16:24","modified_gmt":"2014-05-19T13:16:24","slug":"the-wonders-of-the-universe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/scienceandthesacred\/2009\/06\/the-wonders-of-the-universe.html","title":{"rendered":"The Wonders of the Universe"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

<\/object><\/p>\n

While this year marks the 400th anniversary of telescope astronomy, humanity has been drawn to gaze upon the vast expanses of the heavens long before we could see to the farthest reaches of our galaxy. For the writer of the Psalms, the wonder of the sprawling skies was humbling<\/p>\n

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When I consider your heavens,
       the work of your fingers,
       the moon and the stars,
       which you have set in place, <\/i><\/p>\n

what is man that you are mindful of him, <\/i>
       the son of man that you care for him? <\/i><\/p>\n

Psalms 8:3-4<\/b><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Certainly, as modern science reminds us just how big this universe is, the same question arises: “What is man?” And as we turn our telescopes to the skies and learn more about them, even more questions seem to arise. <\/p>\n

We now understand how stars and galaxies are born and how they die. The heavens are not fixed, as we once believed, but they are expanding, growing, and changing. Stars are still being created even today. What do these new observations say about the Bible or about a Creator? Should the vastness of the cosmos inspire our faith in a higher power, or does it point to our relative insignificance in the universe?<\/p>\n

These are deep, trying questions, without easy answers. However, the words of Galileo, whose passion for the heavens led to revolutions for both science and religion, can offer us some closing insight:<\/p>\n

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“I do not feel obliged to believe that the same God who has endowed us with sense, reason, and intellect has intended us to forgo their use.”<\/i><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

For more worship videos like the one shown above, be sure to visit Highway Video’s website.<\/a><\/p>\n

\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

While this year marks the 400th anniversary of telescope astronomy, humanity has been drawn to gaze upon the vast expanses of the heavens long before we could see to the farthest reaches of our galaxy. 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