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| February 2008 |
| Billie Silvey |
| Where Is God? --a religious cosmology |
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| In 1961, the year I graduated from high school, Russian cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first man in space. Not long after, Soviet Premier Krushchev said “Gagarin flew into space but didn’t see any God there.” There is no evidence that Gagarin ever said those words, but his achievement was monumental. Besides being a milestone event in the history of humanity’s comprehension of space, it stimulated the United States to take Russia and space seriously and stimulated the our languishing science programs. Still, we’re left with the question. As we grow in our understanding of space, where does God fit in? |
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| Old Testament Cosmology |
| The Old Testament presents a uniform religious cosmology. On the second day of creation, God made the firmament to separate the waters below from the waters above. He called it Heaven. Then, on the fourth day, he made the sun, moon and stars and set them in the firmament (Genesis 1:6-7, 14-18). Psalm 19:1 tells us that “the heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament shows his handiwork.” The prophet Ezekiel saw a vision of four creatures. “The firmament above their heads was like the color of an awesome crystal, stretched out over their heads,” he said. “A voice came from above the firmament that was over their heads.” He saw the “likeness of a throne,” like sapphire, with a man high above it. “Like the appearance of a rainbow in a cloud on a rainy day, so was the appearance of the brightness all around it. This was the appearance of the glory of the Lord. So when I saw it, I fell on my face, and I heard a voice of One speaking” (Ezekiel 1:22-28). The Old Testament paints a picture of a physical, glorious and transcendent God. |
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| New Testament Cosmology |
| The New Testament, on the other hand, presents a less tangible, more spiritual, and more immanent view. In Christ and because of him, God lives with us and in us. Jesus said that “if anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him” (John 14:23). |
| And John wrote in Revelation, “Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God” (Revelation 21:3). According to the writer of Hebrews, “By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God’s command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible” (Hebrews 11:3). Though we can travel in space and never actually see God, we see him everywhere we go through the eyes of faith. |