last night my mind was so filled with a million thoughts. i just could not sleep. then i looked in my night stand for something to read thinking it would help take my mind off what i was filling it with and fill it with something else i could chew on for a while. i wanted something meaty with substance to it so i grabbed an old book that i believe was on my grandparent's bookshelf. it is vintage. it has a wonderful feel to it in your hands. it is written by a scholar of religion, james e. talmage who was one of the twelve apostles of The Church of Latter-day Saints. it was published in 1968. it is titled, a study of the articles of faith. i'd read the book, Jesus the Christ, by talmage and that was such a scholarly read on the life and mission of Jesus Christ that i knew this little vintage, simple-covered book would have plenty of meat to offer me and my worried head.
i opened to page 32 where i found a section entitled 'human reason'. i began to read.
"Human reason, operating upon observance of nature, strongly declares the existence of God. The mind mind, already imbued with the historical truths of the divine existence and its close relationship with man, will find confirmatory evidence in nature on every side; and even to him who rejects the testimony of the past, and assumes to set up his own judgment as superior to the common belief of ages, the multifarious evidences of design in nature appeal. The observer is impressed by the manifest order and system in creation; he notes the regular succession of day and night providing alternate periods of work and rest for man, animals, and plants; the sequence of the seasons, each with its longer periods of activity and recuperation; the mutual dependence of animals and plants; the circulation of water from sea to cloud, from cloud to earth again, with beneficent effect. As man proceeds to the closer examination of things he finds that by study and scientific investigation these proofs are multiplied many fold. He may learn of the laws by which the earth and its associated worlds are governed in their orbits; by which satellites are held subordinate to planets, and planets to suns; he may behold the marvels of vegetable and animal anatomy, and the surpassing mechanism of his own body; and with such appeals to his reason increasing at every step, his wonder as to who ordained all this gives place to adoration for the Creator whose presence and power are thus so forcefully proclaimed; and the observer becomes a worshiper."
talmage quotes hebrews 3:4
"Every house is builded by some man; but he that built all things is God."
then he continues referring those who profess to doubt the existence of God. he mentions that it is strange that man can find intelligence shown by the ant how builds her ant hill or the bee who is the architect of the honey-comb. man can say that there is intelligence from even these smallest things in nature from which man may learn and be wise. and yet that same man can question the operation of intelligence in the creation of worlds and in the constitution of the universe.
"Something must have existed always, for had there been a time of no existence, a period of nothingness, existence could never have begun, for from nothing, nothing can be derived. Matter and energy are eternal realities; but matter of itself is neither vital nor active, nor is force of itself intelligent; yet vitality and activity are characteristic of living things."
"Nature is not God; and to mistake the one for the other is to call the edifice the architect, the fabric the designer, the marble the sculptor, and the thing the power that made it. The system of nature is the manifestation of an order that argues a directing intelligence; and that intelligence is of an eternal character. Nature herself is a declaration of a superior Being, whose will and purpose she exhibits in her varied aspects. Beyond and above nature stands nature's God."
i needed these words. i have said recently to "let nature take its proper course". and although i do believe that nature has a course outlined it does not mean that nature's creator cannot step in and alter or redirect that course. this is where faith vs. science collide. i've been one who has been focusing on science lately. i've just been in it deeply lately. this is not to say that i don't have faith. i do have faith in God and His ability and yet when dealing so personally with a scientific process i found it easier to focus on the technicality of it. i think it is out of self preservation. i would have an easier time being let down by a scientific process alone than by my God. and yet i have my parents and family members who have been able to stand back and let their faith be exercised. i am grateful for the balance they have provided me. i am grateful to have a sort of check and balance system. suffice it to say, i enjoyed those words in last night's read. they may seem seriously academic to many but my mind ate them up and i enjoyed the feast for my brain! i was moved intellectually and spiritually or in other words, naturally and spiritually blessed.
this was the sunset that night, believe it or not.
