God & Science

First, let me start by saying this is the perfect song to describe the mood I'm in right now:  HALLELUJAH!

Today I officially finished my 3rd semester at State by taking my Biology exam.  I switched my major to biology last year, even though if you would have asked me my opinion on biology in high school I would have told you quickly how much I did not like it (I think it's because I did not have a good teacher).  However, now I absolutely LOVE biology.  I have a great professor and something about it just clicks for me.  The last part of our class, and the majority of our final, was on the human digestive system & heart. 

What amazes me is how intricate our entire body is.  Everything has a purpose [unless it's vestigial, like your appendix ;) ] and everything works together.  If one thing was/is off, your entire body can shut down very quickly.  On the other hand, if something is off our bodies know what to do in order to help get back to normal.  I loved learning about the heart and all the functions that has.  The way the blood flows and pumps in and out of our heart & lungs & throughout our body is very specific and perfect for us. 

The more I study biology the more I realize how much thought God put into making our bodies & our environment.  Our oxygen levels must be just so, this limb must meet this limb like this, our bodies need these chemicals in order to function, ect.  How do people think that this happened by chance?  I understand that not everybody believes in the same God I do or believes that we were formed by his awesome & loving hands, but how can our bodies, which have more miracles in them than anything else (in my opinion) happen by chance?  To me the idea that one day a long time ago there was a big bang and the earth is the way it is with us on it and just happening to work perfectly seems much more far fetched than believing that their is a God who made us this way with a purpose.  I cannot wait to take my future biology classes that deal with things on the more cellular level with things like genetics to see how exactly it is our body works.  I feel like these classes, while they may be challenging, will help renew my faith that God created each and every one of us with a purpose. 

Even when you get out of the body side of biology and you look at our environment I can't see how people think this happened by a coincidence.  Did you know that if the Earth were any closer to the sun, we would burn up and not be able to live on this planet?  In the same retrospect, if the Earth were any farther away from the sun we would freeze.  The orbit our Earth takes is perfect.  Perfect by choice, not chance.  When you look up at the sky at night, it is estimated that we as humans can see about 2,500 stars by the naked eye and about 5,000-8,000 visible total on Earth.  However, did you know there is an estimated 200 to 400 billion stars in the Milky Way?  We can only see up to 1000 light years away with our naked eyes, the Milky Way is 100,000 light years across in diameter.  Remember - this is all just in our one galaxy that our solar system is in. The nearest large spiral galaxy like the Milky Way is over 2.7 million light years away.  It is estimated that there are over 125 billion galaxies in the universe.  I don't think that we as humans can comprehend how huge our universe is and how absolutely tiny our little part on Earth is in the big picture.

Here are some pictures to help put the size of the earth into something you can see to try and understand:

 This is the Earth in comparison to some of the smaller planets & pluto

 Now you can see how small earth is just compared to other planets in our system 

 You may need glasses or to zoom in your computer to see earth compared to the sun

 That small orange dot on the left is our sun.  Arcturus is a large star in our galaxy that is 25 times the sun's diameter.  The other two our stars as well

 Beltelgeuse is a bright red star that is 650 times the sun's diameter

And just to put it in a larger picture, that itty bitty dot you probably can't see is our sun with respect to our galaxy the Milky Way.  Remember, the Milky Way is one of an estimated 150 billion galaxies in our Universe.

Feel small, don't ya?

And again I ask, this happened by chance?

Any who, that is  my spiritual thought of the past couple days. There are much more facts about the way our Earth works that fascinate me and help point me in the direction of not happening by chance.  If you ever want to talk about it, let me know, I'd love to!

Have a great week!

MB

"When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him? You made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor. You made him ruler over the works of your hands; you put everything under his feet: all flocks and herds, and the beasts of the field, the birds of the air, and the fish of the sea, all that swim the paths of the seas. O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!"

Psalm 8:3-9