Grace and amazement

It would seem, going by the comments I have received, that there are two kinds of believers - those who believe because of proof, and those who believe because of faith. I don't know if I fall into either camp. I believe because it feels right. I believe because I am amazed by God's work.

Take for example the laws of science and chaos. By right, chaos should not exist. The basic laws of science can be counted on one hand (almost). The three laws of Newton are so simple they are almost ludicrous: things don't move unless you push them, when you push them they move faster the harder you push, and finally, they push back with an equal force. Most importantly, the laws of science are universal - there is no exception.

Arctic Lights (Aurora borealis)

Consider the weather. The snow in winter, rain in the tropics, typhoons and the arctic lights are all the result of 4 simple facts: the earth orbits around the sun, the earth rotates around its axis, the earth's rotation is tilted and the earth's surface has a land mass, a water mass and an atmosphere. Based simply on these facts and the various laws of physics, we get all the climates of the world. Not only this, the weather is so variable we cannot predict accurately when it might rain, or when typhoons might occur, or the amount of cloud cover for any particular day. This is because, despite the fact that nature follows the laws of science utterly, there is still chaos. Well, we now know that chaos is not chaos as we understand the concept but a higher form of order.

Fractals

I am simply amazed.

It seems to me that this is how God intends it. There exists several arguments that try to prove that God exists, of which perhaps the most famous and most frequently plagiarized and doctored is Thomas Aquinas' five proofs. None of these proofs are found in the Bible itself. In the Bible, God reveals himself and we (ok, not me or you, but the people in the Bible) are generally amazed. I found about 90 references to the word amaze or amazing or amazement in the NIV Bible at BibleGateway.com but I will suggest that if you simply open up the Bible on any page, you are likely to read about something in which God did something and the effect of that something is to amaze us. It is no accident that we talk about amazing grace and use the word so frequently in our worship.

Let me take this further. I think, in most of the important decisions in our lives, we decide emotionally. We select the career we most like, not the one we are most suited for. We marry the spouse we most love, not the one we are most compatible with. We eat the food we most enjoy, not the ones that are most good for us. We choose our friends because we like them not because we are most like them. Modern society will have us do this rationally - marry the one most compatible to you (there will be none), do the job you can do best (well, this is not always the one you like the most), and eat only the food that is good for you (and hate the very act to eating). I say not. We are meant to live our lives emotionally: to find happiness, to be touched by tragedy and sadness, to be angered by injustice, to be drawn to beauty and to be amazed by God.

Modern society separates logic from emotion and discards the latter as being unreliable. On the contrary, our emotions are our most important guide to what is right or wrong for us. We ignore them to our peril. Do not be misled by science - there is only so much we can figure out (and we still have not figured out the cure for the common cold). Treasure and listen to your emotions - they are your best guides to what is right or wrong. But listen carefully, don't do things impulsively. Use your head - God made you a logical and thinking being too. Life is a complete and unified thing - it is not either/or, it is both/and.

And yes, I believe because I am amazed.