God created the heavens...
...and it was good.
Click on the picture for a high-resolution image.
Link curtosy of the Bad Astronomer.
Click on the picture for a high-resolution image.Link curtosy of the Bad Astronomer.
Update: 8/25:
I was thinking the other day. About this picture, and about what I wrote above. The heavens aren't good because of what they are; they are good because God is good. And since that is His character, His nature, He cannot make anything that is not good; it's just not possible.
I don't know about you, but I find that a comforting thought. If God was so careful to create a good universe for us to live in and enjoy, then why wouldn't He take the time to be careful about creating and taking care of us? He wants us to be the good people He invisioned when He first shaped man, when He first created life.
There was a song that I learned as a child, and I think it would be appropriate to put the chorus here for you. It explains what I mean:
I was thinking the other day. About this picture, and about what I wrote above. The heavens aren't good because of what they are; they are good because God is good. And since that is His character, His nature, He cannot make anything that is not good; it's just not possible.
I don't know about you, but I find that a comforting thought. If God was so careful to create a good universe for us to live in and enjoy, then why wouldn't He take the time to be careful about creating and taking care of us? He wants us to be the good people He invisioned when He first shaped man, when He first created life.
There was a song that I learned as a child, and I think it would be appropriate to put the chorus here for you. It explains what I mean:
"He's still working on meThank you, Lord, and don't give up on me yet!!
To make me what I ought to be.
It took Him just a week to make the moon and the stars,
The sun and the Earth and Jupiter and Mars.
How loving and patient He must be
Because He's still working on me."
affiché par petite américaine à 17:30
Not *trying* to be provocative, but I am curious: how would you classify something like smallpox or malaria, or natural disasters? A good we can't appreciate, or an evil not directly made by God?
The bible is clear that all those things happen because there is sin in the world, not because God "made" them or "makes us" endure them. So, I think an evil not directly made by God... the problem, or blessing, depending on how you look at it, is what you said Christine: we have to choose to be worked on, and that choice brings us closer to the beauty and wonder of God.
Take my Uncle for example: He was dying an awful, excruciating death from cancer, and he woke three separate times from a morphine stupor to say goodbye to his wife and call his daughters. During those coherent times, he was like his old self... the point is, it was an awful thing, but his abilities within that awfulness were beautiful and comforting because God was there and my Uncle's trust in whatever God would use to mold and shape and "work on" him was complete... pretty cool in my book!