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© 2000 by Richard A. Swenson
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form without written permission from NavPress, P.O. Box 35001, Colorado Springs, CO 80935.
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Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 00-056255
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ISBN 978-1-57683-069-7
Cover design by David Carlson Design
Cover photos by Digital Stock
Creative Team: Jacqueline Eaton Blakley, Lisa Sheltra, Lori Mitchell, and Tim Howard
Some of the anecdotal illustrations in this book are true to life and are included with the permission of the persons involved. All other illustrations are composites of real situations, and any resemblance to people living or dead is coincidental.
Unless otherwise identified, all Scripture quotations in this publication are taken from the HOLY BIBLE: NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION® (NIV®). Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House. All rights reserved. Other versions used include: the Revised Standard Version Bible (RSV), copyright 1946, 1952, 1971, by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA, used by permission, all rights reserved; The New English Bible (NEB), © 1961, 1970, The Delegates of the Oxford University Press and The Syndics of the Cambridge University Press; and the King James Version (KJV).
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Swenson, Richard A.
More than meets the eye : fascinating glimpses of God’s power and design / Richard A. Swenson.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 1-57683-069-1
1. God--Omnipotence. I. Title.
BT1233 .S94 2000
231’.4--dc21 00-056255
Printed in the United States of America
8 9 10 11 12 13 14 / 14 13 12 11 10 09
Dedicated to
all those who find themselves drawn into
the mysterious depths of God
Let’s go there together
CONTENTS
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
INTRODUCTION: A New Vision of Power
1 Our Body in Particles
2 The Heart, Blood, and Lungs
3 The Senses
4 The Brain and Nervous System
5 The Cell, Genes, and DNA
6 The Skin, Stomach, Skeleton, and Sperm
7 Our Body, His Temple
8 Energy, Force, Matter, and God
9 The New Physics
10 The Story of the Stars
11 Time, Space, and Light
12 Science, Scripture, and Sovereignty
NOTES
INDEX
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Any such book effort represents the convergence of many influences that ought to be appropriately acknowledged. Carter and Curtis Folkestad permitted the extended use of important resource materials. Bill and Gail Thedinga, Dr. Roger and Joanne Natwick, Sue Harrison, and Helen Olechno contributed books and articles. Over years of presenting this content to varied audiences, many people have offered resources and ideas that further stimulated my thinking.
Don Steffen, David and Debbie Bochman, Jack and Diana Stimmel reviewed portions of the text at my request and offered helpful advice. Diana Stimmel, in particular, gave a thoughtful reading of the first seven chapters and offered important scriptural insights.
The physics faculty at Denison University stimulated me in this direction years ago, and Dr. Rod Grant has continued to do so with his important book on medical physics. In addition, Dr. Fuz Rana kindly gave assistance on an uncertain physics question.
Dr. Charles and Becky Folkestad provided medical resources, as did Dr. Scott Wright of the Mayo Clinic. Both my head and my heart thank you.
Darlene Bochman provided her exceptional secretarial skills. Many others contributed practical encouragement: among them Opal Harstad, Paul and Comfort Attah, and Hazel Bent. Our extended families, as always, have given continuous support.
I wish to thank NavPress for their dedicated attention to this text. Once again, heartfelt gratitude to editor Don Simpson for his wise expertise and gentle guidance.
My wife Linda—who has both English and R.N. degrees— continues to function as an invaluable researcher, scholarly advisor, and copy editor. I can’t even begin to imagine doing this kind of research and writing without her assistance, which extends into many thousands of hours of work. In writing as in life, it is an honor to work side-by-side with such a gifted person. To our sons Matt and Adam (and now Maureen!)—thanks for listening to the ideas, enhancing the discussions, understanding the deadlines … and thanks simply for patiently being our beloved children.
A NEW VISION of POWER
Week after week we witness the same miracle: that God is so mighty he can stifle his own laughter. … Does anyone have the foggiest idea what sort of power we so blithely invoke?1
ANNIE DILLARD is right. And she is right in a way that should stop us all in our tracks. In every square millimeter of her thought there is a ton of implication.
God’s power is undeniable; His precision is impressive; His sovereignty is on display. Why then do we live in such a metaphysical stupor? How can such power fail to dominate our every thought and action?
It is not that God has failed to clearly demonstrate His nature, or that He has been lax in instructing us. It is just that we are slow to understand. Our eyesight is dim. This world is too much with us.
What we need is a new vision of God. The real God. Not some vague image we fold up and stuff in the back drawer of life, but the kind of God who parts the Red Sea and shakes Mount Sinai. The kind of God who stuns the physicists with symmetry, the mathematicians with precision, the engineers with design, the politicians with power, and the poets with beauty.
I often try to imagine what it would be like to cross into eternity for just ten minutes and sit in the presence of God. If we could do that and then return to live out our lives, what would change? Everything. And the change would be complete.
What might such a visit be like?
TEN MINUTES IN HEAVEN
Dick: Do you really know everything, God?
God: Do you doubt it?
Dick: Well, no. But how do you do it? Doesn’t it get kind of mixed up in your head?
God: I think you are getting the two of us confused. Let me put it this way. Things often get mixed up and chaotic in your head, but not in mine. Dick, my car never runs out of gas. I’ve never been late for a plane. And when you try to balance your checkbook … I can’t even bear to watch. So I distract myself by counting backwards to infinity.
Dick: Well, tell me something you know about me that I don’t know about myself.
God: You have forty-two thousand fewer neurons in the right side of your brain than the left. You have 18.755 billion trillion air molecules in your lungs right now. You h
ave a sixth cousin who is a plumber in Sundsvall, Sweden. And the rear passenger-side tire of your Chevy is a little low. Want me to keep going?
Dick: You’ve got to be kidding! You keep track of things like that?
God: Of course. I don’t even try. It is all a part of omniscience. I know absolutely everything about you.
Dick: Could I see you answer some prayers?
God: Of course.
Dick: When?
God: I just did.
Dick: What?
God: I just answered prayers.
Dick: Whose prayer did you answer?
God: Actually, I answered 924,338 prayers just then. Half of the people didn’t even realize it. That happens often.
A high percentage of the prayers I answer are not even from adults. It’s the kids, you know. They are the ones with the faith. When I answer their prayers, they usually see it right away.
Dick: What percentage of the prayers you just answered were from kids?
God: 42.57688493005998 … how many decimals do you want?
Dick: OK. I get the point.
God: That was the best thing I ever did.
Dick: What? Answer those prayers?
God: No. Make kids. Kids are the greatest. They “perfect praise.” Do you know that verse? Never mind.
Back at creation one of the angels suggested I just make everybody adults straightaway. You know—skip the teenage thing. But the angel was wrong. Kids are great.
Dick: Could you tell me the names of all the stars?
God: Yes I could. But you only have ten minutes.
Dick: What about the galaxies, then?
God: As I said, you only have ten minutes.
Do you want to see me annihilate a galaxy? We have time for that.
Dick: Sure!
God: See that galaxy way out there, toward the edge of space? It hasn’t even been discovered yet. No one will miss it. I just made it because I liked the way it sparkles. …
There. Can’t see the galaxy now, can you?
Dick: That was some explosion! How did you do that?
God: Have you ever heard of antimatter? Maybe you don’t want to know—it would probably give you mightmares.
Dick: Do you mean nightmares?
God: I know what I mean. I mean mightmares. I just invented the word.
Dick: I’m a physician, you know.
God: Is that supposed to impress me? I’m a Physician too. Want to compare credentials? Success rates?
Dick: One of my patients died last week. She was an older woman from the nursing home; her name was Katherine. She was ready to go. Can you tell me if she is OK?
God: I know Katherine well. She’s fine—never felt better. I don’t know why people are so hesitant to leave Earth. Once they cross the line, I heal them instantly. I love doing it. They love it too.
Dick: How much of my ten minutes do I have left?
God: Just a few seconds. Of course, around here that might also mean fifty thousand years. You never know. But in your case, it means just a few seconds.
Dick: Do you watch me when I’m down there?
God: All the time.
Dick: I don’t know if that’s frightening or comforting.
God: It’s both.
Dick: Medicine is getting rather stressful these days.
God: I noticed.
Dick: What should I do about it?
God: I’m glad you asked. One thing that would help a lot is if you were to stop using me as a last resort. Everything you need, I’ve already provided. Trust me. Use my wisdom and power. Pray. Dick, you really ought to pray more. And love your patients. On your best days, I’ll give you great joy. And on your worst days, I’ll get you through it. I will always get you through it.
Dick: Thanks. I guess there’s no pretending to you that I need a lot of help.
God: Yes, it’s no use pretending. A great many people try to pretend with me, but it hasn’t worked yet and I see no reason to suspect you will have any better success.
Dick: One last question: I am fifty-two years old. How much longer am I going to live?
God: Do you mean in earth time or heaven time?
Dick: Either. Both.
God: I won’t tell you in earth time. You will just have to leave that to me. In heaven time, you have a vapor’s length of time left.
Dick: That sounds kind of scary.
God: No, it sounds biblical. See you in a vapor. And remember, everything you need I’ve already provided. Trust me.
LIVING AWARE
We can’t exactly go to the other side and sit with God for ten minutes. But we can know a lot more about Him than we have previously settled for. The Scriptures help build our understanding of God’s sovereignty on a practical level—by that, I mean the kind of knowledge that affects our everyday behavior. But science is also a fascinating source of revelation, and increasingly so.
The scientific facts presented in this book are impossible to dismiss. They are a stick of dynamite under the front porch of our spiritual complacency. When we lift up any stone of the universe, God’s fingerprints stare back at us. Everything is there, waiting to be discovered. All the evidence we need, and more. “I love to think of nature as an unlimited broadcasting station, through which God speaks to us every hour, if we will only tune in,” said George Washington Carver.2
“We are living in a world that is absolutely transparent, and God is shining through it all the time,” said Thomas Merton. “That is not just a fable or a nice story. It is true. If we abandon ourselves to God and forget ourselves, we see it sometimes, and we see it maybe frequently. God shows Himself everywhere, in everything—in people, and in things and in nature and in events. It becomes very obvious that God is everywhere and in everything and we cannot be without Him. It’s impossible. The only thing is that we don’t see it.”3
When we understand the sovereignty, power, design, majesty, precision, genius, intimacy, and caring of an Almighty God, it takes away our fear. It removes our frustration. It allows us to sleep at night and trust Him with the running of His own universe. It allows us to have margin. It allows us to resume our proper role in the order of things rather than taking over His role. It allows us to seek His will rather than follow our own mind.
The more we understand about God’s power, the less we worry about our weakness. The more we trust in God’s sovereignty, the less we fret about our future. “There is no attribute more comforting to His children,” said Charles Spurgeon, “than God’s sovereignty.”4
WHAT KIND OF POWER?
This is a book about science. On a deeper level, this is a book about the design of science. As you read, it is my hope that you will be fascinated by the science, and captivated by the Designer who stands behind it all.
But know this: the God described in this book is uncontrollable. You will come to see Him, but only on His terms. He will give you rest, but only after He has shaken the foundations of your life.
What kind of Power do we so blithely invoke? He spoke the universe into existence. Nothingness obeys His voice. He controls time, space, matter, and light. He monitors the position of every elementary particle. He is sufficient unto Himself. He does not need anybody or anything to accomplish His purposes. He answers to no one. He obeys only His own counsel. He works on thousands of levels all at the same time. His scientific sophistication is unfathomable. He created the laws of physics, and appears to be a “pure mathematician.”5 His intelligence is so superior, according to Einstein, that in comparison “all the systematic thinking and acting of human beings is an utterly insignificant reflection.”6
Look up the word omnipotent. Either He is or He isn’t. And if He is, we had better prepare ourselves to accept the consequences. “It is madness to wear ladies’ straw hats and velvet hats to church,” concludes Dillard. “We should all be wearing crash helmets. Ushers should issue life preservers and signal flares; they should lash us to our pews.”7
You have been warned. So open you
r mind, open your heart, and may you never recover.
OUR BODY in PARTICLES
WHEN God set out to create humanity He put His genius on display. If we wish to learn more about His ingenuity, precision, and yes, perhaps even His sense of humor, we don’t have to go any further than the mirror. The pinnacle of creation, He made us “a little lower than the angels” and crowned us “with glory and honor.”1 As a scientist with training in both medicine and physics, it is easily apparent to me that the majesty of God is revealed in the human body. His fingerprints are, in fact, all over us.
Atoms, Etc.
The human body contains 1028 atoms (1 followed by 28 zeros).2 The universe itself contains perhaps only 1020 stars (estimates range as high as 1024). In light of such comparisons, I teach young doctors that the human body is a million times more complex than the universe. Before you get too puffed by it all, understand that a cat has 1026 atoms and thus is also more complex than the universe—and don’t they know it.3
According to isotope studies, 90 percent of our atoms are replaced annually. Every five years, 100 percent of our atoms turn over and become new atoms. Aren’t you glad that doesn’t hurt? Aren’t you glad your doctor can’t charge for it? (Perhaps those are redundant questions.)
In the last hour, one trillion trillion of your atoms have been replaced. If all the people on the earth were to set about counting this rate of atomic turnover in your body, each person would have to count ten billion atoms per second to keep up. (By the way, even though we can measure atoms, no one has actually “seen” an atom—perhaps making them even harder to count.)
Who is watching over this atomic exchange? You? Your physician? Only God can monitor something of this magnitude—a process that causes such dramatic exchange and disruption, yet holds all things together.4 “We speak of the body as a machine, but it is hardly necessary to say that none of the most ingenious machines set up by modern science can for a moment compare with it,” observes Scottish biologist Sir J. Arthur Thomson. “The body is a self-building machine; a self-stoking, self-regulating, self-repairing machine—the most marvelous and unique automatic mechanism in the universe.”5
More Than Meets the Eye Page 1
