When I consider your heavens
peter_asirvatham@yahoo.co.in
As I gazed intently at the moon on the night of 20th July 1969, I wished I had a telescope. A few days earlier my father had got us all excited about an American rocket called Apollo 11, which was on its journey to the moon and that soon men would walk on it. As a six year old I figured that the moon being so small and a rocket big, I'd be able to see the rocket land on the moon through a telescope. Like the rest of the world, I too was fascinated at the thought of human beings walking on the moon.
In a couple of days, Neil Armstrong's words, as he stepped out of the lunar module-Eagle, "That's one small step for (a) man, one giant leap for mankind." became famous all over the world. Soon photographs of the famous "moon landing" and man's footprint on the lunar surface were splashed in newspapers and magazines. As a kid I loved drawing and painting the subject of man on moon. One time, my father, seeing me take great trouble to paint the dark sky with little stars, demonstrated how easily it could be done. Bringing an old toothbrush, he loaded it with white paint and holding it above my painting, gently brushed his thumb on the bristles. Lo and behold! There appeared on the inky black sky of my painting, stars! By varying the distance of the toothbrush to the painting, father showed me how I can paint small clusters of stars or scatter them in the expanse.
On 4th October 2007 our world celebrated 50 years of Space age. It was on this day in 1957, the then Soviet Union successfully placed in orbit an artificial satellite, Sputnik. The event marked the beginning of the space race between America and the USSR (now Russia). In the 50 years since, thanks to the race between the two for military superiority, science and technology in the field of astronomy has advanced by leaps and bounds. Man, now can look into the far reaches of an expanding universe.
In those days-the beginning of Space Age-my father used to share with us fascinating tidbits of information on space journey that he came across. One such incident was that, when Yuri Gagarin, the first human being to enter space, a Russian, looking out of his rocket window, commented,"I don't see any God up here." Whether the cosmonaut actually said it or not is a matter of debate. But what is central to the comment is, the question of the existence of god. In spite of God leaving a lot of clues to his handiwork, the universe and everything in it, above all, the unique creature called man, many intelligent human beings cannot accept the idea of creation by a creator.
The Holy Bible's opening verse, "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth." (Gen 1:1) is a summary statement of God's creative act. The subsequent verses reveal clearly the six days of "forming and filling" of the blue planet that we live in. But what is clear for the Jew and Christian is not so clear for the atheist and agnostic, and of course, the Muslim.
On a cloudless, star studded night thousands of years ago, an ageing old man was asked to, "Look up at the heavens and count the stars—if indeed you can count them." And as he looked up, the LORD said, "So shall your offspring be." (Gen 15: 5) The Bible says that "Abram believed the LORD, and he credited it to him as righteousness." (Gen 15:6) The simple belief that Abraham had in God's word, mind you, he was eighty five years old at that time, and, the first promise of fatherhood had been given him ten years earlier, is the hallmark of absolute faith.
I believe in a creator God, not only because the Bible says, "By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God's command..." (Hebrews 11:3) or because, "without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him." (Hebrews 11:6) Or yet again, because I confess the creed, "I believe in God, the Father almighty, creator of heaven and earth." every Sunday.
No. I believe in God, also because science, to me, in some ways, points to a creator.
Even with the oodles of data scientists have, they cannot prove evolution. Evolution is still a theory. I guess, as long as man is around in this world, there will be the two kinds of people. One, obstinate and unwilling to admit God. The other, simply believing, and pleasing his creator.
A few days after man walked on the moon, my mother read to us Psalm 8.
Awesome!
peter_asirvatham@yahoo.co.in
As I gazed intently at the moon on the night of 20th July 1969, I wished I had a telescope. A few days earlier my father had got us all excited about an American rocket called Apollo 11, which was on its journey to the moon and that soon men would walk on it. As a six year old I figured that the moon being so small and a rocket big, I'd be able to see the rocket land on the moon through a telescope. Like the rest of the world, I too was fascinated at the thought of human beings walking on the moon.
In a couple of days, Neil Armstrong's words, as he stepped out of the lunar module-Eagle, "That's one small step for (a) man, one giant leap for mankind." became famous all over the world. Soon photographs of the famous "moon landing" and man's footprint on the lunar surface were splashed in newspapers and magazines. As a kid I loved drawing and painting the subject of man on moon. One time, my father, seeing me take great trouble to paint the dark sky with little stars, demonstrated how easily it could be done. Bringing an old toothbrush, he loaded it with white paint and holding it above my painting, gently brushed his thumb on the bristles. Lo and behold! There appeared on the inky black sky of my painting, stars! By varying the distance of the toothbrush to the painting, father showed me how I can paint small clusters of stars or scatter them in the expanse.
On 4th October 2007 our world celebrated 50 years of Space age. It was on this day in 1957, the then Soviet Union successfully placed in orbit an artificial satellite, Sputnik. The event marked the beginning of the space race between America and the USSR (now Russia). In the 50 years since, thanks to the race between the two for military superiority, science and technology in the field of astronomy has advanced by leaps and bounds. Man, now can look into the far reaches of an expanding universe.
In those days-the beginning of Space Age-my father used to share with us fascinating tidbits of information on space journey that he came across. One such incident was that, when Yuri Gagarin, the first human being to enter space, a Russian, looking out of his rocket window, commented,"I don't see any God up here." Whether the cosmonaut actually said it or not is a matter of debate. But what is central to the comment is, the question of the existence of god. In spite of God leaving a lot of clues to his handiwork, the universe and everything in it, above all, the unique creature called man, many intelligent human beings cannot accept the idea of creation by a creator.
The Holy Bible's opening verse, "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth." (Gen 1:1) is a summary statement of God's creative act. The subsequent verses reveal clearly the six days of "forming and filling" of the blue planet that we live in. But what is clear for the Jew and Christian is not so clear for the atheist and agnostic, and of course, the Muslim.
On a cloudless, star studded night thousands of years ago, an ageing old man was asked to, "Look up at the heavens and count the stars—if indeed you can count them." And as he looked up, the LORD said, "So shall your offspring be." (Gen 15: 5) The Bible says that "Abram believed the LORD, and he credited it to him as righteousness." (Gen 15:6) The simple belief that Abraham had in God's word, mind you, he was eighty five years old at that time, and, the first promise of fatherhood had been given him ten years earlier, is the hallmark of absolute faith.
I believe in a creator God, not only because the Bible says, "By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God's command..." (Hebrews 11:3) or because, "without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him." (Hebrews 11:6) Or yet again, because I confess the creed, "I believe in God, the Father almighty, creator of heaven and earth." every Sunday.
No. I believe in God, also because science, to me, in some ways, points to a creator.
Even with the oodles of data scientists have, they cannot prove evolution. Evolution is still a theory. I guess, as long as man is around in this world, there will be the two kinds of people. One, obstinate and unwilling to admit God. The other, simply believing, and pleasing his creator.
A few days after man walked on the moon, my mother read to us Psalm 8.
Awesome!
1 comment:
Hi Peter, I still remember that day so well: I ran out into the open "mutram" of our house and looked up at the moon, and I believe I claimed to actually have seen a rocket land on the moon! Thank you for writing this and bringing back so many memories!
John
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