God, Allah, Baal, Brahma, Supreme Being or Oneness of things?
For a Christian God is a Being. As we are taught we pray the Lord’s prayer, ‘Our Heavenly Father…’ If we do not know the person or his or her address is there a point in writing a letter? If we do not trust in the postal system, are we not foolish in buying postage stamps in the first place? We affix on the envelope the correct value of stamps since we trust it will reach the intended person. Every time we use the postal service we are submitting to the authority of the nation that in turn imparts the postal services its relevance. If we hold so much faith in a system that knows not us individually and yet we rely on it to deliver our letters to the other party are we not relying on our past experience? Every believer who calls on a heavenly father does so from experience. Faith with experience plait a two strand cord that is not easily broken. Please do not tell me what my experience is worth since no other can be responsible for the way I fashion my experience as I do.
In my opinion God’s power and wisdom is revealed in the manner every life form commits itself to the business of living. The Being that Nature so proclaims is positive and life abundant. Lions at the top of the food chain can afford to limit their family to two or three. Whereas fishes must produce millions of eggs in order to keep its genetic material from dying out. Creatures as diverse as lions and fishes manifest the nature of God in so many ways. They subscribe to the same Power and Wisdom by instinct as it were.
2.
Plants convert sunlight into energy by means of photosynthesis. Phosphorus and sodium are crucial to this process. Phosphorus an element is leached from phosphates found in rocks on the land. Precipitation carries it to the sea. It is in turn carried back to the land by birds and the fishes.
Off the coast of Chile in South America millions of anchovies converge which in turn attracts cormorants. It is unusual for sea birds (mother cormorant lays six eggs at a time), and their bird droppings or guanos are rich in phosphorous. Tens of thousands tons per year are gathered by locals. It is a fertilizer used extensively world over.
Salmons mature in the sea and returns by late August to the rivers in order to breed there. Mass influx of these fishes, all with single goal swimming upstream of Fraser River in British Colombia has to be seen in order to believe! After fulfilling their biological urge they die. Phosphorus is transported through these fishes to the inland.
Oneness is achieved by material nature of life forms taking advantage of every opportunity for the furtherance of limited objectives. How species with totally contrary aims achieve order is due to this oneness.
Sheer scale of species and their aims shall befuddle any particular group or individuals from controlling every aspect at all stages. Each life form contributes something positive to the common pool where predator and prey alike can benefit from. That common pool is as infinite as Space and Time. Oneness of things it is called. Relevance of God doesn’t lose a bit even if such a secular label is attached to it.
Nature manifests God as far as a Christian is concerned since Wisdom and Power that we associate with Him are revealed by each in the manner it has adapted itself to stay relevant.
benny