A Miraculous Natural Wonder

I studied my psychology textbook today, and at the end of today's readings, there was a message in the textbook that I thought was pretty nice. It basically offered an olive branch to theists who might have been a bit put off by the discussion of genetic variation and natural selection that had taken place a few paragraphs earlier. Essentially, the textbook argued that the universe isn't any less miraculous for our increasing understanding of it. The natural wonders of the world are no less wonderful for our understanding of how they're formed. When I studied Historical Geology, learning how some mountains were formed didn't make them any less majestic. And life is made no less miraculous by our understanding of how it evolved.

The textbook also left some room for my dominoes theory. It said that we can trace our understanding back to the Big Bang, but no further. It said that there are several factors that had to go exactly right for this universe to even resemble one that could support life as we know it. Now, those factors could have gone right by random chance, or they could have gone just right by God setting up the dominoes exactly that way. As far as I know, science doesn't say which explanation is more likely. It's entirely possible that the existence of God is the most likely explanation for the universe being the way it is, even if all He did was set up the dominoes, knock down the first one, and let the dominoes fall from there.

But whatever explanations we have for the universe, the Earth, life, and people all being the way they are, they're all amazing. Thunderstorms are awe-inspiring, whether they're created by God or by natural weather patterns. Rainbows are beautiful, whether they're a sign from God or a refraction of various wavelengths of light. Whatever natural or divine forces shaped the world we live in, it's an incredible world, one that even the staunchest scientist could consider miraculous.

The world is a miraculous, natural wonder, no matter which of those adjectives you choose to emphasize.