Skilled in the word of righteousness (Hebrews 5:13) Part 6

Written by: Yeow Chin Kiong

Obviously, if we are to seriously investigate whether the Bible is God’s word, we have to be convinced that God exists as an all-knowing and all-powerful being.

This is implied in Hebrews 11:6, “But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for. he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.” This verse comes in the chapter which begins with a definition of “faith”: “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen” (Hebrews 11:1). We have to have credible evidence that God exists and then,- and only then,- that the Bible is His word for us.

Although God is invisible to man in his current existence (John 1:18; 1 Timothy 1:17; Hebrews 11:27), He has given evidence of His existence by the things He created (Romans 1:19-20) which are all around us (Psalm 19:1-6), in us (Psalm 139:13-16) and for us, for our sustenance (Acts 14:17). Indeed, if we only consider the extent of God’s creation work and sustaining work with respect to all that exist, the universe and life, we will be overwhelmed with sheer wonder at His knowledge and power (Psalm 145:1-21) and therefore love AND fear Him enough to want to be in a good relationship with Him.

The experience and feeling of awe at the scope, magnitute and complexity of all that exist in the universe,- comprising galaxies of the stars and planets to the sub-atomic world of the elements and the physical laws which govern the existence of all things including life,- point invariably to the existence of a creator and sustainer of it all. Herein lies the logic and reasoning of the Cosmological Argument for the existence of God (by intellectual, common sense reflection on things which exist around us, as opposed to Not exist). The Argument challenges us to account for all that exist which we know to exist and to deduce a cause of their existence. Anticipating that such an honest reflection will lead us to conclude that an all-knowing, all-powerful (and all-loving) God exist, Hebrews 3:3-4 alludes to the fact that, “… He who built the house has more honor than the house; for every house is built by someone, but He who built all things is God.” In truth, we should, “Render … to all their due … fear to whom fear, honor to whom honor.” (Romans 13:7). Then, just as we should extend honor to men who brought Artificial Intelligence and Information Technology into existence, we should justifiably extend more honor to the Creator of humankind whose knowledge and power could bring AI and ICT into existence!

In 1977, the husband-and-wife team of Charles and Ray Eames produced a short documentary film entitled “Powers Of Ten” which was described as follows. “Powers of Ten takes us on an adventure in magnitude. Starting at a picnic by the lakeside in Chicago, this famous film transports us to the outer edges of the universe. Every ten seconds we view the starting point from ten times farther out until our own galaxy is visible only as a speck of light among many others. Returning to earth with breathtaking speed, we move inward - into the hand of a sleeping picnicker - with ten times more magnification every ten seconds. Our journey ends inside a proton inside a carbon atom within a DNA molecule inside a white blood cell.”

Produced over four decades ago before massive advances in electron microscopy, particle accelarators and colliders and space telescopes, “Powers of Ten” was still enough to bring amazement at the sheer comparative sizes of non-man-made material in existence, without yet thinking about their function and purpose (which are matters pursued by the Teleological Argument). “Cosmic Voyage” was a 1996 loose remake of “Powers Of Ten” with a similar approach and purpose of presenting a size-comparative view of things which exist, from the smallest to the largest.

The whole universe is full of evidence of creation from one end of extremes of scale (the largest star.the farthest from earth etc.) to the opposite end of extremes of scale (the smallest cell of fauna or flora, the most basic element, subatomic particles, etc), all of which could not possibly have come to exist,- and continue to co-exist,- by chance or accident, without a designer with omniscience (being all-knowledgeable) and omnopotenc (being all-powerful).

View on Youtube:

(1) “Powers of Ten” by Charles and Ray Emes (1977) and

(2) “Cosmic Voyage” with Morgan Freeman (1996)