Word to the Wise
Monday, February 5, 2007 - St. Agatha, Virgin and Martyr
[Genesis 1:1-19 and Mark 6:53-56]In the beginning, when God created the heavens and the earth, the earth was a formless wasteland, and darkness covered the abyss, while a mighty wind swept over the waters......
With these majestic words the Bible begins and the Book of Genesis begins and so does everything else except God! Thereby hangs many a great debate! Whether or not one accepts the faith of Genesis as literally expressed in the words therein, or accepts the creation story as an expression of faith in God as the creator and origin of all being, one is still confronted with a secular/scientific effort to describe the same event as "the Big Bang!" Is the beauty and majesty of all creation merely the result of physical interaction? (Why should any two physical things interact anyhow?) Philosophers, theologians and scientists wrestle with the question of creation. In order to have a "big bang" there has to BE something to GO bang! Is the material universe "eternal?" Where did the stuff for the "big bang" come from? Perhaps the most polite scientific response might be, "We don't know, YET! But someday we will." To which I say, "You bet! We'll probably all find out about it at the same time!" In the meantime, I certainly hope the WHY folks (philosophers and theologians) and the HOW folks (scientists, chemists, physicists) will stay in touch with each other. Some of them occupy both WHY and HOW camps. In the meantime, the Book of Genesis (which will feature in the first scripture of the day for awhile now) retains its power to move the imagination in regard to God. AMEN