I have been thinking a lot lately about principles and applications. I read a really interesting debate last week that was printed in Time Magazine. It was a debate featuring a couple of the leading thinkers in the field of genetics. One of the speakers took the atheistic position that life simply evolved and there was very little chance that a God of any sort was involved. The other author took a Christian stance, noting that without the six constants of the universe being exactly tuned correctly, there would be no chance of life at all. When you look at this argument very carefully, one of the things that I noticed was that the position the atheist took confused principles with application. Scientists do a wonderful job of understanding the application of basic elemental principles. In this quest, science has improved our lives in many ways—as we talk on our cellphones, drive our cars, enjoy air travel, see the miracles of in vitro fertilization, and even outer space exploration. There is no doubt that science can help us understand applications of principles that can improve our lives, but what science cannot do is alter or even very well explain the underlying principles of the universe—the gravitational constant, the strong and weak magnetic forces, time itself. These are principles that science can describe, and we can build applications as a result of these principles. But science is unable to explain the foundation of those principles. It can do a good job of observing the universe, but it runs into problems explaining exactly why the universe is ordered in the way it is. And if you look carefully, there does appear to be a remarkable order to the underlying structure of the universe.

One of the earliest insights that led to this site was the comparison of a spiral galaxy to a hurricane. Spirals are everywhere, and I have been recently drawn back to them. Spiral galaxies not only resemble the destruction seen in a hurricane, but the unfolding of a fern. There are so many remarkable similarities in the universe that it strikes me as uncanny. And I find it unlikely that it is random and completely purposeless. One of the interesting things about the Bible is that it speaks more to the principles of human interaction than to the principles of science. Though it is not completely silent on scientific matters, the main purpose of the Bible is to help us understand God and our relationship to each other. It is not primarily a scientific textbook, but what is important is that it does outline principles of human interaction. And, just as the principles of the universe can help us understand scientific application, so too can the principles of God’s interaction with humans help us understand certain applications of human interaction and our understanding of God. I think one of the most foundational principles that we can begin to try to understand and develop is the principle of faith. So often Jesus talked about the importance of faith, and the New Testament addresses the importance of faith. We really cannot begin to understand God, or approach him, or enjoy the fruit of any relationship with him, without starting with a foundation of faith.

So, thank you for joining me in this effort as we try to understand God better. Please let me know your thoughts.