Heart Soul and Might

A few months back, I wrote an article called “The Size of God” (click here) and as I’m updating my research for an upcoming retreat talk I’m giving, I found that we have new astronomical information to work from! This doesn’t change the size of God (smile) but it does affect the accuracy of my illustration model in attempting to get our minds around the size of God. If you read the article, you’ll know what I’m talking about…

I was referring to 1994 research that the Saggitarius Dwarf Elliptical Galaxy was the nearest galaxy to the Milky Way at 80,000 light years (LY) away. However (and I should have checked more closely before writing “The Size of God”!), I’ve now found that in 2003, astronomers discovered the Canis Major Dwarf Galaxy is actually only 42,000 LY away from the Milky Way. Here’s a picture of this beautiful new discovery! The Canis Major is the ribbon of red mingled within the blue that is the Milky Way. The cool thing about this galaxy is that the Milky Way has actually been stealing stars from Canis Major over the years. In fact, the Milky Way has gained around 1% of its current mass by stealing stars from Canis Major!

It seems that streams of stars pulled out of the cannibalised Canis Major galaxy not only contribute to the outer reaches of the Milky Way’s disk, but may also pass close to the Sun.

Astronomers currently believe that large galaxies like the Milky Way grew to their present majestic proportions by consuming their smaller galactic neighbours. These cannibalised galaxies add stars to the vast haloes around large galaxies. However, until now, they did not appreciate that even the disks of galaxies can grow in this fashion. Computer simulations show that the Milky Way has been taking stars from the Canis Major dwarf and adding them to its own disk - and will continue to do so.

information taken from the following University of Strasbourg website: http://astro.u-strasbg.fr/images_ri/canm-e.html

I relay this info simply because I’m amazed by God’s handiwork. The more I find out about the universe, the deeper I worship the Creator of it. And to think about the fact that in just the last three years, we were finally able to see the galaxy that is CLOSEST to ours makes my mind spin at how many other wonders there are out in the universe that we can’t or never will see!!

This galaxy is able to be seen only because of new infra-red technology (the Two-Micron All Sky Survey or “2MASS”), which has allowed astronomers to look beyond the clouds of dust in the disk of the Milky Way. Just think about what else is out there that we have yet to see…

Technorati Tags: galaxy, Canis Major, 2MASS, God’s handiwork, Milky Way, worship, universe

I recently watched a compelling DVD I borrowed from my friend Reid Monaghan (Power of Change blog) called Unlocking the Mystery of Life produced by Illustra Media. A masterful program interviewing a number of well-credentialled scientists and using incredible computer animation, we are transported into the inner halls of a living cell to observe and explore complex systems and machines that all point to one thing - Intelligent Design. The most interesting and compelling evidence of ID from my perspective explains the concept of “irreducible complexity” in looking at a rotary motor within the cell that spins at a rate of 100,000 RPM and whose parts could never have come together simply from random chance.

The evidence unquestionably leads to a Designer behind this irreducibly complex design. “Irreducible Complexity” comes from the scientific pursuit of finding life’s simplest unit which, in the evolutionist’s eyes, would be the beginning point of all living things. However, as the scientists behind this theory point out, this complex motor within the smallest of living cells cannot be reduced to it’s individual parts. The chances of the hundreds of this motor’s parts just coming together on a random chance is so infantecimal that evolution is rendered virtually impossible on this scientific discovery alone. Scientists believe they have found the unit that is so irreducibly complex, that it renders evolution an empty theory without a foundational starting point. The design of this little motor points to it’s Designer!

The A-Team Blog has an interesting post on the issue of Intelligent Design today. Worth the read.

Why is this important? Two reasons:

1. This is scientific and empirical evidence athiests and agnostics need to witness to bring them to the knowledge of the Truth that God indeed exists, and left a path by which His existence can be empirically seen.

2. We have a God who is worthy of our worship. Evidence like this should bring us to our knees in humble adoration and reverent worship of the God who, with a single word, spoke all things into being…and yet took such great care to leave out no small detail that would bring science to this point of proving His existence. This is part of His plan to reveal Himself to the world. He is worthy!

Click here to read information about PBS’ refusal to play “Unlocking the Mysteries of Life.”