Ruling out God?

According to an article I read recently, science doesn't need God to explain our universe, or how it came to be...

Over the past few centuries, science can be said to have gradually chipped away at the traditional grounds for believing in God. Much of what once seemed mysterious — the existence of humanity, the life-bearing perfection of Earth, the workings of the universe — can now be explained by biology, astronomy, physics and other domains of science. 

Although cosmic mysteries remain, Sean Carroll, a theoretical cosmologist at the California Institute of Technology, says there's good reason to think science will ultimately arrive at a complete understanding of the universe that leaves no grounds for God whatsoever.

Carroll argues that God's sphere of influence has shrunk drastically in modern times, as physics and cosmology have expanded in their ability to explain the origin and evolution of the universe. "As we learn more about the universe, there's less and less need to look outside it for help," he told Life's Little Mysteries.

....Judged by the standards of any other scientific theory, the "God hypothesis" does not do very well, Carroll argues. But he grants that "the idea of God has functions other than those of a scientific hypothesis."

Psychology research suggests that belief in the supernatural acts as societal glue and motivates people to follow the rules; further, belief in the afterlife helps people grieve and staves off fears of death.

"We're not designed at the level of theoretical physics," Daniel Kruger, an evolutionary psychologist at the University of Michigan, told LiveScience last year. What matters to most people "is what happens at the human scale, relationships to other people, things we experience in a lifetime."

So, I'm supposed to believe that our the earth, the perfect environment for human life just happened? One little shift, this way or that, and it just doesn't work? Sounds cold, calculating and clinical to me. Scientists can explain away God but they can't explain:

Why cat's purr...

How a bicycle works...

Why there are lefties and righties...

What causes static electricity...

Why yawning is contagious... 

I'm not trying to undermine science...our world should be studied. Just wish they'd stop trying to undermine my God.

God and Humor

Yes! It's perfectly okay for Christians to smile, giggle, laugh and be happy! Many believe that we have just too many rules to be a joyful people, how I wish we could show them the truth. 

Cardinal Dolan shared the following in a speech recently at Fordham University:

My assignment was to share with you for a few moments what you might call the theological reasons for laughter.  Why would a person of faith be cheerful?  Why is a crabby believer a contradiction?

Here’s my reason for joy:  the cross.

You heard me right:  the cross of Christ!

See, when Jesus suffered and died on the cross on that hill called Calvary, on that Friday strangely called “Good,” literally, the “lights went out” as even the sun hid in shame.  Literally, the earth sobbed with convulsions of sorrow as an earthquake occurred.

Jesus, pure goodness, seemed bullied to death by undiluted evil;
Love, jackbooted by hate;
Mercy incarnate, smothered by revenge;
Life itself, crushed by death.

It seemed we could never smile again…

But, then came the Sunday called Easter!

The sun – S-U-N – came up, and the Son – S-O-N – came out as He rose from the dead.

Guess who had the last word? God!

Hope, not despair;

Faith, not doubt;

Love, not spite;

Light, not an eclipse of the sun;

Life, not the abyss of death.

“He who laughs last, laughs best…” …and we believers have never stopped smiling since that Resurrection of Jesus from the dead!

So, as the Bible teaches us, if God loves us so much that he didn’t even spare His only Son, well, then, “nothing can separate us from the love of God,” can it?

So, Good Friday did not have the last word…Easter did!  That why I can laugh.

Because I believe all is God’s providential hands, and, that – the Bible again –  “All will work out for those who believe.”

Lord knows there are plenty of Good Fridays in our lives…but, they will not prevail. Easter will. As we Irish claim, “Life is all about loving, living, and laughing, not about hating, dying, and moaning.”

That’s why a crabby, griping, whining believer is an oxymoron!

That’s why we say, “Joy is the infallible sign of God’s presence.”

I saw it in Haiti when I went there with Catholic Relief Services right after the devastating earthquake two-and-a-half years ago – crying, horror, death, anguish – you bet, in abundance.  But, still, a resilience and a hope in a people clinging onto faith after centuries of oppression and grind.

I see it every time I visit the pediatric oncology department at Sloan –Kettering – beautiful, little, innocent children, baldheaded, emaciated by chemo, but they and their folks still radiating an interior trust and calm such that they can smile while I’m choking up.

I see it every time I visit cloistered nuns.  Eventhough they posses nothing of earthly value, but the clothes on their back and the prayerbook in their hands; eventhough they live a life of silence, penance, enclosure and virginity, unknown to most of us, they still laugh heartily and, Stephen, they are the best audience I could ask for in roaring at my corny jokes.

A young man in college once approached me as a parish priest to say he wanted to become Catholic.  When I asked him why, he replied, “Last week I was at the wake of a Catholic man  I admired very much, who died suddenly, still young.  And his family, while mourning him deeply, could still laugh, as if they knew it would all be ok.”

Faith in the cross of Christ, and hope in His Resurrection, does that….

We Christians are a forgetful people, thanks for reminding us of our joy Cardinal!

A full cup

God fills
our cup full
and running over,
not so
we can boast
or measure,
but so
we can spill over
into the lives of
others. S. Dyer (devozine)

The imagery struck me. Have you ever filled a bucket full of water full to overflowing? The water rushes over the sides not in precise measured amounts and you cannot control where it goes. It splashes wherever it wants. If we allow God to fill our cup to overflowing, think of the lives we will touch, lives beyond our control. How many others can we reach and refresh with God's life giving love?

When you doubt...

When you doubt the lovely silence of a quiet wooded place,

When you doubt the path of silver of some moonlit water space,

When you doubt the winds a'blowing, 

Flash of lightning, glistening rain,

Sun or starlit heavens above you,

On the land or bounding main,

                       

  

               When you doubt the sleep of loved ones,

                         Deep beneath some precious sod,

Listen to a soft voice saying,

"Be still, and know that I am God."

Poem by Alicia Poole

Be Still

He is all these things and so much more if we but Be Still and open up to Him,
He is all these things and so much more if we but Be Still and ask Him,
He is all these things and so much more if we but Be Still and let Him...

^{Psalm 46:10
10} He says, “Be still, and know that I am God;
   I will be exalted among the nations,
   I will be exalted in the earth.”

God's Imagination

So much of our energy, time, and money goes into maintaining distance from one another.  Many if not most of the resources of the world are used to defend ourselves against each other, to maintain or increase our power, and to safeguard our own privileged position.

Imagine all that effort being put in the service of peace and reconciliation!  Would there be any poverty?  Would there be crimes and wars?  Just imagine that there was no longer fear among people, no longer any rivalry, hostility, bitterness, or revenge.  Just imagine all the people on this planet holding hands and forming one large circle of love.   We say, "I can't imagine."  But God says,  "That's what I imagine, a whole world not only created but also living in my image."

Henri Nouwen