God is the greatest communicator, always revealing exactly what He wants us to know about Himself, about one another, and about the world around us. Romans 1:20 gives assurance that every person in the world can know that God exists:
For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse.
God has indeed revealed Himself through what He created. It just takes a willingness to look around and appreciate His majesty, and then to glorify Him because of it. Of course, His final authoritative revelation--the Bible--leaves no room for doubt, but we ought to consider how awesome God is when we observe the wonder of what He made.
ICR has developed a wonderful resource for readers on our website--the Evidence for Creation--and we present below just one portion of that resource, called God's Attributes Are Revealed.
Nature Reveals God's Power
A small reflection of the power of our Creator is seen in the thousands of stars shining in the night sky. Galaxies are millions of stars packed close together. And billions of galaxies fill the universe. The amount of power displayed in the heavens is overwhelming, if we take the time to look up at night and think about it. This reveals God's power at the cosmic level.
Everyone can appreciate sun-power. The sun lights our days so we can see nature all around us. (Even a blind person can feel the warmth of the sun.) Our sun and other stars are bright because they radiate energy, both visible and invisible. Some of this energy radiating from the sun is needed, directly and indirectly, to power all life forms on earth. Some of the other energy, also very powerful, is harmful to life.
The energy that is useful to life is a very small part of the spectrum. That part is also the part that we can see. Due to our Creator's laws of physics, visible light is the best energy for the chemical reactions of life. Unlike high-energy radiation, such as x-rays and gamma rays (which harm living cells), visible light enables human eyes to see, plus it powers plant growth, the foundation of all food chains on earth. Even the energetic behavior of little bugs ultimately depends on sun-power.
God's power extends from wonders great and small that we can observe in our awesome universe, like the sun and stars (which look small to us, yet are huge in actual size).
Nature Reveals God's Presence
God's presence can be detected even in the most commonplace substances, like water. All of us have physical bodies that are mostly water! Our planet is close enough to the sun to provide the liquid water that is necessary for life. But if it were just a little farther away, all that water would become ice!
While water itself is a very small molecule (just a three-atom unit of hydrogen and oxygen), it is a primary ingredient of our planet. God's design of how water's specific molecules behave (and the impact water has on our entire planet) is an example of God's creative design and custodial presence, even on the smallest and largest scales.
Water expands when it freezes, unlike most other substances. Ice and snow take up more volume than the same amount of liquid water. This makes water denser as a liquid than when frozen, so ice floats. If ice did not float on the surface of the water, the floors of oceans and lakes would be covered with glaciers of ice that would never melt. Surface ice also helps regulate the climate by reflecting energy.
As a liquid, water's temperature range is perfect for cycling water from the oceans to the land. Water requires a lot of energy to evaporate into a vapor and it releases this energy when it condenses back into liquid. This balances temperatures in the earth's climate, as well as inside living cells. If less energy were required for evaporation, then streams, rivers, and lakes would evaporate away quickly.
Beautiful clouds and sunsets inspire praise for the Creator who forms them. Because God's creative presence is shown in even commonplace yet needful things, we are blessed by the huge quantities of water that flow through our biosphere.
Nature Reveals God's Protection
If the earth had a thinner atmosphere, our planet would be hit with incoming rocks and harmful radiation. Mercury, Pluto, and the moon have almost no air at all. Their surfaces are scarred with craters from the impacts of giant boulders, little pebbles, and small grains of sand. The surfaces of these planets are very hot when facing the sun and very cold when facing away. If earth had a thicker atmosphere, our planet would be boiling hot. The weight of the atmosphere on Venus and the "gas giant" planets (Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune) is very heavy. On Venus, for instance, the surface pressure is 90 times that of earth! The surface pressure of Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune are even higher.
Earth has the right mixture of nitrogen and oxygen in its atmosphere. Venus and the gas giants have the wrong kind of gases for humans (or any other life forms) to survive there. Venus is mostly carbon dioxide. The gas giants are mostly hydrogen and helium. The other planets have little or no "air" at all. Truly, the very air we breathe is an invisible yet universal witness to God's protective providence.
Sunlight reaches us through our transparent atmosphere. Even though we can see through it, our atmosphere is also a filter. It allows in the sun's radiation that is useful to life, but blocks the radiation that is harmful to life. Only a fraction of the radio waves and some of the visible light and infrared radiations are blocked, but almost all of the harmful ultraviolet rays, x-rays and gamma rays never reach us.
We have been given an atmosphere that protects us. It provides just the right amount of air and warmth we need. It allows the sunlight to reach the plants that feed us. Our transparent atmosphere not only protects us, but it allows us to the see the stars and wonder at the heavens. The question is: are these marvelous devices merely accidents, or are they evidence of incredible design by a Creator?
Nature Reveals God's Provision
Why does the earth provide edible food? If the planting and harvesting of crops were not so commonplace, we would (or should) regard growing cycles of corn, beans, fruit trees, potatoes, or any other plant as amazing miracles.
The sun's energy warms our planet. Hot air blows from areas heated by the sun to cooler areas. The sun's energy brings rain. Water evaporates from the ocean and falls to the land as it cools. The sun powers the winds that move the water vapor to the land. The sun's energy renews air. With our sun's energy, plants convert carbon dioxide into oxygen. The sun's energy grows food. Plants capture sunlight and store it in sugar, starch, and fat.
Many other stars are too hot to support life. Many are too cold. Some vary from hot to cold too much. Some stars are too big and some are too small. Our sun is one of the few types that is ideally suited to support life. It has the right brightness and variability. It radiates the right range of energy in the right amounts. Most stars in the universe are not perfectly balanced for life, but our sun is.
There are thousands of examples of an integrated and purposeful plan for provision through the flora and fauna of our planet. Everywhere one looks, if one really tries to understand what is going on, it is easy to see an Intelligent Designer behind the common, everyday occurrences of our world.
Nature Reveals God's Wisdom
Wisdom enables us to understand reality. Through wisdom we have discovered a set of scientific laws that elegantly express reality in the language of mathematics. Whenever man learns the logic of the universe, man is (in essence) "thinking God's thoughts after Him." A correct "understanding" of understanding, therefore, is that we humans discover (and implement) wisdom; we do not invent it.
In particular, the cause of our universe coming into being, and of its continuing to operate as it does, is a dynamic display of the Creator's wisdom, some of which we can scientifically discover and understand. When we do, it is like walking in the footprints of someone who previously walked through a snowdrift.
It is only by God's creative grace that human creatures like us can think any thoughts at all, much less thoughts that are logical and analytical enough to be called "scientific." Because God's wisdom is displayed in the universe itself, and also in our human ability to comprehend that universe, we owe our great Creator-God an ongoing debt of creaturely thanksgiving.
* Dr. Morris is Chief Executive Officer of the Institute for Creation Research.
Cite this article: Morris III, H. 2010. Exploring the Evidence for Creation. Acts & Facts. 39 (3): 4-5.
