By Not Known
2009 is the International Year of Astronomy. Many will think about how we wee the universe beyond our planet.
From AD150 to 1543 most people followed Ptolemy and thought that the sun revolved around the earth. That changed when Nicolaus Copernicus published his book: On the Revolutions of the Celestial Spheres.His views prevailed and thus we now believe that the earth revolves around the sun.
At around the same time another revolution was starting. Western thinking long held that humanity orbited around God. Little by little this was reversed. We now place ourselves at the center of life’s orbit and God is either absent or revolves around us. The result is egotism, whose creed is I am God and He is not.
Paul talks about this. Everyone has some glimpses of the divine, whether in creation, conscience or Scripture (Rom 1: 19-20; 2: 13- 15). This should lead us to a life orbiting around God. But, we all suppress our glimpse of God. We exchange his glory to make gods of ourselves and other created things (Rom 1: 21- 23).
This earns God’s judgement in which he steps back and gives us over to our worst instincts (Rom 1: 26, 28). Having put ourselves at the centre of live’s orbit we then ‘let go’ and live as we please in an upside-down world (Rom 1: 26- 32).
Copernicus called for a sun-centered physical cosmology. We need a Son-centered spiritual cosmology. We need to jettison the view that life orbits around us, open our eyes and see that the universe revolves around God. He is God and we are not.
The gospel of Jesus calls us to a Son-centered cosmology and makes it possible. The gospel is the power of God for salvation for all who believe (Rom 1: 16). The alternative is to come under God’s judgement for saying that I am God and He is not.
Let’s gaze into the heavens and admire God’s creation in 2009. But let’s gaze beyond the heavens to see God and his Son. Let’s say this creed and live by it: He is God and I am not.