OP-ED: MIRACLES ARE ALL AROUND US
John 10: 38 “But if I do, though ye believe not me, believe the works: that ye may know, and believe, that the Father is in me, and I in him.”
By Van Yandell
The growth of non-believers in a supreme spiritual creator God is increasing. While only four to five percent of Americans claim an adherence to a strict atheistic view, around thirty percent claim no religious beliefs or affiliations whatsoever.
The Bible gives us a belief method called faith. Many do not consider the many beliefs and actions we have based on faith.
We have faith in the food we eat, the products we buy and the battery in our car. Hiring a contractor, going to a doctor or opening a bank account requires faith. So, what’s the problem with faith?
Ephesians 2: 8 “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God.” Since none of us were living 2000 years ago, faith is the only belief system possible.
But wait; we see God in His creation most everywhere we look. His miracles and His works are all around us. The simple fact that our eyes can observe those actions of nature is a miracle in itself. The study of the human eye and its reaction to light is beyond human logic.
The English naturalist Charles Darwin in his book “On the Origin of Species” conceded the “idea of a complex eye evolving by natural selection seems absurd in the highest possible degree.”
Darwin’s beliefs and statements have been seriously convoluted but the essence of his belief appear to be a “not sure” attitude concerning the supernatural. Darwin being credited with the beginning of the “existence by evolution” belief does not seem to me to be legitimate.
Regardless of one’s consideration of God and/or the Bible, can we possibly agree on a few connections existing between our physical world and Bible teachings? Miracles are all around us!
In a recent article the discussion was the connection between Genesis 1: 1-3 and the biological process of photosynthesis. The Bible states God had the necessary components to produce oxygen. Having matter, water and light, photosynthesis produces chlorophyll of which a by-product is oxygen.
Animals (including humans) breathe oxygen filled air and produce carbon dioxide. The plant life is then refueled to produce more oxygen. How could this reciprocating process have accidentally happened? Miracles are all around us!
Ecclesiastes 1: 6 “The wind goeth toward the south, and turneth about unto the north; it whirleth about continually, and the wind returneth again according to his circuits.”
Have you ever been anywhere on earth you could not breathe? Even in desert areas where there is not a plant in sight to produce oxygen, one can still breathe.
Solomon in Ecclesiastes 1: 6 describes the constant atmospheric movements/prevailing winds that literally “stir up” our atmosphere every day, every second. Miracles are all around us!
Astronomers tell us that our earth averages ninety-three million miles from the sun. If we were a few million miles further from the sun the oceans would freeze and we would die. If we were a few million miles closer to the sun, we would burn to a crisp.
Some astronomers call this perfect distance from our star (the sun) the Goldilocks zone; not too hot, not too cold.
A belief by many is that we are placed in a shielded area in this solar system. The other planets serve as buffers (or barriers) to asteroids and other space rocks passing through this area in space.
Our moon also serves several purposes to protect us. The tides, the seasons and stabilizing the tilt of the earth are moon controlled. Why do we only have one moon while other planets have multiple moons? The single gravitational direction must have been intentional. Miracles are all around us!
Ecclesiastes 1: 7 “All the rivers run into the sea; yet the sea is not full; unto the place from whence the rivers come, thither they return again.”
The rain falls, evaporates from the soil, our bodies and plants; the excess runs off into the seas, and evaporates into the atmosphere. The prevailing winds/air movements bring that vapor over the land and it falls again as rain. God is not only the greatest reciprocator, He is the great recycler. Miracles are all around us.
Our bodies are also miracles in constant movement. Our hearts are beating, our lungs are pumping and our blood is continually supplying our thirty-trillion body cells with oxygen and nutrients.
Our body parts are constantly replacing themselves. Skin, blood and bone cells are replicating themselves. Red blood cells are produced by bone marrow and replaced about every four months while bone cells take about ten years. Miracles are all around us!
Genesis 2: 1 “Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them.” When creation was complete, all the atoms of the elements had been created. All of the trillions of atoms in our bodies have existed since creation.
The first physics law of thermodynamics agrees with Genesis 2: 1. That law is called the law of the conservation of energy. Some add to that the conservation of matter and energy. All the atoms of all the elements have existed since creation (Genesis 2: 1); they have simply changed location.
Jon Bon Jovi said “Miracles happen every day; change your perception of what a miracle is, and you’ll see them all around you.”
The greatest miracle of all is yet to come. The Bible teaches there is only one eternal salvation. That is by a faith based belief (Ephesians 2: 8) that Christ Jesus was crucified (Matthew 27: 35) for the remission of sin (Romans 4: 25), resurrected (Matthew 28: 6) and ascended alive into Heaven (Acts 1: 9).
Van Yandell is a retired Industrial Arts teacher, an ordained gospel evangelist and missionary. His email is vmy3451@gmail.com
