We got to talking about the Big Bang.
It's not something that I would bring up. He's been watching a lot of space programs on The Science Channel, so I have to think that he mentioned it first. And I struggled for something significant to say about the Big Bang. I mean, I know so little.
I said it's more than a theory. There's documented, scientific evidence in favor of it. They detected radiation of some sort where I used to work, Bell Labs in Holmdel.
On one occasion, I caught a glimpse of Arno Penzias during some corporate function. I didn't know precisely who he was. I knew he discovered something related to Big Bang. And I noticed that he stood apart as everyone tried to greet him and rub elbows. His autobiography is quite interesting. His words to his younger brother as they abandoned Nazi Germany for England are especially profound: jetzt sind wir allein. I can't imagine my six-year-old expressing such a degree of awareness. Fortunately, the dire situation was only temporary.
But my son said, "Well, if they didn't see anything, if they only heard something, then it isn't real. They have to see something." Ho-boy, is my work cut out for me with him. I reminded him of the doctor's stethoscope. She hears his heart with it. We know his heart is real even without seeing it.
2 comments:
Hi Greg, thanks for your comment. I always appreciate your thoughts on Chris's and Annabel's blogs.
The reclassification of Pluto is interesting news.
I don't understand why you say that Pluto mathematically had to be there. It had to be there for the mnemonics: My Very Elegant Mother Just Sat Upon Nine Pies! But other than that ...
Is there something incompatible about believing in God and accepting Big Bang?
I don't think that I disagree with anything in your comment.
My son's "Big Bang" question served primarily as a springboard for my remembrance of Dr. Penzias. And reflecting on his autobiography caused me to recognize God's providential care in his being ferried out of Nazi Germany for the sake of a scientifically successful career.
The other emphasis is more personal: how best to help my son understand that ...
"we walk by faith and not by sight" (2 Cor. 5:7)
or that
"faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen" (Hebrews 11:1).
Or even, as the conductor of The Polar Express said,
“sometimes seeing is believing.
And sometimes…the most real things in the world…are the things we can’t see.”
χαρις και ειρηνη
PS: I had to look up usque (so ashamed!) and came across a brewpub in England: Usque Ad Mortem Bibendum. No relation, I guess.
Well, "cheers!" all the same.
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