God of Creation

[Music] hello there welcome to moody institute of science we're going to explore several different realms of god's creation before we're finished i think you'll agree that our god is a wonderful god the psalmist said the heavens declare the glory of god and the firmament showeth his handiwork so let's begin with astronomy we think of the stars as little points of light that we see only at night but our sun is a star to us it doesn't look like the other stars in the sky but that's just because we're so much closer to it than to any of the others the reason our earth is so close to the sun is that it's one of the sun's family that is one of the nine planets that revolve around the sun and make up what we call the solar system but that sun just how large is it well if it were hollow you could drop more than one million spheres the size of our earth down inside and rattle them around but the sun is about 1 million 500 000 times larger than our earth a way out there in the heavens or other stars so much larger that they make our sun but a speck in comparison how far away are they well let's take a trip from our son just to that nearest star out there in space to make the journey we'll travel at the speed of light 186 000 miles per second let's say that we begin our journey on january 1st at exactly 12 o'clock noon we leave the sun and hurtled into space at this inconceivable speed in eight minutes and 19 seconds we have passed the orbits of mercury and venus and have spanned the 93 million miles that separate the earth from the sun we continue on passing mars jupiter saturn uranus neptune and at 5 31 we reached pluto the last sentinel outpost of our solar system and remember we have traveled 3 billion 675 million miles and it's still january 1st but wait a minute our journey was to the nearest star not to the limits of the solar system we haven't even started our trip yet for we must continue to travel as the days the weeks and the months pass finally a whole year goes by then two years three four years then finally on april 19th of the fifth year we reach alpha centauri that nearest star out there in space but our telescopes don't stop here their searching eyes have probed the depths of space hundreds thousands millions yes hundreds of millions of light years and still there are stars beyond not many years ago astronomers were unable to conceive of anything beyond our own milky way system to them this was the universe then a new discovery rocked the astronomical world to its foundations for years telescopes had revealed hazy objects called nebulae distributed throughout all the heaven some of these such as the flame nebula in the constellation of orion and this spectacular filamentous nebula in cygnus were known to be composed of luminous gas many had a definite spiral shape thought then to be great whirlpools of luminous gas in the process of forming into a star however an intense study was begun as a great spiral nebula in andromeda bringing to bear the superb resolving power of the 100-inch telescope this nebula was found to be made up of individual stars and was in reality another galaxy it was this discovery that pushed back the boundaries of our knowledge and expanded enormously our concept of the material universe this new knowledge enabled us to understand the structure of our own galaxy and at last we had an explanation for the milky way our galactic system is very similar to the andromeda galaxy seen from the edge it would appear something like this the milky way is merely our view of our own galaxy but ours is just one galaxy everywhere we look out in space there are others how many stars are there astronomers tell us that there are at least 100 billion stars in our galaxy there are 100 million of these galaxies in known space and known space is just one billionth of theoretical space so if we would number the stars we must multiply 100 billion times 100 million times 1000 million this equals 10 to the 28th power or 10 octillion stars the human mind cannot grasp the meaning of such a number but maybe this will help think for a moment how many grains of sand there are sir james jeans tells us the total number of the stars in the universe is probably something like the total number of the grains of sand on all the seashores of all the world do you feel pretty small well i guess that's the natural reaction after looking at the immensity of god's universe man seems just too small and insignificant for god to care anything about but there are other things to consider for example god says consider the lilies of the field how they grow they toil not neither do they spin and yet i say unto you that even solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these [Music] puppies are the field lilies of california each year in the spring they stretch a carpet of gold across the valley this world of ours may be small but everywhere above us we see beauty and care lavished upon it the poppy is a friendly flower it seems of home beneath snow-capped mountains in the farmer's field or along the highway remember our verse consider the lilies of the field how they grow well let's consider how they grow we'll start the time compressor and squeeze four full days and nights into less than half a minute on the morning of the first day the poppies pop open and late in the afternoon they close the next morning they open again at night they close you see two full days have gone by the third morning they open and at night they close then the fourth morning they struggle open wither and die there are many wonderful things happening about us each day that we miss simply because they happen too slowly for us to see [Music] [Music] it's not only beauty we miss many of the most vital secrets of life remain hidden until the elapsed time camera lays them bare [Music] we might think it's the wind blowing the leaves of the daffodil back and forth but these pictures were taken in the laboratory and there's no wind there the leaves you see grow first on one side and then on the other giving them this swaying motion there's a lot of force involved in the growing of living things the struggle of this azalea bud to open is an example of it of course it's not so evident here but it's the same kind of force that enables growing roots to lift the sidewalk or crack the foundations of a house each flower has its own special tempo of growth as it unfolds the begonia for example is so active that it's almost impossible to keep the camera focused upon [Music] the fuchsia is a favorite with gardeners everywhere but how many of them realize that it grows like it had a bad case of hiccups [Music] flowers are as different as human beings the hibiscus seems to have quite a sense of the dramatic as it unfurls with a grand gesture in a riot of color [Music] there's an old-fashioned grace about the cyclamen [Music] it seems to recall that courtesy manner of yesterday as it opens with the curtsy [Music] plants don't grow all the time they grow a while and then they rest in this rose for example there's a period of growth then a period of rest and a period of growth and a period of rest our attention has been focused upon the beauty of the plant but there's something far more vital than beauty for plants manufactured directly or indirectly every bit of food that we eat as the leaves are exposed to sunlight the mysterious and wonderful process of photosynthesis carries on this process is perhaps the most basic and vital in all the world without these marvelous food factories life could not exist upon the earth but let's look down inside the minute cells of the leaf and see this factory actually in operation it takes a powerful microscope to study this life-sustaining function a tiny section of a leaf is placed on the stage of the microscope and then we look down inside these cells and see the chlorophyll grains or chloroplasts marching endlessly round and round inside the cells through the action of sunlight this photosynthetic process takes the carbon from the carbon dioxide of the air and the hydrogen from the water of the ground mixing them together into carbohydrates proteins and other food elements in the way which man has never quite been able to understand and may never be able to duplicate photosynthesis certainly is vital to us but there wouldn't be any photosynthesis there would be neither food nor life upon this earth if it weren't for pollination with the reawakening of life in the spring the landscape is splashed with riotous color but this beauty isn't just for our pleasure something more vital is involved the purpose of the color is to attract insects and to add to this eye appeal there's a bit of nectar sweet to the insects taste but let's see why the flower needs the insect the anther located at the end of those hair like filaments produces the pollen these tiny yellow grains have to be transported to the stigmatic surface of a nearby blossom without this process we would have blossoms but no fruit on our trees no fruit means no seeds and in time no more trees the insect crawls over the flower in search of nectar and fine mute hairs on his legs and body pick up the pollen grains thus they are transported to the sticky stigmatic surface of a neighboring flower here these minute pollen grains germinate the photomicrographic lapse time camera permits us to actually witness this thrilling process of germination certain insects play an important part in this basic process but i'm afraid most of us would be rather glad to get rid of the ones we find in our garden we complain plenty about these pesky fellows with their seemingly endless appetite [Music] [Laughter] [Music] let's examine the life history of one caterpillar the anise swallowtail as the days of the caterpillar's existence as a larva draw to a close he begins an amazing series of preparations for the next event of his life the spinning of this silken loop is an important step in that process after anchoring the ends of the silk thread in just the right spot he weaves strand after strand until it forms a strong cord when it is finished he performs a very neat bit of gymnastics and tucks his head through the loop [Music] so [Music] as soon as the loop is just where he wants it he hangs quietly for a couple of days during this period the pseudopods feet like organs along the under surface of his body mysteriously disappear after the interval of quiet the caterpillar's body convulses violently then begins a series of rhythmic muscular contractions all of us know that the caterpillar turns into a chrysalis then into a butterfly but few people actually witness the transformation this is not lapse time photography this is the actual speed at which the change occurs during these few moments he is shedding his skin his feet and all the external features of the caterpillar to emerge into a mysterious phase of life called the chrysalis [Music] so [Music] um [Music] in just a moment we'll delve into the mysteries of this change in color but first let's retrace our steps briefly before the caterpillar loses his skin holding on to the twig is comparatively simple but when he sheds this skin he performs an acrobatic feat that makes the man on the flying trapeze look like an amateur first he hangs onto the skin by pinching it between the folds of his body next he withdraws what the entomologist terms the tree master and neatly hooks it onto the branch it looks as though he might shake himself loose as he struggles violently to rid himself of the rolled up skin but we don't need to worry about this he has fastened himself in a way that will support more than one hundred times his own weight key to this support is the cremaster unique organ at the extreme lower tip of his body it's actually no larger than the head of a pin yet the microscope reveals it is covered with 140 tiny sharp hooks just the equipment he needs but the hooks are just half the story several days earlier the caterpillar had the foresight to spin this strong almost invisible web of silk on the branch and it is this web that holds the hooks of the treemaster secure can you spot the chrysalis in this picture pretty well hidden wasn't it this blending of the colors into the background is no accident it is deliberate camouflage caterpillars forming these chrysalids were all of the same type the anna's swallowtail fed the same food raised under identical conditions there was just one difference they were placed on different colored sticks just before entering the chrysalis stage the emerging chrysalis does not immediately bear any resemblance to his environment at first it is greenish white in color almost immediately however there is a striking change in color that agrees perfectly with the surroundings this camouflage is the only protection the helpless insect has during the two weeks or so it hangs quietly awaiting its day of liberation when this day arrives the insect jerks violently for a few moments and then the chrysalis pops open and from it emerges an adult insect the butterfly [Music] of course he still doesn't look much like a butterfly because his wings have not yet filled out but this process won't take long if you watch very closely you'll see it actually take place tiny tubes within the wings are being filled some with blood some with air and some with a liquid that will soon cement giving rigidity and strength to the butterfly's wings [Music] and so the caterpillar pays his debt to society he was an awful nuisance of that garden but as a butterfly he not only adorns the world with his beauty but performs the vital function of carrying pollen from flower to flower [Music] the paramecium has been the biologist's classic example of simplicity it is a tiny one-celled microorganism which careful study has revealed possesses a tremendous life potentiality some forms under ideal conditions reproduce every three hours fortunately for us this process doesn't continue without interruption and the diedenium is one reason it doesn't these little fellows eat paramecia though much smaller than their victims they actually swallow them whole each diedinium will eat at least six whole paramecia every day but what would happen if the reproduction of one paramecium went on unhindered if this process could continue for just five years we would have enough paramecia to solidly pack all known space for many years we have been told that paramecia are so simple that they are all of one sex and that they reproduce merely by dividing and becoming two but a new discovery has burst like an atomic bomb in the biological world these tiny creatures that were supposed to be so simple have been found in some ways more complex even than man himself these are paramecium bursaria their green color is the result of an amazing method of actually labeling the tiny organisms present within the paramecia is a microscopic form of algae which varies from light to dark green in proportion to the amount of light allowed to accompany growth using a tiny glass tube called a micro pipette about the diameter of a human hair paramecia of one sex are injected into a culture of a different sex soon after the cultures are mixed the animals assemble into small groups others then join these groups until sometimes 50 or more are clumped together after a time however these groups break up into pairs according to a definite and predictable pattern in most forms of life there are but two sexes paramecia however are multi-sexual more than a score of different sexes are known among them in the search for simplicity the scientist has discovered an overwhelming complexity just a drop of water no a complex world just as full of wonders as the whirling galaxies of distant space well these are strange and wonderful things aren't they what do they mean to you personally this is an important question many times these days we hear the statement it isn't what you know it's who you know that counts the statement is made cynically of course but there's a real sense in which it is very true for the man who does not know god is living an empty life a god who can create a hundred billion universes and then hurl them into space and fill them with all the minute miracles of life is a wonderful god what is your relationship to him is this wonderful god a total stranger if so then your life is empty and pointless even though it be filled with all the knowledge and the wisdom of this world some people go through life with god as a constant companion as a partner in every adventure have you wondered about the reality of this relationship well the answer to that question is personal experience and after all isn't that the best answer how can we enter into this relationship with god by turning over a new leaf deciding to do better i doubt if your experience with this formula is any more successful than mine we need a new life not a new leaf we have to think of god's work in creation as something connected only with the dim and distant past but god's work as creator is not over he stands ready today to perform for you his greatest creative miracle let me read you a verse from the bible therefore if any man be in christ jesus he is a new creation old things are passed away and behold all things are become new god offers to create in us a new life a life of peace instead of turmoil a life of victory instead of sin and defeat the life of eternal glory instead of eternal suffering and he's great enough to do the job it will only let him the terms of this transaction between a human soul and the creator of the universe are not a matter of opinion either yours or mine they are clearly stated by god himself in the bible and it is enormously important that you and i know just what those terms are may i make a suggestion get your bible and read the third chapter of john's gospel that's the gospel of john the third chapter it will take you just three minutes and it could well be the most important three minutes in your whole life you