A Compilation
Abraham Lincoln, the 16th President of the United States,
also had similar thoughts to Newton and Einstein. He said, “I can see how it might
be possible for a man to look down upon the earth and be an atheist.” I guess
we can all understand that thought when we see man’s inhumanity to man on a
daily bases. Lincoln continues, “but I cannot conceive how a man could look up into
the heaven and say, ‘There is no God.’”[7]
When talking with others about our faith, I find it is good
to have or know quotes by famous people on the subject. Here’s a few quotes
made by some famous men on the topic of “Intelligent Design” or the idea that
there must be an intelligent Creator.
“A scientist’s religious feelings take the form of rapturous
amazement at the harmony of natutal law, which reveals an Intelligence of such
superiority that, compared with it, all the systematic thinking and acting of
human beings is an utterly insignificante reflection.”[1] Albert Einstein
“We are in the position of a little child entering a huge
library filled with books in many different languages. The child knows someone
must have written those books. It does not know how. It does not understand the
languages in which they are written. The child dimly suspects a mysterious
order in the arrangement of the books but doesn’t know what it is. That, it
seems to me, is the attitude of even the most intelligent being toward God. We
see a universe marvellously arranged and obeying certain laws, but only dimly
understand those laws. Our limited minds cannot grasp the mysterious force that
moves the constellations.”[2] Albert Einstein
Another famous scientist writing long before Einstein said
something similar.
“This most beautiful system of the sun, planets, and comets,
could only proceed from the counsel and dominion of an intelligent and powerful
Being…..This Being governs all things, not as the soul of the world [as the New Age philosophies teach],
but as Lord over all [as the Bible teaches]; and on account of His dominion He
is want to be called Lord God, or Universal Ruler.”[3]
Isaac Netwon
More than a hundred years later, an American President would
echo Newton’s words as if he had been reading from Newton’s writings.
“So irresistable are these evidences of an intelligent and
powerful Agent, that, of the infinite numbers of men who have existed through
all the time, they have believed, in the porportion of a million to one, in the
hypothesis of an eternal pre-existence of a creator, rather than in that of a
self-existent universe.”[4]
Thomas Jefferson
Jefferson, you may remember, was not a traditional Christian,
but a Christian Deist. As a Deist he believed that some invisible, powerful, intelligent
“Agent” had created the universe. But he did not believe in the miracles of the
Bible, nor in a resurrected Christ. He is known to have cut out all the
supernatural events from his Bible. But even with this doubts about the Bible, he
still confessed to an Intelligent Designer and believed that the teachings of
Jesus constituted the “outlines of a system of the most sublime morality which
has ever fallen from the lips of man.”[5]
Werner Von Braun, the rocket scientist who helped put the first man on the moon, was asked to give
testimony at a court case involving the
teaching of creation in the high-school classroom. In his deposition to the
court he said, “For me, the idea of a creation is not conceivable without
invoking the necessity of design. One cannot be exposed to the law and order of
the universe without concluding that there must be design and purpose behind it
all…My experience with science led me to God. They challenge science to prove
the existence of God. But must we light a candle to see the sun?”[6]
The Prussian philosopher Immanuel Kant wrote, “Two things
fill the mind with ever new and increasing admiration and awe, the more often
and steadily we reflect upon them: the starry heavens above me and the moral
law within me.”[8]
Some three thousand years ago the poet and musician King
David wrote, “The heavens declare the glory of God; and the skies proclaim the
work of his hands. Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they
reveal knowledge. They have no speech, they use no words; no sound is heard
from them. Yet their voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the ends
of the world.”[9]
The Apostle Paul in the New Testament made a similar observation:
“For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal
power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has
been made, so that people are without excuse.”[10]
C.S. Lewis, the great Christian speaker and writer, had
thoughts on why he didn’t agree with the idea that the universe was a result of
random, purposeless processes. He wrote,
“If the solar system was brought about by an accidental collision, then the
appearance of organic life on this planet was also an accident, and the whole
evolution of man was an accident, too. If so, then all our present thoughts are
mere accidents—the accidental by-products of the movements of atoms, and this
holds for the thoughts of the materialist’s, and astronomer’s, as well as for
anyone else’s. But if their thoughts, that is, of materialism and astronomy—are
merely acidental by-products, why should we believe them to be true? I see no
reason for believing one accident should be able to give a correct account of
all the other accidents.”
In 1968 one of the astronauts who had traveled to the moon
and backed was asked by a reportor if he had seen God as a Russian astronaut was
repórted to have said he hadn’t seen God. Frank Borman answered quite distinctly, “I can’t
comment on what he didn’t see, but I saw evidence that God lives.” About seeing the
earth rise for the first time on the moon he said,“This must be what God sees.
I was absolutely awe struck.”[11]
Are you seeing God in His creation? He’s speaking loud and
clear if you’ll listen.
[1]
Einstein, Albert; The World as I See It, 1934
[2]
Einstein, Albert; Interview, 1929
[3] Newton,
Isaac; The Principia: Matematical Principles of Natural Philosophy, 1687
[4]
Jefferson, Thomas; Letter from Thomas Jefferson to John Adams, 1823; https//founders.archives.gov>From Thomas Jefferson; Retrieved 2019-07-16
[5]
https//en.m.wikipedia.org; Religious views of Thomas Jefferson; “Jefferson’s Religious
Beliefs,” monticello.org. Retrieved 2016-10-09.
[6] Von
Braun, Werner; From a letter to the California State Board of Education, 14
September 1972
[7] Lincoln,
Abraham; https//www.goodreads.com; Quote by Abraham Lincoln; Retrieved
2019-07-16.
[8] Kant
Immanuel, Critique of Practical Reason, 1781
[9] David,
Psalm 19:1-4, NIV
[10] Apostle
Paul, Romans 1:20, NIV
[11] Borman,
Frank; https//cprovstgaard.blogspot.com; Men on the Moon: Apollo 8; Retrieved
2019-07-16
