A reader writes: theological musings …

A reader writes:

Brian, my wife and I just returned from a trip (my first) to the Grand Tetons and Yellowstone. Spectacular doesn’t even begin to describe these places. To be sure, we weren’t in Kansas anymore.
I just wanted to share some thoughts with you.
While we were there, one of the places we went was to the Episcopal Chapel of the Transfiguration. While I sat in the darkness looking at that view, I thought “We have something all wrong”. When someone asks us to “prove” the existence of “God”, we trot out the old “watch and watchmaker” schpiel. I think this misses the mark by infinity.
Several weeks ago I heard a comment by singer-songwriter Mary Gauthier in which she said that artists were people who attempted to make sense out of chaos.
If you recall, in the opening verses of Genesis, that’s precisely what God does.
Maybe we need to start thinking of God not as a mere watchmaker, but as a great Artist. Maybe being made in the image and likeness of God means we can see creation through the eyes of the Artist.
I thought, If I were to bring my weeniedog Daphne to that place and asked her to comprehend the wonder of it all, she would probably be wondering if it involved food or chasing a squirrel!

Amen! In the modern era, where the machine was the pinnacle of human achievement, I can see why people were enamored with the watchmaker analogy. But it indeed falls short in so many ways. Creativity is the first action in the Bible – and it’s one of the last too (“Behold, I create all things new!”) That’s one of the themes I trace from Genesis to Revelation in my new book, btw.
It’s interesting to ponder what the human versions of chasing a squirrel would be!