Now, along with being a man of faith, I'm a science geek. I simply think science is an additional way that God uses to, not only give proof of himself, but also to make his children even more amazed by the Creator. Simply put, God is science. God made science. A lot of us have a blurred bias between the differences of science and faith, but really, science is just another form of faith. Scientists have faith in their theories. Men of science have faith in their leading scientists, so therefore, men of science have faith in theories that were created by scientists. In essence, men of science are men of faith, just not in the same thing. I could consider myself to be a supreme man of faith. I have faith in the theories, because I have faith in the upper knowledge of scientists themselves, but that is only because I have the utmost faith in God that he was the original being that created all these occurrences and phenomena, therefore, since God has bestowed these scientists with the knowledge they have, it really only strengthens my faith in my Father. Now, scientists nowadays have abused their knowledge and turned it for evil, chasing after the desires of their flesh (ie. money, fame, power) and have left God out of their discoveries, but that's going off of on a tangent. So, from time to time, I'll post some awesome things that have been discovered in the science realm of life, because it just helps me, and hopefully everyone else, realized just how indescribable our God is. Plus, any normal human being would get excited with whatever is being advanced in today's technological realm.
So, DNA... deoxyribonucleic acid... As, Ts, Gs, and Cs... The blueprint of our body... The step-by-step manual to our bodies running... In summary, the entire essence of how we exist. Just a couple fun facts about DNA and how pretty sweet it is.
- our entire DNA sequence would fill up 200, 1,000 page NYC phone books
- If a person typed 60 words per minutes, for 8 hours a day, it would take them about 50 years to type the human genome
- there is about 3,000,000,000 bases in an entire human genome
- if you unraveled all of the DNA in your entire body, it would be long enough to travel to the moon and back 300 times.
Impressed yet? Well, if you're not... lemme take one more shot at it. The human genome is the most complex set of instructions. In October 1990, scientists began a cooperative research program to basically map-out the entire genome of a single human being, called the Human Genome Project. It wasn't until April 2003 until they officially declared the HGP to be complete. After the completion of the project, scientists estimated nearly 140,000 different genes that could be identified within the DNA. 140,000 different steps to construct the complexity of the human body that you are currently occupying right now. That's pretty amazing if you ask me. (More of the Human Genome Project can be read here: http://www.genome.gov/12011238)
Now, here's something new about DNA. It can store data... lots of it, and not just the amount of gigabytes that you can store on some hard-drive on your computer at home.
About a cup of DNA (and when I say cup, I mean the official measuring "cup." The 8 oz cup. Not some cup you can get from Sonic), can store up to 3 zettabytes of data. Never heard of a zettabyte? Me either, until today. Let's put this into perspective compared to gigabytes.
1 zettabyte is equivalent to 1,099,511,627,776 gigabytes. That would make 3 zettabytes equal to 3,298,534,883 gigabytes. Now, that may not seem as significant to you, because a cup of DNA, in reference to how small DNA actually is, would mean that there would have to be a lot of DNA to store data. Let's get down to the small scale. (in comparison to DNA)
Think of things that weight a gram... maybe a pencil eraser? A paper clip? A piece of paper? A button? Things that weigh a gram are pretty small right? Here's a pretty cool number. 1 gram of DNA stores about 2,000,000,000 megabytes, which is equal to about 2,000,000 gigabytes. 2000000GB hard drive for ya right there, and that's only in a gram.
A top-of-the-line MacBook Pro, that can cost up to $2,800, that is used for professional video editing and uploading, contains a hard-drive worth 500 GB. Not only does this small amount of DNA have more room, but it also cost effective (assuming that DNA is essentially free, before the cost of labor, research, and process of inputting data). One MacBook Pro contains about .025% of data storage in a gram of DNA. In order for you to equal the amount of memory stored in a gram of DNA, you would need about 40,000 MacBook Pros, and for kicks, that would be equal to spending $112,000,000. I'm just going to assume that altering the sequence into binary numbers costs much less than that of 40,000 MacBooks. (I do realize that these numbers are kind of skewed, because the hard drive is not that only factor in a laptop, but all things equal here.)
I'm not sure about you, but that gets me excited about the future of technology. Who knows what we could be working on in the next 10 years. Hopefully, the cure for cancer will be long found before that. Once you begin to store the "I Had A Dream" speech, and all of Shakespeares sonnets, onto the manual for your body, that's when something amazing happens. I don't even wanna know how much memory is able to store an entire human genome of a regular human being... Too big to comprehend.
And if you think I'm lying, (which would be a pretty drawn out lie) here's a couple articles that I read about this. It's not crazy, it's science, and science rules.
Original Article:
http://earthsky.org/human-world/scientists-successfully-store-data-in-dna?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+fullsite+(EarthSky)
The Official Press Release:
http://www.ebi.ac.uk/Information/News/press-releases/press-release-01232013-DNA_storage.html
Monday, January 28, 2013
Wednesday, January 16, 2013
God loved Adolf Hitler.
"The relation between Creator and creature is, of course, unique, and cannot be paralleled by any relations between one creature and another. God is both further from us, and near to us, than any other being. He is further from us because the sheer difference between that which has It's principle of being in Itself and that to which being is communicated, is one compared with which the difference between an archangel and a worm is quite insignificant. He makes, we are made: He is original, we derivative. But at the same time, and for the same reason, the intimacy between God and even the meanest creature is closer than any that creatures can attain with one another. Our life is, at every moment, supplied by Him: our tiny, miraculous power of free will only operates on bodies which His continual energy keeps in existence - our very power to think is His power communicated to us. Such a unique relation can be apprehended only by analogies: from the various types of love known among creatures we reach an inadequate, but useful, concept of God."
- an excerpt from The Problem of Pain by C.S. Lewis
Let me just make this clear. It is very hard to read books written by C.S. Lewis. After all, he was the professor of English at Oxford University for the majority of his life. Let me just simplify what Lewis said, and I will add my own commentary onto that.
The very first sentence that we see is concerns the relationship of God and man to be one that is "unique, and cannot be paralleled by any relations between one creature and another." It's the simplest of terms, there is nothing that can compare to the relationship that we have with our Father in Heaven. Even your closest relationships, such as your mom, your dad, your best friend, your girlfriend, or your youth pastor, aren't even worthy to be put against the contest of Him. Jesus makes it very clear. In Matthew, He says that, "the person who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of me." (Matt. 10:37) That's scary to think, but that's just the transparency that Jesus used to preach to the crowds that followed Him. You may raise the question,
"But didn't God tell us to obey our mother and father?" Well, no, not exactly. He told us to HONOR our mother and father. While obeying is a way to honor them, if their commands go against God's Word, and His plan for your life, then you respectfully tell them that it isn't right. I love my mom and dad, but my mom and dad didn't save me, nor could they ever save me. Jesus is the only one who saved me.
Why could nothing compare to your relationship with God? It's an easy answer. He made you. He also made you for a reason. While some of us may not know the specific reason as to why God made us, we can rest assured knowing that whatever reason it may be, the main reason is so we can honor and worship Him. This means our whole life. Every waking second should be dedicated to worshipping God. Is this easy? Of course not. I struggle with it sometimes, because it's really easy to not worship God. There are far more ways to defy the name of the Lord, rather than to worship it, especially with the world we live in today. Also, it's very easy for us to do that too. We were born into sin. Our nature is to sin. The law of thermodynamics wasn't lying when it said all things tend toward chaos, or disorder. Sin creates disorder in our lives, and we tend towards that disorder. Always remember, our walk with God is never about being constantly perfect. That's humanly impossible. Instead of being constantly perfect, walk with the Lord with persistence so that He can keep you blameless before His eyes.
Another point that Lewis brings up about our relationship with the Father is that it's unique. It's different. It's special. He states that while our relationship with God is like the relationship between "an archangel and a worm." Obviously, he is the archangel in this comparison, and we are only a worm. We're insignificant compared to Him, or at least to the naked eye we are. But just as John Mark McMillan said it best, "You set us up above all the stars." While we presume to be insignificant, he makes us dressed in glory that isn't our own. He sets us above any creature, plant, star, galaxy, or mountain. That's what makes the relationship so precious, because we don't deserve it. Even the most broken, dark, crusted heart has a closer relationship to God than any other human. Put this in perspective. God saw adoration for even Adolf Hitler. He loved Hitler.
Isn't that crazy? That's pretty far fetched if you ask me, but he did. It's the truth. The thing that shakes me the most is that he continue to give Hitler life. God gave Hitler the power of free will, and he took advantage of it. Am I saying Hitler is in Heaven because God loves him so much? No, not at all. God loves him enough to be fair with him. To give him his deserved punishment.
That's God's love in a very discrete manner. A person could make up analogy after analogy to "properly" describe the love of God, but that is impossible. A way a husband loves his wife? Doesn't come close. A way a dad loves his children? Doesn't come close. A way a dog loves it's owner? Doesn't even nearly come close. While we can see mere glimpses of God's love through these specific occasions, it can never even come close to matching up the love he has for his children.
Just as a father is still a father to a child who disobeys them, so is God is still our Heavenly father even when we run from him. No matter how far you may seem, you are never out of reach. God has a pretty big wingspan if you ask me. If you're walking with God today, stay by his side. Let him lead you wherever he wants. If you're not walking with the Lord right now, don't fret. He hasn't abandoned you. He loves you too much to make you do it on your own. No matter how distant he may feel, just give him a call.Knock on his door. He's going to answer you, and that's something I'm not afraid to promise.
“Keep asking, and it will be given to you. Keep searching, and you will find. Keep knocking, and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who searches finds, and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened."
- Matthew 7:7-8 (HCSB)
- an excerpt from The Problem of Pain by C.S. Lewis
Let me just make this clear. It is very hard to read books written by C.S. Lewis. After all, he was the professor of English at Oxford University for the majority of his life. Let me just simplify what Lewis said, and I will add my own commentary onto that.
The very first sentence that we see is concerns the relationship of God and man to be one that is "unique, and cannot be paralleled by any relations between one creature and another." It's the simplest of terms, there is nothing that can compare to the relationship that we have with our Father in Heaven. Even your closest relationships, such as your mom, your dad, your best friend, your girlfriend, or your youth pastor, aren't even worthy to be put against the contest of Him. Jesus makes it very clear. In Matthew, He says that, "the person who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of me." (Matt. 10:37) That's scary to think, but that's just the transparency that Jesus used to preach to the crowds that followed Him. You may raise the question,
"But didn't God tell us to obey our mother and father?" Well, no, not exactly. He told us to HONOR our mother and father. While obeying is a way to honor them, if their commands go against God's Word, and His plan for your life, then you respectfully tell them that it isn't right. I love my mom and dad, but my mom and dad didn't save me, nor could they ever save me. Jesus is the only one who saved me.
Why could nothing compare to your relationship with God? It's an easy answer. He made you. He also made you for a reason. While some of us may not know the specific reason as to why God made us, we can rest assured knowing that whatever reason it may be, the main reason is so we can honor and worship Him. This means our whole life. Every waking second should be dedicated to worshipping God. Is this easy? Of course not. I struggle with it sometimes, because it's really easy to not worship God. There are far more ways to defy the name of the Lord, rather than to worship it, especially with the world we live in today. Also, it's very easy for us to do that too. We were born into sin. Our nature is to sin. The law of thermodynamics wasn't lying when it said all things tend toward chaos, or disorder. Sin creates disorder in our lives, and we tend towards that disorder. Always remember, our walk with God is never about being constantly perfect. That's humanly impossible. Instead of being constantly perfect, walk with the Lord with persistence so that He can keep you blameless before His eyes.
Another point that Lewis brings up about our relationship with the Father is that it's unique. It's different. It's special. He states that while our relationship with God is like the relationship between "an archangel and a worm." Obviously, he is the archangel in this comparison, and we are only a worm. We're insignificant compared to Him, or at least to the naked eye we are. But just as John Mark McMillan said it best, "You set us up above all the stars." While we presume to be insignificant, he makes us dressed in glory that isn't our own. He sets us above any creature, plant, star, galaxy, or mountain. That's what makes the relationship so precious, because we don't deserve it. Even the most broken, dark, crusted heart has a closer relationship to God than any other human. Put this in perspective. God saw adoration for even Adolf Hitler. He loved Hitler.
Isn't that crazy? That's pretty far fetched if you ask me, but he did. It's the truth. The thing that shakes me the most is that he continue to give Hitler life. God gave Hitler the power of free will, and he took advantage of it. Am I saying Hitler is in Heaven because God loves him so much? No, not at all. God loves him enough to be fair with him. To give him his deserved punishment.
That's God's love in a very discrete manner. A person could make up analogy after analogy to "properly" describe the love of God, but that is impossible. A way a husband loves his wife? Doesn't come close. A way a dad loves his children? Doesn't come close. A way a dog loves it's owner? Doesn't even nearly come close. While we can see mere glimpses of God's love through these specific occasions, it can never even come close to matching up the love he has for his children.
Just as a father is still a father to a child who disobeys them, so is God is still our Heavenly father even when we run from him. No matter how far you may seem, you are never out of reach. God has a pretty big wingspan if you ask me. If you're walking with God today, stay by his side. Let him lead you wherever he wants. If you're not walking with the Lord right now, don't fret. He hasn't abandoned you. He loves you too much to make you do it on your own. No matter how distant he may feel, just give him a call.Knock on his door. He's going to answer you, and that's something I'm not afraid to promise.
“Keep asking, and it will be given to you. Keep searching, and you will find. Keep knocking, and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who searches finds, and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened."
- Matthew 7:7-8 (HCSB)
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