How many constellations can you see from your front porch?
Are these constellations real?
Not exactly.
Stars are real, constellations aren’t. They’re just the patterns we assign to distant luminaries based on symmetry. Constellations have “implied” reality, not “intrinsic” reality. They are not native to the universe but exist only in the human mind. But when enough people see the same shapes in the night sky, the images enter the collective consciousness and become as established as the stars themselves.
The same thing happens in the firmament of divine revelation as displayed in the Bible. Individual verses are strung together in connect-the-dot fashion to form doctrines, which are then coerced into a systematic theology. Systematic theology—of which there is surprisingly little in Scripture—is taught as absolute truth. Points of revelation are locked into patterns. Order tames chaos. Methodology replaces mystery. The Creator’s mind is made comprehensible.
But not everyone connects the dots in the same way. Certain patterns are named after their proponents like Calvinism and Lutheranism. Others are known by their dominant principles such as in Methodism and Evangelicalism. These “isms” are touted by their adherents as the correct interpretation of Scripture. Other views are branded incomplete at best and heresy at worst. Indeed, for a dark time in church history, those who didn’t see the proper shape of truth were tossed into prison or burned at the stake.
Arranging information into comprehensible form is very human. It is the essence of intelligence to discern patterns and their affect on us. The error comes in assuming our mental picture IS the truth rather than an inadequate metaphor for what is beyond our reach. After all, “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways” (Isaiah 55:9).
It takes an act of will to see past artificial constellations to individual stars, but doing so may open up the glories of God in a whole new way.
5 Comments
January 22, 2009 at 11:13 am
Great analogy. (why does that word start with ‘anal’) I especially appreciated “The error comes in assuming our mental picture IS the truth rather than an inadequate metaphor for what is beyond our reach.” That is the trap.
The ‘picture patterns’ that we buy into that help us ‘pigeon hole’ the stars (or other things beyond the reach of our understanding) are more comfortable and controllable. We are too quick to try to ‘pigeon hole’ elements of our faith, and especially the faith of others.
July 29, 2008 at 10:48 am
Mike, you may not remember us…but we went to Fellowship Bible Chapel with you in Colorado years ago. I read on Danielle Dunaway”s comment on a blog that you had lymphoma so I checked to see if it was the Mike Hamel we know and it is! I haven’t read your site yet. We are getting ready for a wedding, but it looks like there is some interesting stuff…and you have gotten grayer, for sure as Willie and I have too!!!!!!! More another time!
Connie for both the Newcomes
July 25, 2008 at 8:05 pm
Hi Mike
The bible does denote that God numbered and named the stars individually:
Psalm 147:4
4 He determines the number of the stars
and calls them each by name.
The Holy Bible : New International Version. electronic ed. Grand Rapids : Zondervan, 1996, c1984, S. Ps 147:4
It also says that God is the maker of the constellations which man has perceived:
Job 9:9
9 He is the Maker of the Bear and Orion,
the Pleiades and the constellations of the south.
The Holy Bible : New International Version. electronic ed. Grand Rapids : Zondervan, 1996, c1984, S. Job 9:9
In Christ love and mine,
Dan Holloman
July 21, 2008 at 9:50 am
While constellations are not “real”, they can be helpful in navigating the sky. Finding M13 (a very nice globular cluster) is very easy once you figure out Hercules. It seems to me systematic theology can work that way as well. That said, I am much less interested in ST and more interested in bible study (BS?).
July 14, 2008 at 9:07 pm
One of my favorite analogies ever, Mike. Well said.