The Eclipse

It’s here!  Finally, it is Eclipse Day.  Are you excited?  While everyone seems to be focused on the three minutes (here in the Niagara region) of totality, according to timeanddate.com, the event will actually begin at 2:04 PM and last until 4:31 PM - that’s almost two and a half hours of ecliptical joy!  The actual moon-blocking-the-sun part is the most exciting, but it is also the shortest part of the whole thing.

Are you planning to look at the eclipse?  Whether you actually watch it (with your glasses, of course!) or not, there are two distinct perspectives on the eclipse itself.

The first perspective sees this as a phenomena of the natural world and our solar system.  There is amazement at the symmetry of the universe - the relative sizes of the moon and sun that allows the moon to “cover” the sun when observed from earth, the distance of the moon from the earth, the alignment of all three celestial bodies (earth, moon, and sun) since their orbits happen in 3D space, not just a 2D flat plane, and on and on it goes.  It is truly amazing that all these factors can align to create today’s spectacular event.

“Wait,” you may say,  “that’s a lot of coincidences.”  Yes, it is.  But here is how one commentator explained it.  Imagine you have six dice.  You shake them in a cup and pour them out onto a hard surface.  When you align them into a row, they will represent a six digit number, randomly created, such as 634412.  It would be astronomically impossible to guess what number the dice would represent - yet there it is:  a real number was generated.  It had to be SOME number between 111111 and 666666 - and this is the one.  Our inability to guess it has noting to do with it happening.  It just happens.  Similarly, even though the odds seem astronomical, the components of the natural world will combine to create a once-in-a-lifetime event.

But there is a major difference.  The events of the natural world - in this case, an eclipse, are repeatable and predictable.  The “it happened by chance” theory would be fine if it only happened once.  But it doesn’t.  There are accurate records predicting future eclipses going back to the ancient Egyptians and Babylonians.

The “it happened by chance” theory is easily disproved by one simple act.  Take those same dice, shake them in the same cup for the same length of time, and pour them out onto the same hard surface.  Assuming no one has tampered with the dice, it will take a long, loonngg time before the same 634412 number reappears.  So how is it that an infinitely more complex set of elements - all the natural world - can regularly and predictably create such knee-weakening, awe-inspiring cosmic events?  They can’t - unless there is some kind of structure and order behind them (which, of course, there is).

Don’t get me wrong - I’m all about science.  The study of the wonders of the galaxy and all it contains is a good, valuable, and important pursuit.  From the investigation of the micro- and nano-world to the exploration of what is “out there,” the quest for knowledge and understanding is part of our image-bearing mandate.  However, we don’t always perceive what we are seeing correctly.  Because of our desire to “be like God” (Gen. 3:5), our natural interpretive bias will always lead us away from God instead of toward Him.  It is called a “confirmation bias,” namely, the tendency to see what we want to see and not necessarily what is really there.  Apart from the work of the Spirit of God in our minds, we don’t want to see a Creator God because it immediately limits our sense of independence and autonomy.  

This Eclipse Day gives us a greater opportunity than just marvelling at a rare cosmic wonder.  It also allows us - if we are willing - to catch a glimpse of the handiwork of a faithful Creator God who cares for, loves, and is gracious toward all He has created even though it is now dysfunctional and His image-bearers live in rebellion against Him.  It is much more than a sphere of dust and rock sliding past a huge ball of nuclear fusion.  It is - or can be - a poignant visualization of God’s pervasive care.  

What will you see?