The testimony of numbers
November 19th, 2004 ~ Orthodox perspectiveThis fine entry on OthodoxyToday.com called “Tripartite Formulations: The strengths of threes” says something that doesn’t get said enough: that the evidence of God and the beauty of His craftsmanship exist in math and geometry.
The ancients understood the strength of things arranged in threes, and the thesis that “a threefold cord is not easily broken” (Ecclesiastes 4:12) expressed a truth that no one in olden times was prone to doubt.
A simple deference to geometry sufficed to settle the question. The triangle, after all, is plain geometry’s only stable figure with straight lines. Geometry–literally, the measuring of the earth–is solidly founded on trigonometric functions, and the surest way to calculate the earth (or the heavens!) is by trigonometrical survey.>
were good at math and science. It is not my strong point. (I’m not sure what my strong point is yet, but I think it’s going to turn out to be something silly like blowing bubbles.) I would think that for those Christians who had the aptitude, the study of physics and biology would offer jewel-like proofs of God’s omnipresence. I would think that you would constantly have the delight of seeing His fingerprints in the laws of nature by which we’re all bound and by which we could all learn.
The heavens declare the glory of God;
the skies proclaim the work of His hands.
Day after day they pour forth speech;
night after night they display knowledge.
There is no speech or language where their voice is not heard.
Their voice goes out into all the earth,
their words to the ends of the world. (Psalm 19:1-4)