Nature

“In the created world only the human being combines material and spiritual elements. Human existence is thus differentiated from non-human creation in a qualitative way. In light of this fact, the Church Fathers often speak of the human being as a "little world", a "microcosm" of the whole of the creation. Using this notion, the Church Fathers teach that the human body contains in it all levels of existence of the natural world which preceded it in order of the creation, and considered the physical elements which make up the human body as in no way different from those which constitute the physical world. This means that the natural world is fully integrated with the human being and the whole of the creation.” (Greek Orthodox Archdiocese)

“The best and most beneficial role that the natural world can play is to mediate between God and humankind in order to restore the relationship of communion.” (Apostolos Nikolaïdis)

“As much as the apologists were convinced that God’s fullest self-disclosure was in Christ they also recognized that God was known through creation. Athenagoras, a contemporary of Justin, wrote that “heaven and earth are filled with God’s beauty” and from what is made people can know that God “must be one.” But early Christian thinkers offer no philosophical argument for the existence of God drawn from the world of nature. When speaking of the revelation of God in creation they cite the Scriptures, usually Romans, “God’s invisible nature . . . is clearly perceived in the things that have been made” (Rom. 1:20), sometimes the psalm, “the heavens declare the glory of God” (Ps. 19:1). They did not argue that there is a God because there is order; rather, they saw design in the universe because they knew the one God. God was not a principle of explanation. In seeking God they sought to understand the God they already knew.” (Robert Wilkin)

“The distractions and disappointments of life can sometimes leave us wondering “is there a God?” Most of us are surrounded by man-made things all day long. In my office right now, I am surrounded with computers designed by people, furniture built by people, books written by people, in a building constructed by people. Out my window I see other buildings as well as cars. I see only a sliver of sky. Surrounded by man-made things, it would be easy to see man as the center of the universe. One great place to connect with God is in nature. Get away from all the man-made stuff for a little while and experience a natural environment. Put your feet in the ocean. Who made the water? How did it get cold? How did waves start? Look at the stars. There are more than we can count. Who put them there? Who created clouds? Who made rain? Who created planets? Who decided that the earth should rotate, or that the sun would shine in the day and the moon at night?” (Fr. Stavros N. Akrotirianakis)

“Nature alone will not give us a full understanding of God – for this we need the Scripture. However, Scripture does not reveal everything which can be known about the Creator or bout the created universe – the study of science can help complement what we can know through the Scriptures because nature too is a revelation of God (Romans 1:20).” (Fr. Ted Bobosh)

“When Barnabas and Paul are mistaken as gods by the gentiles in Lystra because Paul healed a crippled man, they remind these gentiles of a simple truth: ‘He [God] did not leave Himself without witness, in that He did good, gave us rain from heaven and fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness’ (Acts 14:17). Paul wrote something similar in Romans 1:20: ‘For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse.” Nature is a powerful witness to God and God’s love. Yet to experience nature rightly as a witness to God’s love, we must also love others. To love nature and care for the environment without caring for others it to fall into idolatry of nature.” (Sacramental Living Ministries)

“Nature helps us understand something of God’s character...Nature shows God’s generosity—giving us more than we need or deserve...because human dignity finds its roots in our common Creation, caring for our fellow citizen and caring for our environment are the same thing.” (Life Application Study Bible, Psalms 65:6-13, Naomi Oreske)

“The Sacramental worldview allows us to see God revealed in every aspect of the order of creation especially in the human body-person.” (Father Thomas Loya)

“When human beings fail to find their true place in this world, they misunderstand themselves and end up acting against themselves: Not only has God given the earth to man, who must use it with respect for the original good purpose for which it was given, but, man too is God’s gift to man. He must therefore respect the natural and moral structure with which he has been endowed.” (Pope John Paul II)

“How is it that all nature, and everything in nature, is so wisely arranged, and moves in such wonderful order? It is because the Creator Himself directs and governs it. How is it that in the nature of man—the crown of creation—there is so much disorder? Why are there so many irregularities and deformities in his life? Because he took upon himself to direct and govern himself, against the Will and Wisdom of his Creator.” (St. John of Kronstadt)

“God wants you to have knowledge of Him. This knowledge comes not only through Scripture but also through the evidence exhibited in the world He created.” (Rice Broocks)

"...human beings have a natural leaning toward transcendental truth embedded in the nature of reality...the spiritual or transcendent is an essential part of human experience, and to deny its role is to reject the holistic nature of human existence." (Lisa Coutras)

“There are no “objects” in the spiritual life. Everything that exists carries with it the possibility of communion. Our place within creation is not as the master of objects but as a point of communion.” (Father Stephen Freeman)

“Some people read books in order to find God. Yet there is a great book, the very appearance of created things. Look above you, look below you! Note it, read it! God whom you wish to find, never wrote that book with ink. Instead, He set before your eyes the things that He made. Can you ask for a louder voice than that? Why, heaven and earth cry out to you, ‘God made me’.” (St. Augustine of Hippo)

“The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork,” says the Psalmist...Metaphysical realism tells us that the awe we feel in the presence of nature, beauty, or goodness—the feeling that there must be more than what we experience with our senses—is a reasonable intuition. It doesn’t tell us who God is, but it tells us that we are not imagining things: something—or Someone—is there.” (Rod Dreher)

“God exists outside of creation, for nothing can contain Him; rather, He contains all things in Himself, and is present everywhere…and fills all things…God is the source of all activity throughout creation. He cannot be seen or described in His own nature and in all His greatness by any of his creatures. Yet He is certainly not unknown. Through his Word the whole creation learns that there is one God the Father, who holds all things together and gives them their being.” (Orthodox Study Bible, Deuteronomy 4:39, St. Irenaeus of Lyons)

"Creation flows out of Trinitarian love to a world made for the purpose of participating in that love…Everything that can be called life flows from God; it comes from His Person.” (Craig Bernthal, Dynamis 9/5/2014)

“Creation is an outpouring of love—an overflow of love from the heavens to earth. Creation not only declares the inventiveness and resourcefulness of God but reveals the abundance of his love." (David Benner)

“We see the world of God’s creation spread before us, its splendor awakening us to offer thanks to Him who crowns us"with glory and honor” (Ps 8:5). Science itself invites us to open our eyes to the complexities and wonders of creation. How wonderful are the myriad ways by which God draws us to Himself!” (Dynamis 6/9/2014)

“...our relationship with the physical world is healed as we once again learn to experience the matter of creation as a means of communion with God.” (Clark Carlton)

“Everything that lives and breathes is sacred and beautiful in the eyes of God. The whole world is a sacrament. The entire created cosmos is a burning bush of God’s uncreated energies. And humankind stands as a priest before the altar of creation, as microcosm and mediator. Such is the true nature of things; or"the truth of things,” if only we have the eyes of faith to see it." (Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew)

“Wonder and delight are essential ingredients of reality, deeply embedded beneath the canker and rust that have marred the world since creation. Beneath the crust of decay, immense glory resides latent in every created thing. That beauty is still visible to any eyes that can be opened to see it.” (Thomas Williams)

"God is the Creator of heaven and earth and is present through His creative energies. The material world, being good, is an important means through which God expresses Himself. It is through His created beauty that we are drawn into a relationship that is meant to be eternal and through which divine revelation can transform our nature.” (Abbot Tryphon)

“The evidence for God is not found only in some obscure fossil or the untestable hypotheses of a theoretical physicist; it is glaringly present everywhere you turn.” (Rice Broocks)

“Nature surrounds us with countless signs of God’s wonderful power…God reveals his divine nature and personal qualities through creation...people everywhere should already believe in a Creator by just looking at the evidence of nature around them...” (Life Application Study Bible, Psalms 68:34-35, Romans 1:20, Psalm 19:3-4)

"God is in His creation and close to every one of us. But He is not trapped in his creation—He is transcendent. God is the Creator, not the creation. This means that God is sovereign and in control, while at the same time He is close and personal.” (Life Application Study Bible, Acts 17:27-28)

“The evidence that God exists is all around us and inside of us. You have been given the ability to observe the phenomena around you and reason whether it is the product of blind forces or an intelligent Creator.” (Rice Broocks)

“God's presence in creation (Rom 1:20), combined with the presence of the Holy Spirit in believers (Acts 2:38–41), draws men to God.” (Orthodox Study Bible, Jonah 1:14-16)"There is evidence for an intelligent Creator everywhere you look. To say there is no evidence for this Creator is like saying the thousands of paintings in an art museum couldn’t have been painted because there are no artists visible in the gallery.” (Rice Broocks)

"The whole earth is a living icon of the face of God." (St. John of Damascus)

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