A Nature's Bible for All Who Believe in Nature's God
The National Geographic
An Essay of Raymond Fontaine, Ph.D. - July 2004
Before anyone, who reads this article's title, jumps on me, let me quote Webster's definition of the word "bible". The word comes from the Greek language and has two meanings. First, it signifies the sacred scriptures of Christians and Jews. It also means "a publication that is preeminent especially in authoritativeness or wide readership." This second sense applies to the National Geographic.
The Hebrew elders began to write their Biblical books between the year 1000 and 950 B.C. They told the story of the Hebrew race as favored by God. Intervening frequently in the normal course of nature and in human affairs, God protected his Chosen People and assisted them. So says this Bible.
Centuries later, in 1888, the National Geographic Society was founded, as it declares, "to increase global understanding and promote conservation of our planet." It publishes stories and photos of the earth: its structure, its inhabitants, and its fellow-planets encircling the sun.
I became well acquainted with both books, the Bible and the National Geographic, during my education in a seminary when I studied for the priesthood. In the seminary's library, the Bible held central position surrounded by many volumes expounding its revelation of God. On the bottom shelf, I found copies of the National Geographic - my most cherished opening on the world outside the seminary's high surrounding walls.
During the last six years in the seminary, I spent four years studying the Bible's supernatural revelations of God's activities on earth. Then for two years I studied what nature reveals to human reason, especially about its Creator. What impressed me most was the fact that the laws of nature, like that of gravitation, presuppose an Originator. Just as a painting required a painter, so too the laws of nature needed a Maker - an intelligent and powerful Creator. Nature reveals that God exists.
Unfortunately, nature tells us nothing more about God: how he is made, where he is, how or why he acts. Humans cannot see God and observe him in any way. Our most powerful telescopes, cameras, and microscopes cannot detect him. God's Being is beyond human ken.
Not so God's creation, such as our universe and especially our planet earth. Much of nature's amazing beauty is observable everywhere in its flowers and trees, in its animals and birds, and in its glorious sunsets and starlit skies. There is infinitely more to see on earth but people do not have the means and the leisure to travel around the world and explore its million wonders.
This is where the personnel of National Geographic step in to bring more of nature's limitless beauty and variety into every home. National Geographic sends its explorers and experts and equipment everywhere on earth. They return with beautiful photos and enlightening articles that reveal the breathtaking beauty of God's creation. Kudos and thanks to National Geographic.
Now in the sunset of my life, I still receive the monthly issue of the National Geographic. This nature's bible, as I call it, is my favorite magazine. It continues to reveal the wonderful nature that forever points to its intelligent and powerful Creator.
Knowing how much the National Geographic has enlightened and enriched my life, I have given my old copies to family members and friends. All appreciated my gifts, especially the parents of teenagers. Later I learned that many of my grateful friends eventually got their own subscriptions.
What I did for a few dozen friends, I would now like to do for thousands more. So I'm writing and publishing this essay on my website that hundreds visit every week. Many of these visitors are former believers in the reputed divine revelations in the Bible. Having lost faith in those myths, my readers are left with the stark belief in the Creator - the Originator of the structures and laws of Nature.
Many of these former Bible believers would enjoy hearing more about the Creator. Nature, however, cannot tell them more about God's Being, his whereabouts and his activities. But Nature can and does reveal the wonders that have evolved from God's initial creation of the universe15 billion years ago. Humans can grasp and appreciate these marvels of Nature that are shown in National Geographic, the bible of God's creation.
I cannot give or send everyone a copy of that magazine but I can tell them where to find this treasure. National Geographic is available wherever magazines are displayed and sold. It also has a TV channel and a Website at the following address: nationalgeographic.com. Visits there are always rewarding. Enjoy.