What may be known about God is plain to [men], because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse (Romans 1:190-20)

I keep returning to this passage because of its huge significance to the meaning of the creation, which in theological circles is known as the “general revelation”—or God’s other book.  This is the “book” that all people can “read” and in which all people with an open mind and heart can detect two important things: Their Creator’s “eternal power” and “divine nature.”  I have written in depth on this in other papers and on other Websites.

One of my continuing “projects” has been to list what it is in the natural world that will show us that God’s awesome power is eternal and that what we take in with our five senses will compel us to worship (the result of grasping that only one who is “divine”—God—could have made all this).  At the end of this post is a partial list of the creation’s attributes that I have collected.

Yesterday a new attribute came to mind: “inspirational patterns and textures.”  This attribute was dramatically revealed on a visit to a  wild desert oasis near Palm Springs, California, where I am visiting my brother and sister-in-law.  I came here to be inspired by what this part of the world reveals in keeping with Romans 1:19-20.

The photos that I have posted here are just a sampling of the inspirational patterns and textures from just one tree: the Californian fan palm.  (Our middle son, Eric, has scars on his chest from runing into the sawtooth edge of a young fan palm when he was a child.)

I will post photos throughout the week that reveal more of the attributes listed below.  [Clicking on a photo will enlarge it.  Then click the back arrow to get back to the full post]

1.   Mysterious light and matter
(which still defy human comprehension)

2.   Seemingly endless time
(no clearly apparentbeginning or end)

3.   Seemingly endless space
(eternality seenin the microcosm and macrocosm)

4.   Astronomical extravagance and magnitude
(“Billions and billions . . .” said Sagan)

5.   Wonderful life
(inexplicable in essence and originand apparent on earth alone)

6.   Fearsome, yet essential, death
(but marvelously linked to life

7.   Profound mystery
(beyond human understanding)

8.   Unfailing orderliness
(out of seeming chaos)

9.   Unfathomable complexity
       (defying human simplification)

10. Awesome power
    (far exceeding our own)

11. Incredibly intelligent design
    (absolutelybeyond human duplication)

12. Virtually endless variety
(biodiversity)

13. Amazing adaptability
(micro-evolution)

14. Overwhelming beauty
      (touching the heart and soul)

15. Unlimited sensory stimulation
(candy for the senses)

16. Unbridgeable gap between people and the other created things
(people alone having the capacityfor creative
thinking, abstract reasoning, and symbolic
language and having innate morality
and the instinct to worship)