Contact

Carl Sagan penned a brilliant, engaging book close to the end of his life entitled Contact. If you're at all familiar with Carl Sagan's work, you'll know that he spent a good deal of time exploring the idea that other worlds populated with extraterrestrial beings might exist beyond our solar system (Google SETI for more information. Fascinating.). You'll also know that, while he did not consider himself an atheist, his belief system did not appear to embrace Christianity or even the tenets of Intelligent Design.

As a person that tends to yawn a bit over scientific and mathematical minutia, you'd likely be surprised at how excited this same individual can get over string theory, wormholes, and abstract math. What overwhelms this reader is the revelation of the sheer volume of the human mind through all types of narratives, and its unrelenting attempts to assimilate everything outside of itself. It is nothing short of miraculous how all the authors throughout all of history have dealt so uniquely and yet so similarly with the universe. Many of them could never come to a place where they were ever willing to admit that it is, in fact, a created universe, even after a lifetime spent exploring and studying it.

I don't want to say too much about this book. I'd be interested to find out how many believers would actually be willing to read it. I will add this though. I have a very strong suspicion that Carl Sagan, nearing the final decade of his life at this book's publication, began to have his doubts about his life-long assertions concerning God and religion. I'd have to go back and re-read it to feel more sure about my own assertion here. I was in my mid 20s when I read Contact, but I had an undeniable instinct close to the end of the book that Mr. Sagan was actively seeking the One we call Lord. 

This God we worship... wow. These minds He gave us to engage with Him and with His creation...they're so astounding... an important part of the created order I believe... and, even in their shattered state, so reflective of the Image of their Creator. It's astounding that geniuses like Carl Sagan, Stephen Hawking, and Joseph Campbell could refute the existence of the Intelligence behind everything... and behind their ability to theorize about it all. If you read it, I'd love to know what you think. I thoroughly enjoyed it!

^"18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth ^[l]in unrighteousness, ¹⁹ because that which is known about God is evident ^[m]within them; for God made it evident to them. ²⁰ For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse. ²¹ For even though they knew God, they did not ^[n]honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened. ²² Professing to be wise, they became fools" ~Romans 1:18-22