By:  Ian McKerracher

The Bible teaches that God has shaped the natural world to teach us about Himself. “Go to the ant,” we are told in Prov. 6:6, “consider her ways and be wise.” And Job declares that we have things to learn about God from the beasts, the birds, and even the bushes of the earth (Job 12:7-8). Finally, let me remind you of the Bible’s many declarations that we can learn about God by observing the heavens; here are three examples (Gen. 1:14; 9:13; Ps. 19:1-6). But, why, I ask, should we stop there? I submit that when viewed with a biblically trained eye, science is filled with analogies to help us understand spiritual things. For example . . .

Before I joined the team at Faith Beyond Belief, I taught maths, science, and blueprint reading at the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology (NAIT), located in Edmonton, Alberta. My students were apprentice plumbers and pipefitters, and while they were eager to learn their trades, they were not so eager to learn my subjects. My ongoing challenge was to get them to love these subjects as much as I did. I succeeded—occasionally—but I assure you it was no small feat.

I especially enjoyed teaching thermodynamics, aka the movement of heat. Perhaps I loved it so much because, as a believer, I knew that life itself depends upon laws of heat transference, set in place at the beginning by the Creator. Heat, you see, is an expression of energy, but for this energy to spread and warm all of creation, a thermodynamic principle had to be designed into every portion of the universe. Here’s how it works. Heat always travels from a hot object to a cold one, and the speed at which it travels is directly related to the difference in temperature. The heat of the burning sun constantly moves into the coldness of space, warming our planet and making life possible. This is an example of radiation, one of three ways heat travels. Most amazing of all, radiation possesses the singular ability to cross 93 million miles of space and still warm our planet.

Convection is the way heat stirs up a fluid. The heat infuses the molecules, causing them to dance a little harder and spread further apart. A heated portion of the fluid will therefore have fewer molecules in a given unit of volume, meaning the heated part will weigh less. Suddenly another law of physics, bouyancy, gets involved, allowing the now-lighter substance to float upwards through a cooler, denser substance. The hotter air, or water, will rise, and the cooler air, or water, will sink. Convection is the principle behind boiling water, the winds that blow, and the vast currents that continually refresh the world’s oceans.

Conduction is how heat travels through solids. If two items are touching, heat will travel from the hotter to the colder in exemplary obedience to the initial principle of thermodynamics I mentioned earlier. Heat transfer is accomplished as hot molecules touch cold molecules, transfering an endowment of heat. Just before Christmas Edmonton was blanketed by -35C temperatures. The conduction of heat from the fire in my furnace, to the firebox, and then to the circulating air from the fan was a welcome application of conduction in my house.

Now let’s talk about “Sancto-dynamics,” aka the outpouring of life and holiness from the shining, burning, loving heart of God to warm the cold, sinful hearts of human beings. Btw, sancto-dynamics is a word I made up (sorry, not sorry) because I noticed parallels between holiness and heat. Frankly, holiness is as foreign to the human heart as heat is foreign to the dark side of the moon. Just as no planet or moon can warm or light itself, so none of us are intrinsically holy. Holiness must come from a divine source, something outside the human experience.

Paul must have had something like radiation in mind when he wrote to the new-ish Christians in Corinth: “For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ” (II Cor. 4:6). In other words, he was reminding the Corinthian Christians that, spiritually speaking, they had been dark and cold until the light of the knowledge of God illuminated their minds and warmed their hearts. God’s holiness shines from the person of Jesus Christ (think Mount of Transfiguration); as Isaiah puts it, “a light for the nations, that [God’s] salvation may reach to the end of the earth” (Isaiah 49:6). 

Once a person is born again, convection takes over. The new believer soon warms those who are nearest: family, community, and co-workers, warming everyone (spiritually), and benefitting everything in the immediate area. It has happened throughout history. The more believers, the more the surrounding society bubbles with renewed life. When believers begin to dance to the rhythms of Spirit-filled worship, every sociological marker rises, making life more fulfilling and meaningful for all. 

The last two years have taught us that conduction (heat transferred by contact) is more important for the well-being of society than anyone suspected. COVID restrictions meant that we weren’t just locked down, we were separated visually and physically. Spontaneous hugs were forbidden. And thanks to forced masking, strangers were reduced to muffled voices and glaring eyes, inhuman and frightening. No wonder the world felt cold and strange. No wonder people became depressed, and, in too many cases, suicidal.

Simply put, hugging is one of the great antidotes against the fracturing of the community. And it seems to me that the physiological and psychological benefits of a heartfelt hug arguably outweigh the threat of catching a respiratory disease from which more than 99 percent will recover. Let’s face it, hugs knit hearts in ways that nothing else can. And when the hugger is a person in whom God has put His holiness, there will be a transfer. One of the characteristics of God’s holiness is that it can touch the unclean thing and remain holy. That’s how Jesus could come and live among sinful human beings without losing his holiness. It is the same with believers because it is not our holiness that we contain, but God’s. I am thankful that I attend a hugging church and am part of a family of great huggers. It makes a difference. 

So, whether it is radiation, convection, or conduction, holiness, once introduced, will move throughout a society. It can go from the hotter to the colder as we allow God to shine through us. Let the light of the Lord shine through you to others. We all need to be warmed.

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