Grace & the Law of Gravity

I host a weekly small group at my house. We recently started Alpha, an 11-week video course that covers the basics of Christian faith in a welcoming way. As a safe place to ask tough questions, the very first night, a few people asked a fine question, one that many people ask often: "Why does an all-powerful, loving God allow suffering?" I think the better question might be, "Why do we?" We all suffer the consequences of free will--A free will seemingly bent on defying the law of gravity, but for grace.

The Law of Gravity

I had to Google the proper definition of the law of gravity because you know how much I love proper definitions. Brittanica.com says this:

"Newton’s law of gravitation states that any particle of matter in the universe attracts any other with a force varying directly as the product of the masses and inversely as the square of the distance between them."

Expressed as a formula:

R:F = G(m1m2)/R2

Folks, my dad was a college physics professor, but I didn't inherit that particular gene. Other genes by the bucketful, but not that one. I honestly don't understand this definition at all.

What I do understand is Sir Isaac Newton made this discovery when he observed an apple fall from a tree. I also understand that due to this law, if I jump off a tall building, I will fall to the ground.

Kersplat.

That's not personal or punishment, that's the real-life consequences of the law of gravity.

Moreover, I don't have to fully understand the law of gravity to respect it. I'm not leaping off of any tall buildings to check if it's true.

I would love to unpack some of the wonders of physics and how they reveal God's exquisite immensity, but I'm not qualified to do that.

The Law is good.

Sir Isaac was also a respected Christian theologian (with really good hair and eerily reminiscent of Peter Frampton in his hay day), whose passionate scientific inquiry was fueled by a belief that God is "the masterful creator whose existence could not be denied in the face of the grandeur of all creation."(1.) Newton and others, including Albert Einstein, were able to glimpse creation in a way us more creative types cannot.

This same God, who spoke the universe into being including the physical laws that awed Newton and Einstein, also imparted laws for us humans. The earliest and most fundamental of these laws are the 10 Commandments:

1. You shall have no other gods before Me. Pretty straight forward. Note little "g."

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