Odes to Nature's God

An Ode to Nature's God

by Raymond Fontaine, Ph.D. - July 2007

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Ode^#2 to Nature's God

by Raymond Fontaine, Ph.D. July 15, 2007

 Since nothing comes from nothing,

Nature's designs must come from some Being.

These designs are observed by human intelligence

But they were originated by Supreme Intelligence,

So says Albert Einstein, the great scientist.

Nature's Designer is rightly called Nature's God.

Nature's designs reveal solely His existence

But naught about His superhuman nature.

What He looks like and where He is    

Are beyond the grasp of human intellect.

But they become fodder for human imagination.

For centuries, various groups of humans, such as 

The Jews, the Christians, and the Muslims, 

Imagined and claimed diverse revelations from God.

Each group had its own dogmas, Holy Books and rituals.

These differences led to endless enmities - even wars. 

One still rages in the Mid-east endangering the world.

Observing Nature's laws and designs, Albert Einstein said: 

"I stand in awe before Supreme Intelligence.

That is my simple and total religiosity".

If all humans would share Einstein's wisdom,

Religious differences, including their wars, would cease.

Peace would reign worldwide under Nature's God. 

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Ode^#3 to Nature's God

The World Needs a Song Honoring Nature's God

by Raymond Fontaine, Ph.D. July 23, 2007 
 

Using the scientific method

People like Einstein conclude

That the Laws and Designs in Nature

Require Supreme Intelligence

Whom they call "Nature's God".

To celebrate His handiwork in Nature

A songster could produce a glorious song

That will capture the attention of humans

And move them to honor Nature's God.

Such a song seems beyond human ability.

But the song could begin by praising any creature

Such as a tree or a butterfly or a human baby.

Each depends upon Nature's God.

So does every other creature on earth.

A melodious song saying all this

Would move humans to thank Nature's God for our existence  

Trusting that He knows what's best for us. 

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Ode ^{# 4} to Nature's God

The Three Eras of the Relation of Humans to God

by Raymond Fontaine, Ph.D. August 5, 2007

From the dawn of human civilizations

To the end of the Roman Empire,

Humans believed that many deities

Controlled the various forces of nature.

That was the idea that characterized

The first era of the relation of humans to gods.

Then a few prophets appeared on the scene

Saying that only one God existed

Who created and controlled the world.

As this idea caught fire, it marked

The end of the first era of the relation

Between humans and gods and

  The start of the second era now in progress. 

In the present era, there is only one God

Of whom humans have different ideas

The number of which is staggering.

The differences are not minute but momentous

Fostering enmities that at times explode into wars.

The idea of one God is right

But not many human ideas of this one God.

For years I searched for one idea

That all humans could embrace amicably.

Then one morning I arose and cried out "Eureka".

It had just dawned on me that Deism was such an idea.  

It is based on the designs, observable in nature

That presuppose an Intelligent Designer whom

America's Founding Fathers called "Nature's God".

Such designs exist in every creature on earth and

They are observable by any sound human intelligence

At various levels of understanding from that of teenagers

To that of the world's greatest scientists.

As this one idea of God spreads worldwide

The many ideas of God during the second era

Will decrease until they disappear completely

As did the deities of the first era

Not for awhile but forevermore.

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Ode ^{# 5} to Nature's God

The Human Soul as Assumed by the Pope

by Raymond Fontaine, Ph.D. August 18, 2007

Pope John Paul 2 declared what follows:

"A spiritual soul animates the human body

The soul is created directly by God.

At death, the soul separates from the body.

They are reunited at the Final Resurrection

The Pope bases this dogma on one Bible quote:

"God formed man as dust from the ground

And breathed into his nostrils the breath of life

And man became a living being."

The Pope quickly adds " that the Biblical account

Expresses the reality in symbolic language"

Which the Pope translates into real terms

Relying on his assumed infallibility.

Meanwhile scientists sought to unravel

The mysteries of nature. They observed

Marvelous designs that presuppose Intelligence.

The human body is no exception. It too

Revealed marvelous designs, such as DNA,

That required Supreme Intelligence, which some call Nature's God.

All the designs in nature, including the human brain, are

Attributable to the sole Supreme Intelligence.

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Ode ^#6 To Nature's God

Mother Teresa's Agony

Foreword:
This ode was inspired by the article in the Time issue of September 3, 2007

The agony of Mother Teresa was thinking that

 God had abandoned her completely for years

During which she did not sense God's presence

In her life. She had doubts about his existence

And that of Jesus in heaven and the Eucharist.

She compared her emptiness to a dark tunnel

Without any hope of getting out of it.

She wrote letters to Catholic priests and psychiatrists.

Several of them compared her agony to that of Jesus on the cross

Who cried out, "My God, my God, why have you abandoned me."

She was sharing in Christ's redemptive sufferings on Golgotha

To counterbalance the sins of the human race worldwide.

That mystical or mythical explanation, both human conceptions,

Gave Mother Teresa some comfort, however ephemeral.

Early in her agony, if only she had read about Deism.

There she would have learned that God's standoffishness

Is the normal relationship between our Creator and his creatures.

Once humans accept the Creator-creature relationship

 Between them and God, they can concentrate on the creatures on earth.

God is self-sufficient. He des not need anything from us creatures

Not even our praises and gratitude.

Moreover He does not intervene in the normal course of nature.

It's as though there were no God. But THERE IS, luckily for us,

Because, without Him, there would be NOTHING. 

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Ode ^#7 To Nature's God

The Three Phases of My Notion of God

by Raymond Fontaine, Ph.D.- September 2007

For fifty years, I believed that God

Had revealed Himself to ancient prophets.

Born and bred in that belief, I was a

Fervent Catholic who became a priest

To impart this notion of God to others.

After several years of increasing doubts,

I realized that the Pope and his Church

Were fallible and taught untruths.

I left the Church and discarded its teachings.

But I retained my belief in the Creator of the world.

Unknowingly I was, what is called, a Deist.

In the last five years, I have embraced

The notion that the designs observed in nature

Required and presuppose an Intelligent Designer.

Nature's designs reveal only His existence.

In reality He is distinct from nature's designs.

That knowledge suffices for us humans.

Recently someone of status has suggested to me

That God is not really distinct from nature.

He says that he has evidence of this fact.

If he convinces me that this is true, I shall accept it

Because I want the absolute truth about God.

Meanwhile my notion of Nature's God remains intact.

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