{"id":4954,"date":"2019-04-03T15:04:58","date_gmt":"2019-04-03T22:04:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thomasjayoord.com\/index.php\/blog\/archives\/"},"modified":"2019-09-02T14:43:06","modified_gmt":"2019-09-02T21:43:06","slug":"experiencing-god-in-nature","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thomasjayoord.com\/index.php\/blog\/archives\/experiencing-god-in-nature","title":{"rendered":"Experiencing God in Nature"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

I recently recommended that a philanthropic institute fund a project exploring how our communing with nature could overcome loneliness. The opportunity reminded me of material I recently included in my book, God Can’t.<\/a> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Buffalo in Teddy Roosevelt National Park, North Dakota<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

God’s Love in Nature <\/h3>\n\n\n\n

I believe the natural world can be an arena for feeling God\u2019s love. In fact, some outdoor enthusiasts say nature is their church. The idea nature is sacred may be why geological wonders are often called cathedrals, gardens of the gods, heavenly, or angels\u2019 rests.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In her book, Wild<\/em>, Cheryl Strayed shares her experiences hiking the Pacific Crest Trail. Her time in the outdoors, often alone, brought a measure of redemption. In an interview, Oprah Winfrey asked Cheryl to finish this sentence: \u201cI feel the presence of God when \u2026\u201d She immediately answered, \u201cI\u2019m in natural, beautiful, wild places.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Storm clouds on the John Muir Trail, California<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

John Muir’s Experience of God<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Cheryl\nlearned what America\u2019s most famous naturalist, John Muir, discovered a century\nearlier. Muir had spiritual struggles, and the view of God he\u2019d been given as a\nchild needed changing. His father taught that God was a strict disciplinarian,\nbut Muir came to believe \u201cGod\u2019s love is manifest in the landscape as in a\nface.\u201d[i]<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\nI feel the presence of God when I\u2019m in natural, beautiful, wild places.\n\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

John Muir describes a spiritual experience in Yosemite: \u201cThe place seemed holy, where one might hope to see God. So after dark, when camp was at rest, I groped my way back to that altar boulder and passed the night on it — above the water, beneath the leaves and stars \u2013 everything still more impressive than by day, the falls seen dimly white, singing Nature\u2019s old love song with solemn enthusiasm, while the stars peering through the leaf roof seemed to join in the white water\u2019s song\u2026 Thanks be to God for this immortal gift.\u201d[ii]<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The Owyhees photo made during the experience described below.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

My Own Dramatic Experiences<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Several years ago, I felt God\u2019s presence while photographing in the Owyhee Mountains of Idaho. A beautiful cloud formed one evening, and the setting sun painted its underbelly an array of colors. As the sky-canvas developed, I ran about positioning my camera and making photos. The beauty prompted me to \u201cget on my Pentecostal.\u201d I repeatedly shouted \u201cHallelujah!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In this time of ecstasy, coyotes called to one another in the distance. I yelped in response, \u201cOw, ow, oweee!\u201d My \u201cPentecostal\u201d evolved into speaking with the tongues of coyotes. I was St. Francis conversing with creatures and Ansel Adams capturing the light!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Science as a Means for Experiencing God<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

My\nscientist friends sometimes speak of sensing God\u2019s love as they explore the\nnatural world. Some study the smallest entities and organisms, marveling at\ntheir complexity and design. Others peer into the vast universe and marvel that\nthe Creator cares deeply for us, so tiny in comparison. Some glimpse God when\nstudying humans, who the Bible says are made in God\u2019s image. Science offers\nexperiences of God to those with empathetic ears to hear and intuitive eyes to\nsee.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

(For five other ways we can feel God’s love, see chapter 2 of God Can’t: How to Believe in God and Love after Tragedy, Abuse, and Other Evils<\/a><\/em>.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Some experience God\u2019s love when communing with nature. A walk in the woods may be just what the Good Doctor orders! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

[i]<\/a>\nJohn Muir, Cruise the Corwin<\/em>\n(Westwinds, 2014), 50.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[ii]<\/a>\nJohn Muir, \u201cMy First Summer in the Sierra\u201d in The Wilderness World of John Muir<\/em>, Edwin Way Teale, ed. (Mariner\nBooks, 2001 [1911]), 114.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I believe the natural world can be an arena for feeling God\u2019s love. In fact, some outdoor enthusiasts say nature is their church. The idea nature is sacred may be why geological wonders are often called cathedrals, gardens of the gods, heavenly, or angels\u2019 rests.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[6659],"yst_prominent_words":[6459,6472,6471,6470,6467,6464,6463,6462,6461,6460,6458,5836,5388,5330,3458,2811,1922,1646,1553,1139],"class_list":["post-4954","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-theology_and_science","tag-natural-theology-theology-of-nature-thomas-jay-oord-nature-theism-god-in-nature-god-and-natural-world-nature-theology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thomasjayoord.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4954","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thomasjayoord.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thomasjayoord.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thomasjayoord.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thomasjayoord.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4954"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thomasjayoord.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4954\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thomasjayoord.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4954"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thomasjayoord.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4954"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thomasjayoord.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4954"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thomasjayoord.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=4954"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}