God's design in nature and the one and the many
We recently went to the Kruger National Park in South Africa, and I want to share some photos of the animals we saw. In a Covid-19 plagued world, it's not always possible to get out of our concrete buildings to observe the things that God has made.
Whilst on this trip, I spent a great deal of time thinking about the problem of the one and the many. You can read our recently published article on it here. We'd drive out into the wilderness and we'd see many animals: "There's an impala", "There is a lion" etc. We'd be using general categories to describe concrete animals we're experiencing, and we'd be content that describing a particular lion as a "lion", does justice to the particularity of the lion. Why?
Well, it's because we know that God created all lions. He ordained their oneness as well as their particularity and diversity in a way that reflects His own Trinue nature on a finite level. Like the persons of the Trinity don't exist in abstraction from each other, but are defined via their relationship to each other, so the lions don't simply exist as abstract particulars with no relation. It's rather amazing to observe all these animals, and know that they're not the product of a principle of pure chance. They are created and exhaustively interpreted in the comprehensive plan of God. They reveal God to us.
Another fascinating thing is that we were never content with seeing just one animal of each type. It's exhilarating to see another leopard right after we've already seen a different one. Why? Because although each leopard is a particular instantiation of the class of leopard, they are truly distinct in a way that does not destroy their relationship with each other as ordained by God. The way God created the world is such that we have regulatory of experience, yet diversity. We can praise Him for that!
Leaving the one and the many aside for a moment, we also need to focus on the utter beauty of these animals. They have been designed in a wonderful way, each according to their kind with their own set of behaviours and personalities.
Experience confirms the Bible. It truly is the case that the fool says in his heart, "There is no God".
