The Normal Christian Faith, by Watchman Nee

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WHO RULES THE UNIVERSE?

I do not know if anyone can be so bold as to say that there is no God in the universe. But let us set this question aside for now. Consider the universe again. It is very big, but at the same time, it is very small. Objects that are even undetectable to the microscope have definite structures, laws, and order. This is true with whatever micro-object you consider. Men used to say that atoms were the smallest objects. Later they discovered that electrons were smaller. Recently, men have found that there are particles that are even smaller than electrons. Although these particles are small, they have definite principles, laws, and order governing them. If there is no God, who is organizing these things? How can it be a coincidence? There must be a God who rules and arranges everything. Otherwise, how can we have the wonderful order that we have today? The order of things can only speak of two possibilities. It can either be by chance, or it must be set into place by someone. It can only come by chance or arrangement. Either someone has arranged these things, or they have come about by accident. One of the two must be right.

BY CHANCE?

Anything that happens by chance happens without a reason; anything that comes by arrangement speaks of someone behind the scene who is planning and executing. If no one in this universe is arranging everything, and if everything occurs by chance, then we are truly lost and bewildered. Some friends have said that the universe was formed when one object collided into another and a third object was produced. I cannot understand this logic. I have never seen one object in this world that is the result of two things randomly colliding into one another. My handkerchief did not come about by a few branches colliding with each other to produce cotton, and cotton colliding with cotton to produce threads, and threads colliding with each other to produce a handkerchief. I simply cannot understand this logic. There is nothing in this universe that has come about by chance collision.

Let me tell you a real story to illustrate this point about producing things by chance. A man was visiting a factory in America that manufactured meat grinders, and he talked with the factory manager. These meat grinders can be found everywhere in Shanghai among butchers and meat hawkers; they are small machines that shred the beef into small pieces. During the visit, the man discussed the origin of the universe with the manager. The manager said that there must be a wise and powerful God who had set everything in the universe in order. Another person who was there said, "There is no God in the universe, and everything came by chance." The manager did not argue with him; rather, he led him to where the meat grinders were being manufactured. He told the man, "My little machine is made up of only eight parts. Since you have said that the universe came about by chance, please try and put this machine together by chance. I will put the eight parts and a few screws into a box. Please shake the box and see if you can make a meat grinder out of it. I have a few hundred workers in this factory. The most capable ones can assemble two hundred machines a day. If I hired a simple girl from the countryside, who has never seen such a machine, she could do the job within a few days no matter how slow she was. But if you shook the box like I said, you would not get one machine in a month or even a year. This is impossible!" A little machine that is worth only $3.70 cannot be produced by chance. Could the vast universe have been produced by chance? Is it possible that all the objects in this world were produced by chance? A carpenter can make a chair like the one I am sitting on in half an hour. But if we waited for it to be produced by chance, I am afraid that we would not have a chair to sit on today. It is too incredible for the many things in this universe to come about by chance. There must be someone who has designed the universe, in order for it to be as orderly and logical as it is. Even the most foolish and uneducated person in this world can come to this conclusion. Unless a man is a fool, he has to believe that there is a God. If he does not believe this, there must be something wrong with his mind. At any rate, there is a God. It is illogical for man to believe that there is no God. Those who do not believe in God must have something wrong in their mind.

(The Normal Christian Faith, Chapter 17, by Watchman Nee)