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GYC Southeast

Great in God's Sight Season 2

Rhonda Grakov

Johannes Kepler: Thinking God’s Thoughts

Hello and welcome to Greating God's Sight, the podcast that explores underrated heroes.

This is Season 2, and we're so glad you've joined us for this episode entitled Johannes Kepler, Thinking God's Thoughts.

Please be sure to subscribe and check out the terrific artwork that goes along with today's story on our website, thegreatpodcast.org.

It was an inky black night, but in the dim light of a crescent moon 1 could just make out the silhouette of a man with telescope pointed to the heavens.

His eye remained glued to the scope as he delicately adjusted the dials and peered into the dark oblivion, seeking the celestial objects of his research.

Thus, Johannes Kepler scanned the star-studded heavens all night, returning his attention to Earth only long enough to occasionally scribble some notes.

Kepler was not the first person to use a telescope or study the stars and planets, yet over the course of his scrupulous research and mathematical calculations, he made many original contributions to astronomy.

His work laid the foundation for many future scientists, most notably Sir Isaac Newton.

But now, the first streaks of dawn were visible in the sky, and Johannes Kepler's night of observation came to an end.

He quickly scooped up his notes and instruments and rushed off to teach a class in mathematics.

So continued the life of a busy professor who conducted research in whatever spare time he could scrape together.

Born in southwestern Germany in 1571, Johannes Kepler grew up in the shadow of Europe's Reformation.

He entered life encumbered with several disadvantages, including a sickly constitution, family poverty, and an unsupportive father.

However, even as a youth, his intelligence and genius for mathematics did not go unnoticed, and he earned a Ducal scholarship to study at a prestigious Lutheran University.

Although Johannes was in school to become a Lutheran minister, he studied a broad range of subjects.

His mathematics professor secretly introduced him to the writings of Nicolaus Copernicus.

This had to be done covertly because Copernicus was a controversial figure and had been branded a heretic.

He was the first scientist to argue that the Sun, not the Earth, is the center of the solar system.

We now accept this as a basic fact, but It was a scandalous notion in Kepler's day.

However, Johannes Kepler cared more for truth than popular opinion, and he embraced the Copernican model.

At this point in his life, Kepler had every intention of becoming a Lutheran pastor.

Astronomy and mathematics, although he was terrifically good at them, were merely extraneous activities.

However, when he was 23 years old, Johannes was offered a position as a mathematics teacher at a Lutheran school in Austria.

Later he said, I wanted to be a theologian.

But now I see how God is by my endeavors, also glorified in astronomy, for the heavens declare the glory of God." Several years later, Kepler went to study under Tycho Brahe, Danish astronomer and imperial mathematician of the Holy Roman Empire.

By all accounts, Kepler's new mentor was an especially flamboyant figure.

He wore a shiny brass nose, as he had lost the original in a duel many years before.

At 1 point, it appears he also kept a pet moose.

However, for all his eccentricity, Tycho Brahe was an accomplished scientist, and from him Kepler received a solid foundation for his later astronomical endeavors.

And when Tycho Brahe died, Johannes Kepler replaced him as imperial mathematician.

Kepler's God-given intelligence resulted in numerous firsts in many fields.

He was the first to accurately define planetary motion, and the first to explain how refraction occurs in the eye.

Additionally, he designed eyeglass lenses to correct nearsightedness and farsightedness.

He used his aptitude for math to calculate the exact year of Jesus's birth, the date we still accept today.

He discovered how the location of the moon causes tides, learned the formulas behind a functioning telescope, and coined the term satellite.

But perhaps Johannes Kepler's most notable contribution was his 3 laws of planetary motion, which were as groundbreaking in their time as Newton's law of gravity.

Fascinatingly, Kepler himself didn't refer to them as laws, but rather as harmonies, mirroring God's complete design of the universe.

The first law states that the planets move in elliptical orbits around the Sun.

The second and third are more complex and deal with elaborate geometric calculations.

The laws of planetary motion owed much to what Kepler dubbed his War with Mars, a research project aimed at defining the slippery orbit of Mars once and for all.

It required several years and a thousand pages of laborious arithmetic, but Johannes Kepler succeeded, not only in correctly mapping out the path of Mars, but in discovering the truth about planetary motion as well.

While it is undeniable that Johannes Kepler possessed a brilliant mind and abundant natural talent, his faith in God was the fountain of inspiration from which he drew liberally.

When Johannes was a child, his grandfather, a godly man, cared for him and nurtured this faith, which he never let go.

In Johannes' eyes, all his scientific and mathematical pursuits were merely ways for him to glorify and get to know his Creator better.

In his own words, The chief aim of all investigations of the external world should be to discover the rational order and harmony which has been imposed on it by God and which he revealed to us in the language of mathematics.

Kepler's writings are also brimful with exclamations of praise, such as, Great is God our Lord, great is His power, and there is no end to His wisdom.

Praise Him, you heavens, glorify Him, sun and moon and you planets, For out of him and through him and in him are all things.

To him be the praise, the honor and the glory from eternity to eternity." Interestingly, 1 of Kepler's favorite Bible verses was John 1, 14.

And the word became flesh and dwelt among us.

Perhaps it was out of awe that The creator of the limitless starry expanse he studied so passionately would stoop to come down to insignificant planet Earth.

Or perhaps it was his love of geometry and the realization that God, who transcends time, matter, and space, would accept a physical body constrained by the very laws he had ordained.

However, Johannes Kepler's deepest theological thoughts centered around the Trinity.

He compared the Godhead to a geometric sphere, with God the Father at the center point, Christ the Son at the circumference, and the Holy Spirit in the intervening space.

It may take a moment to visualize, but Kepler's geometric idea carries with it some complex creative beauty.

Without his faith in God, it's difficult to imagine Johannes Kepler weathering the storms of life.

He was a man who knew exactly what he believed, but this sometimes got him into trouble.

Although he was a firm Protestant, he refused to accept the Lutheran position that Jesus' body and blood were physically present in the communion service.

Consequently, for the rest of his life, he was banned from partaking of the sacrament, which was as devastating to a Lutheran as excommunication to a Catholic.

Kepler also faced real persecution from the growing Counter-Reformation, which sought to coerce Protestant believers into rejoining the Mother Church.

There were personal pressures on Kepler, such as his forced resignation from a favored teaching position, but the general hostilities between Lutherans and Roman Catholics left most of Europe in a fragile state.

The 30 Years' war was raging, and at least once, Johannes Kepler would be forced to flee changing territorial boundaries.

In 1611, when Kepler was 40, his family contracted smallpox, and his wife and 1 of his young sons died.

He eventually remarried, but in all, 8 of his 12 children would die young.

His mother was accused of witchcraft and would have been tortured and burned at the stake if Johannes had not abandoned his work and spent a year fighting in her defense.

Finally, the astronomer himself succumbed to a fever and passed away at the age of 58.

His grave was destroyed in a skirmish shortly thereafter.

However, Johannes Kepler leaves us with a rich legacy as a man who was both a great scientist and a great Christian.

As he said once, "'Let my name perish if only the name of God the Father is thereby elevated.

And as for his scientific discoveries, he said, I was merely thinking God's thoughts after him.

Thank you for listening to Great in God Sight, a podcast by GYC Southeast.

We hope you have enjoyed this adventure through time and pray it serves to deepen your relationship with God.

While we strive to bring you a unique perspective on each believer, we encourage you to use your God-given curiosity to explore these topics for yourself.

Please remember to hit the subscribe button and share this episode with your friends via text or social media.

Until next time, we wish you God's blessing as you seek to be great in His sight too.

Blaise Pascal: Where Faith and Reason Intersect

Hello and welcome to Grading God's Sight, the podcast that explores underrated heroes.

This is Season 2, and we're so glad you've joined us for this episode entitled Blaise Pascal, Where Faith and Reason intersect.

Please be sure to subscribe and check out the terrific artwork that goes along with today's story on our website thegreatpodcast.org Thanks for listening!

By the light of a candle, a young man quickly searched for a piece of paper.

With intense thoughts flooding his mind, the 30-year-old scholar, inventor, and socialite grabbed a pen and began to express the emotions that had just overwhelmed him.

This spiritual awakening late in the night of November 23, 1654, would drastically alter the course of the remaining years of Blaise Pascal's short life.

Born in France in the middle of the 17th century, Blaise Pascal lived at a time of great change.

The Protestant Reformation, which had begun a little over a century before, was shaking the medieval Roman Catholic Church to the core, creating factions within the Catholic Church itself.

Around the same time, a scientific revolution was also underway, laying the foundations for modern scientific thought.

Blaise Pascal would find himself caught between these 2 seismic shifts in both the scientific and religious realms.

When Blaise was only 3 years old, his mother died, leaving his father, a well-educated government official, with the sole responsibility of caring for young Blaise and his 2 sisters.

The elder Pascal took it upon himself to educate his children, giving rise to 2 child progenies.

His daughter Jacqueline became extremely proficient in writing and showed great literary skill, while Blaise demonstrated a similar level of promise in mathematics and physical science.

By his 18th birthday, Blaise Pascal had published a major essay on conic sections in geometry.

In his early 20s, He invented a calculator to aid his father in his work as a tax collector.

And by the time he reached the age of 30, Pascal had made groundbreaking discoveries in the realm of physics.

Today, Pascal's triangle is taught in most algebra courses, Pascal's Law is familiar to all students of hydraulics, and a Pascal is the standard measurement for fluid pressure accepted by physicists around the globe.

However, during his rise to fame in the world of science, Pascal, a lifelong member of the Roman Catholic Church, began to take matters of faith more seriously.

To fully appreciate his journey to faith, we must understand major developments in the Christian world during Pascal's life.

The Protestant Reformation, which had begun a century earlier, generated a mixed response from the Catholic Church.

The popes and most high-ranking church officials staunchly opposed the Protestants and their critical assessment of church doctrine and policy.

Among the most militant individuals in this counter-reformation were the Jesuits.

They were members of a religious order which had been created within the Catholic Church to uphold and defend the Church against all enemies and detractors.

1 fundamental principle practiced by the Jesuits was that the end justifies the means.

They were willing to use any method, including deception, cruelty, and intrigue, to punish heretics and bring dissenters back into line with church dogma.

It is no surprise, then, that within the Catholic Church there arose a movement in reaction to the philosophy and work of the Jesuits.

This movement, known as Jansenism, identified corruption and false doctrine in the Church, but did not go as far as the Protestants and their reforms.

In his mid to late twenties, Blaise Pascal was attracted to Jansenism and introduced his sister Jacqueline to Jansenist teachings.

Not long after, Jacqueline fully immersed herself in religious pursuits and declared her intentions of entering the Jansenist convent in the city of Port Royale.

Blaise Pascal was staunchly opposed to his sister's decision.

Their father had died a few years earlier, and in choosing to become a nun, Jacqueline must donate her share of the inheritance to the Port Royal Convent.

It has been suggested that while Blaise disagreed outwardly with his sister's use of her inheritance, he was really dealing with an inward spiritual struggle.

More and more, the young eminent scientist was feeling a distaste for the pleasures and privileges he enjoyed with his successful career and sensed a need to refocus on God.

As he witnessed his sister's desire to relinquish secular concerns for total devotion to spiritual things, this desire began to grow in Pascal himself.

Jacqueline followed through and became a nun at the Port Royal Convent in 1654.

For several months, Blaise Pascal's inward struggles continued.

Finally, in November of the same year, Pascal had a unique and momentous experience that forever changed his life.

While the details are not known, Pascal left behind a written note expressing the thoughts and sentiments that had overwhelmed him.

God of Jesus Christ, my God and thy God, thy God shall be my God.

Whatever Pascal's experience was, 1 thing is very clear.

He chose to surrender himself to God wholeheartedly.

Throughout the rest of his life, Pascal carried the written memory of this late night experience in his cloak.

After this definitive moment in November of 1654, Blaise Pascal basically ceased his scientific and mathematical work and dwelt mainly on religious topics.

Based on his sympathy with the Jansenists, Pascal published a series of polemic works against the ethical system of the Jesuits.

These essays, published under a pseudonym, became known as the Provincial Letters.

They soon sparked controversy and likely contributed to the political storm that resulted in the closing of the Jansenist school in Port Royal.

Pascal sought not only to address those within the Church with whom he disagreed, he also sought to persuade the non-religious of the validity and importance of the Christian faith.

In the last few years of his short life, he worked towards publishing an apology, a defense of the Christian faith.

In preparing this major work, Pascal recorded his thoughts in a journal that was published after his death under the title Pensée, a French word meaning thoughts.

Pascal was never able to complete his apologetic book, but we do have many of his ideas recorded in the Pensée.

They hate it and are afraid it may be true.

The cure for this is to show that religion is not contrary to reason, but worthy of reverence and respect.

Make good men wish it were true, and then show that it is.

Another of the ideas recorded in the pensée is what has come to be known as Pascal's wager.

When confronted with the Christian faith, 1 has 2 options, belief or unbelief.

If the Christian faith is true in its teachings about eternal life for believers, then those who believe will gain everything, while those who do not believe will lose everything.

However, if the Christian faith is not true, individuals do not gain or lose anything in the end.

If anything, Those who believe still gain more in this life than unbelievers, as the believer's life is often characterized by some sense of certainty, hope, and even moral living.

Granted that faith cannot be proved, what harm will come to you if you gamble on its truth and it proves false?

Wager then, without hesitation, that he exists." Pascal's wager is not really a proof for God's existence, as some have claimed.

Rather, it is a logical appeal to those reluctant to embrace faith.

In the final days of his life, he sold all his possessions for the poor, except for his Bible and the writings of St.

Augustine, who was highly regarded among the Jansenists.

Pascal died in Paris at the age of 39 on August 19, 1662.

In modern history, the French scientist and philosopher Blaise Pascal stands out as 1 characterized by great intellectual ability coupled with deep devotion and faith in God.

His journey to faith reminds us to focus on the most important things in life, knowing God and making Him known.

God's blessing as you seek to be great in His sight too.

Sir Robert Boyle: Christian Virtuoso

This is Season 2, and we're so glad you've joined us for this episode entitled, Sir Robert Boyle, Christian Virtuoso.

Please be sure to subscribe and check out the terrific artwork that goes along with today's story on our website thegreatpodcast.org Thanks for listening Bolt after bolt of lightning creased the sky illuminating a terrified boy on his bed.

The roaring thunder, pounding raindrops, and wild wind only served to heighten his terror.

To him, the incessant Flashes of light appeared to be outbursts of fire from the very depths of hell.

Although he was not wild and headstrong like the rest of his brothers, young Robert Boyle knew he was wholly unprepared for the judgment.

So amid that awful tempest, he solemnly vowed that the rest of his life would belong to Christ.

When morning came and cloudless skies reappeared, Robert ratified the pledge he had made in the night.

Despite being only 13 years old at the time of his conversion, Robert Boyle had already been through a good deal in life.

He was born in 1627 at Lismore Castle in Ireland.

Although his father, the Earl of Cork, was the wealthiest man in the kingdom, Robert did not experience a pampered childhood.

As soon as baby Robert was old enough to leave his mother, his father sent him off into the countryside to live with a peasant family.

Here he grew strong and ruddy, but unfortunately 1 of the country children had a stutter, which Robert began to imitate and quickly picked up.

This stutter would plague him for the rest of his life.

However, an even greater tragedy during this time was the death of his mother from tuberculosis, which left a profound void in Robert's childhood.

After 4 years in the countryside, Robert returned home.

After a while, he was shipped off to England to study at Eton College with his older brother, Francis.

He was intensely studious and had a mild, reserved personality.

While the other fellows were playing sports, Robert would go off by himself and read.

After 3 years at Eton, Robert and Francis returned home, but not for long.

After a few months, they left for continental Europe, accompanied by their French Huguenot tutor, who firmly grounded Robert in both academic and Christian knowledge.

After traveling through France on horseback and touring Paris, the trio moved on to Switzerland.

They stayed in Geneva with the Tudor's family for 2 years and it was during a storm there in Geneva that Robert Boyle decided to become a committed Christian.

While touring the Alps soon after his conversion, young Robert became deeply depressed.

Although we don't know precisely what troubled him, Robert later wrote in his autobiography that he was continually plagued by distressing doubts concerning some of the fundamental principles of Christianity.

In fact, he was in such agony of mind that for a brief season he considered ending his life.

After several months of anguish, Robert was in church, and as he took part in the communion, he sensed God's presence very near and his spirit restored.

Although doubt continued to bother him on occasion, Robert realized that these religious anxieties were distractions from the devil to discourage him, but that he could use them as stepping stones to dig deeper into his faith.

He once wrote, Though we cannot always give a reason for what we believe, we should be ever able to give a reason why we believe it.

And at the age of 20 he penned this insightful aphorism, He whose faith never doubted, may justly doubt of his faith.

As a result of the Irish Rebellion in 1641, the Boyle family lost their Irish estates and much of their wealth.

The Earl of Cork sent for his 2 sons to return to England, But as they were making their way back, Robert fell ill and was not able to return home for another 2 years.

When he finally arrived in London, Robert discovered that his father and 2 of his brothers had died, and the rest of his relatives were scattered throughout the kingdom.

For the next few years, Robert lived alone at the old family manor, where he began writing various treatises and essays on morality.

In fact, he became rather well known for his religious and ethical works.

Besides writing, Robert took time to read and study.

Personal devotions were a staple in his morning routine, but he also studied several ancient biblical languages and sought out Jewish scholars to help him understand Hebrew culture.

He read a wide range of literature and was well-versed on the popular subjects of the day, but he became alarmed at the skepticism and excessive rationalism he saw growing among the intellectuals.

1 group of thinkers, called Socinians, seemed particularly sinister.

They overemphasized reason at the expense of divine revelation.

They insisted that the Bible must submit to reason, while Boyle, on the other hand, believed that reason must be subordinate to the scriptures.

As Boyle considered the pandemic a fashionable unbelief, he began to regard experimentation as a way to check the excessive emphasis on reason.

He felt that experimental learning would be much more effective against atheism than mere scholastic discussion.

He wanted to prove that human logic and reasoning were not the ultimate solution to every problem.

During the past few years, Boyle had experienced a growing interest in mathematics and the natural world.

And now, as part of a grand scheme to defend his faith in God, Robert began to transform himself into a scientist.

He set up a laboratory in his house and began designing and conducting simple experiments.

While Robert was in London visiting his sister, he met a group of like-minded scientists who called themselves the Invisible College.

He began corresponding with them, and under their influence, his scientific career accelerated dramatically.

They, in turn, were impressed by his profundity as a thinker and by his insistence on pursuing a matter until he had penetrated its very core.

Eventually, in 1654, Robert decided to move to Oxford, not to study or teach, but to be closer to his friends from the invisible college.

It was here at Oxford that Robert Boyle blossomed as a chemist.

He set up a new laboratory and found a German scientist to mentor him.

In time, he hired young Robert Hooke, who would later become a renowned scientist in his own right, as his assistant.

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Series

Great in God's Sight Season 2

John Bunyan: Progress in Prison

Transcript

Parent Series

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Recorded

Parts

Johannes Kepler: Thinking God’s Thoughts

11m

Blaise Pascal: Where Faith and Reason Intersect

10m

Sir Robert Boyle: Christian Virtuoso

11m

Sir Isaac Newton: On the Shores of the Ocean of Truth

11m

The Celestial Railroad: Part 1

13m

The Celestial Railroad: Part 2

13m

The Celestial Railroad: Part 3

11m

The Celestial Railroad: Part 4

13m

Johann Sebastian Bach: This Art Still Lives

13m

John Bunyan: Progress in Prison

9m

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