Jerry McCoy knows God is bigger than we think
If you want to know more about God, Jerry McCoy suggests that you look up.
On a dark night, the unaided eye can see as many as 2,500 stars. There are a hundred billion stars in our galaxy and beyond that, another galaxy with at least a hundred billion stars of its own. There are two hundred billion more galaxies beyond that, he says, each with its own unfathomable dazzle of stars.
To consider the enormity, the sophistication and robustness of the universe, the University of Tulsa physics professor of 30 years turns to his training – as a scientist AND a man of faith.
“Looking at what God has made and inferring what He must be like to have made that, the conclusion is that He’s way bigger than you have ever given Him credit for being,” McCoy says.
At First Church, McCoy has taught a class called, “God is A LOT Bigger Than You Think!” He is working on a book by the same name, with the subtitle “The Story Science Tells.”
While some see a split between science and faith, McCoy sees a bridge, “a direct line” from the physical world to Jesus. He points to Colossians 1 NIV: “For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible ...”
“I realized that through science, I was getting a front row seat to the grandeur of God,”
– Jerry McCoy
The son of a nuclear physicist, McCoy loved the scientific world and by age 6, he was asking his dad for pairs of numbers to plot. His family attended church but didn’t make it a priority. At 17, however, his experience at a stadium revival led him to give his life to Jesus. “I really did become a new creature,” the 66-year-old says.
A year later, in a darkened lab as a TU student, McCoy had an epiphany while conducting a classic second-year physics assignment, the Young’s Double Slit Experiment. In an undulating pattern that offered scientific proof to the wave character of light, he couldn’t help but see God’s hand at work.
“I remember thinking, ‘God did that! God did that! He dreamed it up. He made it happen. He’s amazing!’ That was my first instance of drawing a direct line between the physical world and our unseen God.”
Scientific methods are the best way to reveal truths about the physical world, McCoy says. But when it comes to the truth of God’s existence, using science “would be like taking a bag of hammers to clean windows. It’s the wrong tool,” he says. “God leaves no smoking gun. He is the master of requiring faith.”
“The bottom line that I get to is He is worthy of all our unabashed, unrestricted worship and our trust,” McCoy says. “A God as big as He is can do anything.”
About the author: Kelly, husband Mark and their sons, Lucas and Jonas, are longtime regulars at the 8:30 a.m. service. You might spot her Wednesday nights in the Powerhouse playing dodgeball with the youth. She’s also an enthusiastic and unofficial promoter of the church’s Ignatian Spiritual Exercises.