Nerd Out With Us Real Quick!

by Missy E. 

The Webb Space Telescope’s mid-infrared view of the Pillars of Creation, which showcases the telescope’s ability to detect dust, a major ingredient in star formation.
"For you are dust and to dust you shall return." - Genesis 3:19 (NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI)

Nerd out with us real quick!

When you read a sentence, a lot of times the words go over your head. But getting to know words and the depths of their meaning plays an integral part to experiencing something as simple as a sentence. Case in point, Scripture! While this post doesn’t have scientific backing, per se, let’s mix science and faith for a second. 

“For you are dust and to dust you shall return.” - Genesis 3:19

We associate that with existentialism, to exist in its entirety, to live is to die, a ying and yang of sorts. We are masses of molecules that make skin, bones, organs, etc. that eventually will just become dust once we pass away. 

Deep in a cloud of dust and gas, a star is being born. 

But. 

Did you know that dust is a major ingredient in star formation? In the universe, deep in a cloud of dust and gas, a star is being born. At the center of the hourglass light from a spinning shrinking protostar leaks out the top and bottom of a thick disc of matter feeding it and illuminates surrounding gas and dust clouds.

What if we took another creative stance on this Scripture reference and said: We are intricate, mysterious, majestical, stars! We were created and formed to shine our light bright with our life in the depths of the dark universe. And maybe even when we go, somehow our light will still shine, but in a different way and capacity.

I love that for us. Go, shine!