Shedding Light on Sight
A letter from a missionary couple recently arrived at our home. They began their letter with a fascinating story. The couple drove over a hill on their way home from their workplace venue. They were amazed by a unique sight—a rainbow displaying its spectral colors. The author of the missionary letter stated, “I sometimes geek out (emphasis mine) about the never ending rich and vibrant colors and types of birds, fish, flowers, and butterflies. And how God created our bodies to receive and process these amazing wavelengths of colorful light. It is to his perfectly wonderful creativity that we owe the joy of light and color. They point to and praise our Creator…..”
Topics of light and sight were highlighted in the missionary letter. Light and sight are scientific concepts often used in scriptural illustrations and metaphors. Let us fill the remaining space in this post with a brief discussion of (1) Light, and (2) Sight.
Light is a form of electromagnetic energy in which we are immersed each moment of our lives. Visible light is only a tiny portion of what is called the electromagnetic (EM) spectrum. Spectral colors are produced by different wavelengths of EM energy. Direct or reflected red light wavelengths are almost twice as long as violet wavelengths.
At the beach we may define wavelength as the distance between successive wave crests. Longer or shorter wavelengths have different effects on swimmers. Likewise, different electromagnetic wavelengths affect human observers differently, observable as different spectral colors. Electromagnetic wavelengths range from extremely short and energetic to extremely long and less energetic.
What is electric and what is magnetic about EM waves? Electricity and magnetism are
related. James Clerk Maxwell discovered this relationship in a burst of God-given insight during the 19th century. Our world is alive with electric and magnetic fields interacting with each other to produce physical phenomena sustaining our lives moment by moment. The complete range of electromagnetic waves (radio, microwaves, infrared, visible light, ultraviolet, X-rays, and gamma rays) is known as the electromagnetic spectrum. The color spectrum of visible light is but a tiny segment of the entire range of the EM spectrum. For your more extensive reading:
https://jashow.org/articles/electromagnetic-reality/
The EM spectrum is easier to describe than to explain. How does it work? In the New Creation, also known as the New Jerusalem in Revelation 21, we might conclude that divine laws governing events in the new heaven (Rev. 21:1) may be altered substantially. The operating system may be vastly superior to anything we experience in our current sphere. Manifestations of energy such as the electromagnetic spectrum in our present world, however, inspire awe at God’s creative power.
We conclude with expressions of wonder and awe not only in reference to physical light, but also in reference to human ability to perceive and process the light. Our Creator has gifted us with sight. Vertebrates possess the most highly developed sense of sight but lower biological phyla also possess ability to sense light, color, and shape. When God created living things, He created them with ability to connect with, enjoy, and even revel in their environment.
Human sight organs process information laden electromagnetic waves and send visual information about the environment to our brains for interpretation. Visual scientists have informed us about the eye and humanity’s complex visual system—a component of our central nervous system. The information processing system of the human eye and brain is awe inspiring.
Electromagnetic light waves pass through the cornea, aqueous humor, lens, and vitreous humor before striking the retina at the back of the eyeball. Retinal tissue is analogous to a screen in a movie theater. In more recent times the tissue is analogous to photographic film or an image sensor in modern digital cameras. Visible light striking the retinal image sensor initiates a cascade of chemical and electrical events. The electrical events are sometimes called action potentials—explosions of electrical activity. In our digital age, we might say that the electrical activity is either digitally “on” or “off.”
Millions of neurons carry digital signals to the brain’s visual cortex, the body’s visual center. The human brain “figures out” what the billions of digital signals mean and imprint the results on our human consciousness.
In 1844, Samuel F. B. Morse, inventor of the telegraph, sent his initial electronic message between Washington, DC and Baltimore, MD. The message contained a phrase from the OT Book of Numbers which affirms the creative ability of God: “What Hath God Wrought?” (Numbers 23:23) Our treatment of light and sight in this post barely scratches the surface of our current knowledge of light and sight. We link a past post dealing with the topic of sight:
