Not Just A Door

I had a friend who was majoring in biology at university and she used to say often things to the like, “The more I learn about biology the more amazed I become by God because all the works of His hands testify to His existence and ingenuity.” How true, the Bible says in Romans 1:20:

“For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.” ~ Romans 1:20

When I enrolled in university about a year and a half ago to study mechanical engineering I wasn’t sure what I am going to study will demonstrate much of God’s character, but now I am convinced that His prints are over all things He created directly or indirectly. This occurred to me not long ago when I though about the door…any hinges door. Please bear up with all the physics but I think you will like the final results:

When we open a door by applying a force on its knob we create torque. This torque is simply the force applied at the knob times the distance between the knob and the hinges (its axis of rotation). So the larger the distance between the knob and the hinges the bigger the torque becomes. Assuming a certain door requires a certain torque to open it, it would be wise to move the knob far away from the hinges because the farther away we move the knob the less force we need to apply to get that certain amount of torque. This of course makes our lives easier: at times it takes just a flick of our wrists to open a door.

Not Just A Door by Fadi

But the advantages of God defining torque as explained above don’t stop here. Think about the amount of materials and therefore money we save this way. If God has said torque increases by decreasing the distance between the force and the axis of rotation then we will place our door knobs close to the axis of rotation (to make it easier to open the door) but this will increase the length of the lock’s latch. It will have to be so long so it can stretch all the way from the knob (which is now assumed to be close to the hinges) to the groove in the wall! This means our door locks and knobs will be more expensive. But thank God we don’t have to worry about this because He didn’t make torque this way!

In engineering design there are some factors that have to be taken into consideration and one of them is called “physical factor”. It is simply taking into consideration the physical limits of the users when designing something. For example, the cup holders in a car and the car trunks’ dimensions have to be within reach of most humans otherwise those two designs would be of little use and can even cause accidents. So imagine how troublesome it would be if a door knob was placed close to the hinges: every time we would open the door we would be squeezed behind it or at least it would hit us as we are trying to get out of its way! But we don’t have to worry about that because God in His infinite love and wisdom defined torque the way we know it, which encourages us to move the knob away from the hinges.

Here is another example of God’s love expressed in the use of torque: imagine you are trying to move a heavy rock and so you get a long and strong stick and put one end underneath the heavy rock and put a small rock underneath the stick as a pivot (axis of rotation) and try to move the heavy rock by pressing down on your side of the stick. But the rock is too heavy so you move back (increasing the distance from where you are applying the force and axis of rotation) and you find it is becoming easier to move the rock because now torque is increasing! So you move back all the way to the end of the stick and moving the rock became easier! Now you are celebrating your achievement, but do you realize the way God defined torque not only helped you move the rock but also kept you safe? Because through the definition of torque you kept moving back and away from the rock which could’ve become unstable as you kept applying force underneath it and could’ve fallen on you.

I guess the spiritual lessons here are two:

1. If a simple, old and forgotten door, like the one you see in this photo, can bear witness to God’s unexplainable glory, infinite might and wisdom, absolute authority and control, amazing creativity and loving care and kindness, how much must we, His children, do more so?

“So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.” ~ James 3:17

2. God did not make His laws to hurt us or limit us but to protect us and free us. (How free do you think you will be with a broken leg or if pinned under that rock?) And if disobeying a simple physical law such as torque can have such dangerous consequences how much more so breaking His heavenly laws?

“Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. The one who sows to please his sinful nature, from that nature will reap destruction; the one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life. Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.” ~ Galatians 6:7-9