The God Who Weeps: How Mormonism Makes Sense of Life

by Terryl L. Givens

Perhaps because the idea of God is a more reasonable hypothesis than the endless stream of coincidences essential to our origin and existence here on earth: a planet precisely the right distance from the sun, so as to warm but not burn us; a rare, elliptical orbit, combined with just enough tilt to the axis, to give us endurable seasonal change; a nearby moon, of the perfect gravitational size to stabilize our rotation and provide the tides so essential to life’s rise; life-sustaining water, that violates the rule (true of other non-metallic substances) whereby it should contract when frozen, thereby not causing oceans and lakes to freeze solid from the bottom up; along with a stream of additional universal conditions ranging from the speed of light, to the ratio of protons to electrons, to the gravitational constant, all of which are required to sustain life.