Article June 16, 1997 Issue

Pressure and the irresistible nature of Christ

Don Soule

When I was in high school, our science teacher explained that when certain solids are subjected to extreme pressures, they will begin to exhibit the properties of liquids. Later, when I became an oceanographer, I saw an example of this.

I had occasion to fasten a glass net float on a wire and lower it to an extreme depth. Before we sent it down, I noticed that it had a number of deep scratches and cracks. Although its watertight integrity seemed intact, I felt sure that the extreme pressure of the depths would crush it. Upon bringing it back to the surface, however, I was amazed to see the sphere perfect, without a vestige of its former scratched and cracked appearance. Then I recalled the illustration from my science teacher's class. Obviously the extreme pressure had caused the glass to flow together, and this erased the imperfections.

The remarkable change in the glass float reminded me of something I had read in Science and Health: "Christian Scientists must live under the constant pressure of the apostolic command to come out from the material world and be separate" (p. 451). Never had this passage meant so much to me as it did while I held the apparently perfect glass float in my hand.

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