This morning at break fast Bro. Simon handed me some folded papers and said it was an essay well worth reading. And after reading it, I agree. I don't know the author, other than a Bro. Wesley, but I found his thoughts provoking, and well worth sharing.
I believe in God.
Have you ever considered the matter of the universe in all its forms? Have you ever thought about the fact that an atom of carbon here on earth behaves the same as one 10,000,000 light years away? Or that that same carbon atom is 99.9999% - nothing - void - empty space. Or that while physicists attempt to understand it by describing it mathematically and smashing it to bits to see what happens, they can only imperfectly model it?
I believe an atom is a self-contained, perpetually active thought. It is a thought that physicists nearly, but not completely, understand.
Just as the simple laws of geometry - which like the fundamental forms of matter are small self-evident thoughts - can be brought together to "prove" more complex theorems, the fundamental forms of matter of this universe - the thoughts of this universe - come together to "prove" more complex things. Through their interplay we see stars and planets, black holes and oceans, mountains and streams. We, in fact, see Life!
I can not consider matter, itself, in its fundamental forms, nor especially in the form of its resultant proofs without knowing that it did not come about by accident.
Matter in its simplest forms are the thoughts of God made tangible just as I am the thoughts of God made tangible. When I think about this I wonder if I am a part of God, coming full circle through the miracle of his creative power, to introspect - to rediscover himself through his own creation?
There was a time when this aspect of God was all I believed. He was a God that created and wound up what we know as the universe and all its matter - perhaps even becoming the matter of the universe himself - but did not interfere and did not care. He was a God that didn't do miracles beyond the miracle of his own majesty - beyond the miracle of his own creation. This mathematical and physical view of Him did not seem to hear my prayers and did not love me. I was for Him an interesting result of His creation just as He was for me a subject of philosophical consideration.
This is what I believed and as far as I knew, I was alone.
But then I began to read about a man who said he was God's representative and that God was, in fact, Love. God had gotten involved and made this man specifically for us. If a physicist has an understanding of God's mind, this man had an understanding of God's heart. I could believe in God through the incomprehensible majesty of his creation but I could not access his love - his heart - his purpose - except through the words of the man who said he was his son.
I was an outsider - watching and thinking - amazed but alone. I believed in God's mind but not in his heart. But now I believe in Both.
This I also believe - I believe in Jesus Christ.
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4 comments:
I wish I did.
How about atoms are atoms, molecules are molecules. How about: There is something far more complex in operation than the God you ascribe to. The true mysteries of the universe are beyond manmade religion. I'm reminded of an Outer Limits episode, the first. A man scans the skies and makes first contact with an alien being. He asks the big questions, which wind up being a question about God. Do You have God? The alien replies: "Electromagnetic fields go on to infinity."
I assume you are questioning Bro. Wesley's beliefs when you say, "There is something far more complex in operation than the God you ascribe to." And I have to agree that that Outer Limits episode is a wonderful piece of storytelling that should provoke one's mind, if that mind has never been provoked before. And the alien voice said that infinity is god, god infinity, all the same. The aliens lived in three dimensions and didn't experience death, while humans, or carbon-based life lived in four dimensions, and that necessitated death. I guess when you toss time into the dimensional soup, you must add death. So, without time, no death, at least for the aliens. But the alien added, human brain waves will continue living on to infinity. Interesting. And I agree in some respects that the true mysteries of the universe are beyond manmade religion. For sadly, using religion to control folks is the oldest game on the books. It took nearly 300 years before Constantine figured it out. Once Rome organized Christianity, then all the follies of theocracies come into play. Power corrupts, and in this case in the grandest of corruptions. We cite Thomas Jefferson's letter where he talks of the separation of church and state, but I like even better when Jesus gave the same message in Matthew 22:21 "Give to Caesar what is Caesar's, and to God what is God's." In other words Jesus is acknowledging that one can live in a secular state and still be religious. But Jesus lived in a theocracy, and even then he was forever pointing out the corruption and hypocracy of that theocracy. Yet he presented a better way, one in which one could live in a society, yet not have one's spirituality controlled by that society. Only then is it possible for individuals to follow their own path in their own quest for life's meaning. For some that quest may be solitary, for others it may be in community, and for others, the quest may not exist.
It's an interesting metaphor, but I'm not sure the God it defines bears any resemblance to the personal deity of world religions. And I'm dubious about the author's claims not to have heard about Jesus until after he had these thoughts - I smell a touch of historical revisionism there...
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