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07/29/2014

Question 2: What is our Universe?

This thought dove-tails into the answer of our first question posted yesterday. Yesterday we were considering the origin of all observable matter, while our question today forces us to move on to the practical fact that we wake up and live daily lives, yes, here we are, BUT what is 'here'? What is this world, solar system, universe?

I could sit here at my computer and list several schools of thought but to save you time I'd like to distill the answer, at the danger of simplicity, and say there are two schools of thought.

The first school of thought bases its foundation on the idea that: Boom matter and energy came into existence, and this matter and energy somehow wants to improve as time progresses. On the time line of history the early experiences and even creatures are primitive, less complex. But for some reason they don't want to stay that way, they are changing and evolving into more complex beings. This school of thought must wrestle with the question, what is better? If evolution produced man and man destroys his world through pollution, war, and destruction then is that really better? Wouldn't life be better off with animals in existence living and dieing without the complexity of man? Of course ultimately, through the process of natural selection man will snuff himself out and what's left will be, cockroaches? The highest form of life to remain in existence. The ultimate survival of the fittest.

Summary, School #1 thinks that matter starts in a primitive state and progresses to better more complex forms as time runs on. The people of this worldview would look on the world and see it improving. The destination would be a nirvana existence where, through maybe technology, life would be able to exist forever and through education people would become less evil and through medicine suffering an pain and disease would cease. (As a personal observation, everything I own and manage decays and crumbles apart if I don't continually put work and energy into maintaining them. Why would energy and matter have the ability to not only not-decay but to improve, without the existence of a God that is the maintainer and designer, I don't know. Forgive me for my worldview is showing.)

The second school of thought bases its foundation on the idea that God created matter (creatures and energy, for example the sun) with purpose and form.

Christians would say: The universe was created in a perfect state but because of a humans choice to walk through the Door of rebellion, all creation was corrupted and now groans with the contamination force upon it.

Young Earth Christians would say, creatures and beings were more complex and pure towards the beginning of the time line. Currently all things are decaying to a more broken, more debilitated existence. The people of this school would look on the world and see it falling apart. They would understand that more and more animals become extinct and the world is going to experience a global decay (global warming, but not at the expense of Man's pollution) due to the decay of all things.

Old Earth Christians would say, from our current scientific perspective it is evident that through the process of God's hand we see a creation through evolution that was developed in perfection but due to man's choice to rebel against God; pain, suffering, brokenness, disease and death became part of our experience and was forced upon all creation. That even of Man's choice through a monkey wrench into evolution and now, instead of a progress of living things at God's hand there is a decay of living things due to the removal of his creative hand, yet his hand still sustains all life.

Where are you? Do you see this universe improving and, like the process of biological evolution, there is a social and educational evolution? (Certainly we wouldn't teach from science books written 150 years ago since so much is wrong in them. There is certainly an improvement in our knowledge, but in 150 years from today they won't be using our text books either because any scientist will admit there is more we don't know than what we do know. We can't really point to societal evolution where wars cease, domestic violence diminishes, human trafficking stops, corruption and thievery are no longer experienced and murder is an unknown, so there's not much evolution in society. Teddy Roosevelt stated, 'To educate a person in the mind but not in morals is to educate a menace to society.') These considerations are really a different topic than what is 'here' and we'll cover them in the near future. Before we move on, I want to note that this worldview, humanistic evolution, explains the experience of decay, pain and suffering and death due to the incomplete progress of matter and energy.

OR do you see the universe decaying and rotting like an old Detroit building, in the process of unraveling and breaking down? (Sorry Mr. Gore, no amount of money donated to you will save the world.) There will be a day when our world will collapse completely and our solar system explode into oblivion with just a decaying
neutron star to indicate the corner of the galaxy we called home. (Even the colony on Mars won't live beyond that type of event.)

What's that? You want to know what I believe?

I believe God created matter in a perfect form, without decay and death.

In the first chapter of the Bible, the writer uses the Hebrew words that clearly establish God as prime reality (I know that's question #1 and we're on #2 but stay with me). Those words are: Tohu and Bohu. I've never seen translated like I would write it:
The first verse is the title of the story: 'This is the description of the beginning of the heavens and the earth by God's design.' The second verse: 'You know the earth? Well it was unreal and absent, yet God was there.' The rest of the verses of the chapter don't quite need to be re-translated but this description of the first 2 verses fit well with a worldview perspective.

How does this worldview explain the decay, pain and suffering and death we experience? Like a logical programmer God put in some conditional variables that left a door to walk through that had the potential to create a significant effect on all matter, and we walked through that door. When that happened everything changed, not by God's doing or will but by Man's choice. (Have you ever wondered why Apple uses their logo of an apple with one bite taken out of it. Yes, Eve bit the apple to gain knowledge of good and evil. Apple, the company, uses the logo of an apple with a bite out of it, indicating a search for knowledge.) At that choice of Man, corruption and contamination entered all matter in existence and decay and rot and death started. I believe there is nothing man can do to 'save' this world from the explosion of the sun, the decay of the atmosphere, or the ultimate rot of our own bodies and brains. Salvation must come from an external source that exists outside of all matter and time. (Also my understanding is that death is now a gift in that it is the ticket out of the corruption, pain and contamination of the lives we know.)

The take away should be why is the world broken and painful, full of suffering, diseases, death, injustice, fear and war?

Is it because of an event of Man, of God, or of an incomplete evolution?
If Man than sin is the culprit, and an All mighty, All powerful, All knowing God created everything in perfection but the creation choose do change that.

If God, than he created all things in a poor manner because he was too weak or lacked the knowledge for perfection. This is where the Greek and Roman gods were developed from the minds of men. Men made these gods in their own image of corruption and upheaval.

If neither of those then as an atheist you feel matter just isn't complete in its progress, and therefore pain, suffering, divisions, death just are.

(My question to you on that last one, is who is defining progress? if there is not a standard by which things can be measured, how do things now to improve and not decay? The fear of droids is that they do what they are programmed to do indiscriminately without the concern whether it's just or unjust. If a war android gets confused as to who is good and who is bad what's to stop it from killing. But justice has to come from rules and laws that are external to the robot, from a programmer, from a creator.)