“To me, who am less than the least
of all the saints, this grace was given, that I should preach among
the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, and to make all see
what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of
the ages has been hidden in God who created all things through Jesus
Christ; to the intent that now the manifold wisdom of God might be
made known by the church to the principalities and powers in the
heavenly places, according to the eternal purpose which He
accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord” Epheshians 3:8-11 (NKJV)
Paul
writes of several grand topics in this rich passage. Let's look at
just a few:
“God
who created all things” and “according to the eternal purpose”
are key phrases here that help us to discern some of the fallacious
arguments made by runaway scientists.
On a
recent trip to the “2nd & Charles” bookstore with
my family, I went to the physics and science section and almost
immediately picked up a book to preview. It was a book from a secular
atheistic scientist who scoffs at the notion of Special Creation. I
dug in to read his opening conclusions and discern his premises. The
book presented his version of the concept of the “Multiverse”. In
simple terms, the Multiverse theory suggests that our Universe is
just one in a sea of many, many universes. Our universe just happens
to have the right “settings” for physics and chemistry to produce
the place and the means for life, evolving from simple chemicals to
simple creatures, to more complex critters, and finally and
eventually the whole way up to you and I. The theory promotes that
many other universes might exist with different “settings”, which
might not be able to produce life, but ours did. It sounds very
fantastic, and in a time when people love the imaginative ideas that
man comes up with, there is a “hope” that this might further our
understanding of existence and meaning and purpose.
But let
us examine this idea more closely. Why would there be a need for such
a theory? First, the current mainstream astrophysics academics look
into the stars and interpret the data to say that our Universe is
expanding from a Big Bang event. They theorize that all matter and
energy were concentrated into a very small point that erupted into
our Universe. At that beginning point, it is challenging to say what
was going on in the theory. But the question of what was before that
point is what is so tricky. Did the point come from nothing? Or was
there something prior that precipitated it. The objection to the
“nothing to something” is that it leads immediately to a “why”.
Why would nothing burst into something with all the rules and all the
means to form us? Where would the rules come from? From a purely
naturalistic worldview, this would require a big amount of “faith”
(or else it is merely an imagination to rattle around in your head
until you go into oblivion).
From
this dilemma, some scientists have been suggesting that the
Multiverse is the explanation. But this obviously begs the question
of "How did the Multiverse come to be?"
Let's
play the fool a minute and suppose that we accepted their
naturalistic theory. The consequences are then that there is no God.
But to be honest, one would have to accept that there is no ultimate
meaning. “Why”, you ask with your inquisitive mind. Let's start
with the other end of the theory... The Big Collapse. In similar
thinking to the “what goes up must come down” idea, the Universe
will some day collapse into a point again, or just simply run out of
energy to allow anything useful. Both of these results lead to a very
bleak result for man (or whatever we would evolve into). Annihilation
means that there would be no lasting remnant of our existence.
As a
result, we could argue that mankind would never be able to persist.
All meaning, effort, toil, learning, and whatever mankind would come
up with would simply be destroyed. Whatever efforts we attempt to
establish could not resist that destruction. Hence it is all
meaningless.
But
wait... our imaginative friends suggest that this is the very reason
that we must pursue this in science, so that we can figure out a way
to overcome the Big Collapse or Big Fizzle and heroically persist our
existence! Sounds like a great movie, right?
Ready
for the kicker? Are you sure you want to read it? Here it is: In a
naturalistic universe with this theory, you cannot guarantee that
there is a means to persist. There is no cosmic force that is
fighting for us. There is no way of knowing whether it is possible to
survive the collapse or fizzle. There is no happy ending that can be
ensured. The laws of existence would not be driven by any mind or
overseer. Even if you overcome this hurdle, there is no guarantee
that the next hurdle could be overcome. There is no one to reveal
ultimate meaning to us. There is no guarantee of ETERNITY.
Additionally, each individual who dies would be gone and never
realize the end result. They might be remembered, but would have no
means to relish the remembrances of others.
Breathe
a sigh of relief and return to reality... recall that the Apostle
Paul said by revelation that God created all things and that there is
an eternal purpose! Hallelujah! Sunny Day!!!
You see,
the humanistic, evolutionary, Big Bang, Multiverse theory puts man as
the potential hero with no guarantee. Mankind would always attempt to
aspire to use his imagination for new ideas and efforts, but at the
end of the day, it could all be gone.
But
Christianity comforts us that God is the Hero through Jesus Christ to
rescue man for his eternal purposes, which include us. Its a promise
from the Self-Existent one, who declared to the Jews in His plan that
“I AM THAT I AM”. This suggests that God Himself is the Framework
for His own Existence. This is an awe inspiring bit of information.
We obviously have a hard time comprehending this in our current
existence. This is part of why the heavenly beings are crying out
“Holy, Holy, Holy”. But God promises that “we shall be like
Him, for we shall see Him as He is”. Do you long for that
transformation? Are you ready to enter into the things that God has
planned for us?
“But
as it is written: 'Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, Nor have entered
into the heart of man The things which God has prepared for those who
love Him.'” – I Corinthians 2:9 (NKJV)
Our
imagination has not yet come to the ideas of what God has planned for
us!
It
sounds like the makings of a really good movie, Right? Oh, but it is
reality!!! Praise God! In the spirit of Pascal's wager, I say that I
believe in Jesus, the Christ, who is God incarnate, and that Jesus'
sacrifice of Himself for our redemption from our sinful state to His
glorious resurrection to realize His eternal purposes, is ultimate
reality. But for those who choose to reject Him now, they are left to
their own imagination and if they are honest, their own destiny into
it's oblivion. I shudder to think of what the reality of separation
from God for eternity would be like. I prefer to patiently wait for
the Revelation of Jesus Christ and occupy until then. Will you join
in the Eternal celebration of Joy, or be satisfied for the temporal
imaginations of man?
