2015-07-18

The importance of eternity right now!

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?