“He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end.”
Ecclesiastes 3:11
“In the beginning the Word already existed.The Word was with God, and the Word was God. He existed in the beginning with God. God created everything through him, and nothing was created except through him.The Word gave life to everything that was created, and his life brought light to everyone. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness can never extinguish it.“
John 1 NLT
I’ve spent a fair bit of time on Theistic Evolution, its core ideology naturalism and I’ve even touched on its connection to Gnosticism.
There are of course well-meaning Godly followers of Christ who are still working through their beliefs on common descent and natural selection. It is difficult to work through decades on programming and textbook training. My intent is not to add weight to those who are genuinely searching for truth in this area. I hope to chip away at the Naturalist world view that has taken root in the Church by exposing the incompatibility of such a view with Christianity.
I am using the Bible as my foundation for how I approach passages that raise questions. The naturalist will question the Bible based on their own or scientific worldview, questioning the scripture first before questioning whether they have made an error in their adopted worldview.
In a previous post entitled “Of String Theory, Aliens and the Bible”, I talked about the mind warp of string theory, angels and the unseen world as it relates to the Bible. Honestly I was having fun with that one. While some struggle to align their faith with such things… to me they increase the wonder of the almighty and eternal God.
I want to expand on this today as I talk about something way over my head. I want to get into quantum theory and how it relates to God, creation and our own faith. Wait a minute… a regular guy with no degree is going to talk about quantum mechanics? Just relax, let’s just pretend we are sitting in a living room and talking about stuff we don’t know much about for a second. My want to challenge our thinking, to create questions, to drive us to wonder at how big, how incomprehensible, how intelligent and how complex our God is! I’m not here to split hairs or challenge someone smarter than myself to a debate.
What is quantum mechanics?
This is the simple definition from Wikipedia:
“Quantum mechanics explains how the universe works with things that are even smaller than atoms. It is also called quantum physics or quantum theory. Mechanics is the part of physics that explains how things move and quantum is the Latin word for 'how much'. A quantum of energy is the least amount possible (or the least extra amount), and quantum mechanics describes how that energy moves or interacts.
Atoms were once believed to be the smallest pieces of matter, but modern science has shown that there are even smaller subatomic particles, like protons, neutrons and electrons. [source?] Quantum mechanics describes how the particles that make up atoms work.”
That’s a whole lot of words…
Basically, what we are finding today with quantum mechanics and physics is that the more we know… the less we know. As it says here, we were taught 50 years ago that the protons, neutrons and electrons that make up atoms were the smallest particles that existed. Quantum theory is showing that these “particles” operate in ways that appear to challenge what we know about the laws of physics as we know them. They act in a manner less consistent with “matter” and more in a way that defies our understanding.
This has me wondering about just how little man knows about anything. Since Adam and Eve man has been trying to comprehend and rationalize God. I could get into so many rabbit trails from the scriptures here. Certainly the Tower of Babel comes to mind… I’ll just say this, man has always wanted to grasp the power that controlled the very foundations of the universe. They want to do the same today… it has not changed!
Theistic Evolutionists… or rather let’s call them what they are “Naturalist Christians” have chosen to try to understand and make sense of Gods supernatural existence, his creative power and his divine attributes through a naturalistic, limited, worldly mindset that boxes God to our 3 dimensional understanding of the universe. They assume that God only operates in the laws we know, trying to explain away those “particles” of faith they don’t understand. The fact is that the Bible is a supernatural book! It records larger than life events and miracles that one cannot be explained away by applying our modern understanding of physics and science.
When I read passages like John one where I read “In the beginning was the word, and the word (Jesus) was with God, and the word was God” and then further in Genesis where it says “in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth” I am filled with wonder and curiosity. I try not to limit my understanding of Gods creative power with my own limited understanding of what is and is not possible for mankind. I have this picture in my mind - which I can’t begin to describe at all - of a powerful being, Jesus Christ (the word) simply speaking the whole universe into existence (the big bang). Of course once again, I cannot comprehend what God looks like or how those beginnings appeared.
We read this in Job 38 (NIV):
“Then the Lord spoke to Job out of the storm. He said:
“Who is this that obscures my plans
with words without knowledge?
Brace yourself like a man;
I will question you, and you shall answer me.
“Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundation?
Tell me, if you understand.
Who marked off its dimensions? Surely you know!
Who stretched a measuring line across it?
On what were its footings set,
or who laid its cornerstone—
while the morning stars sang together and all the angels shouted for joy?”
And in Psalms 33 we read:
“By the word of the Lord the heavens were made, and all their host by the breath of his mouth. He gathered the waters of the sea as in a bottle; he put the deeps in storehouses. Let all the earth fear the Lord; let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him. For he spoke, and it came to be; he commanded, and it stood firm.”
A word from Gods mouth and BANG - this expanding, beautiful, complex universe was created from nothing! If your god, as someone who believes in Jesus Christ is to small to make that happen perhaps you are serving the small g god of naturalism. God is both an active sustainer and past creator of this three dimensional world we live… and he will one day restore it all to its original perfection!
Want to bend your mind? God is as close to the beginning of the universe as the end. He does not dwell in time or space. Remember those electrons and neutrons that quantum theory is currently grappling with? God oversees even those!
We read further:
In Matthew 13 ESV:
“But in those days, after that suffering, the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will be falling from heaven, and the powers in the heavens will be shaken.”
In Hebrews 12 NRSV:
“Yet once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heaven.” This phrase, “Yet once more,” indicates the removal of what is shaken—that is, created things—so that what cannot be shaken may remain. Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us give thanks, by which we offer to God an acceptable worship with reverence and awe; 29for indeed our God is a consuming fire.”
In Revelation 6 NRSV:
“When he opened the sixth seal, I looked, and there came a great earthquake; the sun became black as sackcloth, the full moon became like blood, and the stars of the sky fell to the earth as the fig tree drops its winter fruit when shaken by a gale. The sky vanished like a scroll rolling itself up, and every mountain and island was removed from its place.”
If you have read my previous post on String Theory you may remember how I ended my article with this statement:
“God has this all under control... our place is to allow the Holy Spirit to transform our hearts and minds into alignment with His plans and purposes! Christ is the only other worldly being I want to hear from! “
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