God of Creation

So my co-worker found a recent fascination with black holes. I've been watching some videos of Stephen Hawking so I can hold my own in the discussions. It's fascinating to hear what's out there in our universe. And being me, my brain is busy reconciling these things with what little I know about God.

Did the universe pop into existence billions of years ago when a black hole exploded? Who cares? Whatever mechanism God used doesn't really change the facts that the universe exists, it's big, and we live in it. So let's have some fun talking about the amazing ways that it works. And see where we might go instead of where we've been.

What are black holes? Hawking describes them as, well, holes. There's no bottom. And they seem to draw everything inside. If we accept that matter/energy is neither created nor destroyed, then what goes in must still exist. Is it trapped in the black hole or expelled somewhere else?

What would be the purpose of expelling it? Motion might be one - like a jet engine. The black holes propel the universe. Transfer is another idea. Sending used up energy to another place to start growing new galaxies, stars, and planets. This raised the question - are new planets forming?

I have to admit, I grew up in very strict fundamentalist circles. In recent years, God has really opened my eyes about how much I limit Him with my rules. So think about it this way, are the trees you see today the same ones that were here when He created the Earth? Of course not. He created trees that seeded and grew new ones. Why wouldn't He seed new galaxies?

Science fiction is fascinated with the idea of faster than light travel. We can't get to another star without it. Or at least, not very many. Our life spans are just too short. But what if we lived forever? Imagine a billion years from now, would you care about having spent 100,000 years on a space ship? Forever means no end. In a finite universe of limited size, you would, eventually, see everything and go everywhere. Is that really the limit of God's reach?

I stated earlier that energy is neither created nor destroyed - the first law of thermodynamics. I take issue with it. Well, just the first half - energy is not created. The first law assumes that the universe is a closed system. I believe that it's not. I believe that God is still pouring Himself into it.

God did not create the universe, set it in motion, and step away. He has always been intimately involved with it. He hasn't changed. He found pleasure in creation, and still does. He didn't paint a picture just to hang it on the wall. He's still painting it!

If God always intended us to live forever. And if He's bigger than our imaginations can fathom. Doesn't it stand to reason that He would expand the universe to reflect His size, not ours? By the time we explore everywhere, He will have somewhere new for us to go. Isn't that amazing?! We will never run out of new places to see, new things to learn. At every turn, He expands our knowledge just a little bit more. Refines what we thought we knew in ways we can't see yet. Over, and over, and over.

Do black holes feed into that? I have no idea. But won't it be fun to find out? To travel to one and figure out a way to measure, see, learn what happens. God didn't create a universe that puts things out of our reach. He created it to reveal His majesty and splendor. Then populated it with us to appreciate them. We can't appreciate what we don't know. It would be self-defeating to put things out of reach. They may be hard. It may take a very long time. The journey is half the fun.

And don't worry about learning all there is. He's way too big for that. There will always be a new mystery. Some twist or turn that we didn't expect. Now that's exciting!

Stress

So a couple of things have been running around in my head for a while. First is a sermon from Stephen Gambill about two mountains - Sinai and Zion. Mt. Sinai represents judgement, condemnation. When the Israelites came to that mountain, God surrounded it. There was thunder, lightning, darkness. The Bible describes the mountain as melting before Him. Sinai was where God gave the law to Moses. Imagine facing that alone. An angry God and He's looking right at you.

Zion, in contrast, is open arms. God saying welcome home. Thunder and lightning replaced with bright light and tranquility. It's a stark contradiction from Sinai.

And both of them are real. God is the same God, the same person, who expresses Himself in both ways at the same time. Sinai and Zion are in tension. Two opposites that are both true and exist at the same time. My brain can't reconcile that.

Thing 2

This made me think about the tensions in our world. My friend likes to describe these as grey areas. I hate grey areas. I cannot hold two emotions at the same time. And the idea that there is an acceptable balance between them is completely foreign.

Tension is everywhere. There was tension this morning when Vania snuck in a video game she wasn't allowed to play. There's tension every Monday morning when I have to get up for work, but I love what I do. The fact that I have to creates tension.

Sin creates tension. The apostle Paul talks about the law of sin and death versus the law of life (the spirit). These two always stand in opposition to each other - tension. Darwin summed up the law of sin and death very neatly: survival of the fittest. The strong prey on the weak. It's every man for himself.

Survival of the fittest is how the world works left to itself. It's a world of erosion, excess, self-destruction. Every advance exacts a price (think cars and smog, or industrialization and environmental concerns). On its own, the world breaks down. This the law of nature. Everything runs out, winds down, and eventually dies. Even the sun will one day burn out. It may be a very long time. But it is inevitable.

Contrast that with the picture painted in Revelations, the lion lays down with the lamb. Picture that for a second. A full grown male lion, with a full mane, sitting on the ground, his paws wrapped around a lamb. Both are at complete peace. The same passage says that a baby (think of your grandchild) will stick his hand in an adder's nest. And nothing happens. Well, maybe the snake licks his hand and the baby squeals because it tickles.

This is God's law of life. The law of sin and death breeds fear. Approach a snake now, and it will bite you because it's afraid. Sheep are afraid of lions. Lions are afraid of us. We're afraid of the ozone layer, pollution, and dying.

Fear leads to the dark side (to quote Yoda). We do self-destructive things because of fear. Fear creates tension.

Wrapping It Up

How do you resolve tension? How do you reconcile two opposites that are constantly fighting? Each trying to kill the other? I don't know either.

We should be enjoying our world. Admiring a beautiful sunset. Eating good food because it's fun to taste the flavors. Standing in awe of a panoramic view as the clouds touch the mountain tops and the sun glistens off the lake. Instead, we worry about starving, rush to drive home from work, and stand back from the edge of the cliff. Why? Because that world is out to kill us.

We know, deep in our hearts, this is wrong. We know that it shouldn't be survival of the fittest. In X-Men: Apocalypse, Charles Xavier tells the strong mutants to protect those who are weak. And the audience applauds that as noble, heroic. That's how the world should be. That's what we want it to be.

And when this world let's us down, we find ways of hiding from the pain. It shouldn't be this way, but it is. We live on Mt. Sinai. We want to live on Mt. Zion. Tension.