This will be short.
In my Time, Space, and Material arguments for the existence of God I pose a dichotomy between two different ways the world could be: either it's infinite or it's not. Either ways I suggest God must exist. However, I never came to a conclusion about which way the universe probably is. In fact, I really had no opinion at the time. However, I've been gradually leaning one way. Today, I found another piece of evidence to support my speculation.
Jeremiah 31:37 "Only if the heavens above can be measured and the foundations of the earth below be searched out will I reject all the descendants of Israel because of all they have done, declares the Lord."
First of all, it's pretty clear that God is assuming that the heavens and earth cannot be measured. On the surface, this implies that they're infinite. However, he may just be saying that we humans can't measure the sky and earth. I mean, even now we can't, and if space is expanding at the speed of light we never will be able to. This is probably the case, but it's possible it implies the universe is infinite, so I lean in that direction.
Another point is that I think God wouldn't make things limited because then we might reach the end. Suppose space was only a couple hundred light years across. If we got to the edge we'd be confused, end up categorizing all of space, and just sit on our haunches waiting for the rest of time until God came back. Such a finish might point too strongly to God and make the choice of believing in him no longer very free. We'd just all assume it and not truly believe in him, or invent other Gods who made the universe (think ancient religious explanations of the sun and moon).
Anyway, I'm leaning towards an infinite universe.
This does NOT mean all the things listed under Futility of the Finite are true. If God made the universe he can make earth the only place that has human beings.
26 November 2012
futility of the finite
This is something I came up with a long time ago, but I haven't been able to find, so I'll write it again.
In my arguments for the existence of God based on time, space, and material, I suggest that an spatially infinite universe has many bad implications . However, the implications are far too many to place in that post so I will enumerate them here.
No matter what goals you may have in life, an infinite universe makes them futile. (this assumes a non-deterministic philosophy, that people have choices)
In a spatially infinite universe, assuming that matter exists in some of it (space around us isn't totally empty), then there are civilizations and earths out there that are exactly like ours - exactly - down to every last particle. This is what happens when you work with non-mathematical things. Also, there are an infinite number of them. There are also earths that are slightly worse and slightly better than us.
Moral Excellence
There is someone out there with your name and your parents, house, children, job, and money that has made better choices, not hurt as many people, and deserves to live more than you do. There are also worse people. There is no such thing as perfection, accomplishing your goal. Someone exactly like you has already done better.
Advancement of Moral Civilization
Civilizations exist that began with our exact situation and are more moral than us, have not enslaved their populations, didn't have any wars, didn't mistreat women, and many other things. Eventually, assuming that civilizations continue to expand without dying out, that civilization will find ours and consume us. They may treat us well but all our efforts at advancement will have been for nothing, for we will be swept along by them. Likewise we may sweep along other lesser civilizations, but no matter how many we conquer, we will also be conquered.
Advancement of Science
Like morality, plenty of other places out there know way more than we do about science and will eventually find us and make all of our research irrelevant. We should sit here and do nothing.
Pleasure
If your main goal is to eat, drink, and be merry, you're missing out. You want to get as much happiness out of life as possible? There are an infinite number of people in your circumstances who have derived more pleasure out of life, sought pleasure with greater clarity and success, and had less negative side effects. Actually, there are people in your situation who have never felt pain, anger, sadness, loneliness, etc.
Being Content
Some may say that all of this is irrelevant. I'm content with what I have. I don't care about how successful other people are. Yes, sure. But other people are doing exactly what you're doing, pursuing contentment with their circumstances, with much greater success. They have completely eliminated annoyance at other people, greed for other peoples stuff, anger at their own situation, etc.
Anything Else: General Principle of Measurement
Whatever you have set out to do, or not to do, other people have been more successful. So successful in fact, that the little advancements you make are negligible in comparison to how far ahead they are, and the speed at which they are advancing.
Basically, if the universe is spatially infinite, all goals are meaningless. This actually applies to a time-infinite universe too. There has, at some point in time, been a person just like you doing what you're doing just now, who goes on to live such better life than you will, no matter what your strategy is, that it makes you look irrelevant in comparison.
In my arguments for the existence of God based on time, space, and material, I suggest that an spatially infinite universe has many bad implications . However, the implications are far too many to place in that post so I will enumerate them here.
No matter what goals you may have in life, an infinite universe makes them futile. (this assumes a non-deterministic philosophy, that people have choices)
In a spatially infinite universe, assuming that matter exists in some of it (space around us isn't totally empty), then there are civilizations and earths out there that are exactly like ours - exactly - down to every last particle. This is what happens when you work with non-mathematical things. Also, there are an infinite number of them. There are also earths that are slightly worse and slightly better than us.
Moral Excellence
There is someone out there with your name and your parents, house, children, job, and money that has made better choices, not hurt as many people, and deserves to live more than you do. There are also worse people. There is no such thing as perfection, accomplishing your goal. Someone exactly like you has already done better.
Advancement of Moral Civilization
Civilizations exist that began with our exact situation and are more moral than us, have not enslaved their populations, didn't have any wars, didn't mistreat women, and many other things. Eventually, assuming that civilizations continue to expand without dying out, that civilization will find ours and consume us. They may treat us well but all our efforts at advancement will have been for nothing, for we will be swept along by them. Likewise we may sweep along other lesser civilizations, but no matter how many we conquer, we will also be conquered.
Advancement of Science
Like morality, plenty of other places out there know way more than we do about science and will eventually find us and make all of our research irrelevant. We should sit here and do nothing.
Pleasure
If your main goal is to eat, drink, and be merry, you're missing out. You want to get as much happiness out of life as possible? There are an infinite number of people in your circumstances who have derived more pleasure out of life, sought pleasure with greater clarity and success, and had less negative side effects. Actually, there are people in your situation who have never felt pain, anger, sadness, loneliness, etc.
Being Content
Some may say that all of this is irrelevant. I'm content with what I have. I don't care about how successful other people are. Yes, sure. But other people are doing exactly what you're doing, pursuing contentment with their circumstances, with much greater success. They have completely eliminated annoyance at other people, greed for other peoples stuff, anger at their own situation, etc.
Anything Else: General Principle of Measurement
Whatever you have set out to do, or not to do, other people have been more successful. So successful in fact, that the little advancements you make are negligible in comparison to how far ahead they are, and the speed at which they are advancing.
Basically, if the universe is spatially infinite, all goals are meaningless. This actually applies to a time-infinite universe too. There has, at some point in time, been a person just like you doing what you're doing just now, who goes on to live such better life than you will, no matter what your strategy is, that it makes you look irrelevant in comparison.
16 November 2012
watch and pray
Matthew 26:41 “Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.”
Do you fully understand the implications of the gospel? Do most Christians you know? Are you truly familiar with the extent to which it should affect your life, the areas it should alter and how, what priorities change and how decisions should be made based on different criteria? For those of you feelers, have you tried to feel the full weight of the gospel, its impact, how it courses over everything like a rushing river?
My friends, even among Christians who go to church every Sunday, even among those who are reasonably motivated to love people for Jesus' sake - myself included even as I write this, we have not fully implemented the effects of the gospel - how the fact that we are children of God, in the world but not of the world, ought to completely alter our outlook, see it with new eyes.
Matthew 26:41 “Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.” You who read this - I charge you in all seriousness - never give into the lie that all is well, that things will be fine from here on out, that you can rest for a little while. NO! As soon as you believe this, the enemy has won. Do you not think satan would be delighted to hear that his enemies no longer fear him? With this confidence in mind he now works with glee, spreading death like the plague; his victims do not even realize they have been slain.
WAKE UP man (woman)! Grab your tunic and sword, the enemy is upon us! The first phrase of Matthew 26:41 instructs us to "watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation". Be vigilant. There is a war on. Your own mind is your enemy. Galatians 5:17 "For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other, so that you are not to do whatever you want."
Perhaps an example is in order. Over the last three weeks school has become increasingly difficult and my food supply is becoming irregular. In the beginning this was fine, but gradually I spent less time reading the bible, I became less excited to read the bible, and I started to play video games and do other brainless activities. I praise the Lord that he has still let me enjoy talking with other Christians, in particular two spiritual conversations I had today and yesterday. If it had not been for them, I would be wasting my time right now and might have been stuck in that state for a couple weeks. See, it crossed my mind, but I did not act on the fact that these stresses would cause me to lose sight of the gospel, of my mission here on earth. I let myself slip. And you can't just pick it up again. When you let yourself slip, you begin to care less, and you are no longer motivated to start again. It takes either an extremely strong will or outside intervention to set you back up on track again.
This is what I call vigilance. When you see something or think something - act on it. Do not let yourself fall, and make sure you have friends who will come find you and talk about spiritual stuff even when you don't feel like it so that when you do fall, because we all will I'm willing to bet, they'll catch you. Ecclesiastes 4:9-10 "Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their labor: if either of them falls down, one can help the other up. But pity anyone who falls and has no one to help them up."
Another technique: when you realize that you currently do not feel/think they way you are supposed to, if you realize you don't care as much as you should or don't intend to give your time and energy to Gods purposes in the immediate future, make yourself sit down and not get up until your mindset has changed. Proverbs 4:23 "Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it." and Romans 7:21-25 "So I find this law at work: Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; but I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me. What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death? Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!"
So...let's bring this back to the gospel. In the same way that we can easily fall away and lose sight of God, we can lose sight of the gospel and what we're supposed to do about it. Let me just say this: God is your life. Bam. Done. You are not allowed to value anything else, you cannot wish for something else, don't even try. God and his kingdom are going to be your food, your air, what you sleep on, until nothing else matters, until it's a part of you and you are truly a son or daughter of God. Be transformed. Do this before you do anything else, because everything else you do stems from this one thing "that you O God are strong, and that you. O Lord, are loving." (Psalm 62:11-12).
So how do you carry this out? Watch and pray. The three techniques I just talked about take care of watch pretty well. First watch out so that you don't stop caring about God and anticipate circumstances that might test you. Second make friends that will keep you on track when you fall and make sure they'll do their job. Third if you find yourself slipping, sit down and make it right, no matter how long it takes - it's a matter of survival.
Pray - there is no way you're going to do anything without God. As the verse says again, the spirit is willing but the body is weak - so depend on the spirit, Gods spirit. Pray continuously. If your heart doesn't fill with joy and peace when you pray (or at least the pain, confusion, apathy and misery you're feeling doesn't reduce significantly), you've got a long way to go. I mean, I have a long way to go I'm sure, but I've already seen how powerful prayer is. I mean - you're talking with the big man upstairs, stuff just happens when God touches you (just sayin). God is truth, the ultimate foundation of life, the source of energy and joy and thankfulness. He is a great stabilizing force, a rock amidst a sea of confusion, peace like a strong deep rich river. Never hesitate to pray and ask God to help clear your mind, to help you stay focused on God, to help you fall in love with him again. - God loves to give good gifts to his children - so ask away.
Now to nuts and bolts. What are the three most important things in life? God, telling people God is the most important, and staying alive so that you can tell people God is the most important.
Therefore I would split your waking hours into three parts:
1) 1/3 making sure you stay on track, learning more about God by reading the bible, talking with friends about questions, talking over emotional or mental or spiritual problems with friends, etc.
2) 1/3 building relationships with the people whom you see the most and bringing up God in the conversations (or not, and witness by being an example) but the ultimate goal is to make sure they understand the gospel and have a chance to accept or reject it. A second major element is probably teaching your children about God and doing helpful spiritual things for your Christian friends as mentioned in the first section. Besides those there is normal missions work, volunteering at humanitarian or civil organizations, working with your church, and in my case blogging about God stuff.
3) 1/3 having a job making money, eating, sleeping, having occasional recreation times.
Comments:
A) For people with families - building up your family counts for evangelism time - but don't you dare let family be the only thing you do - you're in danger of counting all the time you spend with your family (which is like pretty much all the time besides work) as evangelism. Not true - part of it is straight survival. Plus, it's really easy to blur the lines.
B) Lots of this has overlap. When you talk with Christian friends about God stuff you are bot encouraged yourself encouraging them. Much of the time spent with your family will be all three. When (not if) you have spiritual conversations with your spouse, topics will probably range between helping you, helping your spouse, and doing business.
C) Obviously I just made up these number, but furthermore many situations may call for much different proportions. Full time missionaries do little to support themselves in category 3), and shift their spare time to 2), while in response to this there are some people who do a little less evangelism and a little more money making in order to support missionaries. I will warn you though, if you feel like this is your calling, - I mean I don't like throwing out arbitrary number but you need to be giving a good...15-25% of your income to missions. There is a small business owner who is currently at....25%? and shooting for 50%. If you're gonna do it, go all in.
I think that's all I have for the moment. Until later - peace out folks.
Philippians 4:7 "And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus."
Do you fully understand the implications of the gospel? Do most Christians you know? Are you truly familiar with the extent to which it should affect your life, the areas it should alter and how, what priorities change and how decisions should be made based on different criteria? For those of you feelers, have you tried to feel the full weight of the gospel, its impact, how it courses over everything like a rushing river?
My friends, even among Christians who go to church every Sunday, even among those who are reasonably motivated to love people for Jesus' sake - myself included even as I write this, we have not fully implemented the effects of the gospel - how the fact that we are children of God, in the world but not of the world, ought to completely alter our outlook, see it with new eyes.
Matthew 26:41 “Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.” You who read this - I charge you in all seriousness - never give into the lie that all is well, that things will be fine from here on out, that you can rest for a little while. NO! As soon as you believe this, the enemy has won. Do you not think satan would be delighted to hear that his enemies no longer fear him? With this confidence in mind he now works with glee, spreading death like the plague; his victims do not even realize they have been slain.
WAKE UP man (woman)! Grab your tunic and sword, the enemy is upon us! The first phrase of Matthew 26:41 instructs us to "watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation". Be vigilant. There is a war on. Your own mind is your enemy. Galatians 5:17 "For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other, so that you are not to do whatever you want."
Perhaps an example is in order. Over the last three weeks school has become increasingly difficult and my food supply is becoming irregular. In the beginning this was fine, but gradually I spent less time reading the bible, I became less excited to read the bible, and I started to play video games and do other brainless activities. I praise the Lord that he has still let me enjoy talking with other Christians, in particular two spiritual conversations I had today and yesterday. If it had not been for them, I would be wasting my time right now and might have been stuck in that state for a couple weeks. See, it crossed my mind, but I did not act on the fact that these stresses would cause me to lose sight of the gospel, of my mission here on earth. I let myself slip. And you can't just pick it up again. When you let yourself slip, you begin to care less, and you are no longer motivated to start again. It takes either an extremely strong will or outside intervention to set you back up on track again.
This is what I call vigilance. When you see something or think something - act on it. Do not let yourself fall, and make sure you have friends who will come find you and talk about spiritual stuff even when you don't feel like it so that when you do fall, because we all will I'm willing to bet, they'll catch you. Ecclesiastes 4:9-10 "Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their labor: if either of them falls down, one can help the other up. But pity anyone who falls and has no one to help them up."
Another technique: when you realize that you currently do not feel/think they way you are supposed to, if you realize you don't care as much as you should or don't intend to give your time and energy to Gods purposes in the immediate future, make yourself sit down and not get up until your mindset has changed. Proverbs 4:23 "Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it." and Romans 7:21-25 "So I find this law at work: Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; but I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me. What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death? Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!"
So...let's bring this back to the gospel. In the same way that we can easily fall away and lose sight of God, we can lose sight of the gospel and what we're supposed to do about it. Let me just say this: God is your life. Bam. Done. You are not allowed to value anything else, you cannot wish for something else, don't even try. God and his kingdom are going to be your food, your air, what you sleep on, until nothing else matters, until it's a part of you and you are truly a son or daughter of God. Be transformed. Do this before you do anything else, because everything else you do stems from this one thing "that you O God are strong, and that you. O Lord, are loving." (Psalm 62:11-12).
So how do you carry this out? Watch and pray. The three techniques I just talked about take care of watch pretty well. First watch out so that you don't stop caring about God and anticipate circumstances that might test you. Second make friends that will keep you on track when you fall and make sure they'll do their job. Third if you find yourself slipping, sit down and make it right, no matter how long it takes - it's a matter of survival.
Pray - there is no way you're going to do anything without God. As the verse says again, the spirit is willing but the body is weak - so depend on the spirit, Gods spirit. Pray continuously. If your heart doesn't fill with joy and peace when you pray (or at least the pain, confusion, apathy and misery you're feeling doesn't reduce significantly), you've got a long way to go. I mean, I have a long way to go I'm sure, but I've already seen how powerful prayer is. I mean - you're talking with the big man upstairs, stuff just happens when God touches you (just sayin). God is truth, the ultimate foundation of life, the source of energy and joy and thankfulness. He is a great stabilizing force, a rock amidst a sea of confusion, peace like a strong deep rich river. Never hesitate to pray and ask God to help clear your mind, to help you stay focused on God, to help you fall in love with him again. - God loves to give good gifts to his children - so ask away.
Now to nuts and bolts. What are the three most important things in life? God, telling people God is the most important, and staying alive so that you can tell people God is the most important.
Therefore I would split your waking hours into three parts:
1) 1/3 making sure you stay on track, learning more about God by reading the bible, talking with friends about questions, talking over emotional or mental or spiritual problems with friends, etc.
2) 1/3 building relationships with the people whom you see the most and bringing up God in the conversations (or not, and witness by being an example) but the ultimate goal is to make sure they understand the gospel and have a chance to accept or reject it. A second major element is probably teaching your children about God and doing helpful spiritual things for your Christian friends as mentioned in the first section. Besides those there is normal missions work, volunteering at humanitarian or civil organizations, working with your church, and in my case blogging about God stuff.
3) 1/3 having a job making money, eating, sleeping, having occasional recreation times.
Comments:
A) For people with families - building up your family counts for evangelism time - but don't you dare let family be the only thing you do - you're in danger of counting all the time you spend with your family (which is like pretty much all the time besides work) as evangelism. Not true - part of it is straight survival. Plus, it's really easy to blur the lines.
B) Lots of this has overlap. When you talk with Christian friends about God stuff you are bot encouraged yourself encouraging them. Much of the time spent with your family will be all three. When (not if) you have spiritual conversations with your spouse, topics will probably range between helping you, helping your spouse, and doing business.
C) Obviously I just made up these number, but furthermore many situations may call for much different proportions. Full time missionaries do little to support themselves in category 3), and shift their spare time to 2), while in response to this there are some people who do a little less evangelism and a little more money making in order to support missionaries. I will warn you though, if you feel like this is your calling, - I mean I don't like throwing out arbitrary number but you need to be giving a good...15-25% of your income to missions. There is a small business owner who is currently at....25%? and shooting for 50%. If you're gonna do it, go all in.
I think that's all I have for the moment. Until later - peace out folks.
Philippians 4:7 "And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus."
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