Peeling a Growing Onion

The following is a segment from the Antarctic Journal back in January of 2003. The comments by this scientist are very interesting.

Dr. Barth Netterfield, a cosmologist with the Long Duration Balloon Boomerang project gave last nights lecture on the universe, the beginning of time, where we’re headed, and things everyone wishes they knew but don't. Our universe, he said, went from a singularity (which we don’t understand) to a beginning (which our physics won’t explain) to plasma, hot and dense. It is composed now of normal matter (about 5%), dark matter/particles (about 35%), and something they are calling dark energy because they don’t know what it is (65%). The dark energy is forcing it to expand, and it is cooling as it expands. That expansion is accelerating and will continue to do so forever until it approaches a state empty of matter. It is a Euclidian universe, not curved or bent or closed, and now some 14 billion years old. It was cosmology for the novice, told with such graphic examples that I didn’t glaze over in frustration at the abstract mathematics of it all. When someone asked him to give us perspective on how much we know about the universe in comparison to Galileo, he said it was like an onion. You keep peeling layers off but the onion keeps growing larger. "The more we learn the more there is to know." Which is why we are here in Antarctica.

"The more we learn the more there is to know." Who does this remind you of? Isn't it amazing that what He designs is also a direct reflection of His nature?

The Power of a Choice

God wishes to be loved by choice. He created angels - magnificent servants - but they were not created in His image. Man was His masterpiece. Why did man make the choice he made in the garden? Why did he survive the choice?

The answers are many, depending on the scholars you listen to. I believe that along with the wonderful power to choose, coupled with a finite mind with limited perception, Eve was deceived by the serpent who could not stand (and still can't) anything that is made in HIS image. Why did Adam follow Eve? Maybe he, too, was deceived. Maybe he loved Eve, and was afraid of losing her, so he followed her lead to insure they would not be separated. It's conjecture. I certainly would have considered it.

But even today, we have multiple trees in the garden. Most are good. Some are evil. God is a god of reward, and there can be no reward if there is no choice. We who are in Christ live in this blessed limbo of choice: good choices yield reward; bad choices yield no condemnation. Yes, there are consequences, but no condemnation. That is good news!

This presents another scenario. The very presence of God inspires - even demands - worship. Ask John, who fell at the Glorified Lord's feet as though dead. Ask him if that was a simple act of reverence. I think not. The reason that God does not manifest Himself 'more' in our worship is because if He did... we would have to worship Him. The very stones would cry out - as Jesus said.

God doesn't want forced worship any more than He wants forced love. He wants us to desire Him. Is it possible that if everyone were worshiping Him with all their heart, He would manifest Himself more often and in more power? After all... if we all freely give everything to Him in worship, then our choice has already been made.

Point of Acceptance

Sometimes as believers we just need to realize that God is God, He is Holy, and He does not have to share His glory with us at any point. I know I dwell, often, on the state of our nation and the world at large. It seems like such a downward spiral - it can easily grab your focus.

But my focus should be on Him. He's the reason. He sets up kings and brings them down. He promotes His children, and demotes them, as He sees fit to mold us.

He has a plan. None of this is happenstance, or out of control - as chaotic as it looks. I do believe He allows us to coast for extended periods of time upon His wave of grace, and I do believe we can prolong - or avoid altogether - judgment by simply repenting. Yet most of the time we as a culture do not. We push Him further and further away.

Godlessness shows up in our beauty pageants. In our legislation. In our foreign policy. In our churches. In our TV shows.

God, on the other hand, has no choice but to show up in everything else. If we'd honor Him with TV, He might not have to show up in the earthquake. If we'd honor him in our foreign policy, He might not have to show up in a hurricane.

God told Elijah that He was not in the violent shaking of the earth, the fire, or the wind... but rather a still small voice - to Elijah. Elijah belonged to God. Elijah honored God. For a world that does not know Him, or honor Him, I believe very often the only way He can grab attention is through quakes, fires, and floods.