When I was in grade 12, I took a grade 10-level Auto Mechanics class. Just for fun. Our teacher gave us complete freedom to do whatever we wanted, and had a drawer full of manuals in case we desired to get our hands dirty. He supervised, while reading magazines. At the end of the semester, he held a 30% exam. Our objective? To design and present a new form of transportation.
I chose time-travel.
I must say, my presentation was by-far the most elaborate, compared to the other students'. Some of them had a problem with my transportation method, regardless of my thorough explanations and diagrams of worm-hole technology, combined with a nonconductive salad-spinner design.
Their problem lied within my definition of "transportation".
Since my grades relied on nothing else to pass this class, I challenged every question they had with dribble about string-theory, quantum mechanics, polar-reversal, you name it. I briefed the topics in preparation, betting that their monkey-brains wouldn't understand anything beyond a DeLorean on a train track.
I got an A+ on that project.
Ever wonder about where we came from? Where the universe came from? Before the big bang? I was milling around on YouTube when I came across this comment:
"There are actually a great number of reasons to believe that the universe is a computation and data storage substrate. Scientists don't generally go around putting it like that, but that's because every God-loving moron (incapable of understanding information theory or quantum theory) would ask "whose computer?" It must be God...my God. What annoys me is that religious people can't even understand easy science like evolution, but they think they are experts on reality."The "data storage substrate" explanation is funny to me, but I've heard more bizarre things. I feel my stomach churn when I read the rest of that though–Christians wouldn't say that... would they? I Google-ed the question "Where did God come from?" and found a Christian site that offered this explanation:
- YouTube Comment by Snakepliskinist
{Facepalm}The question is tricky because it sneaks in the false assumption that God came from somewhere and then asks where that might be. The answer is that the question does not even make sense. It is like asking, “What does blue smell like?” Blue is not in the category of things that have a smell, so the question itself is flawed. In the same way, God is not in the category of things that are created or caused. God is uncaused and uncreated—He simply exists.
- Gotquestions.org
I have to say, it's hard to pinpoint why I'm more infuriated by this than by the question left unanswered!
The question is flawed? Your argument is invalid??
Needless to say, I still needed to hear something more sane than that, and this video gave me some good insights about my natural curiosity:
"It has often and confidently been asserted, that man's origin can never be known: but ignorance more frequently begets confidence than does knowledge: it is those who know little, and not those who know much, who so positively assert that this or that problem will never be solved by science."My problem with Gotquestions.org isn't their answer. My problem is with their smugness of ignorance, circling of reason, and hastiness of quick-wit. Yes that's right, I have a problem with their entire website.
- Charles Darwin, The Descent of Man (1871)
What is the ultimate goal of the question? To satisfy our curiosity, right? What else would we do once we have the answer?
Change in perspective is the key to understanding this question, which is the key to being satisfied with not being able to know the answer.
What I mean is, instead of asking "Where did God come from?" We could ask a broader, less presumptuous question like, "What does God want me to know about him?" If God is ever going to give me any answer, it is going to be something I can grasp; or at least some portion of it that will fit inside my head. I think I would be satisfied with that.
Lofty scientific goals push us further than we are willing to think, which I am completely grateful for. But when we find the answer to this great life question, what will our discoveries have lead us to? Will there be a Christian there saying "I told you so?"
“The most beautiful and most profound emotion we can experience is the sensation of the mystical. It is the sower of all true science. He to whom this emotion is a stranger, who can no longer stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead. That deeply emotional conviction of the presence of a superior Reasoning Power, which is revealed in the incomprehensible Universe, forms my idea of God.”Where did God come from? The answer is simply too big for my monkey-brain, but Einstein seemed satisfied with the limits of his understanding enough to be able to appreciate the wonder. I believe there is great work to be done, and the best we can do is unitedly accept what God is showing our best minds through this worshipful adventure. God surely reveals himself through all creation, to everyone at some point. Let him take care of crafting the course of discovery, and let us allow it to happen.
- Albert Einstein, as cited in Libby Anfinsen (1995)
Cosmology (in metaphysics) is the reflection on the totality of all phenomena; science will not cease until it has solved all mysteries. But the Sower of all true science is unravelling them as we speak.
“I want to know how God created this world. I am not interested in this or that phenomenon, in the spectrum of this or that element. I want to know His thoughts, the rest are details.”
- Albert Einstein, as cited in Clark (1973)
hi.... wanted to share the following if you have any interest!
ReplyDeleteGod came to be… as a result of evolutionary opportunities; created by consistent inconsistencies out in natural space (a machine, in essence) as a product of happenstance, an anomaly. For many, the word machine is a difficult concept to grasp. We are molecular but then, so is a machine.
The universal complex as well as all of us, were designed, engineered, and built by God (“altered space”); on the other hand, God was formed from the natural rotation of particles in natural space that came together at a certain place and time in natural space to form a machine capable of doing all this that God does.
In the beginning, God was without form because God could not see itself, therefore God could not define itself… this came about in time.
All things were tried in time and all the laws of physics were eventually known to God.
Had any one of us come into consciousness first, we would eventually in time have done the exact same thing that God did.
God created us, so she would not have to be alone and then, created a device that would give us knowledge in the same manner that God got it… blind, just as we are here on earth!
This magnificent Universal Machine is God’s consciousness, sincerity & desire, and liaison to us; a Computer that runs the universe for God. It has a specific function; that being, to achieve their objective goal and that is… “God’s Will Be Done”! [more….]
http://www.divineadvancedhumanbeings.com/how-god-came-to-be/
Thanks for your comments, Arissasbel.
DeleteIt is an interesting perspective, but what I've found is that human logic is limited to making assumptions about the incomprehensible. That's the primary reason I like Judeo Christianity. It limits our understanding about God to what has been revealed to us in scripture. It's not a complete analysis, but it asserts that our Creator is a greater being than we are.
"God came to be… as a result of evolutionary opportunities"
Our finite minds will always stop at our beginnings, because we have no concept for a being that exists outside of time and space.
"as a product of happenstance, an anomaly."
An anomoly begs a norm, for which we have none to compare.
"We are molecular but then, so is a machine."
Yet we are superior to machines, and God is superior to us.
"God was formed from the natural rotation of particles in natural space that came together at a certain place and time in natural space to form a machine capable of doing all this that God does."
Assuming an immaterial being is derived from a strictly material process assumes God resides within the universe He created.
"In the beginning, God was without form because God could not see itself, therefore God could not define itself… this came about in time."
The question is, who defines a beginning?
"All things were tried in time and all the laws of physics were eventually known to God."
Who/what sets the laws of physics? This assumes even gravity existed before God. Yet gravity cannot exist without mass. The Higgs Boson particle exhibits this behaviour, which still limits it to a mechanism used to create mass, which is only observable with these laws in effect.
"Had any one of us come into consciousness first, we would eventually in time have done the exact same thing that God did."
Consciousness itself requires a number of precepts for self-realization. An arbitrary decision can only be made with a number of choices, even if that number is infinity. Who says we would or could make the same universe than God did? Moreover, are we in fact separate entities with free will, or do you actually believe the same thing and make the same choices I do? Who determined the parameters for what is considered truth?
"God created us, so she would not have to be alone"
If God has a gender, it requires an opposite gender. Nominally, I tend to say 'He' because I am English speaking limited to a singular asexual nominative case pronoun. In ancient Hebrew, 'He' is used by God when referring to himself, so I follow suit. I also view the universe and mankind as a seed planted by God, hence Alpha; functionally masculine. The Hebrew Bible actually recognizes both sexual aspects in God existing in relationship with Himself. I believe mankind is created in His image to reflect this relationship. Also, if God created us for relationship, why do you assert that man is blindly unable to reciprocate with affection?
"This magnificent Universal Machine is God’s consciousness, sincerity & desire, and liaison to us; a Computer that runs the universe for God. It has a specific function; that being, to achieve their objective goal and that is… “God’s Will Be Done”!"
So is the computer the universe, or God's consciousness? I understand that it is both, but I don't ascribe ourselves to being operators, rather, residents and observers. We have an opt-in ability to partner with and function as an operator, as Christians, but this does not make us gods, but rather, voluntary substitutes. It is still God working within us, transforming us to his likeness, accomplishing His will. That has been my experience, anyway.