The unbelievable substance that keeps the order of the worlds
These days, when faith and science just seem to be too incompatible with each other, I’d like to tackle a very important topic about the origin of the universe. While most Christians would agree that it is God who made everything that ever began to exist, we live in a culture that seems to mock that belief in the name of science.
But what is science? If we try to simplify things, science is a search for truth. And I think that no Christian would ever be against that.
God is Truth itself. And in the light of that, I believe that faith and science should not be incompatible things.
The First Cause
It is natural to think that the existence of anything that ever began to exist depends upon something else.
“To do away with a supreme cause is to claim that, as someone has said, ‘A brush will paint by itself provided it has a very long handle.’”—Reginald Garrigou LaGrange
Christians believe that the ultimate cause of everything is God, the “Uncaused Cause”.
Atheists and Agnostics are not united in how they believe the universe came to be. Some may agree that the cause of everything that ever began to exist may indeed be something immaterial, but that doesn’t necessarily have to be God. Some may insist that there is no such thing as an immaterial source, only a material explanation.
But if it is a material explanation, wouldn’t we be left with two most plausible explanations? The first is an infinite series of material events that goes back to an infinite past that could never be explained. The second is that there is a specific point in time when the material universe began to exist (as can be gleaned from the Big Bang Theory).
The Beginning of Time
If the Big Bang Theory agrees that the universe indeed began in time, wouldn’t it coincide with the Christian belief that God created it at a specific moment?
It would be no surprise to learn that the Big Bang Theory was first conceived by a priest named Georges Lemaître. A post titled “Origins of the universe, explained” at National Geographic states:
“The most popular theory of our universe’s origin centers on a cosmic cataclysm unmatched in all of history—the big bang.”
“A Belgian priest named Georges Lemaître first suggested the big bang theory in the 1920s, when he theorized that the universe began from a single primordial atom.”
If the universe began from that single primordial element, where could that element have come from? Wouldn’t it be logical to think that it was made by someone outside time and space? Someone who is intelligent enough to make such a design?
And if this universe had a beginning, wouldn’t it follow also that it was not eternal? If not eternal, how could it have made itself to exist out of nothing?
Certainly, non-believers may ask, “What about God?”
Beyond Time and Space
God is not like the universe that had a beginning and needs an explanation for its existence. God is eternal and is the cause of everything that has ever began to exist.
For a rough comparison, think about an entire computer game coming from a single file that needs to be extracted and installed. From that single file, everything begins to exist for that computer game, a whole universe populated by various characters, places and possibilities. But the maker of the game is someone outside of the game, someone intelligent enough to design it and to make everything work in that virtual world.
Still, the non-believer may fail to see the point of the comparison and ask, “What about the person who made the game? What was his cause?”
The Substance That Moves The Universe
We do know that the human being who made the game was born from another human being. But that is not the point of the comparison.
The point is that the whole universe that has been made for the computer game is so drastically different in substance to the human being who made it. In that way also, consider how drastically different in substance is the material universe from the God who made it to exist.
“The life of God is above the past, the present, and the future; it is measured by the single instant of immobile eternity.”- Reginald Garrigou-Lagrange, The Three Ages of the Interior Life: Prelude of Eternal Life
Perhaps our main problem is our inability to even imagine God. By what kind of substance could He be made of?
I’m making a very big leap here when I answer, “The substance of God can be understood through Love.”
“I use the word love, not meaning sentimentality, but a condition so strong that it may be that which holds the stars in their heavenly positions and that which causes the blood to flow orderly in our veins.”—Maya Angelou
I’m just amazed at that definition by Maya Angelou. She was able to show how God Himself holds the entire universe together, the God who is also known as Love. Perfect Love.
Perhaps we need to know more about love so could know more about God.
What is love?
Love is light. Love is goodness. Love is beauty. Love is wisdom. Love is strength.
What does love do?
Love creates. Love moves. Love empowers. Love gives life.
If there is ever a substance that could create an entire universe beaming with beauty, wonder and life, shouldn’t it be love itself?
“All shall be well, all shall be well… For there is a Force of love moving through the universe that holds us fast and will never let us go.”—St. Julian of Norwich
Is it really possible to love a God we cannot even see? Can we really love Him as we love another Person? A Person who can listen to us and respond to us? A Person who can know us far more intimately than any human being ever can. Read more about “To Love an Invisible God — click here.
The thing about hope is that it’s a positive force that shines the most when it’s dark. When everything’s going well, we hardly notice it’s there. But when things go against us, when our dreams fade and when we see no immediate reprieve from our troubles, that’s when hope does its best work for us.
"Where Hope Can Be Found"