POST MORTAL design

I am often confronted with the agnostic perspective of, yes there is certainly, most likely, possibly, conceivably, not likely but I wont rule out the possibility, or probably an all knowing all powerful God of some kind. Most people are rational enough to concede that the universe is a magnificent and beautiful manifestation of design and life with all of it’s deoxyribonucleic codifications, by it’s very nature of being a code, demands some kind of an author; an intelligent, transcendent being that had to have, at the very least, set this all in motion. I mean, if you woke up on your birthday and poured a bowl of Alphabet Cereal and it spelled out “happy birthday” with your name and the date you would probably be absolutely certain that some form of intelligence (whether God, the Devil, your dead pet hamster, or a mad scientist) was messing with you! The odds of the most basic enzyme necessary for life occurring by chance is so much less likely than the cereal event, and it is inconceivable to the intellectually honest person that this all just happened by accident; at least in my opinion. However the most common basis of rejection of the Christian understanding of who or what this being is is (in my experience) a combination of the two following assumptions.

“Finite beings such as us mortals down here on little old earth cannot possibly understand an infinite being such as God.”

and…

“Whatever this creator being is, it could not possibly be concerned with insignificant, finite mortals like us.”

These two misguided assumptions directly stem from confusing the infinite for the very big. Let me explain.

We live in a finite universe that is proportionately tremendous in size compared with our individual existence’s here on Earth. Now if the universe is the cradle of life and in some strange sense the creator god then the assumption is likely correct. It is not aware of us and we cannot ever fully understand it. If we were able to interact on a personal level with any single one of the billions of microbes that live in our intestines, it would still be trillions of times more likely than for us to commune with the universe. The divide is that much bigger.

But it is important to keep in mind that the universe is in fact finite. It had a beginning and it will inevitably end in a heat death if left to the laws of entropy as it currently is. It’s not infinite; it is very, very big. No matter how big it is, it still is not any closer to being infinite than we are. But us being small and the universe being big creates a huge divide between us and the universe.

However, a truly infinite, all knowing being such as the God described in the Bible would not experience this distance from humanity that the very big universe would because He is not any more or less present or aware of any aspect of anything. He is not big, He is infinite. Be virtue of being infinite He must be just as aware of the smallest particle of dust as He is of the most brilliant explosion and birth of a huge new galaxy or even a new universe. Both are equally small to an infinite being as they are equally large. If He is infinite He must be concerned with us. If He was unaware or uninvolved He simply be just very big and not infinite because we, being part of everything that an infinite being would need to be aware of, would be absent, rendering an infinite being no longer infinite… just very big.

The second part of the equation is how could we possibly understand an infinite being or communicate with Him? Again the answer lies in the nature of the infinite. We can’t communicate with an infinite being unless the infinite being in His infinite ability creates a way. So often my agnostic friends limit what God is able to do. To them god is very big and they are not differentiating between the very big and the infinite. Because we can’t reach Him with our own finite ability they assume we can’t know anything about Him. Well we can if He chooses to communicate to us and make it possible for us to communicate with Him. If he can’t do it, well then he’s not infinite.

I believe that God did make it possible for us to not only communicate with Him but to have a relationship with Him. He did this through His Son Jesus Christ because He wants to have a relationship with us. Why us and not a galaxy or particle of dust or some other more bigger more important intelligent being? As mentioned earlier all of these are equally large, small, significant, and insignificant to an infinite being, right? Then why are we special? I believe it has to do with free will. If free will exists, and I believe it does, then we are not finite beings, but true free radicals in a universe that operates entirely on cause and effect. This would make us infinite as well on some level. But I’ll leave that for another theological rambling for the future. For now I’d like to leave you with the understanding that if there is an infinite God, He is aware of every aspect of your existence. He has to be if He is infinite. And I would like to submit to you that you can communicate and even have a relationship with Him if he makes it possible. Since he knows everything you do and hears everything that you think… why not ask Him if He would make it possible for you to have a relationship with Him? See what he says.