The Science of God - how a lover of physics found the truth in Christianity

Chapter 8

Yes, it's been a while. But I'd like to take this up where I left off. Remember, I promised no timeline, right? And, if you've been following, time may have a different meaning to you by now. 

So let's start there...

I'm currently working on a Young Adult novel that deals with the fabric of time and space. It gets dicey, because I can only speculate based on what little we know about time and the universe. And our linear-trained minds have to strain to grasp these new concepts. But let's give it a try, shall we?

In the view of time presented by my new novel (currently titled Porch Pick-up), my character suggests that every moment of time is always in existence. This moment, this right now as you read this last word, will never go away. It has always been. And it will always will be. You and I cannot go back to that moment you read a few seconds ago, but it's still there. If it helps, imagine an old movie reel, one infinitely long, that contains all these moments of time. Except that our reel isn't locked away in a can and put on a shelf. It's still very real, very much active.

This is tough to grasp, yes. But so is an infinite universe. So is speed faster than that of light. But all these things exist. So we must use what we know to understand that which we don't.

If you can see time as something more tangible, like a road or a roll of film, then you're closer to seeing the world from the point of view of someone outside our limited dimensions. Let's start with something slightly easier to grasp.

We know that gravity has an effect on light. That's why we have black holes. The gravitational pull of a black hole is so great that light cannot escape. Can you grasp light as a particle or wave that can be pulled in one direction or another? Not so hard, though still a bit mind-boggling.

We also know, from Mr. Einstein's theory, that time is affected as we near light speed. Remember the guy in the spaceship? If you leave Earth and travel near light speed for a while, you'll return home in what you perceive to be a few weeks, only to find that twenty years has passed on Earth. Check out the movie Interstellar for some great examples of that theory. In the same film, you'll see great examples of what happens when we discover the folds in time. Prepare to have your mind blown.

Now, if we can accept all these theories. Then why is hard to accept a being who can stand outside our known dimensions and be everywhere, at any time, knowing the past, present, and future long before we know it?

Go back to your roll of film, rewind to the scene you watched an hour ago. The scene is real again, no less so than when you watched it the first time. So it is with this being who sees our world, its entire history, in one glance. 

Keep thinking on that. I'll be back soon.