Thursday, September 3, 2009

Outside the "fabric" of space and time


The philosopher and mathematician Gottfried Leibniz (1646-1716, at right) wondered why there is something rather than nothing, then wondered why it is the way it is. He concluded that God had created the best world out of any that are logically possible. I won't argue the merits or problems with that conclusion, but it does make me think that modern physicists are sniffing around the door of the same issue.

Following string theory, modern physicists have also moved from the question of "how" to the question of "why." This is the necessary result of pushing up against the absolute boundaries of space and time, to ask what it was like "before" time and space existed and therefore "outside" of space. At the border between the non-existence of time and the absolute beginning of time, the "how" pushes me to the one who exists eternally outside of time. At boundary between the non-existence of space and the absolute beginning of even still-empty space, the "how" pushes me to the one who fills heaven and earth (Jer 23:24) so that there is nowhere isolated from his protective presence (Jer 23:23).

In turn, that makes me wonder at the grace that God shows by living among us, though the heavens and earth cannot contain him.

1 comment:

  1. His immensity is our benefit. God is not only "among us" as Immanuel (God with us) but He is in us. Before time (as our limited minds understand it) and outside of space (as we try to define it). And while the heavens and earth cannot contain Him, God is containing and maintaining and holding them in His hands (as we use hands to describe holding something). Beyond mortal comprehension yet living in us!

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