The modern theories of time and space are not so new. Mankind has only just recently rediscovered them. Science is just now getting around to the idea that there may be other dimensions. Yet, the Bible and other spiritual works have always contended that time had a beginning, will have an end and that there are other dimensions existing along side of the one we inhabit. We now we call “in the beginning” the Big Bang. “Let there be light” is simply the ancient’s poetic language describing pure energy released in that metaphysical event.
The Bible tells us that God exists outside time, with God there is no past, present, or future. The writer’s of the Hebrew scriptures tell us that time exists only within the created order, the natural world or universe, that God exists outside of time and space. Modern science is just now figuring out how space and time interact. As science publishes new information on this interaction, students of scripture are contending that the bending of space-time may account for the description of creation taking only six days. Our understanding of physical reality is changing with every new scientific theory published.
Finite human beings cannot fully comprehend time and eternity. But eternity is written within our hearts by our Creator. Religion teaches that for now we exist within time, and God exists outside of time. How strange that multi-dimensional universe with a beginning is now the accepted theory in science as it has been in theology for centuries.
The modern explanation of space time is an old but new thought. We see modern science now describing metaphysical ideas once held only within the sphere of theology. Modern day physicists describe a reality in which there can exist many dimensions or realities. The scriptures have described just such a reality that is full of visitors from other “dimensions”. The religious concepts of heaven and hell, Ezekiel’s fiery chariots, snakes that could speak, flaming swords held by cherubim guarding a tree that could bestow eternal life, pillars of fire guiding a nation to its destiny, are only a few of these descriptions written about in the Hebrew scriptures.
Also, consider that for many decades, fantasy writers such as C.S. Lewis and Lewis Carroll have described worlds existing parallel to the one we occupy. They describe doorways here in this world by which we can enter other worlds. We may think its a new thing when we read Stephen Hawking’s description of a reality that can include sets of disconnected space times, where black holes become gateways to other universes and alternate realities. Mankind has known of these parallel realities for its entire history. It is nothing new. In reading these fantasy novels, we read that in the interaction between these dimensions, time will flow differently, just as Hawkings describes the warping of space-time.
Fantasy writers and the myths of our ancestors have long described worlds that modern physicists are now saying can exist. For instance, the science “fiction” writer Poul Anderson writes in “Operation Chaos” of hell as a parallel universe. Writing scientifically, Stephen Hawking says black holes just may be gateways to other dimensions. Was the writer of science fiction closer to reality than we give him credit for?
In the Bible it states that satan and his cohorts are cast into a bottomless pit from which they cannot escape, sounds like a black hole to me!
One of my favorite authors is J.R.R. Tolkien. Within his books I escaped to other realities. I was reminded of the enduring qualities of the human soul within this world, by escaping to another. I’ve read to my children the works of C.S. Lewis. The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe series … was our favorite. My grandchildren now enjoy the video presentation of a world in which good and evil combat in a parallel dimension entered by a doorway within our own.
Finding truth is the purpose of living and perhaps our ancient ancestors saw truth and described it in terms they understood. Stories of Titans, demi-gods, unicorns, mermaids, faeries, trolls and dragons take on new perspective when thought of as creatures from another dimension that scientists now say may actually exist. Perhaps the myths of our ancestors where their way of describing alternate universes where good and evil battle even now.
My favorite example of the possible intersecting of science and myth is in the faerie stories of ancient the Celts. We’re told in these stories that when faeries steal a human child, they must leave a changeling behind in its place. Modern physics theorize that if matter from one dimension enters another, there must be a corresponding exchange of matter from the other..interesting, isn’t it?
Perhaps we are getting closer to understanding the “gateway” between these alternate realities than we know. Perhaps it is not fantasy to be able to travel between them, after all scripture tells me Jesus did it.
I do know that it is not hard for me to believe that there is a heaven and a hell. That there are many dimensions to reality. God has said it all along. I saw it as a child reading “fantasy”. I found it as an adult reading scripture. Now the geniuses of my time say it is all possible. Just a thought, take it or leave it. I hope I have provoked some thinking and I realize you may come up with a differing view. That is OK, I’m glad to have made you think and do not require you to agree with my thoughts. I, after all, may exist in an alternate reality from yours!
