TWO BASIC VIEWS OF HOW THE UNIVERSE BEGAN
We live in a universe of mind-boggling intricacy and complexity. There are two basic views on how it all began:
- The universe ‘just happened’
- The universe is the result of super-human design
Many people say we just can’t know how it began, and therefore a “just happened’ view of origin is sufficient. However, that puts an end to inquiry and seems as foolish as a person refusing to acknowledge the electronic engineering in his television set unless he knows how and when it was made.
A person can recognize, appreciate and benefit from design without fully understanding it. The mere existence of the universe is evidence enough of its amazing design.
BECAUSE THERE’S DESIGN, THERE MUST BE A DESIGNER
The universe bears ample evidence of design. This conclusion does NOT come from faith, but from reason.
For most people, it takes too much faith to believe that everything, including all life forms, could be the result of mere chance. It’s by common sense – not by faith – that most people conclude that there is a master design plan.
From the conclusion that there is design in the universe, it logically follows that there must be a designer. Obviously, a designer greater than any human being.
Who? Generally people use the broad and universal name ‘GOD’ (Almighty Being).
PEOPLE INSTINCTIVELY KNOW THERE’S A GOD
It gives some assurance to know that most people have arrived at the conclusion that there's an Almighty Being. While majority opinion does not guarantee truth, it does lend support.
Believing in God is not only a logical thing to do; it’s also a natural thing to do. Most people, at all times and in all cultures, instinctively know there is a God. This knowledge seems to be built right into us.
WHO DESIGNED GOD? WHAT’S HIS BEGINNING?
To our human way of thinking, everything must have a beginning. To say that God designed the universe begs the following question: Who designed him? And that begs yet another question: Is our God a creation of – and subordinate to – a greater deity or deities. We could push these questions to infinite regress.
The fact is that we don’t know the answers and we don’t have the capacity to comprehend at that level even if we were told. What's important – and what we can comprehend now – is that there is a single God directly over us and he's told us everything we need to know at this point in time. What he's told us – recorded in the Bible – is explained and referenced in this website.
Every person must decide for himself whether to follow a humanistic way of life or a theistic way of life. It’s like a fork in the road. A person who chooses the humanistic way doesn't make room for God in his life and sees the universe as a quirk of chance. A person who chooses the theistic way desires to know God and sees the universe as part of a marvelous unfolding plan that has dimensions which exceed our present ability to understand.
We’re now limited to living and thinking in only three and a half dimensions – length, width, height and (forward only) time – but actually there are many more dimensions of reality. Eventually, in heaven, we'll have the privilege and capacity to understand these more complex dimensions and get answers to all our questions.
LIMITATIONS OF LINEAR THOUGHT PROCESS
This resource is written in the format of western analytical thought. It’s important to recognize that not everyone receives and processes information – especially spiritual information – in this way.
Most people, particularly in other parts of the world, do not think and report in a linear thought pattern (logically and systematically from A to Z, using the shortest route and fewest words). An analytical approach is efficient for conveying information to the mind but leaves much to be desired for communicating emotion to the heart.
Most people, even in the United States, think and report instead in a circular thought pattern (hovering around key ideas, expressing and re-expressing them in different ways for emphasis and retention). Most spiritual expression – including the Bible – is in circular rather than linear style.
However, this site is written in linear style because it’s the way most managerial and professional people have been trained to think.
The reader should be careful not to allow the style to filter emotion from the content. For example, it should be more than just a dispassionate observation that God designed a universe! The very thought of such wisdom and power should send shivers through us. It should arouse an intense curiosity about what God had in mind for us in this design!
