In astrophysics, time is not just time as we know it. It’s not just days, minutes, hours.
There’s a mathematical model called spacetime which blends three-dimensional space (width, height, and depth) and linear time to form a four-dimensional continuum.
Even I have a hard time with that concept, so here’s a picture.
This four-dimensional continuum began at the Big Bang. We know because when we look at galaxies in the distance, we’re looking back in time.
Their light is only just now reaching us thousands, if not millions, of light-years later. In fact, their light is so old that it’s not bright and pure, but rather redshifted.
Spacetime is dependent on celestial objects and their relation to each other (the law of general relativity). It shows the relationship between our planet and galaxies billions of light-years away.
Spacetime doesn’t exist when there were no celestial bodies and no light to travel through space.
It doesn’t exist outside of our universe.
So how does this relate to God?
Here’s what we know:
- The universe operates on a four-dimensional continuum called spacetime, beginning from the moment the Big Bang unfolded.
- But the spacetime continuum only exists in the universe, because only the universe has celestial objects that 1) take up three-dimensional space and 2) engage with the linear dimension of time.
- We also know that there are voids where there are few celestial objects.
As of now, the area beyond our universe is beyond our technology’s reach.
Given the existence of voids, it’s clear to me — again I repeat I’m no astrophysicist, this is only for fun — that past our universe, there’s an even larger void where there are no celestial bodies. No spacetime.
And therefore, no time as we know it.
The universe may be expanding, and with it, so is spacetime. But beyond that periphery, there is nothing.
So what do we make of this?
One of the primary attributes of God is that He has no beginning or end. He’s eternal. He’s not subject to time or decay.
So if we can informally theorize that spacetime only exists as a quality of our universe, then we can informally surmise that, outside of our universe, someone could feasibly exist who does not experience time.
This someone is invisible, all-transcendent, ineffable, immutable, eternal, and all-powerful.
This special someone created us in the midst of an impossible void — and instilled knowledge of Him in us.
I know, I know, Evolution, Darwin, etcetera.
That’s cool.
But evolution can’t explain the similarity between a fat innkeeper worm and a man’s nether. (Look it up in private. Not safe for work.)
It can’t explain the similarity between the shape of a lightning strike and the shape of a tree branch.
It can’t explain the near-identical look between my fingertip and the inside of a tree stump.
I get it.
These arguments for God are age-old and tired. And the theory of evolution is so widely accepted it might as well be fact now.
But we truly can’t ignore the similarities in objects that have nothing to do with each other.
I understand the similarities between two types of horses. But a horse and a fish (the seahorse)?
Sure, by the theory of evolution, they share an ancestor. But according to the same theory, so does every creature on earth. And I don’t look like a seahorse. You don’t look like a bird.
If environmental stimuli and selective breeding are enough to differentiate two creatures, then no fish should look like a horse, and no human should look like a monkey.
Something is off here.
I’m an artist. I draw in my spare time.
If you looked at two of my drawings, you would know I made them by the weight of the lines, the stylistic quirks, and the similarities in shapes.
We can’t stand witness to the masterpiece of creation and deny that a Master is behind it.
A Master who’s benevolent and kind. Who knows we’re in trouble. And who came down to save us.