There's Something There - Part 2

It apparently happened in Korea and became a boy band.
Nothing right and good about that.

I read the other day that the Big Bang didn't happen in space.

Which makes sense, since there was no space yet for it to happen in.

Still. That's hard to get.

So there was no Where that it happened in.

But there was a When.

Big Bang happened in a When, but not a Where.

It happened in time, but not in space.

OK, it's on Mondays at 9. See. It happens in time.
Even if you count syndication.

So if you were to ask, sweetly, naively, where did Big Bang happen, thinking, sweetly, naively, that there had to be a point where it all started, the answer is ...

There is a point where it all started. But it's a point in time, not in space.

So the evidence in science has taken us to a place in nature where our brains cannot go.

Big Bang happened in time. Not in space.

Do you want a list of all the other places that the evidence has taken us that our brains cannot go? Just go back and read some of the earlier posts. Any of them.

So now, let's talk about God.

Pay attention. This is the subtle and clever part.

1) I understand God as well as I understand him because the theologians have gone out of their way to explain him to me, and 2) I understand that my understanding of God will change with further information, and 3) it might change quite radically in quite unexpected sorts of ways, but 4) I have personal experience with God. That is, 5) evidence has been presented to me, and 6) I have personal evidence as well.

This would be the Ironic God. Ha. So funny.

God exists for me because I have some experience with him.

It is not the same experience that anyone else has had, though there is a lot of overlap, so it is both unique and universal at the same time.

Unique and universal. How...

Intriguing.

Now, I could go through the evidence for God that might exist in nature, but I've kinda already done that for like almost an infinite number of earlier posts (OK, 24, but still. It was a lot.), and here's what's happened. I predict. 

Yes, it's a chaotic, unpredictable universe, but only mostly, so I'm gonna live on the edge and make a prediction.

Those who already believe in God were like, YES!, and, AWESOME!, except for those who don't like Big Bang, but you probably stopped reading a long long time ago, which was foolish. No offense. OK, maybe a little. But you're probably not reading anymore anyway. No offense.

And those who don't believe in God were like, oh, seriously, all of this crapload of pseudo-scientific religio-babble AGAIN?!?! When are you religious morons gonna catch a clue that there is NO EVIDENCE for God to be found in nature?!?!

You should maybe dial it down a little. Fewer all caps. By everyone.

Anyway. Here's the thing.

We're all looking at the same evidence. But we are each reaching a different conclusion.

Same evidence. Different beliefs.

So it's not really about the evidence. I mean, it helps. But when one group looks at Big Bang and says, whoa, looks like God to me, and another group looks at the same Big Bang and says, wow, looks like a pretty cool accident of nature to me (and a third group looks at the same Big Bang and says, don't even THINK of trying to tell me that the God that I believe in would have used Big Bang to create the universe.)(Sorry about the all-caps.), then ...

It's not really about the evidence.

I had a guy tell me once over and over for weeks that there could be no evidence for God in nature. Not that there could be but we haven't found it yet. Whatever we found, was not gonna be evidence. No matter what it was. Like, God's t-shirt. His driver's license. His bowling league medals. Even his reserved parking spot.

When I mentioned that there were a host of notable scientists who believed that there was some evidence for God, this guy just said, well, they're all wrong.

When I told him that all of the scientists were a lot smarter than he was, he said, no, they're not.

Gotta admire his commitment to his beliefs. Takes some backbone to say that evidence is not evidence and is never going to be

evidence and that on the basis of this assumption, and this alone, that he is smarter than all the scientists except for the ones that agree with him.

Faith. That's what it takes. Faith.

Of course, what he believes about God or science or evidence or nature or the universe is, as we've said, irrelevant.

God exists, or he does not.

Even if there is no evidence, God still might exist. Even with lots and lots of evidence, he might not.

So how in God's name are we supposed to figure it out? So to speak.

Here's a proposal. Here's what it takes. Here's how to start. 

It's like, an equation.

It's evidence plus experience plus faith.

Plus one more entirely interesting, controversial, subjective thing that depends entirely on one's interpretation. Kinda like quantum mechanics. Lots of interpretations. Only one is right. We just don't know which one.

Anyway. One more thing.

It's evidence plus experience plus faith plus revelation.

Oh, yeah. It's an equation. It's gotta "equals" something.

No, not a revolution. A revelation.
Same thing, maybe.

Evidence plus experience plus faith plus revelation equals maybe there is a God.

We might start with that. Revelation.

If God created time and space, then God is outside of time and space.

And therefore we can't find him unless he wants to be found.

That is, you can't go on a search to find God. Well, you can, but good luck with that.

It's like the Ultimate Hide-&-Seek game. Ha ha, you'll never find me because I'm outside the universe.

Here's what Big Bang cosmology says: Space and time ... came into existence in a tiny tiny tiny fraction of a second, everything coming from nothing, out of nothing, caused by nothing.

And God. Has to be in the nothing.

And we can't go there.

He. Has to come here.

Ah, shoot. I went and gave it all away. Spoiler alert. I HATE it when that happens.

Fewer all caps. Gotta work on that.

And here's the really devious part. Let's just assume for fun that God is in the fifth dimension. No, not the old rock group, though God could clearly be black and groovy. Or hip. Or whatever.

We live in 4 dimensions, 3 of space, 1 of time.

So let's go with God lives in a 4th spatial dimension. I don't know if he does, but I don't know that he doesn't, so it'll work.

Now. Consider that there might be a world that exists in 3 dimensions, 2 of space and 1 of time.

Flatland. Like a table top. The people are flat people and they only know of 2 dimensions. This way, and that way, but not up or down.

And you live in 3 spatial dimensions, just like you actually do right now anyway.

Now. How close can you get to the Flatlanders without them seeing you? Because you are in the 3rd dimension, and they are only in the first two.

Take a flat surface right now and see how close you can move your hand without it touching.

Very very very close.

So if God lives in a 4th spatial dimension, how close can he get to you without you knowing about it?

Very very very close.

And you would never know that he was there. Unless he wanted you to know. And that would only happen if he ...

... touched your version of Flatland.

Now I got goosebumps.