When Charles Darwin first published his signature work, The Origin of the Species, in 1859, you might well say that he, along with his progeny, set the religious world on its ear. Along with the Big Bang theory ( no, not the popular television series ), much of what we KNEW about the universe, both inner & outer, was overturned. Contrary to what the Bible seems to say about the origins of the universe, which is what many Christians cling to, Science has unearthed an overwhelming plethora of evidence to suggest, at the very least, that Darwin's theory of evolution & the Big Bang theory may not be too far off, though guided, of course, by an Intelligent Designer!
The God of the Bible, AKA 'the God of Christianity', is most surely one aspect of the Creator of Life, but is He the ONLY picture of the Creator God that we have at our fingertips? We throw around words like 'omnipresent' & 'infinite', but we still tend to think of the God of the Hebrew, Aramaic & Greek Scriptures as confined to the English Bible. Okay, so maybe that's a bit of a stretch, when it comes right down to it, but seriously; isn't that a bit presumptuous, to think that the God of Creation, the Intelligent Designer of the Cosmos, can only be truly known through the Scriptures given to an Ancient Near Eastern people? It is manifestly evident that the God who hung the stars is so much more than that; infinitely more!
The Scriptures, in particular maybe the Psalms, are rife with examples of what most call 'creation language', language that points irrefutably to the fact that Yahweh, the God of the Hebrews, created both all that we see & what we don't see, or at least, so it would seem! Upon further examination, though, it has been discovered that, although we may deduce that the language of Scripture clearly points to Intelligent Design, it is actually covenantal language, relating the formation of a special people, 'Israel' by name. Again, this is not to say that we can't glean universal truth from these Scriptures, though we should understand that they are primarily a Book of Covenant.
Our ( Christian ) concept of 'God' is based wholly on our understanding of the aforementioned Scriptures. No; 'God' is not merely a concept; that's not what I'm saying! What I'm saying is, that our concept of 'God', whoever He/She/It may be, is not ( necessarily ) the only true one & especially not all-encompassing; it is simply our perception of the Divine. 'God' is what He/She/It is; we are used to saying 'He' because that is what we have been taught for millennia, thanks to the Hebrew Scriptures. I still talk daily to my Heavenly Father, because it's been ingrained in me. Am I wrong to call 'God' my Father? Is someone else wrong to refer to the Divine as feminine? Is it for us to say?
That this universe we inhabit is the work of an Intelligent Designer is beyond question! No true scientist can seriously say that, with the intricacies of its nature, it just happened; it's way too complex for that. Even with my very limited knowledge; I can definitively say that there is much more to it than meets the eye! The limits of Space, in the opinion of this blogger, will never be explored. A fairly recent theory that Science has put forward is that the Universe is expanding. The fact, or observation that certain galaxies are exponentially receding in Time & Space, in effect, does not speak of a universal expansion, but of an expansion of our knowledge, or understanding, our perception.
Evolution, put very simply, is the process through which an organism grows in its different formations throughout what may be called 'the stages of life'. Increasing knowledge, in some sense, could be called 'evolution'. So, as a child matures & the form of his or her biological body changes to adapt to certain situations. This evolution can be observed in nature as well, both plant & animal. It is evident even in the mineral kingdom.
'As above, so below'! As these biological bodies are to the mitochondria, so, it might be said, is the tiny speck that we call home ( Earth ) to the vastness of the known universe. That's just the known universe! As our understanding, or perception of the Universe expands, however, so may our understanding of the limits of this biology. 'As above, so below'; not our perceptions of Reality, but Reality itself, not as we think it is, but as it truly is!
As an endnote; we are not this biology: we cannot be defined by the shells we wear! Our spiritual nature, though manifest in our humanity, is what ultimately defines us. Call us 'Sparks of Divinity' or what you will, as being of the same Essence as the One we call 'God', we are, in that sense infinite, though we are enveloped in finiteness. Through our study of our infinite nature, however, who knows what dreams may come!
Charles Haddon Shank
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