It is not obvious to me why the young Muslim man choose me. I was sitting in a more secluded part of the room with my autistic son. All I know is that he singled me out then eagerly and passionately started to present his case against Christianity. With kindness and passion this gentleman put forward his arguments.
One of them being: Why would God need Jesus Christ to die in order for our creator to forgive our sins and give us eternal life? Further stating that God is without limitations and could simply forgive and give us eternal life. After all, God could change gravity or any kind of law in the universe just like that.
Not a unique argument I am sure, but from my perspective it was new and interesting. There is a deep longing in me for apologetic debates. A yearning that comes from having heard the voice of God, and wanting to use some of the information given. Hopefully in a humble way. We are all faced with a complexity that is beyond us.
That being said, I know that Jesus Christ is the truth, the light and the way. Proving this is an entirely different story. Not letting the impossible stop me though. You see, just like the Muslim man I have a fierce fire and passion burning in my heart. So, for the Love of God I will try to explain why we need Jesus Christ.
The fall of sin
That the fall of sin happened is a key point. Without this event we would not need saving. It gave us an event horizon, meaning space time and the laws of our universe. On a depressing note encompassing fear, shame, decay and death. These laws are reverse to our creator, meaning that we are heading in his opposite direction.
Here is where truth comes in to play the crucial part. As we all know, the Muslim man and I both believe in God. That is the truth according to our faith. This God we believe is our creator and that all things are created through him and without him nothing would have been created. In my faith we also say:
“In him there was life, and that life was light for the people of the world. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not defeated it.”
Let us expand, when the fall of sin happened death entered the scene. Meaning that we got separated from a life in him, and thrown out of the garden of Eden he had created for us. Why? Because we bought the lie instead of listening to our creator that is the Truth. Living a lie may be possible in our reality, but for God deceit is impossible. It does not exist in him. So, he cannot accept lies as it is the opposite of what he is. He is the truth and nothing is hidden in him:
“Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account”
To reverse the lie according to my faith, we need Jesus Christ that is the truth the light and the way. There are many scientific levels to this revelation, but I will try to keep it short:
A consequence from the fall of sin is that our bodies have mass and fall under gravity. We cannot reach God’s eternal light on our own due to this fact. This law of our universe looks like this: E=MC2. It connects mass to energy, stating that it is one and the same. For this reason, we cannot reach the speed of light. You see our bodies would become infinite mass as we approach this velocity therefore requiring infinite energy.
Jesus said at the last supper:
“And he took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” And likewise the cup after they had eaten, saying, “This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood.”
Our new bodies given to us through Christ will be dressed in God’s eternal light. We will rise in the opposite direction of time and space and no longer fall under gravity. No longer restricted to the ground from which is was taken (not interacting with the Higgs field).
To wrap it up:
“Why would God need Jesus Christ to die in order for our creator to forgive our sins and give us eternal life? “
When his children ran away from home, got lost and ended up in trouble, he came to our rescue because he loves us beyond measure.
I am grateful that you wanted to debate with me dear Muslim man.
Hello my precious and welcome to this apologetic journey through free will. A quick heads up before we begin: the science conveyed is not contradictory to mainstream science.
Free will as a noun is defined as the power of acting without the constraint of necessity or fate; the ability to act at one’s own discretion. As an adjective it means voluntary. Free will is basically the freedom to decide what should be done in a particular situation.
Let us do a thought experience. Imagine that you and I are to make free will. With this being our goal we ask: what would it require for such a state to work for the participants? Choices pops right into our minds. Yes, choices have to be available for the concept to work. As curious beings we dig deeper and ask: what is required to create choices then? Giving us the following answer; options. The two of us does not want to do this halfway. Totally free will is our ambition, and a new awareness reaches us; It would require absolutely all options and choices being available.
My friends welcome to the quantum field. We look at each other, and the entity of our bodies starts to fade. With razor sharp vision we see the image transforming away from what suddenly appear to be big censoring pixels. Cells appear that turn into molecules and we are shrinking. Can we hold it together? Descriptions starts to dim and our minds start to spin. Like spinning kaleidoscopes. Thankfully disorientation soon starts to subside. The two of us can now make out atoms. The image becomes clearer and clearer until a highly defined picture greets us. The two of us marvel at what looks like marbles. Without warning these atoms burst into subatomic particles. Baby marbles makes a highly defined picture. Little mini “solar systems” with electrons rotating around protons and neutrons is now our mirror image. Exactly like our surroundings. Just when the two of us thought we were safe we hear a voice like thunder: Goodbye observers.
Bam, like the big bang! All options are in superposition with each other. Stretching out in a field of potential. Our vessel is our mind, and this nation can only be reached with imagination. Nonetheless, it is exactly what goes on behind the scenes in our reality. It is called the quantum enigma due to its implications. Einstein did not accept the findings of Niels Bohr, the founding father of quantum theory, famously stating: God does not throw dice. Einstein did not believe in a personal God, I know, I know. So, if any non-believers feel a strong objection coming on just relax.
My companion, we have reached the fundamental building blocks of the universe, and it is literally star dust. Our bodies have vanished into dust bunnies. Our creativity is calling us “Its time, its time, its time, its time its time” says the little white rabbit. We follow this bundle of stress and white noise down into the hole under the roots of Darwin’s tree. Just like Alice we are giants compared to the final door that faces us. Any attempts at this point would be like camels getting through the eye of a needle. Sound sounds greet us: “Here is the key to unlocking the mystery. To find the common thread, you must use your head”.
There is an elephant in the room
The element of surprise
Free will is its name
You can call it a game
This game of thrones
Cries and moans
&the elephant of surprise;
God does not throw dice
Puzzled by this puzzle we are not sure whether to split or read about the double slit experiment. Choices and free will faces us, but the compelling calling to uncover the mysteries of free will wins. In silence we read:
The quantum enigma is firmly stated by scientific experiments. At the very foundation the quantum level we find the smallest particles that make up everything (with some exceptions that can be dealt with another time). It is the behaviour of such particles behind the backdrop that questions all of reality.
Welcome to the world of atoms and subatomic particles. Tiny “marbles” that will not allow you to measure them, and when you observe them the whole outcome of the experiment changes. Come let us do something called the double slit experiment. First, you and I take some marbles and shoot them through one slit to hit a back wall. We see the marbles hitting the back wall according to the shape of the slit, in a one stripe pattern. If the two of us add another slit and shot marbles through them, we can see two stripes emerging on the back wall.
Now, let us try this with water and see what happens. First, we try sending water through one slit. The wave hits the slit and radiates out and hit the back wall striking the back wall most intensely in the middle aligned with the slit. Just like the marbles did. Then, you and I add the second slit. We send waves of water through them and a new pattern emerges. Now the two of us can see something called an interference pattern on the back wall. Many stripes. Stripes made from where the two top waves meet, and the empty space in between where they have cancelled each other out.
Time to fire a stream of electrons through and see what happens. First, we try with one slit. The result is a single band on the back wall, just like the marbles. Let us try two slits. We are expecting to see two lines appearing on the back wall, but then something different happens. The electrons create an interference pattern just like waves. Hmm … Maybe those electrons are bouncing off each other, and creating an interference pattern? It is time to send one electron at the time through, there is no way interference can occur. Feeling like real scientists you and I try this. After an hour we are baffled at the result. An interference pattern emerged. How could that be?
The single electron, leaves as a particle, just like a marble. Becomes a wave of potential. Goes through both slits. Then, interferes with itself to hit the back wall. Time to measure and observe. We have to find out what is going on? Let us peek. Oh no, quantum enigma is all we get! Two stripes starts to emerge on the back wall, the electron is behaving just like a marble again. It is behaving differently when being observed.
Scientist have tried to solve this mystery by doing a high tech version of the experiment. Their decision on whether to observe was taken after the single electron had gone through the slit/slits, but before it hit the wall. The result is still the same! Meaning that the electrons goes back in time and change their prior state.
The conclusion of this strange puzzle is that all of the options are in superposition with each other. The «marble» goes through one slit or the other. It goes through both and through neither. It leaves as one particle, but goes through both slits and interferes with itself as a wave. Time and space at this level has no function. Only when observed the electron goes through one or the other of the slit and creates a two stripe pattern.
Our bodies and everything that can be seen in the universe are made of such particles. So what is happening?
This result is so strange, so contradicting to the world all of us experience. Therefore, a difficult one to take on board. It points towards that matter only exists when observed. Humans are the observers of the universe and everything in it, and the very act of observing/measuring appear to «create» matter. By the way:
Atoms the «home» of the particles is mostly empty space. The first element hydrogen, is about 99.9999999999996% empty space.
Determined to not leave empty-handed, we persevere. What would it take for a Creator to make free will? Leave all options open and hand us all choices; perhaps in superposition with each other? Scientists theorize based on the quantum enigma that that there are infinite universes, one for every option. One where we were born, one where were not, one for every option and choice basically. You and I ponder and reflect deeply on free will and ask ourselves; would this not be it? From here one out the picture becomes increasingly subjective and unclear. You and I gaze into this abstract, until we have reached the point where the observers are the creators, the gods;
“But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.””
Genesis 3:4-5
“So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate.”
Genesis 3:6
Wise to make choices, “see things the way they are” and to know what is right and what is wrong?
The Parable of the Hidden Treasure
“The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.
The Parable of the Pearl of Great Value
“Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls,who, on finding one pearl of great value, went and sold all that he had and bought it.
Our reality is a cover up. No, no, no opponents might say, but I say hey look out into the universe. Look to the end of the universe and you surely find the beginning.
“I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.””
Revelation 22:13
We move through the thin blue layer enfolding our habitat, the earth and travel across the universe. Stars, galaxies and nurturing nebula’s in all their magnificent light and colours greet us. The light separates the darkness and we are travelling back in time.
Our telescopes can see no farther than the cosmic microwave background left over from the big bang, but this is not the final destination. Brilliant maths is the vessel taking us back to Planck times (unimaginably short/small units of time) after the big bang. Suddenly our vessel cannot get any further. Mathematics turn in to gibberish. Knowledge with its laws break down. An infinitely small point called the singularity leaves us bewildered. A point at which a function takes an infinite value. We have reached dry land, but are cemented in our ocean. From a viewpoint of separation you and I study this enigma. Learning that scientists have named it a white hole.
A point with no space, no time, infinitely small, infinitely dense and a «place» of extreme order. How captivating it is, this white hole our origin. The singularity that everything came out of, even space and time itself. We search and find that we cannot enter. Light and matter can escape, but nothing can enter. You and I knock and find out that it is the opposite of a black hole that «swallows» everything. We know of many black holes, but only of one white. Our language falls short in describing the white hole:
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”
John 1:1
“Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters.”
Matthew 12:30
Scatter everywhere and therefore nowhere.
“For thus says the LORD, who created the heavens (he is God!), who formed the earth and made it (he established it; he did not create it empty, he formed it to be inhabited!): “I am the LORD, and there is no other.”
Isaiah 45:18
My beloved, I am reciting the Bible, but trust in the Word. A Word that is alive, complete and whole. Broken and misunderstood in a universe that is scientifically designed to make us dispute. I will leave you with love and kindness no matter where you stand. For it is more important to be kind than to be right.
“For God is not a God of confusion but of peace.”
1 Corinthians 14:33
Next time, you and I will deal with the cognitive adaptations to our reality. Together we will also deal with cognitive limitations that do the trick when it comes to free will. It is a complex situation filled with duality. Freedom and free will is not a straightforward case.
Redressed 