In the beginning…

The first words of the Bible – “In the beginning.” It is perhaps the simplest, yet most profound opening of any text ever written. In the beginning.

From time to time, a news story arises from the ranks of science and academia, announcing a new theory about the size of the universe and the beginning of time. Most of us who live normal lives, and have only a basic grasp of science and astronomy may glance at such a story and move on to other topics.

Those of us who are engaged in that perpetual struggle to justify our faith and our grasp of science may pause to delve deeper into those questions. When, exactly is the “beginning?” Where is the end of the universe?

As is usually the case, we are handicapped by the limitations of human understanding. We can understand the beginning of a lifespan and the end, based on our own experience and observation. We can judge the distance to our favorite vacation spot or grandma’s house based on the human-designed scales of mileage.

In either case, there is a clearly defined starting point and ending point. When it comes to judging the size of the universe, or the time it has existed, we are clearly in over our heads.

So, in an attempt to pu these strange concepts into a form we can grasp, we fall back on the most reliable yardstick we have at our disposal – mathematics.

We start by redefining distance in terms of the gap that light can transverse over a period of time. Those vast distances then become “light years.” So, now we are describing an unimaginable distance using a scale of time. And, when those years start accumulating too many zeros, we invent another scale. Perhaps eons will work.

Ultimately, we come full circle and come back to “time” as the defining element. And time is such a confusing element. An hour waiting for dinner to cook is a minor inconvenience, while ten minutes standing in the rain waiting for the bus, seems like an eternity. So, even time is relative.

Confused yet?

The bottom line is that the age of the universe and the size of the universe are concepts that are so far removed from human experience, that we have little choice but to accept the concept that some things are beyond our ability to understand.

And that is where our struggles with science bolsters our faith. That is where believing in a God who creates and controls all things makes sense, even to the logical mind. We can neither prove nor disprove the concepts of time and space that define our existence. But we know those elements exist.

Perhaps that, in itself, is proof of the existence of God and all He represents.

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