Cosmology : (study of) the framework of existence; the fundamentals of this universe, and of life itself.
The ancient Greeks believed the world composed of fire, earth, air and water.
Modern secular cosmology puts space, time, matter and energy as the framework of existence.
In recent years, scientists have begun to acknowledge that 'information' itself is as fundamental as space, time, matter and energy.
But despite recent advances, modern secular cosmology is incomplete and inaccurate, missing the most fundamental thing of all.
Instead of starting with the latest faddish 'scientific view', lets examine cosmology from a Biblical perspective.
In this article I will simply outline the scope of Biblical cosmology, with a few notes on the significance of certain distinctions.
An Introductory Outline Of Biblical Cosmology
Sequence
-> Space
-> Time
Matter/Energy
Information
Gravity
Personhood
-> Self-awareness
-> Creativity
-> Desire
-> Intention
Sequence
Time & space are manifestations of sequence. A proper understanding of sequence leads to a proper understanding of time, space, and of numbers. You may not believe it now, but sequence, and it's application in time, space and number theory, has astounding implications and immense practical impact on our daily lives.
In popular cosmology, space is thought of as three dimensions, and time is thought of as a fourth dimension, similar in composition to space and perhaps one day able to be overcome and travelled through freely.
In contrast, Biblical cosmology reveals that the similarities between time and space are very few. It allows for time travel within tight constraints, rather than willy-nilly ad-hoc time-travel on-demand. I plan to explore this fascinating topic with you in a future article.
Matter/Energy
Are matter and energy merely different forms of the same thing? While a fascinating subject in it's own right, it is the one aspect of cosmology most thoroughly studied elsewhere. I intend to focus here on more significant aspects of cosmology, as well as a few aspects of cosmology that are rarely considered.
Information
There are two aspects of Biblical cosmology I don't intend to study in detail here. The first is matter/energy. The second is information.
Many books have been written on 'information theory'. Most of those perpetuate the fallacy that information is merely the ordering of coding elements (e.g. the sequence of letters in a book or bases in a DNA chain). Information is far more than that. I do not intend to write any further on information theory for a long time yet, but you can contact me directly if you have questions.
Personhood
And here is where Christians fail most miserably to think Biblically when it comes to cosmology.
What came first? Matter? Energy? Time? Space?
Modern Secular Humanists seem to think that matter, energy, time and space all magically sprang out of nowhere at about the same time, for no particular reason.
Christians familiar with Genesis 1 might be tempted to answer that "in the beginning" implies that God created time (and possibly space) 'before' He created matter and energy.
But even time did not 'come first'. Before time, "I Am", says He who is. God exists, outside of time, outside of space, not as an energy blob, nor composed of matter. God is. And God is a person. Personhood thus precedes time, space, matter and energy as the most fundamental aspect of cosmology.
What then is a person, as opposed to an automaton or a robot? A person is aware of his own existence. A person has creativity. A person can desire things, and a person can make decisions. I have written much on these topics before (although not on this blog), and I hope to explore some of the cosmological implications in future articles, but for now, let me just make this one note : the making of decisions - i.e. the creation of the intention to do something - is quite a separate matter from the ability to carry through with the decisions!!!!!!! And this has later implications.
Let me stress that without personhood there would be no cosmos. If God did not desire and intend to create this universe, there would be no cosmos.
Also, the Bible asserts that Man was made 'in the image of God'. The fact of human personhood has a significant impact on the cosmos as humans employ creativity, desire, and intention, often to dismal ends. Personhood has shaped the universe, and the very nature of existence. And I hope to explore this in much greater depth in later articles.
Gravity
Gravity is one of the most fascinating of natural forces. I have a lot of theories about gravity. I'm not going to load you with them now, nor even in this series of articles.
Modern scientists in search of a "theory of everything", are trying to reconcile gravity's strange properties with the strange properties of light, magnetism, and all other natural forces, to identify a single underlying component which will prove to be in common across all of these forces.
It is a sideline issue here, and one I do not intend to explore further on this blog, but it is my belief that gravity is a fundamentally unique force.
Interestingly, gravity is more important to the cosmos than light and magnetism. Without light, and without magnetism, we could survive, although the universe would be a very different place. (For example, all heat transfer would be via convection, which would mean on the one hand that earth receives no thermal energy from the sun, but on the other hand that earth would not lose heat by radiating it out beyond the atmosphere.) Whilst an absence of light and magnetism would leave a world and a universe that is still somewhat recognisable (you could still have stars, planets, orbits, continents, water bodies, tides, plants (although not based on photosynthesis), etc), an absence of gravity would make anything vaguely resembling this universe a complete impossibility. Things would fly through space in dead-straight lines, not in orbits. There would be no reason for gasses and dirt and rocks to clump together, and so instead of having planets, you would have random dust and rocks. Plants could hardly exist under such conditions, let alone thrive. The best you could hope for in terms of 'life forms' is microbes.
And so whilst very few people get excited about gravity (I'm one of the weird ones who do :o) ), it is almost as important to the cosmos as space and time itself, and even vastly more important than light. And that's why I list it here as a fundamental of cosmology. Of course, feel free to disagree with me on this point, as gravity's inclusion here is not something I draw directly from the pages of Scripture, whilst personhood on the other hand is.
Wrapping It Up
And so now that I've introduced you briefly to all the major players, let's revisit the outline of Biblical cosmology, this time listing the elements in order of significance, most significant first. (When I showed it to you earlier, I listed the elements you were more likely to be familiar with first - the order in which secular cosmologists rank the importance of each item.)
An Outline Of Biblical Cosmology - Putting First Things First
Personhood
-> Self-awareness
-> Creativity
-> Desire
-> Intention
Information
Sequence
-> Time
-> Space
Matter/Energy
Gravity
I hope in future articles to delve deep into the fascinating mysteries of personhood and sequence. The depth of Biblical cosmology is astounding, the implications far-reaching, and the conclusions are consistent with what we see in the world around us.
In short, gaining a Biblical cosmology will improve our understanding of the world around us and from time to time prove of great practical benefit.
Join me in the exploration! :o)
