Theories and a Thought Experiment
Now lets try a thought experiment.
Think about God before anything was created. Before men and women, before animals, before earth, before the planets and stars were made. In the beginning. |
 |
|---|---|
| Now ask the question, what did God make the world from? |
|
If there is only God, and nothing else, then all things in our world are made by God of God.
There is nothing else. We and all of Creation are made of God.
Some have said that God created our world “ex nihilo” - from nothing. But science and thermodynamics tell us that something can not be made from nothing. Energy or something else must be put into the thing that is made. The potter gets clay and then makes pots. Creation may have been by God’s Word, or the energy of God, but if the world was made by God then all things are made from part of God. Creation is part of God, and not separate from God. God put God into the “nihilo”!
This idea will change the way we look at the world around us and change our relationship with the earth. We will see that we must treat the earth as a spiritual thing, and we must protect our environment. And our fellow humans are spiritual beings and must be treated as such. We are all part of God and we are not separated from God.
This is a pantheistic conclusion. Pan is a prefix meaning all. A pantheon is place or group of all the gods. Some pantheistic religions may worship all things as God. Philosophers throughout the ages, from Plato to Spinoza, have come to similar conclusions as shown in our little thought experiment.
This begins to look very much like the Buddhist’s view of oneness. And this may be rejected by Christians who believe in a personal God. But, the above thought experiment can not be denied.
Here we have two theories, somewhat analogous to the geocentric and heliocentric theories. In a way, it makes little difference for the average person which theory is correct. Man has lived for thousands of years believing that the Sun moved around the earth and that creation is separate from God. However, astronauts could not go on a rocket into space using equations based on the geocentric, or earth centered, theory.
We can not really prove any theory about God. It is hard (or impossible) to do actual experiments about God. Thought experiments are one theological tool. Albert Einstein famously used thought experiments in his work on relativity.
Yet, some proof will be in the progress of creation, in living the theory. Look at our world in terms of the past and possible future using each theory. Which theory will produce the more desirable world? Which theory has produced the current state world? Only one theory can be correct. Man can create his own belief system, and live according to either theory.
