the life and times of mark lavergne

God as beginning and end

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I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end. -- The words of Christ, the Book of Revelation, Chapter 22 verse 13

God is the beginning and the end of everything. Everyone and everything. All of creation proceeded from Him, and all of creation, each individual creature, longs, either by its nature or by its instinct or by its will, to return to Him.

I have heard physicists and geoscientists theorize that the universe as we know it started with the Big Bang and that at some point the universe will begin to colapse in on itself -- and, perhaps, at that point the process will repeat itself.

Some may think this theory challenges belief in a Higher Power, since it would appear to go against the idea of one creation moving towards one ultimate conclusion.

On the contrary, I would posit that such a theory, if true, would only provide a further and ultimate reflection in the material universe of God's relationship with His creation.

Those reflections in the material universe are everywhere. We humans, and al creation, cannot for example leave the ground without at some point returning to it -- sometimes peacefully and sometimes violently, but we return. Water evaporates, travels up, and eventually returns -- sometimes peacefully and sometimes violently, but it returns. The sun rises and sets. We persons leave in the morning and return in the evening.

Everything that God created awakens or springs into motion at one point in space and comes to rest at that same point. This we call a thing's or a person's "home." We leave from there, but always with the desire to return there.

God is the ultimate first point at which we awaken, at which all creation comes to life and is set in motion. And He is the point at which all Creation, and, above all, mankind, comes to finally rest. As Augustine said; "You have created us for yourself, Lord, and our hearts are restless until they rest in Thee."

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And while we're on the subject of cosmic reflections of God's relationship with HIs creation.

I saw this article a few days ago about "Why Catholics like Einstein," not that we're the only Christians who do, obviously. He makes the point:

If the universe were roughly 6,000 years old, as a literal reading of Genesis would suggest, then we would not be able to see the Milky Way. The light would not have reached the earth yet.

I know he was meaning to refute Creationists who take Genesis to be in no way figurative and in every way literal, and that I think he does rather effectively. But in doing that he sort of blew my mind with the vastness of creation itself. When you look up into the night sky, you are staring thousands, maybe even millions of years into the past. Because it takes that much time for the light from those stars across the galaxy to reach that spot where you are.

Think about that for a minute. God sets a star blazing on one end of the galaxy. The light from the star travels outward for millions of years until finally it makes contact with the eyes of a child of God. You, sitting on the roof. Psalm 19:2 -- "The heavens declare the glory of God; the sky proclaims its builder's craft."

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This page contains a single entry by Mark published on April 28, 2010 12:52 AM.

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tough to be convincing about anything when you're ill is the next entry in this blog.

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