Foundations for Faith: Creation (1/4)

Something Which Is ... Home

Worldview: a particular philosophy of life or conception of the world.

- Oxford English Dictionary

Money. Education. Career. Social Standing. We tend to measure our ‘success’ by our achievements in areas like these. And yet the most important metric for ‘success’ doesn’t even make the list: Worldview.

No one thinks about Worldview being a key metric to success. No one ever asks “Hey how accurate is your worldview?”. No employer’s ever hired because the resume says “Has an established worldview”. Success is, after all, how fancy a car you can buy before Life kicks you off it’s insurance premium. And yet, money, education, career, social standing, if your ‘success’ in these areas dictates whether you have a Porsche or a Toyota, then your Worldview is the map showing you where you need to go, and how you’re going to get there. Better a 10-year-old Corolla that knows the way home, than a new 911 with no North star.

Who are you? Why are you here?

Money can’t answer that. Career can’t answer that.

Only your Worldview can answer these questions.

What is the source? This is the question we’ll be asking today. All these wonderful things we see in the world we live in, where did they come from? So let’s put our cars in park, and let’s pull out our maps.

The World Which Is

Imagine a world where there is Nothing. Just nothing. Not a place where nothing exists, because place doesn’t exist. Not a time when nothing exists, because time doesn’t exist. Just ... Nothing.

Now imagine another world with Something. Just one tiny bit of existence, one tiny bit of being, anything really! Let it be a dot or a speck, let it take any form you can imagine, but let it just be Something.

The only thing that separates the one world from the other is that one small of speck of Something, that seemingly insignificant, infinitesimal splash of Something, and yet, the two worlds couldn’t be further apart from each other. Separated by an uncrossable chasm, Nothing stays Nothing, and Something stays Something.

Something is something of a shapeshifter, swizzling here and there, stretching into the space that is, sometimes bigger, sometimes smaller, but always still Something. Something will never disappear, even if it sometimes seems to. Try as she might to hide, you will always find Something in this world. Whether you find her being in matter, in energy, whether she’s the fabric of reality or the laws that define it, Something will always be there.

As we cross again to the other world, the contrast is stark. Nothing stays the same. Nothing will always be stagnant, dormant, non-existent ... Nothing. Nothing can’t travel far enough through space until it finds Something, because space doesn’t exist. Nothing can’t wait around long enough for Something to appear, because time doesn’t exist. Nothing has no being, Nothing is simply ... Nothing.

Now returning to our reality, in our world we can turn our heads every which way, and lo and behold, we find Something. From Stars and Galaxies to Quarks and atoms, Something fills every crevice of our world. If we wind back time to the beginning, we’ll still find it here: Something. Because we find Something in our world today, it means that In the beginning, our world was the world where Something is, and not the world where Nothing ever was.

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. - Genesis 1:1

The Order Within

We zoom through our world, Something surrounding us on all sides. But then Something glimmers and catches our eye: this Something is more vibrant than the rest. Zooming closer, we see why this Something is so special: it’s Life! There’s something special about this Life: it’s order in the chaos. It’s meaning in the midst of madness. Whereas every other Something reads like a baby playing piano on a keyboard, this Life reads a beautiful “Hello World”! It plays a chord within the chaos of cacophony. It’s ordered. It’s intentional. It’s Life.

How special is it that Life exists in our world? How incredible is it that this order arose in the midst of chaos? After all, chaos never produces order - despite the unyielding optimism of college students that their dorms would somehow devolve into order right before room checks. No, only intentional purpose has ever yielded order.

It almost makes you think that it was intentional purpose that ordered Life, doesn’t it? Because if the order of Life arose from the chaos of Something, then Something must not be all chaos, mustn’t it? Within the heart of Something must be something special, a vibrant order within the chaos: Life itself.

Perhaps that which we first knew to be Something, we can now know it also to be Life.

In him was life, and the life was the light of men. - John 1:4

Something Within

What is the source?

Consciousness, Intelligence, Morality, Value. These are things we all possess, but where did they come from? We can’t take credit for us having possessed these things, for we had no part in the deciding matter. But then who did? I think the answer must be traced back to that initial Something. Because if these things did not originate from that which was in the beginning, then they must have been derived separate from that which is eternal. And I lack the faith to believe that’s the case, since it’d be akin to creating Something from Nothing, it’d be jumping across that uncrossable chasm between the worlds.

Rather than me possessing Something that came out of Nothing, possessing Something that has never existed before since the dawn of time, I’m convinced that these things which I have came from Something which already possessed them. I’m convinced that all these things which I possess, Consciousness, Intelligence, Morality, Value, these things are evidence that the source I came from also possess these things.

“In him we live and move and have our being” ... “For we are indeed his offspring” - Acts 17:28

Something Which Is

The world we live in contains such magnificent wonders. We don’t have to stray far outside to see the wonders of our world: Something, Life, Consciousness, Intelligence. Then Morality and Value, to find these all we have to do is to look within.

So when we observe the wonders of this world and the attributes which we possess, the question of “What is the source of these things?” knocks on the door. So we get up from our couch, walk to the door to let it in, but when we open the door there’s no one outside. Then we turn around realize the question has been inside, sitting next to us on the couch all along.

What is the source of creation? ... What is the source of life? ... What is the source ... of Me?

Ask your Money, it has no idea. Ask your Career, it doesn’t care. But if you do findget an answer to these questions, it’ll be from your Worldview.

As for me, I know my source is God. Because when I look out to the world, when I look within to myself, these things which I find point me in a direction straight and true: There is Something, the author of Life, one who is Conscious and Intelligent, to whom all are Morally accountable, and from whom all derive their Value.

For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. - Romans 1:19-20

Home

I may drive a 2015 Toyota Corolla, but I know the way home. And I know who’s waiting there for me. My worldview gives me direction, it shows me what is truly important, it draws me a map and tells me where to go.

Does your worldview do the same?

If your worldview fails to answer these questions, if it fails to give direction to your life, then know that when I say what I’m about to say, I say it with love,

Maybe it’s time to find a better map.