2 weeks ago Sunday post from me created quite a stir and a rather robust debate.
https://steemit.com/religion/@gavvet/is-there-a-scientific-basis-for-jesus-christ
Some follow up posts were even spawned or highlighted as a result of it.
https://steemit.com/religion/@alexbeyman/the-fossil-argument-for-the-existence-of-a-historical-jesus
https://steemit.com/jesus/@miguel12/the-biological-father-of-jesus
https://steemit.com/religion/@dwinblood/civil-response-inspired-by-gavvet-post-concerning-science-and-jesus-christ
https://steemit.com/religion/@dwinblood/part-two-gavvet-reply-a-hypothesis-is-not-proof-in-science-jesus-science-debate-civil-and-invited
https://steemit.com/science/@business/is-there-a-religious-basis-for-science
https://steemit.com/jesus/@virtualgrowth/ideas-and-thoughts-on-of-jesus-christ-metaphor-symbolism-to-read-and-or-discuss
https://steemit.com/religion/@princewahaj/jesus-christ-never-claimed-that-he-is-god-instead-it-is-mentioned-in-several-places-of-bible-to-worship-only-one-god-and-why
If I missed your follow up please link in the comments below.
I thank those who took the time to engage with the introductory post.
Many comments were made as a result and many of them were respectful… some were not. But I think a fun time was had by most, except perhaps for the one or two that appear to have totally lost it (the plot or their cool).
A few ground rules
I’d like to lay down a few ground rules and disclaimers at the start of this week’s post…
- The previous post was an experiment to gauge how the levels of tolerance have changed on the platform.
- It was merely an introduction to some of my thoughts.
- This post is not intended to present any empirical evidence for the matters under scrutiny.
- Someone suggested that a “thought experiment” may be a more appropriate description of what’s presented. If that will make it more palatable and less detestable, I concur.
- Many go to great lengths to forcibly widen the gaps between science and religion, this is about finding similarities.
- I find scientific knowledge and understanding enriches and broadens my understanding of religious doctrine and beliefs.
- I find many profitable metaphors on both sides… this is discussion of some of them.
- If you don’t like it (the thought experiment and metaphors) you are more than welcome to browse the copious amounts of other content on steemit, or if that is unsatisfactory there is this thing called the World Wide Web that I can highly recommend.
Science is about the How - Religion is about the Why
That is why the two appear to be mutually exclusive and why many choose to try to separate the two as much as possible…
For myself, having a healthy foot in both camps, I like to find areas of compatibility between these two domains where principles appear to overlap.
Previously I mentioned that Christ’s claim to be the Son of God was necessary in order for His other claim (relating to possession of power over death) to valid based on our current understanding of genetics and inheritance. I also remarked that this was not very remarkable since many myths, legends, religions etc. claim special parentage for their hero/special child (more could be discussed on this on another occasion).
I then started to examine Christ’s claim to be the Savior from sin. I introduced that we could possibly equate the concept of sin with disorder or absence of law because sin is disobedience or transgression of law.
I explore this further today.
I suggested that perhaps the laws of thermodynamics could be examined.
Temperature and heat are simply ways to measure the levels and distribution of energy within a system. The way the energy flows in an attempts to reach equilibrium brings about entropy, or that ordered things will always tend to a less ordered state. It’s a simple case of energy following the path of least resistance.
Matter appears simply to be highly organized forms of energy. Everything in the observable universe is about the organizing, disordering and re-ordering of energy into simple and more complex forms. The human brain is so far the most complex entity we have discovered in the known universe but at is core its simply about electrical impulses, the flow of electrons, some of the most simple energy interactions known.
The web of Life creates order by tapping into the disordered energy flow that originates from our sun or the core of the earth and uses this energy to create order. Life creates order by decreasing disorder and excreting disorder in the form of byproducts and waste.
This is not very different from stars, stars build complex atoms by decreasing entropy levels… they in essence excrete light.
By extrapolation it is possible that dark energy could simply be the excreta of galaxy clusters and other macro elements of the universe and this is sufficient to drive the expansion of the universe.
Each process that creates order in the cosmos does so by ejecting disordered energy. This excreted energy becomes the fuel for the next lower order of the cosmos. Nearly all earth life (excepting some extremophiles) is dependent on the sun's ejected disorder (energy in the form of light).
It is interesting that Christ claims to be the way the truth and the life… the light of the world. (More on the depth and breadth of this later)
Christ saves from not only sin but all forms of disorder.
Where there is:
Illness, He brings healing,
Morning, He brings comfort,
Pain, He brings relief,
Despair, He brings hope,
Sin, He brings remission.
Etc.
He descended below all things that He could rise as above all things, that he would know according to the flesh how to succor his people.
He took all these things upon himself in Gethsemane, and when we reach out to him in faith we pass these things over to Him, we let go…
We let go… through faith, of the disorder in our lives and thereby the system is able to increase in order again… the waste, the dross of our lives is ejected and we are able to move forward and upward as new creatures, born again, reordered and reorganized in His image and so we strive on to our better selves by letting go of that disorder that would burden us, captivate us, and drag us down.
Entropy loss is the sacrifice or repentance required to bring about the higher state. The entire process is symbolized by the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper. The bread representing the body or life of Christ, the wine the shed blood, death and mission of Christ. The bread is broken chewed, swallowed and digested. Each a further degree of dissolution. Until it is carried about the body by the circulatory system to become the building blocks of new cells. As Christ disseminates himself and is internalized he becomes part of us.
We are built up we become more than we were before,
we change,
we grow,
we become.
The sacrifices required and the repentance made, represent the waste eliminated to achieve the more ordered state.
Hell is when we refuse re-ordering and embrace entropy, we will to be a law unto our own selves. As long as we are in this attitude we cannot improve, we cannot be re-ordered we cannot grow or progress. In short we are damned. Not by someone else but by our own willfulness, not willing to submit to anything that would bring about our own improvement and if we cherish this attitude we will be locked in this state forever.
Unable to progress because our own wills prevent us from submitting to the laws necessary in order to progress.
An eternal fire of entropy.