Recent Creation Is Reasonable

Young earth creationists are often accused of holding to an unreasonable belief. However, we have very good reasons for our faith and the natural evolutionists make similar leaps of faith as we do. There is plenty of evidence, though not final proof, for a recent creation. There is also a beautiful reason why God took seven days to create the earth.

What is infinity?

Big, bigger, bigger, infinity

The math nerds among us are familiar with infinity as a quantity, but there is more to it.

Let’s do a thought experiment to give us just a hint of how impossible it is to comprehend infinity.

Walk around your house. That will take less than a minute.

Walk around a mall. That might take ten minutes.

Walk the 96 mile Wonderland Trail around Mt. Rainier near Seattle. At a typical hiking speed of 2 mph, it would take you about four days.

Assume bridges cross the oceans and you could walk around the world in three years.

Now let’s fly in a rocket at 25,000mph around the sun following Earth’s orbit, which is about half a billion miles. That would also take about 3 years. To fly around Saturn’s orbit would take about 15 years.

To rocket around our Milky Way galaxy would take well over 1 trillion years. To fly around it at the speed of light would still take over 300,000 years or 3000 lifetimes.

The smallest estimates of the size of the known universe is 100 billion light years. That would require 300 billion years of flying at light-speed. Even for astronauts with immortality, that is a long long trip.

Starting with our walk around the house, we expanded to flying around the universe and the change in scale is enormous. It is like comparing an atom to the whole world. However, if we could shrink the entire universe to the size of an atom, infinity is still much much larger than the universe.

If we sent our immortal astronaut on a trip around infinity, she would never come back because she would never finish. In fact, she would never be more than barely beginning.

Calculating infinity

Use the calculator on your phone and type 1 divided by 100. You get .01. That is the equivalent of a penny.

Now type 1 divided by 10. You get .1, or a dime.

Now type 1 divided by 1. You get 1, or a whole dollar. Notice that we are always keeping 1 as the first number and the second number is getting smaller by one decimal place.

Now type 1 divided by .1. You get 10, which is $10.

Now type 1 divided by .01. You get 100, which is $100. Notice that the answer gets bigger as the number by which we are dividing gets smaller.

Keep dividing 1 by smaller and smaller numbers. 1 divided by .000001 gives you 1 million (1,000,000). Divide 1 by the smallest number your calculator will take and you will get the biggest answer.

Now for the grand finale! Type 1 divided 0. You should get a message similar to, “Can’t divide by 0”, or “undefined”, or “error”. You just discovered infinity on your calculator!

Something out of nothing is infinity.

1 is something. “Out of” means divide. 0 is nothing. 1 divided by 0 is infinity.

Infinity is inevitable

Now that we have a beginner’s grasp of infinity (I don’t think we will ever have more than that), let me explain why I think infinity is inevitable. In a nutshell, because the universe exists, infinity exists.

The universe had no beginning

The universe (this includes any multiverses) had a beginning or it did not. If it had no start, then it has been here forever and therefore infinite. It is smart enough and powerful enough to be immortal, self-existent, make laws to organize itself, and even invent intelligent human beings.

If that is true, wow did it get that way? We don’t know. It doesn’t matter for this discussion. We just need to accept that it always was this way.

Science currently suggests the universe had a beginning with the Big Bang, but that conclusion might be reversed. Either way, we are considering possibilities, and the possibility of a self-eternal universe leads directly to infinity.

However, there is one huge red flag we should note. If the universe has been around forever, then evolution has been around forever. Given an infinite amount of development time, everything and everyone should be perfect by now. Clearly, we are not. Clearly, this option is highly highly improbable, but we considered it.

The universe began itself

This is impossible to fully imagine. How can a universe pop out of nothing? First, it is impossible to truly comprehend nothing because our thoughts are there trying to understand it! Second, infinity is required to get something out of nothing and we can’t comprehend infinity either!

Now let’s consider that the universe created itself out of nothing, not out of a pre-existing quantum fluctuation or anything else. Nothing. Literally, nothing. No energy. No time. No space. No consciousness. Nothing.

For something to snap itself into existence is quite the miracle—an infinite miracle. (There is no other word for it. Creation is a miracle.) Therefore, such an entity is capable of anything and can create more and more and more.

Deity began the universe

Finally, what if the universe had a beginning and it did not create itself, then an external being created it. This entity we typically call, deity or God or divinity. Of course, this Being is infinite who can create something out of nothing and do anything anytime.

Any God worth proving cannot be proved, nor disproved.

Because the universe exists, because anything exists, therefore infinity exists. This does not prove that the God of the Bible exists, but the infinite part of God exists. And since people exist, an infinite Person must exist. It’s simple logic.

But we humans need more than logic. We need a caring heart and a warm hand. We need a big heavenly Father to manage everything for us.

So what if we met God face to face? What if He told us He was infinite?

I still can’t comprehend it. I still can’t prove it to you, nor could you prove it to me. I have to take His word by faith. I would have to trust Him that He is infinite and good and caring. The only way to do that is by living with Him every day and watching Him very carefully.

At some point I just need to decide if I will trust or not. I can prove that He was good to me yesterday and today, but I can never prove He will be good to me tomorrow. I can prove that He is very big and can do mind boggling stuff, but I can never prove that He is infinite. I am, and will always be, incapable of seeing infinity and tomorrow.

Any God worth proving cannot be proved, nor disproved. And the infinite good God of Scripture is worth proving.

Naturalism implies disproof

Before we close this section, we need to notice one very popular and tricky deception. Many scientists and other experts tell us that true science is naturalism. In other words, science is only about natural laws and no outside interference is allowed or assumed.

This means that God is not allowed in scientific discussions. This means that naturalism is assuming God does not exist. Naturalism tries to sneak disproof in the back door by indirectly claiming there is no God. They “prove” God does not exist by claiming that natural law all by itself runs the universe. But that is no more proven than God is disproven.

Scientifically speaking, we should all be agnostic about whether or not God exists. We have not yet explored even one millionth of a percent of the universe. We do not know how many dimensions there are. Just like us intelligent human beings, scientific data can neither prove nor disprove God.

Data just measures what is. Scientists make their models, form their opinions, and devise rules based on their choices and perspectives. Sometimes they give us incredible insights, but we are never bound to play by their rules.

4 miracles

Talking about not playing by the rules! Miracles are definitely rule breakers. Some miracles we may one day understand, like walking on water. Other miracles we will never comprehend, like creating something out of nothing.

The exercise of infinite power means there can always be something that we cannot explain. In fact, there can be things we will never be able to understand. Creating something out of nothing is just the first example. Anytime a new level of existence is created, infinite power is required. That creation, or miracle, will never be understood by finite beings.

When I use the word “miracle” I do not use it in the small sense. For example, showing a flashlight to a caveman is a small miracle to the caveman. Given time and education, the caveman can understand how a flashlight works. But the act of creation of a whole new dimension of being is a big miracle. We will never be able to comprehend or replicate it.

I see at least four miraculous leaps of existence: nothing to law to something to life to mind.

1) Before things exist, there need to be laws governing that existence. There need to be established patterns of helpful, harmful, allowed, disallowed behavior. There needs to be a conceptual framework that defines the existence of one thing and how it is similar or different to other things. There needs to be a reason for the cause before the cause happens. The first miraculous leap is nothing to law. (How can there be law without mind? See #4)

2) With a framework of consistent laws in place, now things can be brought into existence and operated in harmony with each other. Creation can now work forever without destroying itself. The second miraculous leap is law to something.

3) Time, space, matter, and energy are good, but there is still not that undefined quality that we all experience and value, and of which science is incapable of fully defining—life. We know death is the cessation of life even though the physical parts continue to exist. Plants and animals have another level of existence beyond that of dirt, even though they are made of dirt. The third miraculous leap is something to life.

4) Now we come to the level of consciousness, intelligence, spiritual choice, appreciation of beauty, formation of morality, meaningful investigation into meaning itself. Seated in the brain, but so much more, is the human mind/spirit/soul. A body born of molecules in the shape of a man or woman acquires personhood. How is that?! Where does that come from?! Why do we ask questions, make discoveries, and share experiences that no other species is even aware of?! The fourth miraculous leap is life to mind.

Miracle layered upon miracle! Expression of infinity layered upon expression of infinity. What is this wonder in which we all exist and which we experience every moment of our lives?! I understand only a tiny bit of infinity, but rejoice in experiencing it every day!

? miracle of fear in animals, dark matter

Ancient advanced civilizations

Old or young earth, this needs to be explained instead of ignored.

Beautiful days

In the beginning Love

Without form and void

no death, from glory to glory