Hi projill,
Hi projill,
Your thoughts are not unreasonable for someone with your background. I was born into a Catholic family (although not devout by any stretch of the imagination) and as a child I had a great relationship with God. As I grew older and my fascination with science increased, I no longer believed that God was anything but a crutch for those who were afraid of death.
I’ve told my conversion story before, so I won’t bore you with the details. Let me instead ask you to consider the following (I call this my “Virtual Universe” analogy). Because it is only an analogy, it does break down on weightier theological points, but I think it is a good model and one that can be especially understood in this present age of technology:
The Virtual Universe
Assume, for a moment, that you have incredible computer programming abilities. One day, you decide to create a "virtual universe" inside of your computer (God, being spiritual, created a "physical universe"). The manner in which you design the universe will be a reflection of who you are, just as a painting reflects the artist. It will be well designed and fully functional, as soon as you run the program.
In this "virtual universe", you have found a way to create "beings", similar to yourself except for their virtual nature. These "virtual beings" are intelligent, creative, emotional and willful (wouldn't that be a programmers dream?). They have the ability to love you or hate you, believe in you, or doubt you. There is one problem, though; you yourself are not a "virtual being" and so you cannot enter into the universe as your physical self without destroying it.
You can, however, manipulate your universe in any way you choose, appearing as a pillar of fire, separating the Red Sea, etc. In fact, you can even create a "virtual representation" of yourself, through which you can communicate directly with your "virtual beings". This representation of yourself would be in complete communication with you, from inside of your computer, similar to what God did when He came as Jesus Christ.
Philippians 2:5-8 Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross.
In the mean time, you also inspire some of your "virtual beings" to write a book telling them who you are, who they are, how to make their lives better, and how to get to you. The book is to be written as the events in your universe unfold. (Contrary to what many Christians believe, the Bible shows that God is experiencing events in time right a long with us, but that is another topic.) You can't have them write a book about things that have not yet happened, except to make prophesies and then wait for the right time to
make them happen.
Isaiah 46:9-11 Remember the former things of old, For I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like Me, declaring the end from the beginning, And from ancient times things that are NOT YET DONE, Saying, `My counsel shall stand, And I WILL do all My pleasure,' Calling a bird of prey from the east, The man who executes My counsel, from a far country. Indeed I have spoken it; I WILL also bring it to pass. I have purposed it; I WILL also do it.]
Your ultimate plan, of course, is to have fellowship with these "virtual beings" and to someday bring them into your "physical universe". You, being wise and loving, gave your beings freewill. The gift of freewill, of course, has consequences. You do not force your beings to love you, nor will you force them to be with you. Those who don't love you, have in effect, chosen to live without you. (Death, in the Bible, means separation from God.) Those who do not love you will be separated from you forever, just as they chose. Of course, the real torment for them will be in the knowledge of their own sin and the eternal separation from God and others.
Psa. 88:4-6, 8I am counted with those who go down to the pit; I am like a man who has no strength, Adrift among the dead, Like the slain who lie in the grave, Whom You remember no more, And who are cut off from Your hand. You have laid me in the lowest pit, In darkness, in the depths….8) You have put away my acquaintances far from me; You have made me an abomination to them; I am shut up, and I cannot get out
Those who do love you, will someday be with you. Although it sounds silly, for the sake of this analogy, imagine that you are able to build "robot bodies" to contain the intellect of the virtual beings who chose to be with you in the “physical universe”.
Phil. 3:20 For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to His glorious body, according to the working by which He is able even to subdue all things to Himself.
So that is basically it. I had to trim this version down to the basics. I hope it didn't lose too much of it's cohesiveness in the process. All in all, God’s creation is about relationships. He created us in His image, spiritually , intellectually, and emotionally. I realize that this an analogy sounds like science fiction, but give it some thought if you think its worth your while, and let me know what you think.
