Carpenters Corner: Genesis of a new year

There are four basic questions that every human being will wrestle with at some point in their life. Who am I? Where did I come from? Why am I here? Where will I go when I die? I re­member as a teenager thinking about these questions, including the thought of my own death, which would of course bring on an anxiety attack. It was fright­ening to think that someday I would cease to exist. These four basic questions eventually lead us to only two possible world views; that everything is a ran­dom cosmic explosion or that we are the result of a deliberate creation event.

I was taught in school dur­ing the 1960’s, that both outer space and inner space was an infinite universe. We were also instructed that the microscopic world existed in an infinitely smaller and smaller direction. We were systematically taught that everything around us was the result of a cataclysmic ac­cident. We were forced fed the latest scientific theories as our rights to pray and discuss God were legislated out of our public schools.

So now science has discovered that our universe is not infinite but finite. They have discovered that the velocity of light is not constant but is indeed slowing down and if you have lived here on earth for any length of time it soon becomes clear that all matter goes from a higher, hot­ter organized state to a lower, cooler disorganized state. If by chance to happen to open my garage door you would discover this law of science to be true! Even our sun and the galaxy in which it resides will one day suf­fer catastrophic heat loss as it cools beyond a pre-determined threshold point.

Since we live in a three di­mensional space consisting of height, length and width we can discern the fourth dimension, time, but all additional dimen­sions are simply just out of our reach and ability to comprehend or discern them. The truth be told, mathematicians can prove the existence of many more di­mensions but you will have to do the math because geometry is as far as my skills can go.

So if there is a God is he get­ting older with us? Is his hair turning gray as he sits on his throne waiting for us to return to dust? So where does the An­cient of Days, Almighty God, Elohim reside and what is it like to exist in that place without time passing? I have to admit it is difficult, if not impossible to contemplate eternity.

Eternity might be a place where there is not an abundance of time but rather exists outside the confines of physics alto­gether. Here is an analogy for you to consider: You are sitting on a main street in New York City watching the New Year’s parade as it is moving along the block where you are seated. You can’t see the beginning or the end of the parade but only the floats, bands and dancers that are moving along in front of you. Now you jump into a helicopter and begin hovering over the pa­rade route. From your new per­spective you can now observe the entire parade all at the same time. Every detail from the stag­ing area, street routes as well as the finish area is observable to someone in a higher or nexus dimension.

Let us apply what we have just learned to see how biblical prophecy fits into our new understanding of eternity. As we study the bible we find many examples of where information has been recorded ahead of time with precise detail. Prophecy is an amazing part of scripture that has convinced many people of the existence of God. It is the proof for many skeptics that the universe we are presently living in was created by an omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent Cre­ator. So if this universe was de­signed and created then should we not take time to get to know him better?

The New Year is a great time to make changes. It is a perfect time to write a list of things that you would like to accomplish. The New Year brings the oppor­tunity to get rid of old habits and a chance for new beginnings. These new beginnings might include a new career path, living a healthier life style or maybe devoting more time to reading and studying God’s word. Regu­lar reading of the bible is our spiritual compass, lighthouse and refuge from the storms that form on life’s horizon.

From all of us at Carpenter’s Corner we want to wish every­one a wonderful New Year and challenge all to grow in the wis­dom and knowledge of the Lord. Our prayer for this New Year is that all of us will continue to de­velop our relationships with our Creator.