"Must" vs "Will" - A Fireside Chat
(From Chapter 7 of the book, "The Programming Model of Creation")
"They serve at a sanctuary that is a copy and shadow of what is in heaven..."
Hebrews 8:5 New International Version
This essay is best understood by loading a video of a crackling fireplace beside it. You should be able to do this by RIGHT CLICKING on the next button labelled “Start Fireplace” and select “OPEN LINK IN SPLIT SCREEN WINDOW” from the options presented. This should run the video alongside the essay. Enjoy!
Now for the essay...
We're sitting by a fireplace...
The logs are burning with a charming glow,
And the embers twinkle as they pile below.
Dancing flames hypnotic are,
And now and then smoke fills the arrr.
Thus ends my career as poet...
If you know something of chemistry, you realize that the carbon from the wood is reacting with the oxygen in the air to produce carbon-dioxide. Energy is released as these two elements combine and this energy generates the heat of the fire. The flames are caused by an incandescence of heated carbon atoms as they rise up from the logs below. Charming, isn't it?
The reaction takes place because it must. This is nature's way. These are the laws of chemistry. Or are they?
The difference between the view of naturalism (the view that the natural world is all there is) and The Programming Model (that God defines and maintains the rules for nature) is the perspective on why these reactions occur. It is a question of which word better describes the driving force behind them: “must” or “will”.
The word “must” best describes the view of naturalism. This is the view we are commonly taught in chemistry class. It says that carbon and oxygen will always exist and always combine, because that's just the way things are. “Matter can neither be created, nor destroyed”, the First Law of Thermodynamics, rules absolutely. Where God and His abilities fit into this view is a bit uncertain. Some people place Him within the Natural Laws, so that He can't do anything which violates them. Others have Him wind up the universe, start it off, then walk away and watch from the sidelines. Those who view the world through naturalism are likely to be a bit shocked should God ever intervene supernaturally. He has done this a number of times before, as during the contest on Mt. Carmel between Elijah and the prophets of Baal. He is due to act again in the battle with Gog of Magog, perhaps to occur shortly.
The word “will” better describes the perspective offered by The Programming Model. In this view, carbon atoms combine with oxygen atoms for two reasons:
1. God has created definitions for these elements within the reality defined for us.
2. His rules that currently govern their interaction dictate that this will happen.
Chemists recognize that the characteristics of the two elements make for a perfect match. In this second view, however, this match exists because God is actively maintaining the rules that make it so. It is no accident that the Periodic Chart of the Elements is arranged like a sophisticated set of LegosTM: each element varying solely by the number of protons, each isotope varying by the number of neutrons, the ability to combine with other elements determined by the number and state of electrons, and so forth.
God sized the challenge level of the properties of the elements specifically for us so that we could discern them. Such alignment between challenge level and students' abilities is recognized by modern education as good teaching practice. This means that God's directive to us in Genesis One to “fill the earth and subdue it”, part of which means to master and fully understand it, was well planned and deliberate; not whimsical. This is evidence for design. The Genesis statement would have made no sense if there were either no detail to explore, or if the detail lay too far beyond our abilities to discern. As it is, the challenge level is set perfectly for us.
So what happens, exactly, when we watch the fireplace burn from the perspective of The Programming Model? Here's an overview:
(Those who are not programmers, please be patient while reading through this next section. It is a bit dry. A stiff cup of coffee might help!)
All objects in this universe and also in all of the supernatural realms, down to the smallest, sub-atomic particle are represented by definitions – thoughts - in God's mind, which is far greater than the greatest computer. The current position of each is also maintained, as are all the current attributes representing each object's state. Groups representing sub-atomic objects may be treated together as larger entities which represent individual atoms. One group may represent an atom of carbon; two may represent atoms of oxygen. The status of all objects is updated during a pass through the list of rules for activity of all objects, which pass is performed cyclically within the tiniest unit of time.
(We use “machine cycles” of millionths of seconds to do such things on computers. God's processing speed is infinite, since time is part of His creation for our reality.) During this smallest unit of time, reviews of all rules similar to the following are processed: (We highlight the words “IF” and “THEN” in the following section, because these happen to be actual words used in some of our high level programming languages.)
1. IF two oxygen atoms have met the prerequisites to be properly attached to each other according to the rules required for an oxygen molecule THEN they are redefined as a larger object: an oxygen molecule. The status of all individual components within them is updated to reflect this change in state.
2. IF a carbon atom has passed sufficiently close to an oxygen molecule AND all other necessary prerequisites have been met for these two to combine THEN the status of these objects and all of their component objects is updated to reflect the status and activity of combination and the entity will be treated as a new molecule: carbon dioxide. The appropriate units of heat will be calculated according to rules defined, and these units will begin to be applied to entities representing all other objects with positions surrounding this location to indicate heat dissipating according to predefined rules. This heat transfer will be noted in stages through subsequent passes. IF a generation of light is due, THEN it too will be noted. The effect of the light on all objects will be accounted for, in a manner similar to heat, during subsequent passes.
3. All objects will have the status of their properties adjusted to reflect the affects of the heat, of the light, and of the physical interaction with all other objects and so on and so on, ad infinitum.
The definitions representing the bodies of “you” and “me” will have their statuses updated accordingly as well. For example, definitions that represent nerve cells within these bodies will have their statuses updated, during a sequence of passes, to reflect the transmission of sensations from the conceptual outside world, through all conceptual entities representing cells of our bodies, and ultimately to those representing our brains. (Updates such as this would be done in stages during multiple passes through the rules list, but are summarized here to give more of a sweep of the activity.)
The conceptual entities representing cells of the brain, including all of their components – down to the smallest sub-atomic level, will have their statuses updated, similarly, to reflect the changes that have been experienced.
At the final interface between:
The group of conceptual objects which represent your physical body, that is upheld in God’s mind, and
Your actual living spirit, which God gave to you (remember that He breathed His Spirit into Adam, and we all came from Adam),
the status of experiences encountered by your body will be passed through to your spirit so that your spirit will experience all of the sensations and feelings the body experiences, to degrees and levels determined by God.
Thus, it is exactly as He said, your body is a temple - a tent, to which your spirit is attached for the present time. Your body was made by materials that were made by God’s word - His definitions - and that exist only as long as He upholds that word.
These are a sampling of the activities that typically take place in thought-based worlds we design, known as software. This is how they might be applied to a similar thought-based world run in God's memory for you and me. There are many ways to construct such representations, just as there are many ways to write any single computer application.
If you doubt the ability of such mundane formulas as these to produce anything “realistic”, think again. The video of the fireplace, if you loaded it next to this essay as described when we began, should be showing dancing flames and playing audio of a crackling fireplace.
Is the simulation realistic? Well, it is the result of digesting just such binary-based entities by algorithms such as those described here. We call this creation a “Media Player”.
There actually do exist good parallels within our own technology of how the final transmission of experiences to our spirits is performed. These are actually rather simple. We have discussed something of this previously.
In video games, game controllers sometimes vibrate to indicate to players that something is happening to them inside the game. For example, in the shoot-em-up games, the controller may vibrate to let you know you're being hit by opponents' fire. Even though they're “special effects” on the cheap, they do demonstrate an important point. The “fire” you encounter in such games occurs within the thought-based reality of the video game. As programmers, we have a number of ways to pass the fact that you're being hit by fire on to you. We could print a report for you, titled, “You're being HIT!!”, but reading the results wouldn't be terribly exciting. We could show you something on the screen, such as splatters (I'll try to be polite here), and this would give you something you could see. We could have some audio of “thuds” and this would give you something you could hear. But the most fun would seem to come from a controller vibrating in your hand, so that you can actually feel the hits.
Notice that each of these possibilities is accomplishing the same thing: they are passing information from the thought-based reality (the video game) out to you within your reality in a way that makes sense to you. This concept is called an interface. An interface bridges the gap between two conceptually different worlds. This is how we let you share the experiences taking place inside the video world. The important point is that we're transferring something between two worlds: the virtual world of the video game (which is thought-based, though represented in matter via computer chips) and the real world in which you reside. Although we can't pass such things on to other levels of reality beyond our own, we do demonstrate by this how to pass things from a sub-reality out to our own realty. And if our own reality is thought-based, experiences could be similarly passed out to your spirit in God's greater reality. In a sense, the real world is God's Spirit and the thought-based world is our current reality which stands by His commands; by His definitions declared.
Don't make the mistake of thinking a “Spirit realm” is weak or impotent. Are you sitting down at the moment? Good. Then let me ask you a question. Do you trust God's Word? Not sure? I'd say you do, because you're sitting on it! The chair holding you up is made of matter that was made six thousand years ago by words spoken by God! Six thousand years! So how long can you hold onto thoughts? You're sitting on His Word!
How ironic it is that people say that they don't trust God's Word, or that they don't believe in God at all, when all the time they are standing on His Word, breathing His Word, drinking it, eating it, scratching it, and so on and so on. Whether you think you trust God's Word or not, you're trusting it every time you walk down the sidewalk and believe it will exist from moment to moment. His Word and His constructs are trustworthy!
I trust this sampler impresses you with the detail with which God maintains activity in the universe. When He said, “The very hairs on your head are numbered.”, He wasn't kidding! This is how he knows everything that happens everywhere at every moment of time.
In The Programming Model, God maintains the system which supports all activity at all times. The system is based in memory which is on loan to us for the present. Obviously, there is nothing permanent that may be held onto by us, or taken out of the system by us, except for traits that represent the modifications to our spirit. We know these as the Fruits of the Spirit of Galatians 5:22-23, which says, “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.”. This is why it is foolish to try to store up treasures for ourselves on earth, for they will have no existence after God dissolves this current reality. This is also why He encourages us to develop the Fruits of the Spirit, for these things truly will have lasting effect, since they modify the character of our spirit, which is eternal.
Take a moment to enjoy the fireside. We thought it would make a nice, cozy example of the Energy and Matter chapters. Remember as you watch it that while it operates from a thought-based construct of our own – the media player, your computer which runs it and the chair on which you're sitting may both be thought-based constructs of God's.
Have you thanked Him yet for all of the effort He makes to share these experiences with you?
Did you ever thank Him for coming up with the idea of burning logs,
and for being able to enjoy their warmth,
the crackling sound,
and the scents?
He gives us plenty of gifts, like the fireside, that we can enjoy.
That's just the kind of Person He is!
Why don't you take a few minutes and talk to Him right now?
Have your own fireside chat with Jesus!
Start this next video and talk heart to heart with the One who made you!
The video includes Chris Tomlin's version of “How Great is Our God”.
(The music starts about 10-20 seconds into the video.)
Meditate on the concepts we've discussed here and thank the One Who conceived it all.
Get cozy and enjoy Him!