The cornerstone of science is that true results are repeatable. But a little chaos intervenes at times to suggest we are not the guardians of 100% of the facts, whenever the same experiment offers slightly varied results. Still approaching a 99% consistency does suggest that science is discovering some natural law that governs the results we observe.
Science has troubling limitations, though, on its sphere of discovery. Not everything discoverable is within the range of its experimentation and expertise. One problem is with “time” and another is with the limitation of the human mind, “reason and logic.” Both of these are measuring yardsticks we use to measure scientific results. All scientific results are a measurement of time and clearly limited by our ability to understand those results. The “stick” itself is not fixed outside the experiment but is part of our experiment.
As Richard Vigilante puts it, “When baking a cake, we don’t measure the flour against the sugar or the orange against the vanilla. We don’t say we need two butters of bacon or three apples of orange. No, we use measuring cups and spoons from outside. We use measuring cups precisely because no one thinks the best use of a measuring cup is to bake it into the cake.”
Defining morality provides a simple example. We define morality to fit our culture or our own patterns of behavior. There is even a philosophy to discredit the concept altogether. What is normal of “us” has to be understood in terms of a majority percentage of those in our society. But should not a true definition of morality come from outside the culture—outside human behavior—say, as perhaps, God would define it: an absolute moral concept? We will set aside for now the problem inherent in this approach, that such an idea introduces “sin” as a real concept and Calvary as a necessary historical, not just theological, event to rescue us from our immorality. But first we need to maintain that God exists—which is the burden of this article.
So “time” is our measuring cup. (Take a deep breath. I encourage you to read this section.)
Did you know that the meter is the distance traveled by light in a vacuum during the 9 GHz emissions of the ground state Cesium atom or the distance light travels in 1 / 299,792,458 seconds. What this is saying is that linear measurement is determined by time. Even kilograms (weights) are tied to a universal unit of “time”, Planck’s constant, which is energy multiplied by time used to convert quantum wave functions into joules per second. Just last 16 November 2018, the International Bureau of Weights and Measures (BIPM) voted to redefine the kilogram by fixing the value of the Planck constant, thereby defining the kilogram in terms of the second and the speed of light. All measurement is decided by some measurement of time. Even the value of money is tied to time. They call it interest. There are few exceptions.
But time is a measurement of decay, of change, of movement. ..and that’s fine as far as it goes. This doesn’t discredit science but it does place an eternal God—a timeless God, a God that does not change or die—outside its sphere. Grace is infinite and there is no entropy or waste. [Ephesians 2:7]
I argue that as with any mammal, our humanness defines the logic we consider logical, the reasoning we find reasonable. When there is not outside influence, no outside relationship, no outside law, we define the results of our observations based on our limited ability to make such observations and understand them.
We do not know someone exists because we see them because our eyes might deceive us. Anything from an apparition to a mannequin may look perfectly human to our sight. It is not sufficient. Seeing is never believing—and anyone who has had a picture doctored or who has been hallucination through drugs knows this well.
The true test of existence for anyone is the dynamic of relationship by talking to them, touching their lives and confirming the possibility that they are indeed alive.
God is outside our science. He is eternal and outside time. Science cannot measure Him. He is gloriously holy [Exodus 33:22]and is only visible to our logic to the extend He allows.
The humble will see it and rejoice. You who seek God, take heart! Psalms 69:32 CSB
Therefore He can only be known to exist through relationship, by talking to Him and touching Him in a spiritual sense. (We call it prayer.) And that begins with reaching out to Him …by faith.
And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him. Hebrews 11:6
