The intricacy and unity of the universe is one of the coolest and most amazing things to think about. It's funny how many things "matter but don't" (but do). The strong force keeps the very nuclei of atoms from ripping themselves apart, but acts over distances so short that it's undetectable on macroscopic scales. Gravity holds the galaxies in clusters, but is weak enough in everyday life to be bested, at least temporarily, by a little girl jumping or tossing her doll.
Life is the same. We eat, we sleep, we fight, we play. At the end of it all, the only thing that really matters is what we do with the priceless gift of salvation offered by God's Son, Jesus. But the little things on this side still matter. They can draw people to Jesus or help them find reasons to back away. They can show growth of character or the onset of compromise. The "equations" you live by can unify or unravel in an inconsistent mess...
Friday, March 29, 2013
Wednesday, March 6, 2013
Quantum Mechanics and the Gospel
In physics, as in mathematics, one often deals with *asymptotes*, defined by Google as "a line that continually approaches a given curve but does not meet it at any finite distance". This concept shows up pretty much everywhere. When you're talking about asymptotes, the bottom line is that basically, you follow this smooth line forever and ever, but it never quite gets you where you're trying to go, never quite reaches that point that it's trying to hit. You approach a value, getting closer and closer, but by less and less, and ultimately, you fail.
For weeks, maybe months, this is the picture that I've gotten in my head when I think of the concept of works righteousness versus grace. You can do all you can do to earn your salvation, but in the end, the Bible says that "all our righteousness is as filthy rags" (Isaiah 64:6) . You just won't get there. You just can't do it. There's a huge, unbridgeable gulf between what we can do and what God requires, and unlike in math, you never even get close enough to "assume" you're there and move on.
So what can you do? Nothing, if you just keep following that line. But, chips ahoy! There's hope! It's like ... A quantum leap!
Now we're looking at a little change of metaphors. In quantum mechanics, particles don't go smoothly from one state to another, because contrary to the assumptions of calculus, the energy states aren't continuous - there are only a few, particular, separate states in which it can exist, and it can only change states when the right amount (and nothing less) of energy has been absorbed or released by the system to permit it. Adding less than required and trying to give it a chance to "build up" won't work. (If you like science and aren't familiar with this, check out the photoelectric effect. Its discovery is actually the reason that A. Einstein won the Nobel Prize.) The set of possible energies is discrete. However, though there's a vast and gaping discontinuity between one state and the next, if there is something that can provide what's needed to make the change, it can be made.
And this is the hope that Jesus provides for us. We couldn't do it, but he met the standard and paid the price, fully. Nothing more was needed. The thing is done.
Hollapraize :)
For weeks, maybe months, this is the picture that I've gotten in my head when I think of the concept of works righteousness versus grace. You can do all you can do to earn your salvation, but in the end, the Bible says that "all our righteousness is as filthy rags" (Isaiah 64:6) . You just won't get there. You just can't do it. There's a huge, unbridgeable gulf between what we can do and what God requires, and unlike in math, you never even get close enough to "assume" you're there and move on.
So what can you do? Nothing, if you just keep following that line. But, chips ahoy! There's hope! It's like ... A quantum leap!
Now we're looking at a little change of metaphors. In quantum mechanics, particles don't go smoothly from one state to another, because contrary to the assumptions of calculus, the energy states aren't continuous - there are only a few, particular, separate states in which it can exist, and it can only change states when the right amount (and nothing less) of energy has been absorbed or released by the system to permit it. Adding less than required and trying to give it a chance to "build up" won't work. (If you like science and aren't familiar with this, check out the photoelectric effect. Its discovery is actually the reason that A. Einstein won the Nobel Prize.) The set of possible energies is discrete. However, though there's a vast and gaping discontinuity between one state and the next, if there is something that can provide what's needed to make the change, it can be made.
And this is the hope that Jesus provides for us. We couldn't do it, but he met the standard and paid the price, fully. Nothing more was needed. The thing is done.
Hollapraize :)
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