Science vs God – The Concepts of String Theory

Ge 1:1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. … Ge 1:3 And God said …

According to string theory, at the most microscopic level, everything in the universe is made up of loops of vibrating strings, and apparent particle differences can be attributed to variations of vibration. An object (such as an apple, for example) and a force (such as radiation, for example) can both be broken down into atoms, which can be further broken down into electrons and quarks, which can be, finally, broken down into tiny, vibrating loops of strings. ¹

BTW – that tiny vibrating string is incredibly small, Like about 10-33 centimeters, which is a millionth of a billionth of a billionth of a billionth of a centimeter. For those who don’t know how many centimeters are in an inch – one inch is 2.54 centimeters.

Did you notice the parts about “God said” and “vibrations”?

While the sounds we hear with our ears have nothing to do with “God said” or with String Theory, they do have something in common with String Theory, and very possibly with “God said” as well. It’s the vibrations. We see that in this definition from mediacollege.com –

Sound waves exist as variations of pressure in a medium such as air. They are created by the vibration of an object, which causes the air surrounding it to vibrate. The vibrating air then causes the human eardrum to vibrate, which the brain interprets as sound.

This article is but one part of a series on Science vs God, so I invite you to check out the rest as well at science vs god. It’s in its early stages now, so I encourage you to come back from time to time, or better yet subscribe to the site using the any of the options at the top of this page, or using your email in the subscription box towards the top right corner..

It was a tough decision whether to try to explain String Theory first, or do the comparison to the Bible first. Ultimately, I decided to go with this one – the explanation of String Theory. I think it will make it easier to understand the possibilities when we get to actually looking at the Biblical events that could potentially be explained by String Theory. I’ll put a link to the second part of the String Theory article when it’s published.
I was hoping this would be short. Maybe it’s relatively short, but certainly not short. I do hope it’s worthwhile going through it – and also hope that you can get enough of a basic understanding of what’s involved. Not the intricate details – certainly not the math – just the concepts and possibilities.
If you’d like to get into the math on your own, I’ve included a list of the requirements at the bottom. Having been a math major for 3 years in college and going through graduate level statistics in business school – I can tell you that all of the requirements can be met with that level of education.

The eleven dimensions of superstring theory

While string theory is still being worked out, and there isn’t general agreement on everything, we need to choose something for which to do this comparison. For this article, we’ll use three sites for looking at String Theory. Therefore, what follows is a combination of information from those three sites. You can match the colors of the text to see which of the following sites is used for the reference material.

phys.org – for the text to go with the first 10 dimensions and the intro material

techtarget.com – for the text to go with the 11th dimension

ultraculture.org – for the images to go with the first 10 dimensions

Introduction

When someone mentions “different dimensions,” we tend to think of things like parallel universes – alternate realities that exist parallel to our own, but where things work or happened differently. However, the reality of dimensions and how they play a role in the ordering of our Universe is really quite different from this popular characterization.

To break it down, dimensions are simply the different facets of what we perceive to be reality. We are immediately aware of the three dimensions that surround us on a daily basis – those that define the length, width, and depth of all objects in our universes (the x, y, and z axes, respectively).

Beyond these three visible dimensions, scientists believe that there may be many more. In fact, the theoretical framework of Superstring Theory posits that the universe exists in ten different dimensions. These different aspects are what govern the universe, the fundamental forces of nature, and all the elementary particles contained within.

In this article, depending on the source of a quote, you’ll see String Theory and Superstring Theory. Superstring Theory is the formal name, while String Theory is the less formal name. It’s also sometimes called the Theory of Everything (TOE).

While the phys.org article says We are immediately aware of the three dimensions that surround us on a daily basis, the surprising truth is we may not really understand what’s in them. Given where we’re going with this, I have to be very careful with what’s about to be said. An object – in our traditional sense – like a piece of paper, a piece of string, a cell phone, Etc – has 3 dimensions. The building block for the first 3 dimensions is a “point”. This “point” has no dimensions. Zero. It has no length, no height, no depth. Nothing. When you take a pen and make a point on a piece of paper, that’s really a representation of the “point” that we’re talking about – because as soon as you make a mark on the paper, you give that mark all 3 dimensions because the ink mark has length, height, and depth. It’s not an easy concept. But try to keep it in mind as we proceed.

In the image to the right, the each axis represents the following dimension:

X is the length
Y is the height
Z is the depth (sometimes referred to as width)

Note to the geometry people – this image was chosen because it represents the descriptions given in the phys.org article. I understand that it’s not always shown this way – but it’s time-consuming to change all the wording. On top of that, should anyone follow the link to the original article – this is representative of what they would see, regardless of any changes I might make here. Therefore, to keep this as simple as possible – I’m using this axis representation.

1 – Length (X axis)

The first dimension, as already noted, is that which gives it length (aka. the x-axis). A good description of a one-dimensional object is a straight line, which exists only in terms of length and has no other discernible qualities.

Remember, while the line in the image above is visible, it’s not truly a “line” using the definition of having only 1 dimension. It does have length, but no height and no depth. Somehow, putting a whole bunch (actually an infinite number) of points (with no dimensions) next to each other (in what we call a straight line) we have a line represented by the one above, that has one dimension – length. Again, for the geometry people – this is technically a line segment.

2 – Height (Y axis)

Add to it a second dimension, the y-axis (or height), and you get an object that becomes a 2-dimensional shape (like a square).

Just like the straight line from the 1st dimension – this one is only a representation of a square, given the definition of 2 dimensions. You cannot create a true 2 dimensional object (like the pen, paper, Etc). What we have represented above is four lines, each of the same length, with the adjoining ones at right angles. Now, by taking the 4 lines that had one dimension each – we have a square that has two dimensions. Again – for the geometry people – they are line segments.

3 – Depth (Z axis)

The third dimension involves depth (the z-axis), and gives all objects a sense of area and a cross-section. The perfect example of this is a cube, which exists in three dimensions and has a length, width, depth, and hence volume. Beyond these three lie the seven dimensions which are not immediately apparent to us, but which can be still be perceived as having a direct effect on the universe and reality as we know it.

Finally – something we can actual make and pick up! BTW – it’s the only one of all 11 dimensions for which this is possible. Here, we have a representation of a cube, made by taking six of those two-dimensional squares and connecting them at right angles to each adjoining square – resulting in a cube – with three dimensions.

4 – Time

Scientists believe that the fourth dimension is time, which governs the properties of all known matter at any given point. Along with the three other dimensions, knowing an objects position in time is essential to plotting its position in the universe. The other dimensions are where the deeper possibilities come into play, and explaining their interaction with the others is where things get particularly tricky for physicists.

The thing to note here is that unlike us, God is not restricted by time. We can see any given object only in the present moment – not before that moment and not after it.

One additional item to be aware of – it takes time for light to reach our eyes. Objects here on earth are close enough that for all practical purposes, we see them instantaneously – in other words we see the object in its actual position and state that it is in at the same moment in which we see it. As objects get further away, the light from those objects takes time to reach us. For instance, it takes 8 minutes for light from the sun to reach earth, meaning when we look at the sun (use appropriate protection if you want to do this!) we see the way the sun was 8 minutes and twenty seconds ago. Another example is the star Alpha Centauri. It is about 25 trillion miles from earth – and it takes light from Alpha Centauri 4.3 years to reach us here on earth. That means when we look at it – what we are actually seeing is the way it was almost 4 and a half years ago. Finally, the furthest known Galaxy from earth is MACS0647-JD, whose light takes 13.3 billion years to reach earth.

Given an infinite universe, there is more that we can’t yet see with our technology. And yet, God created, exists in, and has control of – all if it. Totally mind-blowing, isn’t it?

5 – Possible Worlds – one plus a slightly different one

According to Superstring Theory, the fifth and sixth dimensions are where the notion of possible worlds arises. If we could see on through to the fifth dimension, we would see a world slightly different from our own that would give us a means of measuring the similarity and differences between our world and other possible ones.

The key here is a little one-letter word – “a” – as in “A world slightly different from our world”. While interesting for the reason given – comparison – and relatively simple compared to what comes next, it has little meaning to a Biblical comparison. It’s a look at the world as we know it, and one other instance of that world – and nothing more. We’ll see that the 6th dimension is much more interesting when looking at the Bible.

6. – Possible worlds – a plane of possible worlds with one starting condition

In the sixth, we would see a plane of possible worlds, where we could compare and position all the possible universes that start with the same initial conditions as this one (i.e. the Big Bang). In theory, if you could master the fifth and sixth dimension, you could travel back in time or go to different futures.

Keep in mind, while the image above shows 162 worlds – the 6th dimension actually has an infinite number of possible worlds. Further – world isn’t just planet earth, as in the image – it’s the entire universe. So we’re actually talking about an infinite number of possible universes all contained in the 6th dimension.

Also remember, the definition says that all the possible universes started with the same initial conditions as this one (i.e. the Big Bang). This is important, because the Bible says

The Beginning

Ge 1:1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 2 Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.

Ge 1:3 And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. 4 God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness. 5 God called the light “day,” and the darkness he called “night.” And there was evening, and there was morning—the first day.

This doesn’t really leave room for different starting points. This says that there was one and only one beginning state. After that beginning, all sorts of things can happen.

7 – Possible worlds – a plane of possible worlds with different starting conditions

In the 7th dimension, you have access to the possible worlds that start with different initial conditions. Whereas in the fifth and sixth, the initial conditions were the same and subsequent actions were different, here, everything is different from the very beginning of time.

As mentioned above, while interesting from a scientific point of view, it’s outside the realm of the Bible text. Having said that, there is always the possibility that God may very well have considered each and every one of the infinite number of possible worlds in the 7th dimension. How mind-blowing is that?

Why do I say this – that God may have considered all of the possible starting points? The universe has incredibly well-defined rules. If any of them were different by even a little bit – the universe as we know it could not exist. For instance, if the force of gravity was altered slightly, the universe would suffer serious repercussions –

Conclusions
In a strong-gravity universe, there would not be plants and animals anything like the size of human beings; galaxies, stars and planets would all be much smaller; planets would be more frequently pulled out of their orbits by passing stars, and stars would burn for much less time than they do in our universe. All in all, the prospects for complicated life like ours would not look promising:
Though we perceive gravity to be a ‘strong’ force (because we are close to a very massive body) it is actually incredibly weak in comparison with the electrostatic forces that control atomic structures and, for example, cause protons to repel each other. The factor is of order ~ 10-36. Let us suppose gravity was stronger by a factor of a million. On the small scale, that of atoms and molecules, there would be no difference, but it would be vastly easier to make a gravitationally bound object such as the Sun and planets but whose sizes would be about a billion times smaller. Any galaxies formed in the universe would be very small with tightly packed stars whose interactions would prevent the formation of stable planetary orbits. The tiny stars would burn up their fuel rapidly allowing no time for life to evolve even if there were suitable places for it to arise. Our intelligent life could not have arisen here on Earth if this ration had been even slightly smaller than its observed value. (Morison 2008:327)

How finely tuned?
How finely is the force of gravity tuned? As we have seen, Collins argues that any kind of intelligent life would not be possible in a universe where gravity was more than 3000 times as powerful as it is in our universe.
Increasing the strength of gravity by 3000 sounds like a huge change. It certainly doesn’t sound like fine-tuning. However, with the electrostatic force being 1036 times stronger than gravity, (and the strong nuclear force 1040 times more powerful), even a 3000-fold increase in the strength of gravity is still only 1 in 1036 of the total range of forces. So this is actually very precise fine-tuning. ²

And gravity is just one of many forces (certainly even more than we even know about) that affect not only our lives, but our ability to even exist – not to mention the possibility for the universe to exist, as opposed to collapsing back in on itself after the big bang –

Ge 1:1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 2 Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.

Notice – that’s “heavens and the earth” – not just the earth. Furthermore, take a look at the definition of the Hebrew word that gets translated as “heavens” –

8064 שָׁמַיִם [shamayim, shameh /shaw·mah·yim/] n m. From an unused root meaning to be lofty; TWOT 2407a; GK 9028; 420 occurrences; AV translates as “heaven” 398 times, “air” 21 times, and “astrologers + 1895” once. 1 heaven, heavens, sky. 1A visible heavens, sky. 1A1 as abode of the stars. 1A2 as the visible universe, the sky, atmosphere, etc. 1B Heaven (as the abode of God). ³

Given that God already exists, definition 1B, Heaven as in the abode of God, makes no sense – so we must be looking at the 1A definition on Genesis 1:1.. Therefore, this is where God creates the universe. We’ll check out quantum computing later in this series, but here’s a very brief look at what could happen. We have no capability today that’s even close to examining even a small number of outcomes to even a portion of our world if one thing is changed – because (1) we don’t know all the rules and (2) even if we did, we don’t have the technology to solve all the equations. But consider this. God does know all the rules – after all, He defines them. Further, an infinite, all-powerful God has no limitations. As of March 23, 2017, this is where we are in the field of quantum computing –

Last year, a team of Google and Nasa scientists found a D-wave quantum computer was 100 million times faster than a conventional computer. But moving quantum computing to an industrial scale is difficult. ⁴

There is no such limit on God. God doesn’t need to build a computer. Being infinite in every way, determining which of the infinite possible 7th dimension universes would be ideal for His plan would be trivial.

8 – A Plane of All Possible Worlds, Each With Different Start Conditions, Each Branching Out Infinitely

The eighth dimension again gives us a plane of such possible universe histories, each of which begins with different initial conditions and branches out infinitely (hence why they are called infinities).

By itself, this is also a dimension, like the 7th, that has no basis from the text of the Bible. However, I’m not ready to write it off as useless yet.

9 – all the possible universe histories, starting with all the different possible laws of physics and initial conditions

In the ninth dimension, we can compare all the possible universe histories, starting with all the different possible laws of physics and initial conditions.

I have no idea what this image is supposed to represent, but it’s the one that was used. Again, while there’s no Biblical text to say anything about this dimension either – it may be useful.

10 – everything is possible and imaginable

we arrive at the point in which everything possible and imaginable is covered. Beyond this, nothing can be imagined by us lowly mortals, which makes it the natural limitation of what we can conceive in terms of dimensions.

An interesting description for this 10th dimension. Most of us have a hard enough time imagining even what we saw in the first 9 dimensions, let alone having something left over for the tenth!

Having said that, the article goes on –

Much like other candidates for a grand unifying theory – aka the Theory of Everything (TOE) – the belief that the universe is made up of ten dimensions (or more, depending on which model of string theory you use) is an attempt to reconcile the standard model of particle physics with the existence of gravity. In short, it is an attempt to explain how all known forces within our universe interact, and how other possible universes themselves might work.

So we see this is for all the “known forces”. That seems to make this some kind of catch-all for the things that are yet to be discovered.

11 – M theory or the theory of everything (TOE)

According to superstring theory, all of the elementary particles in the universe are composed of vibrating, one-dimensional mathematical objects known as strings. The theory does not explicitly state what the strings are made of or where they come from; rather, they are proposed as geometric ideals. Each string has a length of only 10-35 meters, many times smaller than the diameter of the nucleus of an atom. Any given subatomic particle (or hadron) is made of a string that vibrates and rotates at the speed of light. A particular hadron gets its unique identity from the manner in which the string rotates and vibrates according to the dynamics of Einstein’s theory of general relativity. The frequency of vibration corresponds to the mass of the particle.

The nagging question remains, “Where do the strings come from?” Also, there are five different versions of superstring theory that explain the way subatomic particles behave. Are all five versions correct, or are some correct and others wrong? In an attempt to answer these questions, some physicists have suggested that there exists an 11th dimension, which is compactified like the other six spatial dimensions we do not directly observe. Superstring theory with the inclusion of the 11th dimension is sometimes called M theory or the theory of everything (TOE).

In other words, all the things that don’t fit in with the current mathematical models. Put in a different way, given that the 10th dimension is the one that holds all of the information known by us lowly mortals that isn’t already in the first 9 dimensions, then the 11th dimension is all of the things known by God that we don’t (yet, to some very tiny extent?) know. If / when we learn more, those things will go from dimension 11 to dimension 10.

So – where are we?

The first three dimensions are the ones of our physical world related to size.

The fourth is time – of which we can only live in the momentary “now”. We can remember (hopefully) the past. We can wonder about the future. But even the act of thinking about past, present and future is more time than it takes for a few seconds to move from the unknown future into the momentary now and them immediately into the past. And the only time we truly have with God is that momentary “now” that’s gone before we can even think about it.

The other dimensions – they are a mystery – beyond our knowing, at least beyond our knowing for sure. We can conjecture – speculate – even claim to have proved something about them – but we cannot, in this lifetime, truly know for sure. Otherwise we run the risk of being in one of these scenarios –

The “god” of science –
Dt 32:36 The LORD will judge his people
and have compassion on his servants
when he sees their strength is gone
and no one is left, slave or free.

Dt 32:37 He will say: “Now where are their gods,
the rock they took refuge in,

Dt 32:38 the gods who ate the fat of their sacrifices
and drank the wine of their drink offerings?
Let them rise up to help you!
Let them give you shelter!

when we find out that so much of what we thought we know wasn’t even close.
The “god” of our scientists (“wise men”)
Isa 19:11 The officials of Zoan are nothing but fools;
the wise counselors of Pharaoh give senseless advice.
How can you say to Pharaoh,
“I am one of the wise men,
a disciple of the ancient kings”?

Isa 19:12 Where are your wise men now?
Let them show you and make known
what the LORD Almighty
has planned against Egypt.

Isa 19:13 The officials of Zoan have become fools,
the leaders of Memphis are deceived;
the cornerstones of her peoples
have led Egypt astray.

Isa 19:14 The LORD has poured into them
a spirit of dizziness;
they make Egypt stagger in all that she does,
as a drunkard staggers around in his vomit.

Isa 19:15 There is nothing Egypt can do—
head or tail, palm branch or reed.

We have to be careful with what we think we know.
We have to be even more careful about what we think we know and teach to others –

Jas 3:1 Not many of you should presume to be teachers, my brothers, because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly. 2 We all stumble in many ways. If anyone is never at fault in what he says, he is a perfect man, able to keep his whole body in check.

Given that I’m a “lowly mortal” and not perfect – I need to be sure you get this next part. What is suggested here is only a possibility – a possible explanation of why we might perceive these 11 dimensions. I make no statement as to what God actually did, does or will do. It’s an explanation of how the Bible and science might be much more in line than many people think – as opposed to the all too easy position to take that the Bible and science are totally at odds with each other.

As far as science and the Bible being more together than we might think, I want to show you something I came across that was quite surprising to me. Today, and in the past that I’ve lived through – the Big Bang was thought of as “proof” that the Bible was wrong about creation. For some time, I’ve been writing about how much they align with each other. Then, while doing research on gravity and the big bang, I came across this –

These discoveries triggered a debate between physicists throughout the 1920s and 30s, with the majority advocating that the universe was in a steady state. In this model, new matter is continuously created as the universe expands, thus preserving the uniformity and density of matter over time. Among these scientists, the idea of a Big Bang seemed more theological than scientific, and accusations of bias were made against Lemaitre based on his religious background. ⁵

Did you catch that last sentence?

Among these scientists, the idea of a Big Bang seemed more theological than scientific

Who knew? Who remembers? I wasn’t alive back then, but I don’t remember ever hearing this from people I’ve known that were alive at that time. It’s not in anything I’ve ever read in any Christian book about science either. It seems like a very well buried piece of history.

Anyway – let’s continue.

Question – did God “just know” without “thinking” that the laws of the universe that exist – all the way up to and including the 11th dimension – would produce the world that we have today? Or did God use His own already existing “quantum all-knowing power” to instantly go through all the possibilities to determine that He wanted the universe we have today, because that would meet the requirements for His plan? Consider –

choose some starting points from the 7th dimension – where it’s all possible worlds with all possible different” starting conditions. This gives a universe that’s viable. For instance, one that won’t collapse back on itself, that won’t just expand forever in particle form with no stars or planets ever forming, with the appropriate elements, Etc.
choose some number of possibilities from #1. Then use them as stating points for various dimension 6 universes to see where they go. Given that we have free will, there is an ever-increasing number of possible outcomes as the population increases. Some of them would end up with us killing each other very quickly. At least one likely would have Adam and Eve killing each other after what Adam said in the Garden of Eden –
Ge 3:12 The man said, “The woman you put here with me—she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it.”

Any instance that would have us die off too quickly could be abandoned. Note – “could be”.
There’s also likely an instance where Adam and Eve never ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. While this may seem like an ideal scenario – it probably isn’t, since it probably shows blind obedience to God and nothing of actually loving God.
Remember where I said some instances from #2 “could” be abandoned? There is another possibility.
We won’t get into it here (at least not in much detail) but you may be aware, there are two different beliefs as far as just how much control God has over everything – the free will camp (Arminianism) and the predestiny camp (Calvinism). Both have verses from the Bible that support their position. But what if both are actually right? Who are we to put God in a box and say He must be one or the other? I believe that if we take the verses used by both sides, put them together, there’s a valid reason to think that God both (1) allows free will, and (2) sometimes steps in to call people to certain things or to ensure that certain events take place. If you want to read more on this, see a series of three articles – (1) The problem of predestiny. (2) The problem of free will and (3) The problem of either/or- free will vs predestiny.
Dimension 8 would be the place an analyze the results of God running through a universe from #2, then stepping in to make something happen. That modified universe could then be a starting point for picking up where the previous one left off – with God’s modification included.
Having said all that, other than the fact that we think serially, there’s no reason why God couldn’t have just gone straight to dimension 9. To God, it seems like it could be a roll-up of dimensions 6, 7 and 8 – all in one.
In case you haven’t already considered it – there’s something missing in what I’ve said so far. The 11th dimension! The simple truth is – none of the previous four points I just made would produce a viable universe! Not a single one. Why not? Because they are all based on what we know. And we don’t know everything. Dimension eleven is where the stuff we don’t know goes. And we don’t have a clue just how much is in dimension eleven. Not to mention the very real possibility that huge chunks – if not all – of what we think we know for dimensions 1 through 10 aren’t correct. Maybe it’s all in the 11th dimension!

One other thing to take note of – this model covers only our universe. Remember, we started where the Bible starts –

Ge 1:1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. …

But there’s still the outstanding question that science has no clue how to answer – and the answer from the Bible is one we must take on faith, because our minds cannot begin to grasp the scope of it. That question, of course, is who made the big bang happen? I sort of alluded to this earlier, when we look at the difference between Heaven and the heavens in Genesis 1:1. There has to be a cause – something that came before the creation of our universe. Even at the end, what happens? Is everything just gone into nothing? If so, where did it go? There’s needs to be an end as well.

From the Bible, we read –

Rev 1:8 “I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty.”

– where Jesus says He is the beginning (Alpha) and the end (Omega). Further, Jesus says He is (now), was (forever into the past) and is to come (forever into the future).
This corresponds with what God said to Moses before freeing the Israelites from Egyptian slavery –

Ex 3:14 God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I AM has sent me to you.’ ”

Ex 3:15 God also said to Moses, “Say to the Israelites, ‘The LORD, the God of your fathers—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob—has sent me to you.’ This is my name forever, the name by which I am to be remembered from generation to generation.

Looking at the meanings of a couple of Hebrew words, we see –

for the word translated as I am – from verse 13 –

1961 אֶהְיֶה, הָיָה [hayah /haw·yaw/] v. A primitive root [compare 1933]; TWOT 491; GK 181 and 2118; 75 occurrences; AV translates as “was”, “come to pass”, “came”, “has been”, “were happened”, “become”, “pertained”, and “better for thee”. 1 to be, become, come to pass, exist, happen, fall out. 1A (Qal). 1A1——-. 1A1A to happen, fall out, occur, take place, come about, come to pass. 1A1B to come about, come to pass. 1A2 to come into being, become. 1A2A to arise, appear, come. 1A2B to become. 1A2B1 to become. 1A2B2 to become like. 1A2B3 to be instituted, be established. 1A3 to be. 1A3A to exist, be in existence. 1A3B to abide, remain, continue (with word of place or time). 1A3C to stand, lie, be in, be at, be situated (with word of locality). 1A3D to accompany, be with. 1B (Niphal). 1B1 to occur, come to pass, be done, be brought about. 1B2 to be done, be finished, be gone. ⁶

which gives a flavor of what Jesus said about forever. When combining it with This is my name forever – here’s the definition of forever –

5769 עֹולָם [ʿowlam, ʿolam /o·lawm/] n m. From 5956; TWOT 1631a; GK 6409; 439 occurrences; AV translates as “ever” 272 times, “everlasting” 63 times, “old” 22 times, “perpetual” 22 times, “evermore” 15 times, “never” 13 times, “time” six times, “ancient” five times, “world” four times, “always” three times, “alway” twice, “long” twice, “more” twice, “never + 408” twice, and translated miscellaneously six times. 1 long duration, antiquity, futurity, for ever, ever, everlasting, evermore, perpetual, old, ancient, world. 1A ancient time, long time (of past). 1B (of future). 1B1 for ever, always. 1B2 continuous existence, perpetual. 1B3 everlasting, indefinite or unending future, eternity. ⁷

So we see that God, as the creator of the universe, is self-sufficient for explaining both the beginning of the universe and the end of the universe – because He always existed before creating the universe, as we know it , and He will continue to exist forever after the universe, as we know it, is long gone.

Conclusion

Earlier, you read –

Why is this concept so important? The obvious answer – to be sure you know I’m not even trying to pretend I know what God did. The maybe not so obvious answer comes in this passage from Romans –

Ro 1:18 The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness, 19 since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. 20 For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.

Yes, parts of these verses, and pretty much the entire passage from which they are taken, have to do with God’s wrath against mankind. However, if we take out the wrath portions, look what we’re left with –

… since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. 20 For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made …

The fact that we don’t do the things in the excerpted passage above explains why God is angry at us. To the extent that we do recognize the things God has done to make Himself understood to us, we have chances to avoid that wrath – because, among other things, it may remove obstacles for some of us that have a difficult time believing in Jesus because our faith in science is stronger.

There are some verses in Proverbs that explain something else we need to have-

Pr 3:21 My son, preserve sound judgment and discernment, Pr 3:21 My son, preserve sound judgment and discernment, do not let them out of your sight;
Pr 3:22 they will be life for you, an ornament to grace your neck.
Pr 3:23 Then you will go on your way in safety, and your foot will not stumble;
Pr 3:24 when you lie down, you will not be afraid; when you lie down, your sleep will be sweet.

Discernment – something I wait for the end to bring up – but something incredibly important.

Remember from Genesis where the serpent questioned Eve –

Ge 3:1 Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?”

I cannot overstate the importance of remembering this.

All knowledge – science included – comes from God. Satan creates nothing.
But – Satan does destroy and corrupt.

So what we may very well get from science is God giving us increased knowledge of Himself and what He has done. At the same time, we would have Satan trying to corrupt that knowledge. And that’s where discernment comes in. We must always look at things to see where they come from. Obviously, many views of the universe exist among people. Each view is held because of information that is available. Maybe that information is valid – maybe it’s not. Even from the same information, different conclusions are reached.

The biggest difference for Christians is whether or not God is involved – whether or not God gets credit for what He has done. However, that alone is not enough. A theory that (1) gives God credit but makes absolutely no sense, (2) is contradictory to the Bible, or (3) even contradictory within itself – must be ruled out.

As Christians we must be discerning enough to reach conclusions that are Biblical, reasonable, and viable. We must make the effort to do what Jesus said –

Mt 22:37 Jesus replied: “ ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”

Have you ever noticed – Jesus added a few words to what was in the Old Testament?

and with all your mind

It’s an interesting addition. You may also remember that the Old Testament had with all your strength. And while one might think Jesus substituted the word strength for mind, that appears to not be the case. I say this partly because the words don’t mean the same thing and further since Mark records –

Mk 12:29 “The most important one,” answered Jesus, “is this: ‘Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. 30 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ 31 The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.”

– where Jesus uses heart, soul, mind, and strength.

This will be a future topic.

I just feel it’s important to note that Jesus did add the mind to the various ways in which we are to love God. Combine that with what Paul wrote in the Romans passage we looked at – and I believe we have good reason for looking into science – and being discerning about both science and the Bible. All the time though, we must remember that we hold the Bible as truth – and science as providing the evidence than can lead us to the truth, as long as we’re discerning about where our knowledge comes from, ensuring that we’re not caught up in a corruption of the truth – something coming from Satan.

Math requirements for String Theory

The language of physics is mathematics. In order to study physics seriously, one needs to learn mathematics that took generations of brilliant people centuries to work out. Algebra, for example, was cutting-edge mathematics when it was being developed in Baghdad in the 9th century. But today it’s just the first step along the journey.

Algebra
Algebra provides the first exposure to the use of variables and constants, and experience manipulating and solving linear equations of the form y = ax + b and quadratic equations of the form y = ax2+bx+c.

Geometry
Geometry at this level is two-dimensional Euclidean geometry, Courses focus on learning to reason geometrically, to use concepts like symmetry, similarity and congruence, to understand the properties of geometric shapes in a flat, two-dimensional space.

Trigonometry
Trigonometry begins with the study of right triangles and the Pythagorean theorem. The trigonometric functions sin, cos, tan and their inverses are introduced and clever identities between them are explored.

Calculus (single variable)
Calculus begins with the definition of an abstract functions of a single variable, and introduces the ordinary derivative of that function as the tangent to that curve at a given point along the curve. Integration is derived from looking at the area under a curve,which is then shown to be the inverse of differentiation.

Calculus (multivariable)
Multivariable calculus introduces functions of several variables f(x,y,z…), and students learn to take partial and total derivatives. The ideas of directional derivative, integration along a path and integration over a surface are developed in two and three dimensional Euclidean space.

Analytic Geometry
Analytic geometry is the marriage of algebra with geometry. Geometric objects such as conic sections, planes and spheres are studied by the means of algebraic equations. Vectors in Cartesian, polar and spherical coordinates are introduced.

Linear Algebra
In linear algebra, students learn to solve systems of linear equations of the form ai1 x1 + ai2 x2 + … + ain xn = ci and express them in terms of matrices and vectors. The properties of abstract matrices, such as inverse, determinant, characteristic equation, and of certain types of matrices, such as symmetric, antisymmetric, unitary or Hermitian, are explored.

Ordinary Differential Equations
This is where the physics begins! Much of physics is about deriving and solving differential equations. The most important differential equation to learn, and the one most studied in undergraduate physics, is the harmonic oscillator equation, ax” + bx’ + cx = f(t), where x’ means the time derivative of x(t).

Partial Differential Equations
For doing physics in more than one dimension, it becomes necessary to use partial derivatives and hence partial differential equations. The first partial differential equations students learn are the linear, separable ones that were derived and solved in the 18th and 19th centuries by people like Laplace, Green, Fourier, Legendre, and Bessel.

Methods of approximation
Most of the problems in physics can’t be solved exactly in closed form. Therefore we have to learn technology for making clever approximations, such as power series expansions, saddle point integration, and small (or large) perturbations.

Probability and statistics
Probability became of major importance in physics when quantum mechanics entered the scene. A course on probability begins by studying coin flips, and the counting of distinguishable vs. indistinguishable objects. The concepts of mean and variance are developed and applied in the cases of Poisson and Gaussian statistics.

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Footnotes

1
superstring theory (string theory, Theory of Everything); http://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/superstring-theory-string-theory-Theory-of-Everything
2
The strength of the force of Gravity as an example of cosmic fine tuning: http://www.focus.org.uk/gravity.php
3
Strong, J. (1995). Enhanced Strong’s Lexicon. Woodside Bible Fellowship.
4
Inside the weird world of quantum computers; http://www.wired.co.uk/article/quantum-computing-explained
5
BIG BANG THEORY: EVOLUTION OF OUR UNIVERSE; https://www.universetoday.com/54756/what-is-the-big-bang-theory/
6
Strong, J. (1995). Enhanced Strong’s Lexicon. Woodside Bible Fellowship.
7
Strong, J. (1995). Enhanced Strong’s Lexicon. Woodside Bible Fellowship.

Science vs God – The Concepts of String Theory