Monday, August 24, 2009

Noodle-ing & Physics?

 

I was taking my dog for a walk today and I began thinking about several things that I have thought about before.  I call this noodle-ing.  It is time that I spend thinking about, contemplating, reflecting upon, analyzing, etc some particular thing.  Today I was once again noodle-ing about the physical property of light and it relationship to dark.

I do so love the physical universe.  There are so many Spiritual realities that we can get from the physical world.  For example, I love the Law of Gravity.  It is a physical absolute that gives credence to the idea that there are also spiritual absolutes.  No matter how hare you try, no matter what you believe, no matter how sincere you are in believing that you can fly, if you step off a building you will fall to the ground and be severely hurt.  That may seem kind of obvious but I think you get the idea.

Tonight I was thinking about light and dark.  I had heard a radio pastor talk about a thing he noticed about light and dark as his son opened the hall closet.  This pastor was standing in a place where he could see easily into the closet as soon as it was cracked open.  The hallway light was on.  What he saw and came to realize is that when his son opened the door the darkness in the closet did not come out invading the light but that the light went into the closet and pushed out the darkness.  Darkness is nothing in and of itself but the reality that there is an absence of light.  Any miniscule amount of light can over come even the darkest of places and the darkness can do nothing to prevent it.

I have been noodle-ing this idea of light being the tangible quality and darkness being an absence of that tangible quality or reality.  I was also thinking of this in light of what the scriptures have to say regarding Moses and his interactions with Pharaoh.  In some places it says that Pharaoh hardened his heart and in other places it says that God hardened Pharaoh’s heart.  This has caused me to also wonder, “Why would God do such a thing?  If God hardened Pharaohs’ heart isn’t it then God’s responsibility for Pharaoh’s actions?  Is the Word correct in what it wrote down because it doesn’t make sense to me that a loving God would cause someone to sin? Etc, etc. etc. 

As I was considering all this I began to wonder if this same truth about light and dark is also true about God and his interactions with people.  Is it possible that God’s hardening Pharaoh’s heart came about not by anything that God did to Pharaoh but by God removing and withdrawing from Pharaoh, leaving Pharaoh to his own self and thinking.  Even as I’m typing this I am now thinking also about what it says in Romans chapter 1.  Three times it says that, “God gave them over….to there own thinking (my paraphrase).”  Does God give us over to our own devices and thereby default we end up in darkness?

Thanks for listening to a bit of my own noodle-ing.  Hope it has caused you to think.  I appreciate any comments to help me expand my own thinking.  Of course I will continue to invite God into my thinking to keep me honest and humble.

Blessing to you. 

Posted via web from jenniferthorne's posterous

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