The composition of God, and of the Universe

Submitted by Michael S (United States), Jul 13, 2015 at 05:51

HI, Waz You said,

This is what Jesus was really on about - the kingdom of heaven within.through connection with 'spirit' - the subtle energy behind everything.

I don't think this is what Jesus was putting forth the idea that "energy" is behind everything. Jesus talked about the kingdom of heaven being within us, as opposed to being something observed:

Luke 17:
[20] And when he was demanded of the Pharisees, when the kingdom of God should come, he answered them and said, The kingdom of God cometh not with observation:
[21] Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you.

Yes, we enter this kingdom through connection in the spiritual realm, not the natural realm. The Pharisees were looking for an earthly king to fulfill the role of Messiah. New Testament teaching certainly does predict a Messianic Age on earth; but it is only temporary (lasting some 1000 years). The kingdom of God, in its more perfect sense, is the heavenly kingdom. A person who is subject (inside) to God and his word, rather than to the Devil and his deceit, has passed into this kingdom within his own life, regardless of who holds sway at the moment in the world around him. What's more, as far as the Pharisees were concerned, having an earthly messiah rule over them would have very limited effect if they were not individually "born again" and conformed to will of God. That is why I think Jesus made the point that he did.

You used that word "energy" again. No, I don't believe that "energy" is behind anything in the universe. Let me see if I can drag up some definitions of "energy". Both energy and matter consist of particles, according to the "Standard Model": These particles are:

I. Quarks of the "up, down, charm, strange, top and bottom " varieties

II. Leptons, including electrons, muons, "tau", "tau neutrino", "muon neutrino" and "electron neutrino"

Both those classes of particles represent "matter". "Energy" is represented by the following:

I. Gauge Bosons: gluons, photons, Z bosons and W bosons, and

II. the Higgs boson.

None of these are fundamental. They all share common characteristics with one another, merely differing by mass, charge and spin. They all have both particle and wave properties. In a way, the difference between them is like that between a Leyland lorry, a Ford motorcar and a Morris Mini.

God is not a particle. The Higgs boson was called the "God Particle" by those involved with it, because that was better sounding than what it was originally called, namely, "That Goddamned Particle".

"Dark Matter" and "Dark Energy". Concerning the latter,

Dark matter fills the universe, and exerts a gravitational pull on the "normal" matter, like stars and planets, around it. Yet it produces no detectable form of energy – no light, heat, radio waves, or anything else. Some physicists believe that dark matter is a form of particle that was produced in the Big Bang but that has not yet been detected.
-- http://hetdex.org/dark_energy/what_is_it/new_physics.php

This form of energy is still the subject of speculation; but it is also thought to be a particle, like all the other particles.

I've been talking about "God" from two angles:

1. as a philosophical entity, an intelligent, unseen being whose presence explains seeming anomalies in our understanding of the known Universe, and

2. as the God of the Bible.

In neither case is God "energy"; and in both cases, God is identified with the "word", or "law" of creation. He isn't a gluon nor an electron nor a Higgs boson; He is the underlying definition of these particles, and the rule of their interplay with one another.

Let me just briefly touch on one aspect of this rule: All these particles have a "mass", a "charge" and a "spin", though in some cases one or more of these might be "zero". Human beings, on the other hand, are sometimes identified by their height, weight, age, sex, hair color, etc. No matter how humans differ in these respects, they are all "humans". Those descriptors might be useful in identifying a person; but the real essence of a person, in most cases, is what he thinks and does, what makes him "tick". What makes thesse particles "tick" is laws of physics. By those laws, electrons are attracted to charged particles; and electrons of a particular set of quantum numbers occupy a particular space about the nucleus and interact with electrons on neighboring atoms based on their symmetry.

Without those laws governing the behavior of electrons, we would have nothing called "chemistry", no materials to practically work with, and no bodies to live in. It's the laws of physics that not only describe our world, but produce our world. The particles, whether they are of matter or energy, play a secondary role. God does not play a secondary role.

Do we agree on any of this?

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