New book explains it all

I just started writing a new book, sort of The World According to Steve or Steve’s Systematic Theology. The final title is yet to be decided–perhaps Practical Mysticism or some such thing. From time to time, I’ll give you some previews on this blog page such as the following:

Well, let’s start at the beginning. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” John 1:1 “In the beginning.” In the beginning of what? In the beginning of the creation of the material universe. In the beginning of time. In the beginning of space. Before the beginning of creation, there was no time or space. There was just eternity, without beginning or end, just the eternal now. There was something at the beginning. What was that something? It was the logos, it was the Word, it was God. BANG! The big bang. OM! My God, what’s going on here? What’s with all this racket? I believe it is the event horizon exploding.

Of course, no one can adequately explain the beginning of creation. No one was there—not scientists or religionists. It’s pure speculation, mythology. Yet we want to know how creation began. There are many versions both from science and religion, each trying its best to explain the unexplainable. We want to know. Yet, it is unknowable. Give us your best shot. Give us something to hold on to.

Humans want to know where we come from, what is our purpose, why are we here. Various religious traditions have tried answering this question for millennia in various ways according to the understanding of the persons addressed in particular times and circumstances. Therefore, we have various religious interpretations of the creation story. Many of these interpretations are allegorical and many are based on the best scientific understandings of the day.

To teach these mythological stories as scientific fact equal to the science of the 21st century is absurd. While they are truth on a spiritual level, they are not scientific truth. The ancients who wrote these stories had completely different goals in mind when writing them than do modern scientific thinkers. They were not concerned with facts as much as meaning. What is the spiritual meaning of creation? That is what they were trying to address. This is true.

Yet, I love reading the scientists explanations of the universe and believe the big bang theory and evolution to be valid, truthful scientific explanations of how creation came about.

Both the scientific and mythological explanations can be true at the same time dealing with creation on different levels of understanding. One is to be taught in the science classes and one in the religion and theology classes.

Enjoy,

Steve

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