Time for a Paradigm shift

1. Pre-science and anti-science earthlings might argue over whether the earth was flat, or round, or something else; but they would be united in the idea that the earth is a fixed point and the sun is the moving object. The sun obviously comes up on one side of earth and goes down on the other side. So, the earth is a fixed point with all the celestial bodies moving accordingly. This is Geo-centrism.

Geo-centrism made sense. It was a convenient and obvious way to envision our universe. It makes us very important.

2. A scientist, Copernicus, after considerable study, and with considerable opposition, “blew-up” this misconception and turned it on its head. He replaced Geo-centrism with Helio-centrism (Helio = Sun).  Astronomy clearly showed that the earth is merely one planet, among several others, that rotates around the center of our “solar system”, our mighty sun!

This understanding makes us humans seem a bit smaller, but at least things remain orderly, and we have a solid, fixed point that our daily routines revolve around. Whew.

Helio-centrism made our planet rather less impressive, but still left us a very easy and convenient way to visualize the universe. Our mighty sun, who welcomes us every moring, is the fixed point, the centerpoint of physical existance.     

This was perhaps the biggest, most famous paradigm shift in science. The movement from Geo-centrism to Helio-centrism was so big that it shook up science, philosophy, religion, and worldviews all over the earth.

A Greater Shift

3. But this obviously isn’t the end of the story. Astronomers continued their research and it became obvious that the Sun is not the almighty, fixed point that we might want it to be. Nope. There is a whole galaxy of suns out there, with uncountable moving parts similar to our mediocre sun and solar system.

There is a whole lot of movement out there. And, our galaxy is just a mediocre galaxy among billions of other galaxies.

What has this knowledge done to us as human beings?

We moved from:

1. Kings roaming the magnificent center of a Geo-Centric universe. To
2. Nobles on a great planet orbiting the grand Center of the Helio-centric universe. To
3. Tiny microbes, clamoring all over each other, on a tiny spec of a planet, orbiting a mediocre star, in the midst of a bland galaxy, moving aimlessly amidst billions of other expansive galaxies. We hang out in the non-nil-nada-centric, incalculable, never-ending “fallout” from a huge, big bang.

This is certainly not ego-building material.

Indeed. Astronomy is a very difficult field of scientific study to live with.

Science tells us about our world, our physical make-up, and the physical ways and laws of this universe. But this is a small part of what us humans really need.

It doesn’t calm our fears. Doesn’t unite our souls. Doesn’t show any future promise.

Science is great, but it doesn’t deal with the biggest issues of life. Why do we exist? Who are we in relation to everything else? How is it that we study and conceptualize so long and hard and yet come up with very different answers? Is it even possible to know what life is all about?

Consider some Ontology

We know within ourselves that certain things are true. Such as, Human life has worth. If a leader wants to sacrifice the life of 40,000 people in order to save 200,000, we want to exhaust every possible way to save all 240,000 lives. We do this when humans are involved, but not if it is ants or fish or camels. This is who we are. We know within ourselves that human life has great, intrinsic value.

We know (whether we admit it or not) that life, in some form or another, continues after the grave. Evidence for this is found in the debate above.

The necessary shift

4. Individuals, families, communities, regions and nations of the world need to move out of the  “non-nil-nada-centric” understanding of the universe into the actual universe. The universe created by the most creative, intelligent, powerful, magnificent Being in existence.

God is GOD

He must be the center, the foundation, the focus… of any paradigm, any understanding of life, the world, the universe, human existence, past, present, future, etc.. We can pretend to live life apart from God, but such actions are the efforts of ignorance (Ps. 14:1).

• “He is the Creator of everything that exists.” Jer. 51:19.
• He is everywhere throughout the universe. “’Can anyone hide from me…? Am I not everywhere in all the heavens and earth?’ Says the Lord.” Jer. 23:24.
• He is active in earth’s affairs. “I am watching, and I will certainly carry out my plans.” Jer. 1:12; “’For I know the plans I have for you,’ says the Lord. ‘They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.’” Jer. 29:11.
• He placed mankind as the center of the created universe, because we have a connection with God that nothing else has. “Let us make human beings in our image, to be like us. They will reign…”.  “’Yet my people have exchanged their glorious God for worthless idols! The heavens are shocked at such a thing and shrink back in horror and dismay,’ says the Lord.” Jer. 2:11-12.

He is a personal being. He is a social being. He exists in dynamic relationship from eternity to eternity. He always has been and always will be magnanimous, loving, and true. He wants you and me and everyone willing to live in dynamic, daily relationship with HIM.

Live and grow and enjoy living every day the GOD centric universe!