One Man's Thoughts

Romans 1:19-20:

“They know the truth about God because He has made it obvious to them. For ever since the world was created, people have seen the earth and sky. Through everything God made, they can clearly see His invisible qualities—His eternal power and divine nature. So they have no excuse for not knowing God” (NLT).

This is a hefty piece of scripture. It is dear to me because I very much enjoy being out in nature. I have had the hobby of nature photography for many years. Capturing the beauty of creation is my favorite pastime.  The main idea that I want to convey at the beginning of this conversation is: Everything in creation shows us a characteristic of our Father. Yes, lots of them. Perhaps millions. You might think that I am talking symbolism, but I assure the reader that I am being quite literal.

If you go outside and pick up a leaf, you will find it is symmetrical. That means that our God enjoys the aspect of His creation having symmetry. Look at a drop of rain. Before it hits the ground, it is round and transparent. Have you seen the slow motion videos of a drop of water hitting the surface of a lake? The art that forms from the impact is hardly to be witnessed in any other place in the whole of existence.

Now, some would say “That is the way it is because science has found…” or, “You call ‘God’ whatever places science has not yet been able to explain.’ Science, for me, is not a way of thought to explain how things came to be in the absence of an intelligent Creator. It is the very tool by which we are able to learn more about His hidden qualities. Those who do not believe in the Father, cling to science in the hope that it may provide them answers apart from the need of a God.

Science says the sun was not created. It was a combination of gas and hydrogen working with gravity and spherical forces…Clearly, I am no astrophysicist. But persons who deny the existence of God have as their reason for all things ‘being’, is that things just burst into being all the time. They reason, that’s just the chaotic universe we live in and there’s nothing we can do about it.

I would like to offer a different view, and it comes from Romans 1:19-20. If something—anything, in nature is seemingly organized it is because there is order, and not chaos in our universe. Let me ask a question. If you believe in the existence of chaos in the universe, do you see it being powerful enough to overtake order in nature? Rain falls on mountains. It becomes snow. It melts into rivers. The waterways run along organized paths that lead to the sea. Animals live in that water. A multitude of vegetation receives life from the combination of this water and sunlight and is processed by a dynamic mechanism we know as photosynthesis. Does this sound like a world held in the iron grip of chaos? I have read college books and listened during lectures with individuals who are much smarter than myself. They speak of a system of organization at the center but that chaos reigns all around on the periphery of a world of seemingly interlocking parts.

There are these magical pockets of organized eco systems that have ‘come to be’ out of the chaos that is our reality. To this I have to ask: doesn’t something that is organized unravel to become chaos, and not the other way around? A moment ago we were talking about science allowing that chaos sometimes overtakes order in the universe. But it also allows for organized moments as well? When does it allow these seemingly random pockets of ‘otherness’ than itself? Do organized biomes fuel that chaos in some way? Does the manner in which chaos allows pockets of organized systems within our world change the form of how its ‘being’ is perceptible to the human mind? Let’s look at the words ‘chaos’ and ‘order’ in more detail as we continue our discussion.   

DEFINITIONS:

Chaos: complete disorder and confusion.

Similar: disorder, disarray, disorganization.

In Physics:

1. Behavior so unpredictable as to appear random, owing to great sensitivity to small changes in conditions.

2. The formless matter supposed to have existed before the creation of the universe.

Let us try to unpack this word before we move on to ‘order.’ First, I want to draw attention to one of the similar words of chaos shown above. That word is ‘disorganization.’ Scientific intelligence would say that we see organization in small pockets ‘within’ chaos at large. But that cannot be if chaos is what surrounds the universe. The claim is that something that cannot be itself is sometimes found within itself for reasons we cannot explain. This line of reasoning causes us to arrive at an impasse.

Something that is perpetual disorganization cannot have ‘sometimes order’ found within its boundary. If that is the case, then it is not absolute chaos but rather a ‘maybe chaos’ or an ‘incomplete chaos’. At best it is ‘potential chaos,’ but cannot be actual, full chaos. I ask the reader to remember that the definition of chaos is “complete disorder and confusion.”

So either our definition of chaos is incorrect and needs updating or the order we find in nature is no order at all but something ‘other.’ In other words, there either is no chaos at all in the universe or what we think of is order within creation is not order at all but simply a characteristic of the chaos that has fooled the tiny lifeforms with small brains attempting to understand what they clearly cannot. We are pressing on towards the word ‘order’ but before we do, I have a few more ideas to cover about this curious word ‘chaos.’     

Let us look at the definitions that the study of Physics present to us. First, chaos is “behavior so unpredictable…” Unpredictable to who? To the dolphins in the seas? To the bears in the woods? Maybe to the hippopotamus in their jungles. This may seem absurd on my part because everyone knows that predictability is based upon the structure of life that is able to make predictions, namely us—Humans. But if that is the case, I must ask thus: If we are predicting what is and what is not chaos, we should know what that word means.

I think it is important to our discussion to look at the definition of the word ‘predictable,’ but before we do, I want to quickly point out the other understanding of chaos that we receive from Physics, which is “The formless matter supposed to have existed before the creation of the universe.” First, it uses the word ‘creation’ in its own definition. It is mighty difficult to have a creation without a Creator. Second, according to this statement and according to the Christian Faith, the Triune God must be this chaos. This actually makes sense from a non-believing individuals point of view. What could be more chaotic than a ‘substance,’ ‘idea,’ or ‘embodiment’ before everything began than an intelligent Creator that you do not believe exists? For this person, it really is easier to cling to Science because IT and not God is the only way to make sense out of the chaos that is seemingly this reality in which we find ourselves.

DEFINITION:

Predictable: Able to be predicted, Ex. “The market is volatile and never predictable.

Similar: Unsurprising, anticipated, obvious.

According to this definition then, we predict what is and what is not chaos based on if something is unsurprising, anticipated or obvious. It sounds rather boring, doesn’t it? It is as if all color has been drained away and we are left with a dry husk of something become ashen that once was alive. There’s nothing really that interesting about predicting chaos after all. Let’s move on to our word ‘order’ and hope it provides more life to the conversation.

DEFINITION:

Order: NOUN:

1. The arrangement or disposition of people or things in relation to each other according to a particular sequence, pattern, or method.

2. An authoritative command, direction, or instruction.

Order: VERB:

1. Give an authoritative direction or instruction to do something.

2. Request (something) to be made, supplied or served.

From these definitions, it is clear to me that ‘chaos’ is a human invention. I do not believe it exists any more than an atheist believes in the existence of the Father. ‘Chaos’ is a human invention, and I find it immeasurably difficult to accept that it can be found anywhere in all of creation except one place: the willful sinful heart of Man thinking that they can live without the Creator of the universe. In that sense then ‘chaos’ is ‘to be apart from order.’

It seems then that the only species able to make predictions about what is and is not chaos, find themselves at odds with God i.e., Order, and thinking they can create order without Him. Therefore, chaos is sin, which Man let loose upon creation with the attempt to create order for themselves apart from God. We who were created to be “in relation to [God’s] sequence, pattern or method” for our lives have, rather, become full of disorder, disarray and disorganization.