Cosmic Horror

[Shroom]

So a while ago, an atheist friend of mine paraphrased a line from a song "There could be a trillion extraterrestrial civilizations cooler than us, and you genuinely think the biofilm on this rock is worth some deity's death?".

For the last month I've been trying to take my faith beyond a label from a tradition to an actual relationship that I heard so much about. This Easter my brain kinda wondered into existential dread. Let me explain.

The expansion of the observable universe has supposedly been going on for 13.8 billion years and is 92 billion light years in diameter. Compared to that, I'm practically nothing, existing for practically less than a moment and taking up practically no space with no lasting influence. The atoms that make me up are also mostly empty space. So I'm nothing that amounts to nearly nothing, lasting practical no time and substantially nearly nothing. That's the reality of me in the observable universe... and into the past and future, in every direction THERE'S AN ETERNITY MORE BEYOND THAT!?

And beyond even that is an all permeating intelligence; a gestalt, indomitable will without which nothing occurs; the sum creation and destruction of all things - a force that has been coordinating a trillion galactic collisions simultaneously over eons at the subataomic level during every milisecond. Something so incomprehensibly enormous (like accidently destroys entire galaxies with a subconscious thought enormous) hurts my brain, Just the idea of the sheer implications of what omniscience actually means is like dancing with insanity. I look at what my friend said and the awe just exponentially explodes.

It's like I tried to find out what God is and I find myself not knowing what I was getting myself into. I want His love? Any attention of something so all-encompassing whatsoever is terrifying at any level!

 

[Dave G.]

And in all that He loves us for some unfathomable reason !

 

[Tayla]

Any attention of something so all-encompassing whatsoever is terrifying at any level!

I hope by using the word "terrifying" you mean to say "awe-inspiring".

 

[Shroom]

I hope by using the word "terrifying" you mean to say "awe-inspiring".

If by awe you mean overwhelming horror, reverence, dread, wonder and fear

 

[Sketcher]

The vastness of creation should inspire a reverent fear of the Creator. That only serves to illustrate how wonderful his love is for us and how precious his gift of eternal life through Jesus Christ is.

 

[akaDaScribe]

So a while ago, an atheist friend of mine paraphrased a line from a song "There could be a trillion extraterrestrial civilizations cooler than us, and you genuinely think the biofilm on this rock is worth some deity's death?".

For the last month I've been trying to take my faith beyond a label from a tradition to an actual relationship that I heard so much about. This Easter my brain kinda wondered into existential dread. Let me explain.

The expansion of the observable universe has supposedly been going on for 13.8 billion years and is 92 billion light years in diameter. Compared to that, I'm practically nothing, existing for practically less than a moment and taking up practically no space with no lasting influence. The atoms that make me up are also mostly empty space. So I'm nothing that amounts to nearly nothing, lasting practical no time and substantially nearly nothing. That's the reality of me in the observable universe... and into the past and future, in every direction THERE'S AN ETERNITY MORE BEYOND THAT!?

And beyond even that is an all permeating intelligence; a gestalt, indomitable will without which nothing occurs; the sum creation and destruction of all things - a force that has been coordinating a trillion galactic collisions simultaneously over eons at the subataomic level during every milisecond. Something so incomprehensibly enormous (like accidently destroys entire galaxies with a subconscious thought enormous) hurts my brain, Just the idea of the sheer implications of what omniscience actually means is like dancing with insanity. I look at what my friend said and the awe just exponentially explodes.

It's like I tried to find out what God is and I find myself not knowing what I was getting myself into. I want His love? Any attention of something so all-encompassing whatsoever is terrifying at any level!

How goes the quest?

 

[aiki]

So a while ago, an atheist friend of mine paraphrased a line from a song "There could be a trillion extraterrestrial civilizations cooler than us, and you genuinely think the biofilm on this rock is worth some deity's death?".

This is an uninformed statement from your friend. What science is discovering is that the growing complex of factors required to allow intelligent life such as ours to exist are tuned to an infinitesimally fine degree. And the more these razor-thin factors multiply, the more it is becoming clear that it is extremely unlikely that life as we know it exists anywhere else in the gigantic universe in which we are.

Compared to that, I'm practically nothing, existing for practically less than a moment and taking up practically no space with no lasting influence. The atoms that make me up are also mostly empty space. So I'm nothing that amounts to nearly nothing, lasting practical no time and substantially nearly nothing.

But your physical body isn't you. Your body merely houses you. You can - and likely will (if Christ doesn't return first) - exist without your body when it dies. You are an immaterial soul that is transcendent to the material universe and exists eternally. I think that's really excellent! Don't you?

And beyond even that is an all permeating intelligence; a gestalt, indomitable will without which nothing occurs; the sum creation and destruction of all things - a force that has been coordinating a trillion galactic collisions simultaneously over eons at the subataomic level during every milisecond. Something so incomprehensibly enormous (like accidently destroys entire galaxies with a subconscious thought enormous) hurts my brain, Just the idea of the sheer implications of what omniscience actually means is like dancing with insanity. I look at what my friend said and the awe just exponentially explodes.

Yeah, I'd be careful how you think about God. He is a Personal Being, not just a Force or a Will. He is also knowable. He is not the God of pantheism or panentheism.

It's like I tried to find out what God is and I find myself not knowing what I was getting myself into. I want His love? Any attention of something so all-encompassing whatsoever is terrifying at any level!

I've had similar thoughts. I realize what I know of God through the revelation of His word only exposes the tip of the iceberg. There is much more about Him none of us know - or could even begin to understand. This naturally engenders in us awe and fear of our Creator. But God has shown us that we can trust and love Him and that our love of Him is more important to Him than our fear. Don't let God's alien-ness, His mind-blowing awesomeness, keep you from drawing close to Him. He made you to walk in intimate fellowship with Him! That's why, at bottom, you exist!