Reality is [MACRO = Determinism] & [SUBSTRATUM = Mysteries of the God who sometimes intervenes]

I was inspired to write this brief thread in response to the world-weary cynicism which one often hears from those who simply believe that there is no God, no purpose to any aspect of our lives beyond need fulfilment, even those who deny that morality is necessary, as there is no judge to answer to in the supposed 'Heavenly Kingdom'. That kingdom is one which we have all, in our youth, understood in principle, inferring aspects of the detail from various elements in society, our parents, churches - we are told that indeed it must exist, whereas others say it does not or may not exist. At some point in our lives, each one of us makes a decision on which side of the fence we sit, regarding this most majestic of questions, upon which so much hinges, throughout all of human history.

The cynics will say "There is no purpose, no guiding hand, no master plan - everything is deterministic; we reason, choose & act, and from our actions a snowball effect is put into motion, which ripples throughout society, affecting everything it touches. Actions engender reactions, and change is the only true state of the world". Yet in absolute stillness, we find true changelessness. This is why it is said in Scripture "Be still, and know that I am God". Yes, the world is mechanistic in its macroscopic manifestation - everything is action, reaction, constant change, cycles & seasons, and we ourselves ceaselessly act within our own nature, both body & soul, generating a template of information which is an imprint of our personality, our will, our memories, our feelings & emotions, our deep & enduring love, of course this is also the case in the negative too - violence, hatred, shame & abuse can imprint our soul. The world is mechanistic & full of change, but the impact of those changes can be annulled, where negative, if we simply change the posture of our heart before God.

The first thing one must do, in order to find God, is to believe that He exists. It's really that simple. But how can we believe, when everyone is so sure that the univere is without spirit, dead, inert, that there is no driving creative force behind its manifestations, that only chaos has the reins? We must consider what we know about the universe, because it is said that "God has made plain His nature through those things that exist.." The clues that we seek are not in the macroscopic world, where everything appears mundane, rudimentary & straightforward, action, reaction, change, motion, energy, time. Instead, we must look to the QUANTUM realm - because there, we see that in actual fact, on the level of the cosmos' very substratum, the basis of everything material which exists in the cosmos, the rules of determinism don't seem always to apply. The quantum world is very strange, to put it mildly. Because it is so strange, so ephemeral & unintuitive, we could liken it to a foundation made of shifting sands, upon which the entirety of the cosmos is constructed. But how can this be? We all know that to build on shifting sands is the most foolhardy thing to do. The only answer which seemingly would account for why this topsy-turvy universe does not collapse completely due to its unstable foundations, is that there is a 'pilot', who is carefully & gently holding the reins, moving, changing, stopping & starting tiny processes which ripple into the macroscopic universe in ways that none of us can openly discern, but there is, in this careful hand, a guiding creative force leading humanity step by step down the ages, sentient beings in a realm which is both beautiful & deadly. If the pilot ceased to maintain the integrity of the cosmos for even a fraction of a second, everything would be annihilated. In the same way that He cares for the integrity of the cosmos, He cares for each denizen of the cosmos too. He sometimes acts overtly to ensure that a certain event does not, or does happen, because somehow it serves His purposes for the development of the cosmos in the long run. These events are known as 'miracles', the rare interventions in the affairs of the sentient creatures He has caused to exist.

I have experienced a genuine miracle, where God intervened openly, in a plain & most definitely macroscopic way, to prevent me from being beaten to death by a violent, drunken schizophrenic, who was enraged & had me cornered in a corridor full of locked doors, with absolutely no hope of escape or fighting back successfully. I called on God in the final moment before he struck - and miraculously, he was unable to assault me, despite the fact that as many witnesses saw, he was straining & snarling, even snapping his jaw trying to get to me, to do me serious harm - yet his arms were frozen in mid-air, his legs glued to the ground. After thirty seconds or so, I was able to make my way out of the place I had been trapped, and he was eventually restrained by a group of five male nurses - it took five to keep him from fighting like a demon (I believe he was in fact manifesting demons at the time of the attack). This is an example of MACRO intervention by the 'Pilot' God, the God who controls the substratum of our universe, who usually acts only in small ways in quantum realms to guide unfathomably complex chains of events that no human could ever understand.

Yes, we live in a deterministic universe, and ordinarily our actions engender reactions, and we all bump around the place, our actions reacting with those of others - again, unfathomably complex chains of events. However, the God of all things, "in whom we live, move & have our being" (yes, our universe is a dream in the mind of God) is always shepherding the flock, guiding first one way & then the next, ensuring that as best as possible, we all stay on safe paths, with options for safety always made available to us, always giving us an escape route from temptations that could ruin our souls or cause serious harm to others ("He will not cause you to be tempted beyond what you can bear, and will always provide you with an avenue of escape")

When someone says that there is no purpose to the universe, perhaps discuss the nature of the substratum as evidence of how even deterministic processes in the MACRO can be affected, guided, assured by the pilot who maintains the entirety of the cosmos within His own mind, who cares for all its denizens, who provides safe paths & avenues of escape. If only we would learn this, then the levels of despair at seemingly impossible circumstances would dissipate, because once you start looking for those escape routes, you would find that He then makes His reality increasingly apparent, as you follow & work your way out from the darkness. He does this for all peoples, and it is only ignorance of this reality which stops hundreds of millions of people from escaping poverty, depravity, abuse, corruption, criminality & murderous rage, amongst other awful fates. By choosing to believe that He exists, then asking Him to guide you out of the place you are stuck, you begin an adventure which will turn your life around. All that remains is to find like-minded people who believe in the spiritual gifts recorded by the apostles, and you can find them in all sorts of churches around the world - they should be grounded & rational, with sensible & helpful scriptural teaching, open to the charismatic expression of the spiritual gifts as well. I would recommend finding one with a good worship team/ band as well!

FITO.

I am glad you have centered yourself upon a philosophy that you feel hopeful in. Just remember-most of what you think and see is just delusion and you can’t truly know what is correct until you forget it all.

"Sometimes intervenes" like sometimes people win the lottery? I'll tell you a secret, sir: you were protected, perhaps by supernatural forces and perhaps even by someone. But you are one of the lucky. One of a few out of thousands who weren't.

originally posted by: TzarChasm
"Sometimes intervenes" like sometimes people win the lottery? I'll tell you a secret, sir: you were protected, perhaps by supernatural forces and perhaps even by someone. But you are one of the lucky. One of a few out of thousands who weren't.

Ummm…that’d be…thousands hourly…

Are you saying god has a problem with multitasking…?

Of course…if I had just celebrated my 13 billionth year…then I might have some age related issues as well…

Eh…?



YouSir

originally posted by: AcrobaticDreams
I am glad you have centered yourself upon a philosophy that you feel hopeful in. Just remember-most of what you think and see is just delusion and you can’t truly know what is correct until you forget it all.

Ummm…except…these pesky infinite universes…keep everything current…always…



YouSir

a reply to: FlyInTheOintment

Deterministic means everything is driven by a cause beyond human choice and action. So the opposite of what you say.

God is a difficult subject, personally I would say it's the ultimate intelligence of the universe and per se doesn't intervene in our at least a few to maybe a couple of hundreds of layers below the universe's intelligence. What intervenes is middle management types, demons, angels, aliens, spirits, whatever since we don't even know what the actual layer above our intelligence contains.

After all quantum level is in itself too not the foundation of our realm of material existence, more like the edges of what we can not perceive yet, that's why it seems so strange because we literally don't know where it's coming from and still approach it with a particle/linear-space-time bias that simply doesn't apply.
But if you're looking for God the quantum world is the wrong direction.
Because you know quantum level is the foundation of matter and the space-time that contains it while God is the matterless consciousness/intelligence i.e. the other side of the spectrum.
It's like you're looking for blue whales using your microscope...

So while I agree the poor creature was acting on the wishes of demons, I'd suppose what intervened on your behalf was not God and if that's your substratum of faith you're putting your eggs in the wrong basket. It was more likely something on or slightly above the layer of existence of us and that demon.
And there are several reasons why I think as I do:
In the long time ago when people stretched their intellectual wings for the first time the ultimate intelligence of the universe noticed and there was a covenant with a group of people that they wouldn't follow or deify any middle management types, don't collaborate with aliens etc until the ultimate intelligence of the universe would be revealed to all.
Ever since that group was target of animosities and atrocities that make your demon encounter look like childsplay in comparison with no intervention, no help like you received.
Because from the standpoint of the ultimate intelligence of the universe it doesn't really matter if you're dead or alive, ie bound to matter or pure spirit, sure there is a long-term goal for all consciousness but the ultimate intelligence of the universe doesn't bother with small details such as one life as it is what was is and will be, inhabiting a very different perspective than ours.
I mean since you're not part of that group it probably doesn't matter much if you collaborate with those aliens/middle-management-types, but as Christian you're still bond to some extent to the overall rules like 'don't have other Gods besides me' (which is to me hilarious because since Nicaea Christianity is in constant violation of that rule but that's a different story) you should at least try to differentiate a little.

I mean I know you're trying to be 'good' and that's certainly fine, I am as always just a little concerned about the ulterior force that drives you.

This is why it is said in Scripture "Be still, and know that I am God".

In the void of the absolute there is no place in which you can exist to point to any other entity. So in the absolute no distinct God exists. Nothing beyond "I AM THAT I AM" can exist. Yet many do call the absolute itself, God.