Why is it when light shines in a dark world it is still dark? Part VIII

Any answers from realism cannot be trusted because they are based on the deception of natural realism. Therefore, moderns are forced to turn to the ancients, or to those who have continued to consult and learn from them. (from Part VII)

Nearly all ancient civilizations believed there was one supreme God over all others. Most believed this God was the chief architect and builder of the heavens and the earth. This is true of Egyptians, Babylonians, Persians, Romans, Mayans, Asians, Africans, and Jews. Ancient Jews may have been the only truly monotheists, but they were not the only people who believed the Supreme God created the world. How many knew God created the universe as a speech act is doubtful. That the Hebrews knew is beyond question. Genesis cosmology affirms it. Writings of their sages do as well. The writer of Psalms 33 sings his stanza: “By the word of the Lord the heavens were made, and by the breath of his mouth all their hosts.” Then we have the sage who wrote Proverbs 8 personifying the creative word as a wise master workman. (vv. 22-31) Second Temple Jews still believed it was true. For example, the author of the Book of Jubilees wrote, “ Worship the God of heaven” who “has created everything by His word, and all life is from before His face.” (12:4) Other ancient authors like the penmen of Sirach and 4 Ezra wrote about the creation as the work of God’s word. (Sir. 42:15; 4 Ezra 6:43) Followers of Jesus also believed it. For example, Simon b. Jonah, also called Peter, affirms it when he wrote, “By the word of God the heavens existed long ago and the earth was formed out of water and by water.” (2 Pet. 3:5) Later, St. Augustine wrote that God created the world by his word. (Confessions, Book XI, chapters 5-8) During the dark medieval era, the Jewish philosopher Moses Maimonides arose to address the theological and philosophical issues threatening an assimilated end to the remnant of Jewish civilization. Following Moses Maimonides’ philosophy, we see its was an act of God’s will that created the energy and word which became the universe and all forms of life in it. (Guide for the Perplexed, ‘God Spake,’ pp. 96-98) Even today, as it was in the beginning, guiding the perplexed is the word of God. As the author of the Johannine gospel wrote, “In the beginning was the word… All things came into being through him…. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehended it.” (1:1-3, 5)

See also Part VII, Part VI, Part V, Part IV, Part III, Part II, and Part I.

Why is it when light shines in a dark world it is still dark? Part V

The ancient writer ... knew something else moderns ignore. (from Part IV. )

The ancients had a glimpse of what was between the pixels. They saw into the other ninety percent of the universe—the dark matter. God not only formed light and created darkness, but He dwelt in the darkness (Is. 45: 17; Ps. 18:11). When the universe was a ball of liquid photons, an external observer would have only seen darkness. The essence of nature was light, but the outer darkness was an empty void. That is how Heinz Pagels described the early universe in Perfect Symmetry. (pp. 253-258) It is also what God revealed to the author of Genesis: “Darkness was over the surface of the deep.” (1:2) But within the empty darkness, “God said, ‘light be … and he separated the light from the darkness’.” (1:4) What the author of Genesis saw about the formation of the earth, astrophysicists see as the formation of the early universe. As it began to expand and planetary systems were being birthed, the light began to shine in the darkness. In the spectrum of light shown the word. The light we see is only a small part of that spectrum, but through the light comes the word of life. Without knowing it, many scientists confirm the power of that word. The late astrophysicist Sir Fred Hoyle believed the logic underlying the complex order organizing life in the universe against forces of entropic chaos was the work of a cosmic intelligence. (see The Intelligent Universe) Like Sir Hoyle, many scientists believe elemental life exists throughout the universe. (see Rare Earth by Peter Ward and Donald Brownlee) The intelligence intuited by Sir Hoyle and a cosmic blueprint by David Bohm points us to the light. That eternal word of God that still flies on the winds of light, and the strong and weak fields in nature give shape to that word. Because of it, the word still becomes flesh--the flesh of quanta, atoms, elements, molecules, organisms, and every form of life; yes, even the sons of God. On the winds of light, flies God’s word to humanity. It is also how angels communicate. Through dreams and visions, God communicates his mind. Like images transported by radio waves, God’s word is translated through perceptible light to the human mind. That is why the prophet Micah said, “Though I dwell in darkness, the Lord is a light for me.” (7:8) In a more poetic form, the ancient prophet Isaiah held a similar promise. The prophet perceived God saying,

“I will lead the blind by a way they do not know,
In paths they do not know I will guide them.
I will make darkness into light before them,
And rugged places into plains.
These are the things I will do,
And I will not leave them undone.”
(Is. 42:16)

Isaiah again writes,

“Who among you that fears the Lord,
That obeys the voice of his servant,
That walks in darkness and has no light?
Let him trust in the name of the Lord and
rely on his God.” (Is. 50:10)

And as the ancient sage sang his Psalm,

“Your word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path.” (Ps.119:105)

Even though the sage meant the known word of covenant law and morality, the word of God in nature still speaks about its Creator (Ps. 19:1-4; 33:6; Ac. 17:24-31; Ro. 1:18-20) Beyond the evident, God, then as now, continues to show people the way that they should go. (Pr. 3:5-6) The problem is many moderns are blind to the evident. They seem to believe God has no voice to hear, they do not believe scripture was communicated by God to chosen men to reveal, nor do they think divinely inspired dreams and visions are real communication. Yet, the reality of naturalism is that moderns do not know much about reality, especially since they have rejected what is known outside of the unified theory of realism.

See also Part IV, Part III, Part II and Part I.