Bible Discussion Thread

this is a verse I included in my post today 6/1/2020 "The law of conservation of mass and energy stipulates, neither matter nor energy can be created nor destroyed, but converted into another form. This is a proven law of science, and seen in the exploded atom. That tiny atom did not cease, it can be detected in another form for years. As in Latin, Ex Nihilo Nihil Fit , of nothing nothing comes. Hebrews 11:3 states, "through faith we understand that the worlds were formed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear" .I get the impression that the universe was translated into this dimension from a place we do not see, maybe similar to how light exists beyond the spectrum we see with the human eye. Because all things were always someplace before they manifested here, it is possible to explain the feeling of deja'vu, and it could mean we were alive before we were born, and would explain how we do not die when our body dies. Hebrews 11:3 adds a different view to how we commonly conceive the creation story told in Genesis; taking into account words Jesus said in John 6:63 " the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life." words describing can easily be mistaken. I recall 1st Corinthians 2:14 "But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned." Being hard headed or argumentative is not the best form of open mindedness. In religion alone, there are thousands of differing views. This shows how troublesome reality can seem. Our conscious awareness is described as having a beginning, a finite mind. As we grow and learn we understand the meaning of infinite, while being able to get a view of it is different from understanding the meaning of the word. This is why I love to go out on a clear night and look at the stars, and the space all around the stars. It is like a teacher to our understanding"

Thank you so much for your insight on this verse.

I think that if we accept the experiments conducted & hypotheses formed as a result, then the physical laws are correct (e.g. in relation to mass & energy: "that neither matter nor energy can be created nor destroyed, but converted into another form"). This assumes man's observations of matter around him which draws the above conclusion. The problem arises with Heb 11:3, when we read "that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear". We often understand this verse to mean that what we see came from things which we don't see (i.e. atoms). If we stayed with the Law of Mass & Energy, then God had to use atoms in His creative work. Is then God confined by this Law? Or dare we presume that there was no matter in infinite time, but God, Who Himself is without matter, also created the basic building blocks of matter? So what I see here is that Science can only be based on observable, experimental deductions; it simply cannot go beyond that, since that would require faith, or as they might regard it, "blind belief".

Then this creative work of God, when applied to living beings, still has its substance in matter (i.e. the (dust) of the Earth, to which it will return). Yet, as you said, "we do not die when our body dies" would be true if confined to the physical, i.e. the body (matter) returns to dust (matter). Though, can we say the same for the spirit of man? This is not matter, not created from it nor will transform in some way into it. It is God-created & will one day return back to Him (Eccl 12:7 "Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it."). This doesn't prove that we were alive before our birth but that at the giving of life, God also gave us a spirit (not matter, nor recycled) that is not subject to death. And with all this, God even knew us (about being a special creation with a specific purpose in life). God's creative Work goes well outside the bounds of human Science. Further thoughts?