Why then cling to the belief that the universe is infinite?
Heather and I have just returned from spending the month of July at the top of Norway, in Iceland and Greenland. Across the top of Norway, Sweden and Finland roam a nomadic people called the Sami who mainly herd reindeer (picture above) and in Greenland the indigenous people are the Inuit.
Talking with a Sami pastor and his wife, we discussed the resurgence of indigenous animistic beliefs around the world and problem of worshipping what God has created instead of him as Creator. What is happening with the Sami and the Inuit in Greenland is happening everywhere; in NZ with the Maori and Australia with the Aboriginal and North and South America. Animistic religious beliefs are on the rise and central to their belief is that the universe is eternal and infinite and has a directive influence in their lives. Recently NZ introduced a new public holiday called “Matariki” which in essence is worshipping the constellation Pleiades, believing it gives food bounty to the earth.
Unfortunately, religious beliefs trump scientific fact. To be fair, however, religions that acknowledge that the universe had a beginning and was created out of nothing are Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Sikhism, and Zoroastrianism.
Anything that has a beginning is an effect and will always have a cause. A painting is an effect and the artist is the cause. You are an effect and your parents are the cause. Since the universe is an effect, it requires a cause and since this Cause made the universe and linear time with it, this entity must exist outside of time as we know it; this Cause has to be infinite. If a Being is infinite, that Being have no cause. A First Cause. God
The logic is compelling. Bulletproof. Why then do non-religious people, who are scientifically aware and know the universe has a beginning, treat it as though they have an animistic belief system! So strange. Why? For the same reason they hold dogmatically to the belief of totally random biological evolution which has no scientific support whatsoever.
It eliminates the need for God.
To acknowledge that there is a God is to acknowledge that humans are not the highest pinnacle of life. If there is no higher being than myself, I can do whatever I like. The existence of a God compels me to humble myself, to find out everything about this God, and to keep his rules. No thank you. My pride and self-importance don’t allow me to look ‘up’ when I can look ‘sideways and down.’
So these people postulate an infinite number of universes of which our universe is the only one that coincidently had perfect conditions for life. Not only is it impossible to ever prove scientifically the existence of another universe, let alone an infinite number, it begs the question. ‘Begging the question’ means it still doesn’t answer the question of how our universe came into existence – since we know it had a beginning- but complicates matters by needing to find the answer to how an infinite number of universes came into existence!
Oh what a tangled web we weave when first we practice to deceive – not only others but ourselves!