“The Creation is still ongoing”
Let’s start with the key question: is the universe incidental, random without purpose and therefore ultimately meaningless? Or has the world been created by God, corrupted by mankind and waiting to be saved and perfected by God? It is becoming increasingly clear that the creation had never been completed, but is still ongoing! The universe is evolving. Life has become increasingly diverse and conscious. Today people have more options to choose from, with broader impact than ever before. We live in an increasingly specialized, interdependent and yet fragile world. Man has more control over his future, but yet we are unable to foresee the full consequences of our choices. Let’s look at the facts first. Then, in the closing themes of this series we can see how to deal with these in faith.
Physicists assume that the universe began with a sudden explosion of energy, a kind of lightflash of gigantic intensity and temperature. Immediately thereafter energy is being converted into miniscule particles of matter, that subsequently merge into atoms and later still into molecules. This process of merging and cooling continues and in the end yields a universe of vast empty space with here and there stars and planets, where complex compounds have been formed. In a process that is still poorly understood, life ultimately originates and much later even humans.
We see two fundamental laws of nature in this evolution. (A law of nature is nothing else than a basic description or prediction of a complicated phenomenon.) First, it is the change that strikes us. In contrast to what you might think, the cosmos is evolving all the time. What seems to be an endless sea of quiet, silent stability, is in fact a continuous stream of change. And quite turbulent that is! Yet it is not a random, chaotic process. At a closer look it appears to be a transition of total chaos to local order! The evolution of the universe has a clear direction. Nature really has a beginning and a future.
The second feature is association or cooperation. At the level of humans we know of course how important relations are. You’re conceived by your parents, supported by your partner, appreciated by your children or friends etc. But not just on a human level, also from a macroscopic perspective of stellar systems and at the microlevel of atomic particles, interactions, force fields and relations seem more substantial than matter itself. Moreover, novel properties emerge and new opportunities arise, resulting from this propensity to merge or to cooperate.
What makes these laws of evolution and cooperation so special, is their stunning precision. Numerous examples exist. Just think about life on earth, that can exist only because the distance to the sun is exactly right. Or the size of the earth itself, precisely large enough to retain an atmosphere. Everywhere we see features of well balanced cooperation: between molecules, organelles, cells, organisms, populations. From the symbiosis between algae and fungi to the love between man and woman. At every level there are unique forms of cooperation that appear to be creative, that bring new life and new properties.