The Omega Concept
Last month's newsletter (What's in a Name?) discussed
the eternal nature of God, who lives outside of our time
dimension. Since we believe God created our time
dimension when He created the universe, it is theologically
and scientifically correct to call the creation process the
Alpha Concept. This month we will be discussing what we
believe will happen at the end of time - or the Omega
Concept. This is perhaps the most philosophical
newsletter we will ever write, however, we believe it is well
worth discussing. In our last two newsletters we discussed
how the laws of physics require the simultaneous
origination of energy/light/space/time at the beginning of
creation. Many scientists believe that at the end of time
the laws of physics indicate a collapse of the universe as
we know it into one big, hot, bottomless, black hole (pit).
(Sound familiar?) If space collapses into a black hole, time
will collapse with it - since time is dependent on space, and
space would no longer exist. Stephen Hawking and Jacob
Bekenstein, world-renown physicists, predicted that the
horizon of a black hole would be composed of a layer of
exceedingly hot material. Since then other physicists have
agreed that a black hole is a place of incomprehensible
heat and darkness - hence the name "black".
Can the physics of black holes give us a clue to what the
end of time may look like? The Book of Mark (13:25) says
that at the end of time the stars will fall from heaven and
the heavens will be shaken. This certainly sounds like an
ancient description of a collapsing universe! The Bible
makes other statements that may hold some clues.
The Bible says that in the latter days after Christ removes
His church in what is referred to as "the rapture", the
war-ravaged world goes through a series of geological
disasters that brings mankind to extinction. Afterward,
eternal souls face the "Great White Throne Judgment". If
they are believers, they are judged for good deeds and
given crowns; if they are not believers, they are judged for
righteousness. Romans 3:23 says that all have sinned
and fall short of the glory of God. Isaiah 64:6 says that all
our righteousness is as filthy rags. Based on the Bible, we
know that nonbelievers can't be judged worthy to enter
heaven based on their own righteousness and are
therefore sentenced to reside in an alternate domicile - hell.
In the Book of Mark (9:48,49), hell is described as a place
where there is no death and where everyone will be salted
with fire. Jesus spoke many times of outer darkness and a
furnace of fire. The Book of Revelation describes hell as a
"lake of fire" - a place of eternal torment, a bottomless pit
(hole). Revelation also makes startling claims about the
conditions that will exist after the White Throne Judgment.
It says, "There will be no more night. They (the people of
God) will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun,
for the Lord God will give them light. And they will reign for
ever and ever." These verses tell us that the structure of
the universe we now live in that contains space and its
celestial bodies will no longer exist, hence time will cease
to exist. Thus we have the unfortunate marriage of an
eternal black hole and eternal souls. If you believe God
created the celestial bodies on day 4, the light that existed
at this point will probably be similar to the light that existed
on days 1-3 - a time when God provided light independent
of the celestial bodies. Remember: no time - no space; or
no space - no time. The Bible established this 2000 years
ago - long before Einstein was born!
If you believe the 2000-year-old Biblical description of hell
fits the scientific description of the black hole believed to
await us at the end of time, then perhaps you should be
asking yourself where you will be spending eternity. The
Bible says there is only one way to escape the abyss: "If
you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in
your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be
saved." Romans 10:9. Heaven or hell? The choice is
yours.
Permission to copy in its entirety with proper acknowledgments given is granted.
Published by Creation Science Alive in April 2005.