"Dark" or Unseen Matter and Energy

My last essay - Is Reality Really Real, or Is It All in Your Head? included an image of Albert Einstein with the quote - "Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one." He was referring to the idea that what we in the modern age have been trained to consider as "reality" is the material universe that we can see, hear, touch, taste and smell, but all of that is just a tiny portion of what's really real.

Add to these five senses the instrumentation of detecting electromagnetic and atomic radiation that we have on earth and can launch into or with which we can peer into deep space, and we seem to be able to detect and measure the contents of the whole universe. Astronomers and physicists have determined that the universe is about 13.5 billion years old and that it is expanding at an ever greater rate of speed.

But in all these explorations we've come across clues of something "out there" that we can't detect or measure, all we can observe is its effect on the known universe. Scientists often call this "something" dark matter and energy, and as the illustration here points out, dark matter according to their estimates makes up about 23% and dark energy makes up about 73% of the universe, for a total of 96% of everything that exists. This leaves just 4% of the universe as what we call "material reality" - what we can observe with our five senses and all our scientific instrumentation and mathematical calculations.

A French researcher has called this unknowable matter and energy "unseen" or "invisible" rather than using the word "dark" which can imply a negative or evil connotation to this unknowable stuff. Could this be what causes some plants to develop structures that follow precise mathematical patterns and what enables birds to migrate along routes they have never flown before? A strictly materialist universe governed only by random chance could never produce the structured complexity we see all around us. Lisa Randall, Professor of Science at Harvard University, is a theoretical physicist and cosmologist who thinks that unseen matter and energy could actually harbor forms of intelligent life far beyond our abilities to comprehend.

This is consistent with what we read in Hebrews 11:3 - "By faith, we understand that the universe has been framed by the Word of God, so that what is seen has not been made out of things which are visible." The unseen, invisible force in the universe, the Word of God, is the creator of the visible universe. This Word of God is the Logos, the logic or informational patterning in the universe, as St. Paul wrote - "For by Him were all things created, in the heavens and on the earth, things visible and things invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers; all things have been created through Him, and for Him. He is before all things, and in Him all things are held together" (Colossians 1:16-17).

So the ancient theologians were right: the Logos is both transcendent (above and beyond the universe) and immanent (interpenetrating everything that exists in the material universe), or as they said - "He is everywhere present and fills all things." The Apostle John wrote - "In the beginning was the Word (Logos), and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him. Without Him was not anything made that has been made. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness hasn't overcome it" John 1:1-5).
But not only the Logos exists before all things, Who is the Light that enlightens all mankind, that divine spark that differentiates humans from lower animals. There are also dark forces "out there," as St. Paul wrote - "For our wrestling is not against flesh and blood, but against the principalities, against the powers, against the world's rulers of the darkness of this age, and against the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places" (Ephesians 6:12).

We are involved in a cosmic battle in a realm that our material senses cannot comprehend. There are spiritual forces all around us, angels and demons, who are fighting for control over our minds and spirits, as St. Paul explained - "For though we walk in the flesh, we don't wage war according to the flesh; for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but mighty before God to the throwing down of strongholds, throwing down imaginations and every high thing that is exalted against the knowledge of God, and bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ" (2 Corinthians 10:3-5).

If we allow ourselves to be taken captive by the spirit of this age, we'll come out as losers in this great cosmic battle. Living just for material wealth, ease and pleasure is a losing proposition. If, however, we give ourselves to serving Christ, we will be on the winning side: the darkness will not overcome the Light!

(Linked to www.Hosken-News.info of 24 Sep. 2017.)

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Is Reality Really Real, or Is It All in Your Head?

Is reality really real? Did Einstein really say that, or is it just another manufactured misquotation? As my latest social media posts indicate, we live in an age in which people believe they can create their own reality simply by imagining it, and then everyone else must recognize that this fantasy is real. Human beings have sex - male or female, but inanimate objects have gender in many languages. A car is feminine in Russian, but neuter in German. Light is masculine in Russian, but neuter in German. But in English, according to Newspeak, a boy or girl can be masculine, feminine, or neither! In Iceland, the news media proudly proclaimed that Down syndrome has been eradicated, but in reality, they just "terminated" (killed) the unborn babies with Down syndrome.

Quoting from George Orwell's book Nineteen Eighty-four, Part One, toward the end of Chapter 7: "In the end the Party would announce that two and two made five, and you would have to believe it. It was inevitable that they should make that claim sooner or later: the logic of their position demanded it. Not merely the validity of experience, but the very existence of external reality was tacitly denied by their philosophy. The heresy of heresies was common sense. And what was terrifying was not that they would kill you for thinking otherwise, but that they might be right. For, after all, how do we know that two and two make four? Or that the force of gravity works? Or that the past is unchangeable? If both the past and the external world exist only in the mind, and if the mind itself is controllable what then?"

It continues: "And yet he was in the right! They were wrong and he was right. The obvious, the silly, and the true had got to be defended. Truisms are true, hold on to that! The solid world exists, its laws do not change. Stones are hard, water is wet, objects unsupported fall towards the earth’s centre." The Main-Stream Media bombard us from every side that biological facts don't matter - only what you self-identify as (that is, whatever you imagine) is really real; that people who believe in divine order and who love their country are the same as club-wielding Nazi nutcases, thus fit only to be beaten into submission by the Antifa storm-troopers, browbeaten by the MSM and legally compelled by the political elite; forced to think that the duly-elected conservative leaders are somehow embroiled in a vast conspiracy with Russia to do something or other - it's never explained what "it" is because that would reveal the absurdity of the whole thing: in reality the whole "conspiracy with Russia" thing is simply guilt projection on the part of the MSM and political elite.

George Orwell goes on to describe the hero Winston's affair with young Julia, another Party member who's a secret rebel like Winston. But here he gets his future prediction totally wrong and completely reversed, portraying the Big Brother government as anti-sex and their rebellion as throwing off state-sponsored sexual inhibitions. Perhaps that was true when Orwell wrote his book in the 1940s but in today's reality the MSM and political elite advocate discarding "old-fashioned" sexual inhibitions that are a remnant of our fading Judeo-Christian culture.

In Rod Dreher's recent blog Cheap Sex = Dying Christianity he explains how the sexual revolution of the 1960s and 70s in the U.S. has normalized fornication, abortion, illegitimate children, adultery, divorce, and now homosexual and lesbian "marriage." The culture has become so neo-pagan that the pressure on Christians, especially our children and young adults, entices them to indulge in cheap sex. This, in turn, drives them away from traditional Christian morality and from the Church. It's no wonder that 60% or more of young adults raised in traditional Christian families abandon the faith.

"The look of their faces testify against them. They parade their sin like Sodom. They don't hide it. Woe to their soul! For they have brought disaster upon themselves. ...Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; who put darkness for light, and light for darkness; who put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter! Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight!" (Isaiah 3:9 & 5:20-21).

Orwell invented the term "Doublespeak" to indicate how authorities can manipulate the language in order to equivocate about morality and cause us to think evil is good and good is evil. A prime example of this is in "The American Medical Association vs. Human Nature," an article describing the AMA's equivocation regarding medical ethics. The AMA’s latest Code of Medical Ethics lacks any explanation of the moral principles that provide a foundation for medical ethics. Nowhere in this Code of Ethics does it define human nature or what constitutes a human being. That is apparently left up to popular culture to decide:

"While it enumerates a short list of 'Principles of Medical Ethics,' these are primarily statements of professional hygiene (e.g., physicians should provide competent care, uphold standards of professionalism, respect the law, etc.). The only telling revelation appears in the document’s preamble, which defines medical ethics as also encompassing 'matters of social policy.' This is our first clue that the AMA’s code of ethics is something other than a search for universal and immutable moral truths."

It states: "The conflict regarding research with embryonic stem cells centers on the moral status of embryos, a question that divides ethical opinion and that cannot be resolved by medical science." So rather than getting involved in messy metaphysical definitions of what exactly human nature is or if and when an embryo is or becomes human, it simply punts. But the scientific fact known to all medical doctors is that an embryo is a separate, full, complete human being. It is not just a "growth of tissue" or a "lump of cells" - but contradicting our sex-crazed popular culture is too difficult for these medical "experts" who are moral midgets.

Then comes the equivocation (high-sounding lie): "Embryonic stem cell research does not violate the ethical standards of the profession." Right after saying that medical science cannot determine the moral status of embyros, it states that it has determined that killing these embryos isn't a violation of ethical standards. Isn't that calling evil good and good evil, saying white is black and black is white? "This bewildering display of ethical doublespeak is offered without explanation." Welcome to Orwell's 1984!

The AMA Code of Medical Ethics goes on to say: "Because of the potential for abuse, genetic manipulation of non-disease traits or the eugenic development of offspring may never be justifiable" [article author's emphasis]. The key word here is "may" - maybe or maybe not? This is what I call a "definite maybe" or a "qualified absolute" statement - is it really never justifiable, or is it only sometimes never justifiable? Again, we see another example of multi-syllable, high-sounding nonsensical doublespeak.

Eugenics is the genetically planned breeding designed to produce superior human beings. It is the same policy as practiced during Hitler's Third Reich, in which "inferior" ethnic groups and medical categories of human beings were systematically exterminated by gas chambers and firing squads. But today it's not so obviously violent: the "inferior" babies are killed in the womb or in the test tube.

Now we come to the other end of human life span: the question arises of physician-assisted suicide and euthanasia. The AMA Code states that these acts are "fundamentally incompatible with the physician’s role as healer, would be difficult or impossible to control, and would pose serious societal risks." But again it doesn't tell us why: what it is about human nature that makes this "fundamentally incompatible" if killing embryos "may" be justified, why not at the other end of life?

The article continues: "The AMA is reportedly reviewing its longstanding opposition to physician-assisted suicide at this time and considering whether to adopt a 'neutral' stance, which, in effect, would be tantamount to tacit consent." In other words, it's a bait-and-switch: "Rest assured, we're going to take good care of you" (until you're too weak or senile to resist, then we'll change our mind, just be sure you've placed your living will in our files).

Christians, it's high time that we all get involved in these political, ethical, moral and medical issues! The high tide is coming, and if we don't take action, we will be swept away in the storm! Don't just "think about it" - what will you DO about it?

(Linked to www.Hosken-News.info of 09 Sep. 2017.)

Hosken-News Blog

Saturday, September 23, 2017