November 28, 2022

Exodus 3: 14 (NIV)

God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM.”

He does not live in sequential moments, laid out on a timeline, one following the other. His world is one moment or, better-stated, momentless.*

God’s name for himself, “I am who I am,” is both enigmatic and revealing. He is not “I Was” or “I Will Be.” He just is. God. Always.

For me, eternity without an ending point is not so incomprehensible. But eternity with no beginning – thinking about that makes my head feel like it might explode. No matter what you believe about the origin of life, following every theory to its logical conclusion leads to this summary: something out there has always existed because everything else had to come from somewhere!

I never saw the movie, 2001: A Space Odyssey, but I did see its stupid sequel, 2010: The Year We Make Contact. The only thing I remember about it is a scene where the hero finally comes to the place where all his questions are answered. Nothing was explained to the audience (that I recall) but he appeared to have been totally enlightened as he says something like, “Oh. Now I get it.” I think that’s how I will react when I get my first glimpse of eternity. No more questions about God. Like the end of a good mystery story, I will finally understand what the clues have been pointing me to all along.

The universe is not self-explanatory.*