BACKGROUND

The universe, to us on planet Earth, is everything out into the heavens, as far as we can see and measure. Is there is anything beyond our sight and measurements? No one knows.

How long has our universe existed? Humans measure it, presumably fairly reliably, to being about 14 billion years old, and there is no reason within our existing knowledge to suppose that the Measurers are wrong.

Where did our universe come from? Less reliably than their measurement of its age, they tell us that it began with what is called the Big Bang. That was an explosion of matter which is still expanding away from the point of the Bang.

Human knowledge stops at the point of the Big Bang. Everything before then is speculation, so the question of what came before the Big Bang can't be answered. And it doesn't matter in any case.

Within our universe are galaxies, which are groups of objects such as stars, plus assorted debris from the Big Bang.

One of the galaxies is called the Milky Way. This galaxy contains our own solar system, which consists of a very large central object, called the Sun, orbited by smaller objects called planets.  One of the planets is called Earth, which is in turn orbited by a smaller object called the Moon.

How old is the Earth? Well the Measurers tell us it is about 4 or 5 billion years old, and there is no reason within our existing knowledge to doubt them.

So from the universe, and perhaps beyond, we have narrowed our focus to planet Earth, and to a time about 4 billion years ago.

Now let's consider laws.  The universe (as far as the Measurers can deduce) began with an explosion, and whatever it was that exploded began to expand.  Why did it expand? Why didn't it contract instead of expand? Or why didn't it stay just as it was?

Well, it expanded because there is a law that says an explosion, which is a sudden intense heating of matter, results in the matter expanding.  Well, why did the matter keep expanding? Why didn't it stop after two feet or two miles or two million miles? Well, it kept expanding because there is a law which says that moving matter keeps moving in the same direction until something stops it moving.

And billions of years later, with the matter still expanding, some of the dust and debris cooled, and coalesced into solar systems and planets such as our Earth.

Our Earth travels around our Sun in a regular orbit. Why? Why does it keep travelling around the Sun, and not fly off into space?  Because there is a law which says that objects are attracted to each other, with the smaller object moving towards the bigger object.

So while the Earth wants to obey the law about travelling in a straight line and fly off into space, it can't. Because the law about being attracted to a bigger object stops the Earth from leaving its orbit around the Sun.  If the Earth were further from the Sun of course, it would be free to go off into space. Because the attraction between bodies diminishes as the distance between them increases.  And if the Earth were closer to the Sun it would be pulled to its death. Because the attraction between bodies increases as the distance between them diminishes.

So the combination of two laws keeps the Earth just where it is.

The point of all this is to illustrate that there is such a thing as law in the universe.   That there is law in the universe is undisputed. That there is even a universe at all is undisputed.

So where did the universe and the law come from?

Well from here on the Measurers can contribute little, so we look to the Christian Scriptures for explanations.

But first.  Not too distant from the time of Noah's flood, religion reached out its grubby hands and forced truth into suppression. And truth has never been able to escape from religion's grip. Truth does still exist on the planet of course, and with searching it is found. But it isn't found in religion.

This is just logic. Because if even just two religions existed on Earth, it would show that religion squabbles over the truth.  And there are not just two, but multiple thousands of different religions on earth, each one compounding the fact that none of them have the truth.

So is religion bad?  Yes and no. It has a good aspect in that mostly, religion teaches and encourages positive standards of behaviour. And religion - any religion - is a connection to God for anyone who wants it. Because religion tells people about God. And even though what religion says about God is mostly nonsense, that doesn't stop God from responding when someone wants Him.

Another point in favour of religion is that it can be, and often is, a part of a person's emotional stability. (Which makes it very wrong to attempt to take anyone's religion from them, or attempt to impose another religion on them.)

What all this means is that whichever of the multiple thousands of religions a person is in, or whether they are in no religion at all, they have exactly the same equal access to God as any other person in any other religion. God hears anyone who wants to be heard, anytime they want to be heard. Because religion and God are completely different and separate matters.

In other words, what someone believes, or doesn't believe, has not the slightest effect on whether they can have a relationship with God. No one has to join anything or believe anything before they can ask God for something. If they want a relationship with God they can have it.

Now back to the Earth of about 4 billion years ago. That's where we'll start:

“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” (Genesis 1:1)

What beginning was this? Was it 14 billion years ago at the Big Bang, or was it 4 billion years ago when Big Bang dust and debris coalesced into planet Earth?

It doesn't really matter, because both times are long before humans appeared on the planet, but the way the verse reads, 4 billion years ago is the likely time.

So we know what the likely beginning is, and we know what the heavens and the earth are, but we don't know anything about God.

The Measurers can't tell us anything because God can't be measured. And which one of the multiple thousands of religions will we ask? None would have a sensible answer.

So to find out about God we will rely on the Christian Scriptures. Why? Why not the holy books from some other religion?  Because from historical accounts of the time, we learn that a Man was dead for three days and then came back to life. The Man was Jesus Christ.  The fact that He was dead, and then lived again, is beyond human power to accomplish.  So common sense says that we should listen to what this Man says. And so we will.

Except the Scriptures don't tell us anything about who God is, or where He came from. The Scriptures, and therefore knowledge, begin with the fact of God's existence, without any explanation.  But while we can't know where God came from, we can know a lot about Him.  We will learn more and more as we go on.

But back to the start:

“In the beginning was the Word (Jesus), and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through Him, and without Him not even one thing came into being that has come into being.” (John 1:1-3)

Is there a problem here? Because it says Jesus is God, and that Jesus was with God. So is there more than one God? Yes, there are two. (But there are only two, definitely no more than that.)

Now we'll go to the time when God created the first humans:

“And God created man in His image; in the image of God He created him. He created them male and female.” (Genesis 1:27)

How long after the beginning of the Earth did God make people?  Billions of years, because our human history only begins a few thousand years ago in the Garden of Eden.

So what was happening on Earth in those billions of years?  The Scriptures don't say, but the Measurers tell us that there were living creatures on the planet. Dinosaurs for example. And, the Measurers say, creatures that were shaped like us humans. But we have no way of knowing anything more than that. And it doesn't matter anyway.

So far we have learned of the universe and earth, of two Gods, and of human beings. But there is one more important thing to learn:

“Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which The Lord God had made.” (Genesis 3:1)

Who is this Serpent? Well we learn in the last book of the Scriptures:

“And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, who is the Devil and Satan, and bound him a thousand years.” (Revelation 20:2)

 The serpent is Satan the Devil.

So, apart from us humans, there are the two Gods, and there is Satan. We humans are physical, and be seen and touched. But the Gods and Satan are spiritual, and cannot be seen or touched. Unless, as we will discover, they manifest themselves physically.

We will find the purpose of humans, and their relationship with the Gods, as we go further. But what is the relationship between the Gods and Satan?

Well Satan was created by the Gods (actually only one of the Gods did the creating), and by all the indications in the Scriptures, Satan can be restrained, but cannot, or perhaps will not, be destroyed.

We don't know the background of the relationship between the Gods and Satan, except that Satan is the Gods' adversary.

When the Earth became the Earth, Satan was put in charge of it.  What happened after that is unknown, until the time, a few thousand years ago, when humans were placed on the planet. Then, Satan made himself the enemy of humans as well as the enemy of the Gods.

From the human point of view, here on planet Earth, there is a gigantic battle going on between beings from outer space. Between the Gods and Satan. Between good and evil.  And human beings are the prize.

That's the background, now we can start.