Focus in this entry of Burning Quest (Part 53), is of Time, more specifically, some of the nitty-gritty of the origin of the world. I'm not going to elaborate since much of apologetics can get technical. Suffice it to say that as a follower of Jesus Christ I believe God is. I believe He created the heavens and the earth and all that are in them, including human beings. I believe there was a time that the world, inclusive of the whole universe, did NOT exist and then a specific point in time that it did. There was/is a beginning and there will be an ending.
Read...
"In the beginning..."
"In the beginning God..."
"In the beginning God created..."
"In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth." (Genesis 1:1 NIV).
God created the heavens and the earth then filled it with light; separated waters above and below making the sky and dry land; vegetation "according to their various kinds (Genesis 1:11 NIV); sun, moon, stars; birds in the sky, fish in the sea; living creatures on land, and last, but sure as your're born, not the least, human kind!
God saw it all as being "very good". (Genesis 1: 1-31).
Buddhists, however, do not believe God exists. Therefore, how was there a beginning of the world, etc? Their thought follows parallel to that, as for the continuance of their "mental continuum"; that is, when a person or creature dies, at that very instant, their "mental continuum", with its accumulation of: knowledge, credits & demerits of their good/bad behavior all bundled up, gets delivered to another human being or creature at the moment of their conception of the corresponding split second moment of respective death, and conception.
And so, the "spirit," as I call it, goes on and on at infinitum until the striving for Nirvana has been achieved. This repeated cycle of repeated births and deaths for earth's creatures, if you'll recall, is referred to as, "Samsara" (Page 382 What Buddhists Believe by Dr. K. Sri Dhammananda).
Coequal to that is how the world has similarly "gone round" for infinity. Sri Dhammananda interestingly enough, uses the term, "created". He writes,
"Buddhists believe...the world has been created millions of times every second and will continue to do so by itself and will eventually by itself." (Page 381).
He further notes,
"...world systems always appear, change, decay and disappear in the universe in a never-ending cycle." (Page 381).
Sri Dhammananda announces that modern scientists and intellectuals do not accept God and the creation idea. However, he says, these are explanations that we need not trouble our heads over as apparently Gautama Buddha did not waste his time on this issue. One does not gain any...
"...religious value for gaining spiritual wisdom..." (Page 382).
...with such deliberation and investigations.
What is more meaningful, Sri Dhammananda explains, is what Gautama Buddha taught, which is,
"...man's task was to liberate himself from suffering...attain Nirvana, not to worry about the beginning or end of the world" (Page 383).
It is a necessity for a mortal creature to...
"...escape rebirth into a suffering existence" (Page 383).
This then, I suppose, relates also to the origin of the world--how the world and all creation therein keeps at the cycle or rebirth but can also escape and stop creating itself by itself once Nirvana is secured. If people and creatures must go on and on; so, I presume, does the earth.
Regardless of that, bring your attention to God's Word. We started out with, "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth" and that He saw it was "very good". We also know from Scripture that there will be a "new heaven and a new earth" (Revelation 21:1; 4). Bang! Somewhere between the two events of "very good" and "new heaven and new earth" something monumental occurred necessitating the need for the new heaven and earth.
From reading further in the book of Genesis we know what that "something" was: The Fall of mankind (Genesis 3). Sin entered the world and put everything out of whack causing the decay, suffering, death and the inevitable perishing eternally in Hell.
Depressing thought except that there was an additional monumental intervention of even greater import in that interim time: Jesus's birth towards the purpose of his death and resurrection. God demonstrated His love for mankind in providing them a way of salvation through His Son Jesus (Romans 5:8).
If a person desires to focus on eradication of suffering, know that Jesus suffered in his/her place. He offers this gift to one and all members of His human creation.
Accept His gift so that the consequences of bad and unwholesome thoughts and actions which have been paid for in full, at His expense, are all blotted out. What's left is an eternity which will be spent with Jesus free of all suffering and tears (Revelation 21:1, 4) in His new Heaven and Earth. It will last forever and ever--no endless renewal or rebirth.
What a wonderful gift!
Knowing this, points us to the Creator, God, Who is; Who exists. If one believes this then it follows he/she can believe and trust His Word and that He is the Originator of the origin of the present, and only, world, of which there was a beginning and there will be an end.
Consider these verses from 2 Peter 3:5-10, esp vs 7, 10 (NIV)...
"By the same word the present heavens and earth are reserved for fire, being kept for the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly....But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything done in it will be laid bare."
The conclusion being, be ready for that end. It is coming. Accept God's gift of salvation. I want to see you in the new heaven and earth, with Christ. It does matter. It is imperative that an individual takes time out to contemplate this issue of the origin and end of the world; that God exists; that He is the Creator, and that each and every human being will meet Him at the beginning of the end of this world. It will determine his/her eternal end: that of life with Christ spending eternal life in Heaven, or without Him in eternal living death & unending suffering, in Hell. That is the stark truth...
What's more...Time is almost up.
~ERC January 2019~
I'd like to share the Hillsong, So You Would Come. Close your eyes and listen as the song plays. God loves you so much. Look what He did for you.
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