PREFACE: It took me four months to finish writing this, waiting for quiet time and help from the Holy Spirit to figure out how to explain some things I barely comprehend.
Last Saturday, on July 13th, I watched live on the Internet the attempted assassination of Donald Trump at his rally in Pennsylvania. I actually recall watching an attempt on his life back during his first run for office, but at the time that was not covered extensively and apparently was not as close of a call. Although the sound of gunfire and secret service agents rushing the stage certainly shocked me, it reminded me that I had a feeling something like this might happen – I guess I just thought since it hadn’t happened yet it wasn’t going to. Nonetheless it brought into stark contrast how fleeting life is, and reminded me how quickly things can change on an almost global scale (COVID anybody?) My thoughts selfishly turned to myself and my own struggles against the world and the flesh, and renewed my determination to continue being the best father and husband I can manage to be. My tears, love and prayers go out to Corey Comperatore who died that day defending his family, his country, and probably providing the blood sacrifice that was required by God, he might as well have taken the bullet directly for President Trump – certainly the agents who were supposed to do that job were unable to discharge their duties that day.
The next morning at breakfast I spoke to my sons about what had happened, asked if they had heard about the attempt on the former president’s life. I was honestly a bit surprised at how quickly things became emotional and honestly a bit angry – it was like this really struck a nerve with all of us. We prayed for President Trump and his family, and for our country. I tried to explain to my sons how our own individual choices change the world we live in. Life is like one of those choose-your-own-adventure book that were popular when I was growing up.
And the mystery of life is that while the world goes on outside you, mostly unaffected by anything you personally say or do, at the same time you are choosing the world where you are going to live in your future. Somehow like the subatomic particle who can’t know its position and velocity at the same time, or like Plank foam popping in and out of existence below the threshold of perceivability, of measurability, our lives and our God given decision making power can and do have real impact on our lives, and ripple outward to affect our families, communities, nation and world. The story of the butterfly wing flapping causing a hurricane on the other side of the world comes to mind, but that is a worldly story, one that links an insignificant event to a world event through chaos theory. But if there is a grain of truth in that worldly aphorism, imagine what impact a moral or immoral decision can have on the world in which we live, on people who live geographically far away or close at home.
Here’s another scientific or philosophical theory that may help to visualize the importance of a life full of decisions: in multiverse theory, every possible universe that could ever have existed or ever will exist, does in fact exist. So not only is the universe infinitely large in the three-dimensional sense of length, width, and height, and also infinitely long in terms of eternity stretching out behind and before us, but also there are an infinite number of infinities that result from the combinatorically compounded possibilities resulting from random chance or human or divine decision making. There are actually multiple levels of infinity in mathematics (indicated with the Hebrew letter Aleph and a numeric subscript, e.g. ℵ0 for the simplest level of infinity, like the number of whole numbers that exist). Certainly the number of possible universes that exist would approach ℵ∞ the infinite combination of an infinite number of possibilities.
“Infinite Diversity in Infinite Combinations. Symbolizing the elements that create truth and beauty.” – Spock from Star Trek, aka IDIC
You may say, “But certainly my personal decisions are inconsequential to the course of society, or of the world? I’m just not that important!” I recall my brother when we were younger likening the course of the nation to a giant bowling ball rolling downhill, most of us just can’t do that much individually to change its course. Perhaps a few anointed historical figures were placed in a position in time and space to actually influence the course of human events, but certainly that is reserved for an elite few. Those lucky travelers. But what if your seemingly banal personal decisions can change entire world? You can’t deny that deep inside you feel like you are the star of your own show, ala The Truman Show, and that everyone else even close family are somehow NPC’s only there as actors on some cosmic stage. The funny thing is, everyone feels that way more or less. This is the natural state of man. So when you make a decision, instantaneously at that moment every other person alive changes too – from a person who lives in a world where you decided one way, to a person who lives in a world where you decided another way. You may object, “What about everyone else’s choices? Don’t they matter?” Now recall in the multiverse, there exists another universe in which you made a different decision, and there is another version of that other person who lives in that universe too. And therefore there must be other versions of yourself that exist in universes where other people made other decisions. I know this is difficult to wrap your head around, which is why I wasn’t able to complete this blog post in a single sitting and had to pray for wisdom and guidance to bring it to conclusion. But remember, there aren’t just an infinite number of alternate universes, there are infinite universes combined in an infinite number of different combinations. So there is enough room for each and every one of us to simultaneously exist as the star of our own show as well as being bit-players in everyone else’s personal universes. All at the same time. We have free will, they have free will, and obviously God’s will is done all at the same time.
So back to the assassination attempt, it is not out of the question to consider that had I made different choices in the leadup to that momentous nexus of events, that I could have found myself living in the universe where the result was different. We all imagine what would have happened if some historical event had played out differently, what if Archduke Ferdinand had survived his assassination attempt? What if there had been an accidental launch of a nuclear missile during the Cold War? Why do we find these ridiculous, hypothetical situations so endlessly fascinating? Why do so many people imagine they will be reincarnated and have another chance to live life and make different decisions? I think we all know in our hearts that the decisions we make are impactful beyond what we can even rationalize or imagine. It’s not that the bowling ball of existence is impossible to change direction, it’s that your decisions can cause you to steer yourself into an existence where the ball is and has been rolling in a different direction. After a lifetime of decisions, you find yourself living in a custom designed world that reflects your own beliefs and attitude.
Okay, okay. If you’ve been reading me long enough no doubt you are wondering what this has to do with deciding to make Jesus your Lord and Saviour and putting your life in His hands. Well, now that you know how truly complicated our multiverse is, and how important every decision you make is, whether conscious or subconscious, and that it effects not only you and those around you but potentially the direction in which society and the world are going, and that lastly you will not get a second chance because there are no do-overs in life…
And just as it is appointed and destined for all men to die once and after this comes certain judgment, so Christ, having been offered once and once for all to bear as a burden the sins of many, will appear a second time when he returns to earth, not to deal with sin, but to bring salvation to those who are eagerly and confidently waiting for Him.
Hebrews 9vv27-28 AMP
No matter how smart you are, no matter how good you try to be, you are destined to fail because we just can’t see enough of the truth from our timebound, limited perspective. We can’t even hold in our heads all the possibilities in a simple game of chess on an 8 by 8 checkered board, let alone all the life long ramifications of what we say and do on a daily basis interacting with others.
Compared to God, everyone is dumb and stupid. The only way you can do good is if you get lucky once in a while. As a highly intelligent friend of mine used to say (probably about me), “Even a blind squirrel finds a nut once in a while.” But if you put your faith in Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit will begin to guide you, and the God of the multiverse who knows every hair on your head and every desperately wicked desire of your heart will forgive you, write your name in the Lamb’s book of Life, and make a place for you in Heaven.
But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.
1 Corinthians 2v9
ADDENDUM: I want to throw in here that multiverse theory is why I don’t believe time travel is possible (other than travelling at 1 second per second into the future). If somehow you were able to willfully cross the barrier that separates one time from another, you would simultaneously puncture the membrane between universes and as a result end up not only in another time but an alternate version of that time and universe. As much as I disliked the TV show, the premise of Sliders with John Rhys-Davies and company pretty much got the idea right – except their chances of ever returning to their “home” dimension was essentially null. Quantum Leap didn’t incorporate multiverse theory, but the aspect of moving between times and being unable to return home does also express the essential problem.
Lastly, multiverse theory is more of a thought experiment than a scientific theory because, just like String Theory, it can never be proven or disproven. It takes a leap of faith.