Who is God? / What is God?

Every person worships a god, whether they accept the idea or not. For the majority, their god is some type of being that has powers beyond their own. Some call themselves atheists, but you can be assured that they worship something, whether they realize it or not -- it may be money, it may be position, or it may even be self. There simply seems to be something within human beings that recognizes their own weakness and need. Over the ages, many societies have created and worshiped their own god. Their worship took many forms, and many have created idols to provide a visual focus for their worship. Judeo-Christians believe in one God, who is the former of all creation, is ruler of all, and rejects the attempt to create any kind of image through which He can be worshiped.

I am a Christian and fully subscribe to the Judeo-Christian position. I am also a physical scientist, and I have found nothing to dissuade me from this position. Rather, I have observed and experienced many things in my life that support the position. But I still must ask “Who and what is this God?” As I grow older this question grows in my mind, likely because I believe there is a God, and every day brings me nearer a face to face meeting. As to identity, in ancient times (still today??) knowing someone’s name gave you power over them. One Jewish tradition is that God appeared to Moses and commissioned him to take the descendants of Jacob out of Egypt. Moses asks, “Who shall I say sent me?” God responded, “I am. Tell them I am sent you.” In other words, I will not give you a name. Simply let them know I am in charge.

Even today, we want a name and/or an image. Lacking either we have no choice but to examine the Bible for hints of character. In the Jewish records that also became the Christian Old Testament, we see God as a ruler who expects acknowledgement and obedience. We see a strict judge who gives sentences appropriate to the “crime” – nothing more, nothing less. We also see a father providing behavior guides to his children, as well as serious discipline for misbehavior. And we see a father who loves and cares for his children.  Unfortunately, His children so misbehaved that, as we read the record, his strict discipline seems to stand out. However, as we read the Christian New Testament, His love and care for his children stands out, although discipline is still there for those who reject Him and his gifts. No, God is not a benign grandfather, as often depicted.

So, who is the God we worship? We live in a ‘box’ of three-dimensional space and unidirectional time, and must put everything into the perspective of this box. It is impossible to really understand God, because He is not in the box. Not only is His existence outside the box, but He created the box for us. Does, perhaps, “Star Wars” really depict the on-going battle actions outside the box? Is, perhaps, God really a ‘force’ which we absolutely cannot understand and have no hope to describe? One thing is certain, there is a rebellion which we also cannot see or understand. If you accept the understanding of an all-powerful God, you must also accept the presence of a Satan who is in rebellion, always seeking a way to destroy God. Somewhere outside our existence box there is a perpetual war raging between Satan’s forces and God’s Angels, but Satan’s rebellion is always destroyed just when it seems to be ready to destroy God’s force. The rebellion is a spiritual war, but battles are also fought within our existence box. Who’s side are you on?

The Big Bang - What initiated it?

In the beginning . . . the occurrence has intrigued scientists for many years. Exactly what happened, and how? Celestial measurements indicate that there was, indeed, a beginning. Calculating that there had to be a beginning, however, is very simple in comparison to developing hypothesis on exactly what happened! Over the years, there has been a variety of suggestions on how our universe was begun. Right now the 'correct' answer is a 'Big Bang.' This may be what actually happened, or it may give way to a better theory as time goes by, but no answer can be definitive. To prove any theory viable, we must be able to reproduce the associated event. We can never reproduce the initiation of a universe, or even a small model of the occurrence. Therefore, the Big Bang theory will never be more than an unprovable theory.

An even greater question is, "How did it happen?" And this is a question that, someday, may possibly be answered. Einstein's calculations resulted in the relationship, E=MC², i.e. Energy is equal to Mass times the speed of light squared. More realistically, it probably should be M=E/C². Scientists now know that all atoms are constructed of small packets of energy, much in the same way that a building may be constructed of bricks. There are attractive forces between the energy packets that serve as mortar, holding them together. The speed of light is about 3x10⁸ meters per second, so every unit of mass must contain about  9x10¹⁶ units of energy. Whatever the appropriate units may be, it means every ounce of mass is made from a huge amount of energy. Experience with atomic bombs does confirm the truth of this relationship. 

The huge questions now are:
If the universe was, in truth, begun with anything approaching a 'Big Bang', where did the infinitely immense amount of energy contained in our universe come from?
and
What initiated the energy to mass conversion?
Did none of those studying the Big Bang ever consider this question, or was the implication so 'mind blowing' that no one wants to tackle it?

The age/weight gain dilemma - unavoidable?

A seemingly inevitable aging associated process is weight gain. Can it be avoided? Can it be reversed? Yes and yes! Absolutely it can be, but it requires two underlying attitudes. You must be unhappy with the way you look and feel. Probably well over 90% of aging persons will meet this criterion. Second, you need the will power to do something about it. This is most commonly the reason old people get fat - it just doesn't seem worth the effort. "After all, in the end I am going to be old and fat like most other old people."

I am sure many people look in the mirror and wish they could look like they did in college. I certainly did, and stepping onto the scale I could easily see one major reason I had changed. By my mid-60s my weight had increased by at least 20%! I need to do something about it! But what? One of the first things you are told is to exercise. Baloney!! There are reasons that exercise is good, most importantly related to heart and circulation. It also helps keep muscle tone, something more and more difficult as you age. Exercise, however, will do little to nothing to reduce weight. Sure, good intense exercise will use up food that would otherwise go to fat, and may even use up a bit of fat. But what then? You body yells "I'm hungry! Feed me!" It takes a huge amount of will power to ignore your body and, when you give in, you simply replace all the calories you just burned off.

Simply, weight gain or loss is no more and no less than the result of your daily calories-in:calories-used relationship. Forget the diet routine that everyone tries to sell you. Regardless which it might be, it is a loser. You end up eating things you don't really like and omitting things you like and normally eat. This leads to rebound eating when you go off the diet and ending up weighing more than when you started. Keep eating normally, but simply decrease the amount a bit until you notice that the scale is beginning to drop. Don't decrease quantity more until you find that you have reached a plateau and still need to lose more. Yes, this will make it a slow process, but how long did it take you to gain the excess pounds? If you want to keep the excess pounds off, don't try to lose more than a pound or two a month. Your body may react to decreased caloric intake by going into "starvation mode" to maintain your fat storage. A way to prevent this reaction is to eat a little something half way between meals, telling your body not to worry, food is still available. (suggestions: a bowl of popcorn, a few nuts, a cracker, even one piece of candy) Most importantly, do this slowly and methodically in such a way that your permanent eating habit is altered to that which maintains the weight you have finally attained.

In our modern society there is one additional factor that needs to be addressed - that being fructose. Our normal sugar intake is sucrose, which is half glucose and half fructose. Every cell of our body 'burns' glucose as it's energy source. A small amount of fructose is used in cell structure, but it can't be used for energy. Any fructose not used in cell structure must be processed by the liver, which turns it into fat. Fructose is much sweeter than sucrose, and actually provides the sweetness of sucrose. In addition, fructose is cheaper than sucrose. The food industry is now using high fructose corn syrup instead of (or in addition to) sucrose in many processed foods. If you are trying to loose fat, the fructose is counter-productive for you. Pay attention to the food ingredients in all items you buy, and stay away from foods containing fructose (normally as high fructose corn syrup).

With this outlined process, I have managed, at age 81, to have lost 40 pounds and am back at my college weight, and now I feel stuffed if I happen to eat a meal of the size I once normally 'put away.' It did take 10 to 15 years to reach this point, so don't expect lose your excess weight for that special occasion coming up next month! I must also say that, even though I am now at my college graduation weight, my body doesn't quite look the same! At the time, my chest was about 44-46 inches and my waist was 28-30 inches. Now: chest is about the same, but my waist has 'filled in' to 40 inches. If I want my profile to more nearly resemble the college profile I will have to lose at least another 10 to 15 pounds. This would put my weight in the range attained the year I had a summer job with a two week pay period, but payment was delayed one period, so I lived a month on close to a starvation diet.

This weight loss has taken a lot of will power. I enjoy eating, and had to change from an attitude of 'live to eat' to an attitude of  'eat to live.' That doesn't mean I no longer enjoy eating, I just had to change the reason I eat. Now, I realize will power may not be so easy for women than for men. They are dealing with hormonal changes which add to weight loss difficulties. Men have hard enough time activating required will power, and the majority simply accept the process of getting old and fat. Most women may have to generate a multiple of a man's will power, but it can be done.