Big Bang
In my previous post I wrote about the relationship between expectations and reality. That relationship can create frustration, so I provided a few suggestions about how we can adapt the relationship to minimize frustration. Today I want to elaborate a little more about “reality.” Bear with me through the first part of the discussion. It may start to look too technical, but it will get better. Believe me, I am not capable of any technical discussions that are too complicated for the average person!
Science puts forward a principle of the universe called “entropy.” In common words, entropy indicates that the universe inevitably tends to move from a state of order to a state of disorder. In some ways this seems like common sense: Things wear out, people get old and civilizations decline. However, a bit more thought reveals an enigma: ”moving to a state of disorder” implies that at some point order existed and, most likely, perfect order. If that is true, then entropy has not always been a universal principle. Scientists rationalize this by pointing out that order can be introduced into localized systems for a while. This, they explain, is how we can have evolution. Evolution is just a temporary, local phenomenon in certain places.
However, science hedges this explanation by telling us that increasing order in one time and place must come at the cost of even greater disorder in some other time and place. In other words, they insist that physics and mathematics require entropy to be a universal principle when viewed in a universal context. Actually, that is fine with me. I have been told that is it unChristian to believe in entropy, I see no reason to disagree with the idea, at least at this point in time.
The Bible tells us that God created the heavens and the earth and everything that is in them, and that they were good. (Genesis 1:1-31) We learn that He created the first humans to live forever, apparently without sickness or death. The Bible reveals that humanity’s first environment was perfect. It did not even have weeds! Nothing was wrong with it so humans did not have to work to maintain it. (Genesis 3:1-24) They were able to be profoundly aware of their relationship with God because they were not constantly distracted by the need to survive in a broken world. I like to think of it as “no entropy.” It sounds to me like perfect order, with no disorder.
Enter sin. Apparently, God gave only one rule in this perfect world and the first humans chose to violate it. (Genesis 3:6) The Bible tells us that this changed not only their relationship with God, but the fundamental nature of the universe. Enter entropy. Everything that had previously been perfect in the universe now begins to slide toward disorder, physically and morally.(Genesis 3:17-24) Oh sure, humans are smart enough to create some temporary, local systems that appear to be physically and morally in order, but they are created at the expense of the universe as a whole, and they always deteriorate eventually. Of course, the local laws of nature, including mutation, still produce some isolated cases of evolution, but they are outweighed by the overall tendency in the other direction.
What does this have to do with frustration? Everything! I will briefly discuss two facts that can help put frustration into perspective for Christians:
- Entropy is normal. At this time and place in human history, it is normal for cars to wear out and people to get old. It is currently normal for economies to crash and for innocent people to be harmed. All systems, from human beings to automobiles, exist on a continuum between perfect and non-existent (entropy). Carefully note that there is no continuum from “perfect” to “imperfect.” Everything that is not perfect is imperfect. There are no degrees of imperfect. A lot of frustration stems from the fact that we are taught to “strive for perfection” in everything. When we see ourselves, we immediately compare ourselves to some younger, healthier version of us. We have trouble optimizing ourselves because we are optimizing against in image that is abnormal for anyone – perfection. We have trouble appreciating our automobiles because the idea we have about them is the idea we got the day we saw them on the showroom floor. When our expectations are based on a realistic concept about how things “should be” our frustrations will be reduced.
- We are currently living in an abnormal universe, but we will not be here for long. When Satan persuaded humans to make their own desires more important than God’s will, he not only stole our souls, he stole our world. God has already provided for the redemption of our souls through his Son. He will at some point redeem the physical universe, as well. Until that point everyone who is living in a human body will be continually tempted to make the same choices that the first humans made, to become obsessed with survival and pleasure in the current world. Even this is normal, at least for the “flesh,” and, by the way, God knows it. (Galatians 5:16-26) For the present, we have to deliberately practice living like people who are unfathomably healthy, wealthy and wise rather than people who are trying to hide their sins from God. Living in this spoiled universe is abnormal for Christians but, for now, we have to accept it. Accepting it now and living for the promises of the new world is a quick exit from frustration.
I am sometimes asked, “Does that mean that I’m supposed to be happy that I’m getting old, feeling sick and my car is broken. Is it unChristian to be displeased? The answer is clearly “No.” However, frustration does not arise from being displeased about your circumstances. Frustration arises from your expectations about your circumstances. It is possible to be displeased about something without being frustrated about it. I often think about my aches and pains, and I don’t react by telling myself that it doesn’t matter. The truth is that when I was younger I thought I would be dead by now. Now I realize how futile it has been to fear or covet any future minute. I am glad that I got this article finished, though!
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