April 15, 2019

3 Constituents of the Universe: Time - Space - Matter/Energy

4 comments:
In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth, the earth was a formless void and darkness covered the face of the deep, while a wind from God swept over the face of the waters. Genesis 1:1

The Bible is not meant to be a science textbook; we should not look for scientific facts or errors in it. However, in its own way, it tells the truth: in the account of the creation of the world, the elements that make up the universe were ordered in the same way as they are ordered in science today. God created time and space almost simultaneously, followed by matter.

The Composition of the Universe
In recent times we have witnessed great advances in physics regarding the origin and nature of the universe. However, it is precisely in this science that the mystery continues to abound. Given its immensity and our relative smallness, there is much more what we don’t know than what we do know about the universe, and much of what is known are only conjectures, or hypotheses that lack experimental verification.

In our quest to find the Trinity or the transversal tridimensionality in everything that the One and Triune God has created, we along with most physicists have come to the conclusion that the universe is composed of Time – Space – Matter. Some might say that energy is a fourth element, but this is not so: with Einstein’s general theory of relativity, we come to know that matter and energy are transmutable, that is, matter is a form of energy and energy is a form of matter.

In a way we could say that matter or mass is solidified or condensed energy and energy is volatile matter. Out of His trinitarian nature, in the the beginning God created three things: time, space and matter. Therefore, the universe is composed of time, space, and matter/energy. The universe is a continuum of matter that turns into energy and energy that turns into matter in a space-time continuum.

From the way our logical minds work, we are led to think that matter/energy is somehow the content of the universe while space and time are, respectively, the place and the moment when matter changes into energy, and vice versa. That is, the universe is composed of an active matter/energy element, and two passive ones, time and space.

The theory of relativity and quantum physics have come to challenge the logic of our thinking in the sense that none of the three components are passive, all three interact with each other, in a very complex way that makes none of the three elements more important than the other two.

As discussed in the case of tridimensionality of the human family, the existence of one element assumes the existence of the other two; we can also say here that each one of the three elements cannot exist by itself separately from the other two, or all three exist concomitantly or none of the three exist at all.

The Beginning of Universe
For centuries, atheist scientists have based their atheism on the fact that the universe has no beginning and no end, that it has always existed, and have poked fun at the Bible and the Church which have always defended that the world has its beginning and end in God. We know that the universe is composed of time, space and matter; if it were eternal, time would not have been part of this equation, the universe would have been static, or at best cyclic.

Albert Einstein in 1915, with his theory of relativity, established a relation between matter, space, time and gravity, as well as the equivalence and transmutability between energy and matter. As we have already said, he discovered further that the universe is not static, but that it contracts or expands.

In 1927, the Roman Catholic priest Georges Lemaître formulated on theoretical grounds, and confirmed observationally soon after by Edwin Hubble, that the universe is expanding. Therefore, he concluded that there was a day, once upon a time, without a yesterday, that is, that the universe is the result of a cosmic explosion (the Big Bang) that occurred 13.8 billion years ago.

In 1929, Edwin Hubble observed using the world’s largest telescope (100-inch Hooker Telescope) that the galaxies beyond the Milky Way were moving away from us at a speed directly proportional to the distance from the Earth, that is, the further they are from us the faster their speed. His observations proved beyond a doubt not only the theory of the expansion of the universe, but that the expansion is accelerating.

In addition to these observations, in 1964, Arno Penzias and Robert Wilson discovered the cosmic background radiation, known as the Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation (CMBR) that is present throughout space. This background radiation is what is observed when we tune into a television channel that is not occupied by a television station. The noise that we hear is an echo of the Big Bang and the pixels that we see resemble a photograph taken 380 thousand years after the Big Bang, when the universe was still very hot and dense.

In the beginning, therefore, there existed a single infinitesimally dense point hotter than the interior of a star, to which physicists call a singularity. With the explosion of this singularity and the ensuing rapid expansion, time, space, and later matter were created. The fact that the universe is not static but is in a state of expansion makes it inconceivable that it had always existed and will continue to exist eternally in expansion; in other words, the universe must have had a beginning. This beginning was the Big Bang.

The graphic representation of the universe in expansion, as shown by the picture above, is triangular in shape, the vertex of the triangle coinciding with the most intense light source: the Big Bang. If we want to have an idea of how the Big Bang took place, we just need to turn on a flash light in the darkness: we will see that the light follows a triangular path, and that this triangle expands until the light fades in the distance.

Similarly what happens in all fields of human knowledge is that everything that begins to exist had a cause. Therefore, if the universe began to exist, its existence was the result of a cause. This cause, however, has to be in itself not caused by another cause, must be immutable, timeless, immaterial and personal, in other word, God.

An Oscillating Universe
Sensing the rug being pulled from under their feet, the atheists not being able to deny the Big Bang, began to argue that in the distant future the universe will reach a point of maximum expansion, and will then begin its reverse movement through which all matter will be reunited again by the force of gravity, to subsequently explode and expand into a simultaneously new and recycled universe. In other words, the universe is in a perpetual consecutive succession of Big Bangs and Big Crunches.

Consequently, the universe would behave like a yo-yo, a large explosion followed by expansion that would slow down and stop when the force of expansion equals the force of gravity. At that point the universe would start to do the opposite of expansion, and would start to shrink vertiginously as the force of gravity surpasses and annuls completely the expanding force until an implosion occurs, and a new singularity is created, this would then be followed by a new Big Bang and so on.

The universe would be oscillating, like an elastic that expands rapidly just short of its maximum point, the expansion then slows down to a stop followed immediately by a contraction that is as rapid as its expansion, until it reaches a Big Crunch, that is, to the infinitely dense point that would give rise to a new Big Bang.
 
Availing this theory, we have the first law of thermodynamics (nothing is created, nothing is lost, everything is transformed), the amount of matter is always the same, recycling perpetually so that the universe has no beginning and no end. In philosophy, this idea is represented by the theory of eternal return – that history repeats itself, as some historians like to point out. In religion, we have the theory of reincarnation and the cyclical concept of time, as understood by the Greeks: spring, summer, fall, winter and so on.

However, this is not what is happening since observations made with the Hubble telescope prove differently. The launching of a rocket may give us an idea of what happens. A rocket travels through the atmosphere because it has a force greater than the gravitational force pulling it down to the earth. If it runs out of fuel before it can escape from the gravitational influence of the Earth, it will stop going up and gravity will pull it back down to its starting point. However, if it does not run out of fuel and rises more than 12 km/s, it will never return to earth and will distance itself from us indefinitely.

This is what happens with our universe: the cosmic acceleration of expansion is so large and the density of matter (that is proportional to gravity) is so low that all objects will continue to move away from us forever.

The End of the Universe
In a closed universe, gravity would stop the expansion when it reaches its limit and would be followed by a contraction. But our universe is open and unlimited, so it can expand indefinitely, and all observations indicate that the expansion is accelerating.

The speed of expansion of the galaxies is too large for their gravities to reverse the motion. Even if they were to slow down in the distant future, they would already be too far for gravity to pull them back to the starting point. Therefore, the expansion is irreversible because there is not enough matter in the universe for the force of their gravities to stop the expansion. So, or at a given moment, the universe freezes or expands until it uses up all its energy and dies.

Furthermore, the decrease of mass due to the depletion of energy decreases the force of gravity, making the reversal of the motion impossible. The universe will expand until death which will occur when it has expended all its energy.

According to the first law of thermodynamics, in the transmutation between energy and matter, nothing is created, nothing is destroyed, and everything is transformed, which would be in accord with an eternal and oscillating universe. However, in terms of the second law of thermodynamics, the transformation of matter into energy is not possible without the deterioration or expenditure of the former. In this sense, the known natural processes are quantitatively conservative (1st law) and qualitatively degenerative (2nd law).

At first glance, it may seem that the first law gives reason to atheists and to the idea of an oscillating universe. If energy cannot be created or destroyed, this means that energy can be recycled ad aeternum.

Yes and no. It is true that energy cannot be created or destroyed, but it can be changed or transformed from more useful forms to less useful ones. In each energy transfer or transformation in the real world, a certain amount of energy is converted into forms that cannot be reused. In most cases, this non-renewable energy takes the form of heat.

It is true that heat in ideal conditions can be reused. However, it can never be transformed into the type of mechanical energy with the same performance and efficiency of 100%. Therefore, every time an energy transfer takes place, a certain amount of useful energy (though still in conformity with the 1st law) will change to the non-renewable category (in conformity with the 2nd law or the law of entropy). If this were not the case, if only the 1st law existed, it would be possible to build an engine that would work forever using only the energy that itself produces.

The reason the universe cannot resurge to give rise to another Big Bang, even if it did contract, is that the universe is extremely inefficient (entropy): far from saving, it wastes energy. In fact, the universe is so inefficient that the chance of it resurging after its collapse would be about 0.00000001% of the original Big Bang. Such an insignificant chance of resurging would result in a new collapse almost immediately and the universe would end up becoming a giant black hole for the rest of eternity.

The Analogy of the Sun
Everything in the universe takes place in an analogous way. In our little world, the solar system is composed of a star – the sun – with eight planets orbiting around it, of which ours is the third. We owe life to the star king, but it is no longer young, already showing streaks of white hair. In fact, just like a candle where the flame blazes before it goes out, or like a sick person who seems to get well just before death, within a billion years the sun’s brightness will increase and will occupy two thirds of our sky. The oceans will dry up, the atmosphere will disappear. Long before this, however, our planet will not be able to provide the minimum conditions necessary for life.

The sun was formed about 4,500 million years ago from a great cloud of dust and hydrogen, which by the effect of gravity swirled like a hurricane. This gravitational attraction caused the density to increase and, again like a hurricane, the temperature of the central nucleus also increased until it reached around 10 million degrees Celsius. Under these conditions, nuclear fusion occurred and the star began to emit light.

It has been estimated that the hydrogen in the sun has already been reduced by forty percent. It is also estimated that the Earth emerged 3,500 million years ago and that it still has one billion years left till its end. That being the case, and although it seems that there are still many more years left, putting time in perspective, however, we are already in the last quarter of our planet’s life.

Each star has its fate marked from the moment of its birth: the mass it has on the day of its birth, so it shall have upon its death. As our sun ages it will first become a red giant whose radius is 100 times greater than it is now thus engulfing the inner planets of its solar system including the Earth. It will then turn into a planetary nebula, and when it has lost all its glow into a white dwarf, and eventually when it has cooled significantly it will become an almost invisible black dwarf.

A star that is forty times bigger than the sun will become a black hole in its final phase. Like the stars, the universe will expand until it no longer has the energy to keep the heat going, and without the heat it will die of cold when it has spent all its fuel.

Time
In physics, the concept or the coordinate of time is a measure that determines the duration of something subject to a change. There are, therefore, three types of time:

The psychological time or human time is what each one of us experiences – our historical memory of what happened and is no longer happening, the present that is now occurring and flowing in the direction of a future that is to come.

The cosmic time is associated with the universe that began on the day of the Big Bang, a day without a yesterday and which will end when the world ceases to exist.

The thermodynamics time is associated with the increase in entropy, that is, according to the 2nd law of thermodynamics matter does not convert to energy without undergoing some wear and tear; if this was not the case, it would be possible to make an engine that produced exactly the same energy it consumes, an eternal engine. But this is not possible, systems that dissipate energy are not irreversible.

Einstein discovered that time is not absolute, but relative: same two clocks that have been synchronized can measure different times if one is moved at a substantial speed while the other is kept still. For this reason, Einstein prefers to speak of space and time as a single entity, space-time. In truth, the German philosopher Immanuel Kant had already understood that space and time were essential for the understanding of human experiences, as everything happens simultaneously in a time and space continuum.

Time decreases in direct proportion to speed: the faster the movement of an object, the less time elapses for it. Increase the speed and everything slows down around the person who is moving: from his watch to his thoughts. The moving person does not realize this, but an outside observer does. Here lies the basis of the famous paradox of the two twins.

In this two twins paradox, one of the twins takes a trip into space travelling at 90% the speed of light; the watch on this twin moves 44% faster than the other twin who remained on Earth. After 5 years, when the twin returns from space, he would be only 5 years older while his twin brother would already be 100. This paradox is a thought experiment that defies conventional thinking, and yet it is pure reality in the theory of relativity.

Space
In the time before the Big Bang, space had a dimension of zero, that is, it was nonexistent. With the big explosion it started gaining dimensions until today and continues in accelerated expansion, continuing to grow.

Space is understood as the areas of the universe that is relatively empty, outside the atmosphere of the celestial bodies. However, today we know that it is not totally empty of matter because it contains particles of hydrogen, although of low density, as well as some electromagnetic radiation. Today we also know that it contains unknown forms of matter and energy, such as dark matter and dark energy.

There is a space that is real because it can be observed and then there is a space that we intuit it exists, but we have no way yet to observe it. Light travels at a speed of 300 thousand kilometers per second; the light of any star takes thousands of years to reach the Earth and that of the galaxies millions of years. There are bodies that are so far away that their light has not yet arrived here since they were formed, that’s why we cannot see them and yet they do exist.

As it happened with the conception of time, the space also defies our conventional mind. We imagine the space to be linear extending in all directions, as a measurable three-dimensional continuum of height, width and depth that surrounds everything. However, this is not so: space in fact curves due to the forces of gravity that the stars exert on it which may be large or small depending on the mass of the star. For example, on earth we weigh eight times more than we do on the moon. Einstein saw that the force of gravity did more than just bend the space: it is a geometric spatiotemporal manifestation.

Energy
At the time of the Big Bang, when space had a dimension of zero, it was infinitely hot. Like the light and the heat emanating from a burning pile diminish as they move away from the source, as it happens with expansion, so the universe is cooling as it moves away from the Big Bang in space and time. During the moments following the Big Bang, matter were not yet present, there were only photons, protons, neutrons and electrons. With the continued expansion of the universe and the subsequent lowering of the temperature, these particles began to combine to form the nucleus of heavy hydrogen atoms which then combined with more neutrons and protons and formed the helium nucleus.

With the sudden drop in temperature, these early particles no longer had enough energy to overcome the electromagnetic attraction between them and began to form atoms, which are the building blocks of matter.

In Greek, energy means activity, force in action. Energy is an abstract concept because it does not refer to a physical object. However, according to the theory of special relativity there is an equivalence between mass and energy so that all bodies, by being made up of matter, contain energy. Let’s look at some forms of energy:

Kinetic energy – It is what bodies possess in motion, depending on their mass and velocity.

Electrical energy – It is produced by the attraction or repulsion between electrically charged bodies.

Nuclear energy – It is produced from the rupture or splitting of atoms. In the case of the nuclear energy used for the production of electricity, it is the breakdown of an atom of a heavy element such as uranium when it is bombarded with neutrons in a process known as nuclear fission. Now, nuclear fusion where two or more atomic nuclei fuse together is only possible inside of stars, our sun is a good example of nuclear fusion where the core temperature reaches to 15 million degrees Celsius.

Potential energy – It is the energy contained in an object due to its position relative to some reference point. A bottle sitting on the shelf, for instance, has potential energy given the position it occupies, as it may fall.

Chemical energy – It is the absorbed, stored and released energy in chemical reactions between atoms and molecules. Plants, for example, use the sunlight to produce chemical energy which they store in organic molecules.

Radiant or luminous energy – Energy that propagates in the void in form of electromagnetic waves: visible light, x-rays, gamma rays, ultraviolet rays, infrared rays; visible light is only one form of radiant energy.

Thermal energy – When a fire is lit and wood burns, thermal energy is produced – the heat flows from bodies with higher temperature to bodies with lower temperature.

Dark energy – This is the last form of energy which was discovered relatively recently in 1999. There is more that we don’t know than we do know about this dark energy because it is not observable with what’s available to us today. Is it a manifestation of gravity or of matter-energy? The dark energy corresponds to 72% of the universe, being composed of 23% of dark matter. Only 4.6% of the universe are atoms, that is, matter, galaxies, stars and planets.

Matter
At the microscopic level, matter is formed by molecules and these in turn by atoms which are made up of protons, neutrons and electrons. In addition to this, there is a set of subatomic particles that make up the electrons, protons and neutrons called quarks.

Macroscopically, our solar system, our galaxy and all the galaxies that make up the observable universe are matter. Fundamentally, our universe at the level of matter is composed mostly of hydrogen and helium, 75% and 24%, respectively; only 1% of the known matter is composed of all the other elements. All visible celestial objects known, galaxies, stars, planets and clouds of dust constitute 10% of the mass of the universe; the rest is unidentifiable, undetectable mass which astronomers have termed the dark matter.

Matter has two main characteristics: it occupies a place in space and has a mass. Mass is a fundamental physical magnitude that can be defined as the measure of the amount of matter a body has and which determines its inertia and gravitational properties.

As we have already mentioned, there exists a correspondence between matter and energy and vice versa. Matter can be transformed into energy and energy can likewise be transformed into matter; we can look at matter as a form of energy or energy as a form of matter. However, matter is not energy, nor energy is matter. The flame of a candle, for example, is composed of a mixture of fuel in the form of vapor, oxygen, carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide and water, hence we can call it a matter. However, the light that is produced by the flame is energy; the heat produced is also energy, not matter. The fire in itself, however, is a state of matter.

As an example of energy transforming into matter and matter into energy, we take the combustion of the sun which transforms mass, that is, matter into energy. In turn, by photosynthesis, this energy absorbed by plants is transformed into mass, because it is responsible for their growth.

Matter exists in nature in three states:
Gas – The molecules that make up a gas almost do not attract each other, reason why they move in the void at great speed, with much separation from each other.

Liquid – Liquid molecules are not as close as solid molecules, but are closer than the gas molecules.

Solid – Because it opposes or puts up resistance to changes in shape and volume. The molecules of a solid object have great cohesion between them, so they adopt well-defined forms, resisting therefore, any change of volume or shape.

Plasma – There is a fourth state of matter which is fundamentally a gas made up of electrons and positively charged ions. In our understanding, plasma is not considered a fourth state of matter because it is not a true state, but rather a process; it refers to the exact moment when matter becomes energy. Therefore, it can be considered both as a form or state of matter, and as a form or state of energy.

Our sun is made of plasma. On Earth, thunderbolts are plasma that occur when the atmospheric gas is heated to high temperatures and is ionized by electric currents. Another form of plasma is the solar wind that interacts with the Earth’s magnetic field, creating the aurora borealis. Finally, a form of plasma closest to us, after the plasma TVs disappeared because of their high energy consumption, are the fluorescent lamps that we contemplate every day.

Conclusion
The future of our precious universe does not depend on visible energy or matter, because these are in the minority in the universe. It depends first on the dark energy and dark matter. These two are in struggle with one another, like good and evil; dark matter exerts a centripetal force on the universe; if this wins, the world will collapse on itself.

The dark energy, on the other hand, exerts a centrifugal force on the universe, so if this last one wins the battle, the universe will disintegrate completely: the stars, the solar systems, the galaxies and finally the very atoms, protons, neutrons, electrons and quarks that make up these. It would be the end of the universe.

Since the dark energy corresponds to 72% of the universe, with only 23% being made up of dark matter, it is expected that the dark energy will win out. Collapsing on itself, in case the dark matter wins, or disintegrating if the winner is the dark energy, either way, the universe is doomed. Our only consolation is that we won’t be here to witness it, by then the whole Humanity will be living with its Creator, God.

Our planet Earth is in the last quarter of its life, it has still a billion years left. The universe has been existing for 14 billion years, it may still have 5 billion years more. These facts should be enough to kill any anxiety about an imminent end. What counts though is the principle that the universe had a beginning in God its Creator and in Him will have its end. He who has created everything from nothing, only He can dissolve everything into nothing again.
Fr. Jorge Amaro, IMC

April 1, 2019

3 Attributes of God: Omnipotent - Omniscient - Omnipresent

No comments:
God is a Spirit, infinite, eternal and unchangeable, in his being, wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness, and truth. Westminster shorter cathechism 

God has many attributes. We understand that they can be grouped under these three best known ones that we learn in the catechism and that begin with the Latin word “omni” which means all. Feuerbach would say that these three attributes are human projections, or anthropomorphisms. However, we think that they are more likely the origin and entity where each of these realities resides in its maximum potency and we, being human, know and accept that we will never completely dominate any of these realities.

In contrast with other living beings, we recognize that we have some power over the Creation, but we also know that this power is limited; the omnipotence resides in God alone because he is the Creator and we the created beings. With the advancement of science and technology, we understand more and more. However, we still bear in mind, like Socrates did, that before the immensity of things to know we humbly recognize just how little we do know; the full knowledge resides in God, only he is omniscient.

Time and space are the coordinates of our earthly life; we occupy a single space during a concrete time. However, we recognize that in God is the origin of time and space, and because he is eternal, he is omnipresent. Unlimited in HIS power, not confined by time or space for whom there is no mystery, and thus God is.

Negative theology
I only know that I know nothing, and the fact of knowing this puts me in a position of advantage over those who think they know something. (Socrates)

We are inherently incapacitated to define God, that is, to say what he is and how he came to be, because to define somehow means to know, to encompass, to assimilate, to comprehend, to enclose, as if we could put God inside of us, inside of our mind, like we do with the things and people we know.

In this respect, the Spaniards have a very interesting expression, “te conozco como se te hubiese parido”, I know you as if I had given birth to you. When we want to express how well we know someone, we turn to the figure who knows us the best – our mother. Now, it is not possible to know God very well or well enough. This is how negative theology became confused with the belief of agnosticism, the application of Socratic humility to God as is applied to wisdom in general.

The idea of negative theology was already practiced by the Jewish people, who in recognizing the ineffable immensity of the mystery of God, even avoided pronouncing his name. Along this same line, Saint Matthew the evangelist substituted the expression “the Kingdom of God” used by other evangelists for “the Kingdom of Heaven”.

Even after the apostolic age, negative theology, that is, the idea that it is easier to say what God is not than what God is, remained a constant throughout theological reflections: 

Gregory of Nyssa (335-394), Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite (Sixth Century), Albertus Magnus (1200-1280), Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274), Duns Scotus (1266-1308), Meister Eckhart (1260-1328), and reached its peak in Nicholas of Cusa (1401-1464) who was called “docta ignorantia”, the learned ignorant. And, still in our time, Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906-1945) and Harvey Cox (1929).

Negative theology is a response to the precept of representing God in images (Exodus 20:4), which runs the risk of quickly transforming them into idols. It is also an escape toward the anthropomorphic tendency of projecting our desires and ideals onto God. Very dear to this theology is the idea of human suffering, already dealt with in the Bible in the book of Job, the problem of evil and the silence of God. Negative theology presents God in his capacity to save without exerting any violence on men’s freedom and reason.

We can know a sufficient minimum about God
Then Jesus cried aloud: “Whoever believes in me believes not in me but in him who sent me. And whoever sees me sees him who sent me.” John 12:44-45

We know that we cannot know God fully, to encase, to put his mystery within us. We also know that there is and will always be more of what we don’t know about God than of what we do know. However, we do not want to have the attitude of all or nothing towards God like the agnostics: since I cannot know all then I’m not interested in the subject and I don’t want to know anything.

“We are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand” (Psalm 95:7). It is true that the sheep do not know the shepherd fully, but they can know enough and, more importantly, can distinguish the Good Shepherd from the hired hand (John 10:1-21). Because of this, and because we thirst for God like some Greeks during the time of our Lord, we too want to see Jesus (John 12:21) and like the disciples of John the Baptist, we want to know where he lives. 

And Jesus is interested in making himself known to us and tells us to come and see (John 1:36-39). The creature may come to understand the Creator somewhat, like a child understands his mother enough to have life and life in abundance (John 10:10), and for the Creator to be glorified in us, his creatures.

Beloved, let us love one another, because love is from God; everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, for God is love. 1 John 4:7-8

On one hand, we know from John that God is love. Now then, we cannot love what we do not know, nor can we know what we don’t love. Things, however, can be known without us loving them; but precisely because knowledge implies dominion over the known, we can only know people and make ourselves known to them if we love them.

In this sense, faith is much more than a consent or a yielding of reason: it is to let our heart govern over reason, understanding love, of course, as a need and not as a feeling. We need God’s love, but for this to happen we need to love him as well. In speaking of the vital union between the vine and the branches, Jesus concludes, “Apart from me you can do nothing” (John 15:5).

It is possible to gain a sufficient knowledge of God to establish a relationship with him, and this task has been made much easier after he was revealed in his Son. Jesus of Nazareth is God made man, through whom this relationship has been made easier. In fact, he came to us so that we could go to him; in Jesus, God is less mysterious, in Jesus and through Jesus we can know God enough to love him and to be loved by him. 

We certainly don’t want Feuerbach to laugh at us, so we will not be anthropomorphic, that is, we will not project on God “what we want to be when we grow up”, our dreams, desires, fantasies and delusions of grandeur. Let us use the Word revealed in the Bible, and we will not state anything about God that has not been affirmed there, privileging that word that became flesh in Our Lord Jesus Christ. Surely in this way we will not err, because we hold to the inerrancy of the Bible.

The Kingdom of God is ALREADY present among us since Jesus came and initiated it. But we know that it is STILL NOT present in its fullness. The same can be said of our knowledge of God. We already know something, enough to establish a relationship, but still not everything. One day we will see him as he is. In the meantime, let us contemplate him like the young Francisco, the little shepherd of Fatima, who on referring to his cousin who had seen Our Lord “in that light from Our Lady which penetrated our hearts” and entranced by such beauty, exclaimed, “How wonderful is God!”

Omnipotent
O Lord God, you have only begun to show your servant your greatness and your might; what god in heaven or on earth can perform deeds and mighty acts like yours! Deuteronomy 3:24

Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me? Matthew 20:15

I believe in one God, the Father almighty, Maker of Heaven and Earth, of all things visible and invisible… Catechism of the Catholic Church


With respect to himself, the omnipotence of God manifest itself in the fact that God is autonomous, free, not dependent on anything or anyone, and self-sufficient, not needing anything or anyone. For “just as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself” (John 5:26). He has neither a beginning nor an end, because "he himself is before all things, and in him all things hold together" (Colossians 1:17).

In relation to us, the omnipotence of God manifests itself in the creation of the world, in the plan of salvation, in the incarnation of his Son, because for him, “nothing will be impossible” (Luke 1:37), and also in the sustenance and maintenance of the creation, where everything is ordered with perfection and intelligence.

God is the Lord and Master over all his creatures, and he has unrestricted absolute power and jurisdiction over them. This necessarily follows from the fact that he is God and that the creatures are dependent on him for existence and activity. In the exercise of this power, God is not accountable to anyone; he does not have to justify himself to anyone. “To want is to be able” says the proverb, and we want to believe that this is so; for God, in fact, to want is always to be able but for man, not always.

God is the Lord of all
Yours, O Lord, are the greatness, the power, the glory, the victory, and the majesty; for all that is in the heavens and on the earth is yours; yours is the kingdom, O Lord, and you are exalted as head above all… and you rule over all…” 1 Chronicles 29:11-12

“Do you know what I have done to you? You call me Teacher and Lord – and you are right, for that is what I am. So if I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should do as I have done to you. Very truly, I tell you, servants are not greater than their master, nor are messengers greater than the one who sent them.” John 13:12-16

The dominion and the lordship of God over the world and over each one of us is a service of love. God is the magnanimous King who reigns with justice, slow to anger and rich in mercy. Christ exercised his lordship by washing the feet of his disciples, performing the service of a slave, to tell us that if his lordship manifests itself in service, so then all power must be manifested in this way. The power of God is not abusive, his nobility is not one of blue blood, and his authority is not authoritarian. His dictate is not dictatorship.

God is Love
But Zion said, “The Lord has forsaken me, my Lord has forgotten me.” Can a woman forget her nursing child, or show no compassion for the child of her womb? Even these may forget, yet I will not forget you. See, I have inscribed you on the palms of my hands; your walls are continually before me. Isaiah 49:14-16

Beloved, let us love one another, because love is from God; everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, for God is love. 1 John 4:7-8

Since God does not need anything or anyone, his love is therefore purely unconditional. Since whoever does not love does not know God, then he cannot love God without loving his neighbour; the one in conflict with God is the one who chooses to be and to remain in conflict with his neighbour. 

Omniscient
You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from far away. You search out my path and my lying down, and are acquainted with all my ways. Even before a word is on my tongue, O Lord, you know it completely. Psalm 139:2-4

And before him no creature is hidden, but all are naked and laid bare to the eyes of the one to whom we must render an account. Hebrews 4:13 

This means that God knows all things in a way that is complete, absolute and definitive. His knowledge is infinite and is not subject to any limitation. He does not need to ask for information and he has no doubts. Since he is the Creator of all, nothing remains hidden from him; he knows all our thoughts and is an eyewitness to all our deeds. He knows who is guilty and who is innocent.


Therefore, for God there are no perfect crimes, or things that will never be known; there are no financial or professional secrets, no private lives; everything is public and known to the eyes of God. Nothing escapes him, because he is always attentive. The impunity, the lack of justice, is possible before men, but not before God. Contrary to what happens within us, his knowledge does not increase or decrease, he does not lose his memory and our crimes do not prescribe.

God’s knowledge of the future is as complete as his knowledge of the present and the past. What God knows will happen in the future, will happen unquestionably, because God knows not with possibility, but with certainty. God’s knowledge does not come from things nor does it depend on their behaviour nor because they exist or will exist, but because he, who existed before all things, ordered them to exist and to exist for a determined purpose. For example, God knew of the crucifixion of his Son and foretold it many hundreds of years before his Incarnation.

Is this synonymous to predetermination, that everything is predestined and predetermined by God? No, the fact that God knows what our choices will be does not make us any less free when we do make them. He knows what our choices are going to be, because nothing is unknown to him, but he does not interfere in our freedom to make them: they are entirely our responsibility.

Omnipresent
Where can I go from your spirit? Or where can I flee from your presence? If I ascend to heaven, you are there; if I make my bed in Sheol, you are there. If I take the wings of the morning and settle at the farthest limits of the sea, even there your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me fast. Psalm 139:7-10

God is not limited in any way by time and space. His presence is infinite in such a way that he is present simultaneously at all times and in all places, with all the fullness of his being. This is possible because God is not a material being, but spiritual. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth (John 4:24). Since God is Spirit, he is also invisible to our eyes and inaccessible to any of our senses. But to him, we are not invisible, we cannot hide anything from him.

God is Transcendent and Immanent
Am I a God nearby, says the Lord, and not a God far off? (…) Do I not fill heaven and earth? Jeremiah 23:23-24

“… he is not far from each one of us. For “In him we live and move and have our being…” Acts 17:27-28

To declare that God is transcendent is to say that he is distinct and greater than all his creation, he lives and exists outside of the creation without needing it, because it was him who created it. To state that he is immanent is to say that he is together with his creation, participating and guiding it, and within it in its entirety and in each of its creatures, he is the center, the heart of all things. Nothing that happens is foreign to him.

God is Eternal
Eternity is the negation of time; it is the concept contrary to time and temporality. “Fugit tempus, carpe diem”, time is fleeting, it is in continuous motion, one time gives way to another; eternity however is static, a continuous and stopped carpe diem or seized day. This is one of the attributes that God has and which he shares with us (John 10, 28).

God is Infinite
Even heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain you… 1 King 8:27

Man is finite and limited in his bodily and physical dimension, with well-defined parameters; God, on the other hand, is not defined by any parameters or by any limits, the concepts of infinity and omnipresence are identical in God.

God is Perfect
The God who made the world and everything in it, he who is Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in shrines made by human hands, nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mortals life and breath and all things. Acts 17:24-25

The perfection of God is one of the consequences of his infinite being; everything that is limited and finite is imperfect or perfectible, since the expansion of the parameters implies the approximation to a higher degree of perfection. Consequently, something without limits is better and exceeds in perfection to something that is limited. What holds true for perfection, holds true for the rest of God’s moral attributes such as holiness, justice, mercy, truth, goodness, patience…

God is Immutable
For I the Lord do not change; therefore you, O children of Jacob, have not perished. Malachi 3:6

“...the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.”  James 1:17

The immutability of God has to do with the fact of being perfect; because of this, he is not in the process of growth, or any process of becoming better. He does not change with time, because he is always beyond the time and space that encompass his creatures. Indeed in the Bible, God introduces himself as “I AM WHO I AM” (Exodus 3:14): God is self-referring. And since he has no one above him to swear by, he swears by himself (Genesis 22:16).

Mutability makes reference to a created entity, to incidents or circumstance or to will. Each creature, in one form or another, is subject to changes and has within himself the potential for change or being changed. God, however, is absolute and, in all aspects, is immutable both in his essence and his will; even the possibility of change is completely foreign to God.

Therefore God’s immutability is the consequence of his perfection; changes only take place in those who recognize themselves as imperfect and this only happens to the created beings who recognize themselves as imperfect before the perfection of their Creator. God also does not change his mind, because he is true, knows the truth of everything, and in everything he acts wisely and thus does not err. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and for ever (Hebrews 13:8).

God is Faithful
Know therefore that the Lord your God is God, the faithful God who maintains covenant loyalty with those who love him and keep his commandments, to a thousand generations… Deuteronomy 7:9

When God established the first covenant with Abraham, he ordered him to kill some animals and cut them in half, laying the halves side by side. The custom was that anyone who enters into this covenant should pass through the midst of the divided animals, symbolizing that “what happened to the animals would happen to me if I fail to keep my word”. 

Recognizing the unfaithful nature of man, his inability to keep his word, God passed through the middle, but did not let Abraham do the same. Therefore, if we are faithless, he remains faithful –for he cannot deny himself2 Timothy 2:13.

God is Provident
Father of orphans and protector of widows is God in his holy habitation. God gives the desolate a home to live in; he leads out the prisoners to prosperity… Psalm 68:5-6

“Is there anyone among you who, if your child asks for a fish, will give a snake instead of a fish? Or if the child asks for an egg, will give a scorpion? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!” Luke 11:11-13

God is Father and provident, rich in mercy to all who call upon him, to whom nothing is alien, for he knows when we sit and when we stand. He takes care of us as his children, for we are his people, the sheep of his flock. The type of Father he is, we will never be lacking in anything, therefore, just as children absolutely trust in their parents, so we must be like these children, for only they may enter the Kingdom of Heaven.

A child has this radical trust in his parents and knows that although they will not give him everything he asks for, they will never deprive him of anything that he truly needs. So he asks, asks, and asks, but knows that not all of his requests will be met. Those that are not answered, the negative answers, he receives them thinking that his parents know what is best for him. It is in this spirit that we should receive God's silence and when our requests are not answered; not by being disinterested in God, but with the faith that God knows better than we do what we need in the short, medium and long term.

A child who does not worry about tomorrow, lives carefree but busy; he delegates any concern to his Father, and so we must do the same. For it is not in our power to increase one day of our lives, and however much we may be concerned with what we wear, we shall not dress better than the flowers in the field, and these, God dresses them (Matthew 6:25-34).
Fr. Jorge Amaro, IMC