Chaotic butterflies

"The Butterfly Effect". The flapping of the wings of one butterfly can set in motion a chain of events which -- like ripples on a pond -- spread out and eventually lead to events on the other side of the planet. Chaos Theory, on the other hand, speculates that Entropy is, over time, leading to a more and greater disorganization to the Universe.

I am by nature an Empiricist, a rationalist, a realist. But I get into as many debates with other scientists as I do with people of faith, because I insist on calling out the assumptions which underlie both science and religion. Scientists assume things all the time. If they didn't, they would never ask questions, experiment, or agree or disagree on anything.

Two good examples of this are the idea of alien lifeforms since the numbers insist on it -- all without a shred (yet, anyway) of proof -- just "the numbers". And Entropy (The Second Law of Thermodynamics). To wit, billions of years ago the Universe was much more ordered and structured. As the Arrow of Time caused entropy (Chaos Theory) to set in, the natural order of things must progress from highly ordered to disordered. This is the theory.

But it is the exact opposite with Evolution, and I have yet to hear or read a scientist explain this. Presumably (there's that assumption kicking in), eons ago there were no human beings, and then slowly over millions of years we did the opposite of entropy -- we evolved from less organized to more and better organization, going from simple-celled organisms to much more complex.

The human brain is hard-wired to recognize patterns. Our minds are so-ordered to fill in the blanks. We learn quickly as infants to separate our parents' faces from all others in our environment. We learn to "fill in the blanks" in the world by "seeing" and "hearing" things that are not always there, but from our experience fit together. Think Rorschach Test. This is why no two witnesses to an accident or crime will agree on every detail. All perspectives and impressions are unique and relative to each individual.

Both Chaos Theory and the Butterfly Effect are, I believe, our way of "filling in the blanks". That is, they are rational devices to explain cause & effect. And cause and effect are, at the most basic level of existence, the result of Time. Without the arrow of time, nothing would ever "happen". Reality would be ceaseless and unchanging. Frozen. All of reality is based on this principle. Not only humans, but all of the Universe moves forward in time. Like struck balls on a billiard table, each time they are set in motion there are slightly different patterns and outcomes. This does make for a messy and unpredictable Reality. But it would appear to be a fact.

So it is with the idea of sin (Evil) and death. Did sin enter the world because of death, or is death a universal outcome due to sin? Presumably, dinosaurs lived and died millions of years before human sin began. The record is there in right under our feet. They died real deaths, all without the first sin. This represents another cause-and-effect question. Chicken and egg. Some speculate, then, that the fear of death is at the root of all sin.

But what is sin?

Most Christians define it at its core as rebellion against the authority of God. That would imply that God has desires and we have desires, and when we do only what we desire, we rebel rather than obey. That is, we sin. This then requires some form of condemnation or punishment, in order to satisfy the need for "justice". I don't care whether you call it "retributive", "rehabilitative", "instructional", "sacrificial", or "substitutional". The order of things has been challenged, and someone must (apparently) answer for that. Someone is "culpable", "responsible". Justice may come -- or mercy -- but consequences can and do come -- moral and ethical cause and effect.

Otherwise, all human activity going back to the first human being is of either neutral or equal moral weight. Empty all the prisons, please. Those people may all be convicted felons, but who condemns them? Why do they live lives of separation?

Now let us go to a Shriner's Orthopedic Hospital for children. These babes were born with faulty DNA. Whose "fault" is that? Is someone to "blame"? Who is responsible for this? Their parents? Their great-great grandparents? Adam and Eve? People who pollute? People who litter? Would anyone suggest that these children themselves have sinned at conception? How about at birth? Age two? Adulthood?

Logically, if I am not "responsible" for my faulty DNA, then how do you explain it vis-a-vis my own "sin"? I did not "cause" it. And if I had no part or choice in this matter, how can anyone accuse me of anything "rebellious"? Somewhere along the road from my conception to my death I might have real choices to make, but at its very essence -- my DNA -- my life has never been under my authority or control, and therefore the whole concept of sin/responsibility/culpability has broken down. Without any bitterness I say this: I am not here "because" of me.

Someone else is obviously in charge, without any input from me. I did not rebel against God, unless by this you mean that I am physically alive. You cannot arbitrarily say that at some magic moment I became "responsible". That's angel-dancing territory. Either I always was, or I never was.

I do not know whether entropy is "real" or only apparent. It does seem true that all effects are, above all else, the result of causes. The Arrow of Time. That much seems certain. But perhaps there is an unseen dimension controlled by forces we do not understand. A Prime Mover. A First Source. Someone to start the ball rolling. Or this idea is simply more filling in of the blanks.