Infinity and Eternal Progression, Part I

I.
“It is the privilege of man to search out the wisdom of God pertaining to the earth and the heavens.” Brigham Young, Mar 06, 1862, JD 9:242

Moses 1:35  … there are many worlds that have passed away by the word of my power. And there are many that now stand, and innumerable are they unto man; but all things are numbered unto me, for they are mine and I know them. …

37 And the Lord God spake unto Moses, saying: The heavens, they are many, and they cannot be numbered unto man; but they are numbered unto me, for they are mine.

II.

The above verses in the Book of Moses show that the universe is finite. How? This scripture states that mortals in the early 1800s, when this revelation was given, were not able to count all of the worlds, heavens, etc. in the universe, but God could and has. In other words, if they were an infinite number to Him also, then He could not count them either. However, since He counted all of them and assigned a number to each, then there are to Him a finite number of them.

III.

Part I: The Past

For mainstream Christendom, our lives began only a few years ago, when God magically created us. Then in a few years, if we did not confess Christ, we wither eternally in fire and damnation. Those lucky few who did will play harps praising God and sit on clouds forever.

But for true Christians, there never was a time when we did not exist. We are each eternally and primordially kernels of intelligence, with a will to search out a fulness of joy through organization with other lesser intelligences – forming for us, first a spirit body, then combined with mortal substance to organize a mortal body, and then next to resurrect the sum of it into a resurrected body.

“… the mind of man does not reach that any more than it comprehends the heaven beyond the bounds of time and space in which the Christians expect to sit and sing themselves away to everlasting bliss, and where they say they shall live for ever and for ever.

If we can look forward we can actually comprehend a little of the idea that we shall live for ever and ever; but you take a rear-sight, and try and contemplate and meditate upon the fact there never was a beginning and you are lost at once.

The present and the future we can comprehend some little about, but the past is all blank, and it is right and reasonable that it should be so. But if we are faithful in the things of God they will open up, open up, open up, our minds will expand, reach forth and receive more and more, and by and by we can begin to see that the Gods have been for ever and for ever.” Brigham Young, Deseret News, June 18, 1873, in vol. XXII, No. 20, pp. 308, 309.

IV.

The particles of this universe have a finite count, known to God. When we consider that we have existed forever, we might begin to wonder why it is that we have not progressed further than where we are now. Just think – only now we are starting our lives in mortality? Only now, are we finding ourselves in a position to venture onto godhood? Why weren’t we here ten trillion googleplex eternities ago? And that number is just a drop in the bucket when compared to the eternities before that – there never being a first eternity when we existed! Maybe we were in this position before.

Ecclesiastes 1:9  The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun.

10  Is there any thing whereof it may be said, See, this is new? it hath been already of old time, which was before us.

11  There is no remembrance of former things; neither shall there be any remembrance of things that are to come with those that shall come after.

V.

As far as eternities go, it is reasonable to declare that there is nothing new. Because, if we consider that for the first time in all of the eternities, this new plan has been devised to save mankind, or that for the first time in all of the eternal eternities the Big Bang occurred – we must ask ourselves, how? What changed so that this time something new happened that never happened before. We must conclude that no new compilation now exists that never existed before. In the lottery of the eternities, every number will eventually come up, even if that number is as big as the number of particles in the entire universe. Moreover, it will eventually come up again, and again, ad infinitum.

Infinity and Eternal Progression, Part II

Part II: The Future

VI.
This brings us to another point - Eternal Progression. The natural question then is “Why isn’t everyone who could be a God, already one?” And another, “Why isn’t everything that is, further advanced than it already is, since there was never a beginning to being?”

According to science, the universe began 13.7+ billion years ago with a Big Bang. They claim nothing existed prior to that occurrence. We know better. We have already shown in previous discussions that all “matter” is uncreated, self-existent, and hence has always existed. We have also shown that everything that exists is either organizing or disorganizing. Therefore, there must have been previous to this latest Big Bang previous Big Bangs. Obviously, they didn’t turn out so well – we are still not full-fledged Gods.
VII.

The universe is finite. There are only so many particles, atoms, quarks, etc. and no more, and no less. Anything that has a beginning will have an end. Organization of substance had a beginning; hence, organization will have an end, when it can no longer progress into a higher state of existence. When we read of something having no beginning or end, we must consider the context or idea presented, and that the only thing that has no beginning or end are elementary particles of intelligence in their native element state.

It is necessary for us to have an understanding of God himself in the beginning. …

The scriptures inform us that “This is life eternal that they might know thee, the only true god, and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent.” …

God himself was once as we are now, and is an exalted man, and sits enthroned in yonder heavens! That is the great secret. … it is necessary we should understand the character and being of God and how he came to be so; for I am going to tell you of how god came to be God.

We have imagined and supposed that God was God from all eternity. I will refute that idea, and take away the veil, so that you may see.

These are incomprehensible ideas to some, but they are simple. It is the first principle of the gospel to know for a certainty the character of God, and to know that we may converse with Him as man converses with another, and that He was once a man like us; yea, that God himself, the Father of us all, dwelt on an earth, the same as Jesus Christ Himself did; and I will show it from the Bible. …

Element had an existence from the time He had. The pure principles of element are principles which can never be destroyed; they may be organized and re-organized, but not destroyed. They had no beginning and can have no end. …

The mind or the intelligence which man possesses is co-equal [co-eternal] with God himself. … I want to reason more on the spirit of man; for I am dwelling on the body and spirit of man – on the subject of the dead.

I take my ring from my finger and liken it unto the mind of man – the immortal part, because it had no beginning. Suppose you cut it in two; then it has a beginning and an end; but join it again, and it continues one eternal round. So with the spirit of man. As the Lord liveth, if it had a beginning, it will have an end. …

Intelligence is eternal and exists upon a self-existent principle. It is a spirit from age to age and there is no creation about it.  Excerpts from the great King Follett discourse by Joseph Smith, Jr., delivered Apr. 07, 1844 DHC Vol. VI, pp.302-317.

VIII.

How long will the universe last? Some have estimated it will last about 100 billion years, before it ceases to be a universe – just aimless particles branching out forever into empty space, or retract back into a Big Crunch only to start over again in another Big Bang. Others theorize the universe will be swallowed by a gigantic black hole and then start all over again. Still others say it will last 1 googleplex (a 1 followed by 1,000 zeroes) years or longer.

Reference Reads: http://www.bigsiteofamazingfacts.com/how-long-will-the-universe-exist

http://www.googolplexian.com/

http://big-bang-theory.com/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Crunch

http://www.wisegeek.com/how-long-will-the-universe-last.htm

IX.

Choices we have:

·        The universe will last forever. It has forever existed. The universe has a finite number of particles. Since everything hasn’t maxed out* its progression by now, then there must be a wall to progression. This choice is not viable because there is no end to progression, except possibly the end of the universe.

·        God emigrated here from another universe. That universe must have maxed out, so the gods had to go somewhere else in order to keep progressing. Why did that one take so long to max out, since it too eternally existed? Why was their universe finally able to produce gods after an eternity of failure? What was new there? What could possibly be different this time around, after a zillion googleplex eternities (and that number is only a beginning to the count of past eternities that never has a first one)? This choice is not viable because it infers that something new happened there for the first time to break the mold they were in, in an endless stream of past possible possibilities. However, see Part III, XIV.

·        The universe started again about 14 billion years ago. It is a repeat of past processes to exist forever in some fully organized state of a fulness of joy where everything is maxed out in perfection.

·       

D&C 93:33  For man is spirit.  The elements are eternal, and spirit and element, inseparably connected, receive a fulness of joy;

34    And when separated, man cannot receive a fulness of joy.

X.
 This is the way it always has been and always will be. There is no special moment in the endless eternities of past Big Bangs or Big Freezes where Gods are now finally able to be produced, whereas never before has this happened or could happen. This choice is viable, because it addresses the finiteness of the universe and demands that all things possible that can be are continuously constant.