When searching for a potential Infinite It who speaks and loves, we do not have to look for long to discover... the God of Christianity. To a Christian, this eternal Being is real and very much does speak. However, It’s voice isn't so easy to hear. It’s actually pretty damn hard.
We didn’t always have such a hard time hearing It, though: “In the beginning,” according to Christianity, we were able to easily and frequently converse with this Being.
Interestingly, this once-existing metaphysical wormhole isn’t just religious-talk. There is even serious chatter in the scientific community about new research-based evidence that indicates that the brain is not only wired with an obsession for communication with our homo sapien homies but also designed to connect with the transcendent. Dr. Anna Lembke, Professor and Medical Director of Addiction Medicine at Stanford University School of Medicine, believes the human brain is evolutionarily designed to converse with the supernatural. She said this on The Joe Rogan Experience Podcast:
“I do believe we have a part of our brain that's evolutionarily designed for prayer, and so when we can engage it, that’s super helpful… There is no doubt in my mind there is a part of our brain that needs to be active in that regard and if we neglect it, it's not great for our mental health.”
Upon hearing this, Joe Rogan commented:
“It’s interesting because there’s a real argument that prayer has been a part of human beings since the beginning of time, which is fascinating. I always wondered why…”
This is the answer to that “why,” according to Christianity: we were designed by this Being to have a deep connection to the supernatural. And at the beginning of (conscious) time we were profoundly united with It.
At the beginning of time, homo sapiens could easily communicate through the paranormal wardrobe.
And since conversation was so available, the Infinite It revealed answers to the questions that weigh heaviest on the conscious mind, like “Who are we?” and “Why are we here?” It’s these conversations with this eternal Being that Christianity asserts have been safeguarded and passed down through the ages. In these early encounters with the Infinite, according to the transcripts, It was said to have disclosed something that would forever change our species’ relationships. This Being spoke of Its desire to be our parent: this cosmic “abba” revealed that we had been created out of love and programmed for love. And, according to the reports of these predecessors, in the beginning we were family with Him.
Yet these fresh-off-the-conscious-press ape descendants sold this bond with this parental Being because at times He seemed more like an “transcendental Interferer (to use a phrase C. S. Lewis describes in Surprised by Joy).” As they let the dragon sickness of greed and pride begin to invade their hearts, desiring the material over the spiritual, they annexed their souls with “barbed wire fencing” and a “No Admittance sign.” And, despite being all-powerful, this Abba wouldn't force this unity. He had to let us go.
With this newfound control, our ancestors began to unplug their happiness from their original programming, grasping for satisfaction in all the wrong places: seeking it in those things which give our ape brains sugar highs, like the all too common Breaking Bad lifestyle, or sticking their fingers in the insanity-light-socket of the Dan Bilzerian rich-rich lifestyle. This separation also caused terrible discord in the most sacred of bonds, our families. Now with their minds and hearts ripped from the origin of parental love, many fathers and mothers began to also disconnect their happiness from their own children’s well-being, sometimes even outright abandoning their kids, like Eminem’s dad, to grasp more fully at their selfish schemes for fulfillment.
Without this infinite parental guide and just-finite ape brains to figure out happiness, our ancient ancestors ushered in the dawn of confusion for our species. Because of their choice to disconnect and go at it alone, the voice of this Being and the memory of this “Abba” began to largely fade from our consciousness.
What was once fact and lived experience slowly became spoken of as fiction and folklore.
However this eternal Parent began “digging”... He wouldn’t force this unity upon us; but He was the type of parent that would go “to the edges of the earth” to try and get us back, no matter the cost. And, although we had lost the ability to hear his voice, this Being had schemes of his own.
There was also more to this Omniscient Schemer than our first ancestors realized. Not only was this eternal Being conscious, social and loving; but He was a family. Christianity claims Jesus of Nazareth, the most history-altering figure to walk this planet, revealed himself as being part of this eternal family, who entered into spacetime as part of this strategy to be the Voice of God for us: “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us.” He became one of us, without ceasing to still be who He is, so we could once again hear Them.
But just words weren’t going to be enough for what They wanted to communicate. They desired to do something that would speak of Their desire to have us all reunited with them, even those living thousands of years later like us. They sought a Sign so powerful it could win us back into unification with Them. And “when the time had fully come…” They found Their opportunity.
In the first century A.D., the Roman Empire was the superpower that you didn’t mess with. This army state was tricked out with the largest of infantries and loaded up with the most sophisticated weapons of the ancient world. They had full control of all the Eastern Mediterranean countries, including the capital of the Jewish people, Jerusalem. And in order to keep control of such an enormous empire, they needed to lord over their subjects with great fear. One way to cause fear and trembling throughout the Roman state was to give criminals and political rebels a sign of their future if they messed around.
The Romans were introduced to an ancient African method of execution while fighting Carthage during the Punic Wars in the third century B.C.: Crucifixion. Although Alexander the Great and the Persians brought this instrument of torture to the Eastern Mediterranean countries, the Romans perfected it. And did they ever. According to livescience, “Roman crucifixions were designed to cause maximum pain for a prolonged period — victims' feet and wrists were usually nailed to a wooden cross, which would hold them upright while they suffered a slow and agonizing death, often taking several days…” Given the pain and suffering it entailed, crucifixion spawned the word "excruciating," which means "out of the cross."
Most of the religious leaders of Jesus’ day were full of greed and in bed with the Roman Empire. And as history has shown, politics and religion usually mixes like beer before liquor in the hearts of religious leaders:
“Of all the bad men, religious bad men are the worst (C.S. Lewis).”
When this historical figure known as Jesus of Nazareth came on the scene, testifying to his real identity and winning the crowds with his voice, religious leaders quickly realized he couldn’t be bought off or silenced. Fearful they would lose power (and everything that comes along with it), they plotted to put him to death. They conspired with the political rulers to rid themselves of this celestial rebel once and for all. And on that infamous day, these corrupt religious leaders won over the political elite in trying to cancel the “voice” of God by crucifying him.
“I, when lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself.”
Yet Christianity claims this Voice hung on that instrument of torture not as a criminal, and not as one seeking freedom from political oppression, but as “the Word” who would not be stopped or silenced — the Word that sought unification with us until his last breath. This was his way of communicating to us. The crucifix was the Sign They desired to speak to us that They were here and not giving up, no matter the cost. And that cost to Them was beyond description. The human language just doesn’t have the depth to express what fully happened that day. Not even a movie can do it justice;
what happened that day is something only the Sign can reveal.
But They, who dwell outside of the past-present-and-future, had already weighed the cost and would have done it a thousand times over if it meant being able to reunite with us. This Voice reveals that there is no limit to what They would sacrifice to restore this connection with us once again.
When I realized that there was a possibility that a God like this existed, a God who really communicates and loves like this, I started to feel a type of happiness that I had never experienced before: not a success-oriented happiness focused on money and pleasure — the type of happiness that gives your ape-brain a sugar high then an impending crash. Instead, this was the sort of happiness that hits on the deepest levels of who we are and remains steady and true. If Christianity‘s claims about the Voice were real, and not just some wishful thinking — and as long as there was overwhelming evidence for it — I was in. Emphasis on if. I still needed evidence...
Next Article: The Wardrobe
Is this the first INE article you've read? If you're curious and want to read more, click here to start at the beginning: No One Knows?