The Ultimate Reality Show

Genesis 1:1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.

INTRODUCTION

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Reality TV has risen

in recent 4-5 years

to seize the Entertainment World.

Survivor - captured huge ratings

2-3 yrs ago- a show called the Mole

burrowed into the home of Kate Pahls

a Mariemont grandmother,

and a member of this very church

and the Mole captured a large Cincinnati following

for Reality TV as they competed for the money prize

Temptation Island, Big Brother

And a whole series of spin off imitators....

used ordinary people in a competitive situation

where often there’s some process of elimation

till the final victor emerges with the prize.

What is real?

What is reality?

Question is as old as Aristotle

It makes for fascinating science fiction

like the book I read as a teenager

"The Universe Between" by Robert Heinlein

The disciplines of Philosophy, Science, Theology

have a huge interest in answering the question

"What is reality?"

The world view you adopt about reality

will determine your ethics

your search for meaning & significance

Fasten your seat belt:

We’re going for a ride.

Diving to the microscopic depths of knowledge.

Rocketing to edges of the universe.

We are wide-eyed explorers

on the edges of our seats

hunting for truth, digging for knowledge,

searching for reality.

We want solid foundations, solid facts

We want to find

Knowledge & know it

Truth & Trust it

Reality & Rely on it.

But we fear our Beliefs are Baseless

Convictions are illusions

We wonder if we live in the Matrix world.

1999, co-writers/directors

brothers Andy and Larry Wachowski

produced an action/adventure

science fiction, mind bending movie

called the Matrix:

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Basic story line: The world was being run

by a powerful, mechanized, artificial life form,

that totally enslaved human beings,

and strapped people down to harvest them

as a source of energy.

In return, human beings were fed

a computerized world of total illusion

that pumped their brain with the illusion

that they were living an ordinary life of

work, play, love and beauty.

In The Matrix, Neo’s guerrilla training

is conducted via computer simulation.

When Neo asks, "Is this real?"

Morpheus responds,

"What is real? How do you define real?

If you’re talking about what you can feel,

what you can smell, what you can taste and see,

then real is simply electrical signals

interpreted by your brain."

This exchange is what the film is all about.

And it points to a major cultural watershed

that we as Christians dare not ignore.

Cypher (Joe Pantoliano), the Judas figure

in The Matrix, meets with the evil Agent Smith

(Hugo Weaving) at a virtual restaurant and

eats the best-looking virtual steak you’ve ever seen.

"You know," he says, lifting his fork

and eyeing what appears to be

a tasty morsel, "I know that

this steak doesn’t exist.

I know when I put it in my mouth, the Matrix is telling my brain

that it is juicy and delicious.

After nine years, do you know what I’ve realized?"

He takes a big bite. "Ignorance is bliss."

http://www.christianitytoday.com/bc/9b5/9b5027.html

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What is reality?

Head for the microscope, and the universe

becomes a mini verse

Peal back the layers of reality

and you find compounds

molecules, atoms, protons, electrons, neutrons

subatomic particles.....

Head for the telescope

and the universe becomes

a maxi verse of ever enlarging bodies

the earth, the moon, the sun, our solar system

suns / stars, galaxies

The visible matter of stars, planets and dust

makes up only 4 percent of the Universe

© Sloan Digital Sky Survey Andrey Kravtsov and Stefan Gottloeber

(Remnant made up of "dark matter" )

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In 1998, observations of exploding stars

showed that the Universe is

expanding at an ever-increasing rate.

This was a huge surprise - most experts

thought that the expansion should be slowing down.

More elusive still is dark energy,

a force that makes up roughly three-quarters

of the Universe and is pushing the cosmos apart.

http://www.nature.com/nsu/030519/030519-10.html

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Black holes!

Anti-matter!

Dark matter!

Is there any ultimate reality:

any first cause,

any sufficient explanation?

In our limitationshow can we know anything

about that first cause?

In our simplistic understandings

how can we ever hope to rise above

our mental limitations to know our ultimate origin.

Will our search pay off

will our quest find an answer?

Whether you peer through the microscope

or the telescope, I submit to you

that the reality awaiting us.

At the end of the search is adequate cause

an intelligent cause

a personal cause

and that reality is God.

The Bible announces good news.

The Creator, the Cause, the Originator

hasn’t waited till we find him.

God the Creator is seeking to Connect with us.

Gen 1:1 NIV In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.

Notice what it doesn’t say: