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Humans live in a three-dimensional world. The three dimensions are commonly called length, width, and height. A cube is a typical three dimensional object:
If you unfold a cube you get this:
In Euclid's famous "Elements" treatise two thousand years ago, Euclid, the father of Geometry, said that "a point has no dimension at all. A line has only one dimension: length. A plane has two dimensions: length and breadth. A solid has three dimensions: length, breadth, and height. And there it stops. Nothing has four dimensions."
Euclid's axioms spawned Euclidean Geometry, and for two thousand years that was it, there was only Euclidean Geometry (and three dimensions). Then "In 1854, George Bernhard Riemann broke the cult position that the Euclidean geometry had for two thousand years with the introduction of the theory of higher dimensions. In the paper "On the hypotheses which lie at the foundation of geometry", Riemann exposed the novel properties of higher dimensional space and demonstrated that Euclid's geometry is based only in the perception." In other words, there ARE more than three dimensions!
If it was only in 1854 that mathematicians began experimenting with geometric representations in space and in math of objects in the fourth dimension... If Euclid said that there's 'length, breadth, and height and there it stops', how then could the bible speak of four dimensions two thousand years ago as here in Ephesians-
"so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; and that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge ..." (Ephesians 3:17-19a)
Do you want depth of vision? A four dimensional world has length, breadth, height, and depth!
Stay with me here: "Three-dimensional objects are bounded by two-dimensional surfaces: a cube is bounded by 6 squares. A four-dimensional cube, known as a tesseract, is bounded by 8 cubes." A tesseract is a hypercube, a square figure with four dimensions to it, like a cube has three, and a square has two. Since we are three-dimensional humans, we can't really accurately depict a four-dimensional object, but the closest we can come is this: a sort of cube within a cube with other cubes adjacent along each plane-
The 4D cube (tesseract) can be unfolded into eight cubes, just as the cube can be unfolded into six squares. There are three cubes meeting at every vertex ... You see it gets complicated fast. If you unfold a 4D (tesseract, also known as a hypercube) it will look like this:
And once more for effect, an unfolded 3D cube and an unfolded 4D hypercube next to each other:
Albert Gleizes said, "Beyond the three dimensions of Euclid we have added another, the fourth dimension, which is to say, the figuration of space, the measure of the infinite," The fourth dimension is the measure of the infinite. As soon as we go from the 3D solid to the 4D we go from known and understandable solid to the infinite. In the Ephesians passage, the breadth and length and height and depth of His love, is so far from our limited understanding,"it surpasses knowledge".
Salvador Dali captured the infinite love of God in his work, "Crucifixion." In that famous work, Dali showed Christ on an unfolded hypercube, ascending. If unfolded again, the shadow of the 3D hypercube hovering over the tiles below becomes a 2D representation of the tiles on the ground. Dali knew the mathematical principles behind his work and was purposeful in showing Christ as Master over four dimensions, and three, and two. Just as Ephesians says. The 'son of God' Himself is, by the way, a 3D representation of the 4D God.
The point in all this is not only that the bible once again wrote about maths and science that humans didn't "know" until centuries later (a spherical earth, gravity, nuclear weapons, four dimensions) but of the infinite depths of His love, love that exists in dimensions "which surpasses knowledge."
And he loves you. He knows you: your name, the number of hairs on your head. He knew you before you were born. He wants to be with you, He delights in you. Won't you accept His gift of love and repent of your sins so that you can be with Him? His love may surpass our knowledge but it certainly doesn't surpass our ability to receive it.
If you unfold a cube you get this:
In Euclid's famous "Elements" treatise two thousand years ago, Euclid, the father of Geometry, said that "a point has no dimension at all. A line has only one dimension: length. A plane has two dimensions: length and breadth. A solid has three dimensions: length, breadth, and height. And there it stops. Nothing has four dimensions."
Euclid's axioms spawned Euclidean Geometry, and for two thousand years that was it, there was only Euclidean Geometry (and three dimensions). Then "In 1854, George Bernhard Riemann broke the cult position that the Euclidean geometry had for two thousand years with the introduction of the theory of higher dimensions. In the paper "On the hypotheses which lie at the foundation of geometry", Riemann exposed the novel properties of higher dimensional space and demonstrated that Euclid's geometry is based only in the perception." In other words, there ARE more than three dimensions!
If it was only in 1854 that mathematicians began experimenting with geometric representations in space and in math of objects in the fourth dimension... If Euclid said that there's 'length, breadth, and height and there it stops', how then could the bible speak of four dimensions two thousand years ago as here in Ephesians-
"so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; and that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge ..." (Ephesians 3:17-19a)
Do you want depth of vision? A four dimensional world has length, breadth, height, and depth!
Stay with me here: "Three-dimensional objects are bounded by two-dimensional surfaces: a cube is bounded by 6 squares. A four-dimensional cube, known as a tesseract, is bounded by 8 cubes." A tesseract is a hypercube, a square figure with four dimensions to it, like a cube has three, and a square has two. Since we are three-dimensional humans, we can't really accurately depict a four-dimensional object, but the closest we can come is this: a sort of cube within a cube with other cubes adjacent along each plane-
The 4D cube (tesseract) can be unfolded into eight cubes, just as the cube can be unfolded into six squares. There are three cubes meeting at every vertex ... You see it gets complicated fast. If you unfold a 4D (tesseract, also known as a hypercube) it will look like this:
And once more for effect, an unfolded 3D cube and an unfolded 4D hypercube next to each other:
Albert Gleizes said, "Beyond the three dimensions of Euclid we have added another, the fourth dimension, which is to say, the figuration of space, the measure of the infinite," The fourth dimension is the measure of the infinite. As soon as we go from the 3D solid to the 4D we go from known and understandable solid to the infinite. In the Ephesians passage, the breadth and length and height and depth of His love, is so far from our limited understanding,"it surpasses knowledge".
Salvador Dali captured the infinite love of God in his work, "Crucifixion." In that famous work, Dali showed Christ on an unfolded hypercube, ascending. If unfolded again, the shadow of the 3D hypercube hovering over the tiles below becomes a 2D representation of the tiles on the ground. Dali knew the mathematical principles behind his work and was purposeful in showing Christ as Master over four dimensions, and three, and two. Just as Ephesians says. The 'son of God' Himself is, by the way, a 3D representation of the 4D God.
The point in all this is not only that the bible once again wrote about maths and science that humans didn't "know" until centuries later (a spherical earth, gravity, nuclear weapons, four dimensions) but of the infinite depths of His love, love that exists in dimensions "which surpasses knowledge."
And he loves you. He knows you: your name, the number of hairs on your head. He knew you before you were born. He wants to be with you, He delights in you. Won't you accept His gift of love and repent of your sins so that you can be with Him? His love may surpass our knowledge but it certainly doesn't surpass our ability to receive it.
Excellent post, Elizabeth. Even I, who am a mathematically challenged person, received it, digested it, and found it to be very sweet! God is so good! When I got up this morning, I was treated to the most beautiful moon and Jupiter in my eastern sky. I wish I had a strong enough camera to catch it, but I don't. Enjoy this beautiful day!
ReplyDeleteKim
Thank you so much Kim! I love it when the Spirit reveals to me something in a verse that is scientifically or mathematically quantifiable that wasn't "discovered" until thousands of years later!
ReplyDeleteThis was a pain to read. I don't know where did you get such an idea from... I cannot even begin to find words to say how retarded this is.
ReplyDeleteI'll give you this: people like you who are desperately trying to find some justification or an excuse for religion seem to be insecure about their faith.
Faith is irrational and religion is not and does not need to be connected to reality. That does not make them any less important.
Religion IS NOT "scientifically or mathematically quantifiable".
Hello Anonymous,
ReplyDeleteI'm sorry you are so distressed by what I wrote, so a double thank you for reading it AND commenting.
If you feel that religion is retarded then you must also believe 5 billion people of the world are also retarded, for that is estimated on how many believe in a higher being.
You're correct though, God cannot be scientifically or mathematically quantifiable. That is because He is supernatural. However, the bible does mention math and science facts that the existing civilizations at the time were supposed not to know. It was the point of hte essay, and it IS a fact. Just look at a pyramid if you disagree.
Elizabeth:
ReplyDeleteI know this was posted a year ago, but I would like to point out that the usage of "non-Euclidean" in general mathematics refers to geometries for which Euclid's fifth postulate (the nature of parallel lines) is redefined. As a result, "parallel" lines may curve away from each other or intersect instead of remaining parallel, and many typical geometric laws (such as the sum of the degrees of a triangle equals 180) do not apply. While general Euclidean space indeed contains no more than three dimensions, this post would better have been titled "Super-Dimensionality in the Bible. Really."
On another note, your post is well-written and the existence of dimensions in excess of three is certainly not "retarded" (SSDF's post, above). However, I believe you have missed his/her point: that faith needs no justification. But while this is certainly true, I believe that it would be best if science and religion accurately reflect Truth.
Well, since I don't expect myself to return here (the net is vast), I will say Goodbye.
Thank you for pointing these things out. I hope you do come back :)
DeleteIt's supposed to read Strongs expanded exhaustive concordance auto correct on phones are a pain sometimes. Sorry
ReplyDeleteLove it! We see things similarly. God is above 4D, but this is a beautiful representation of our step up into what most call or believe is spirit.
ReplyDeleteAlso. . . Christ upset some people thinking outside the "box" as well ;)
ReplyDeleteStay positive <3