The Science of Darkness

Does it seem like the darkness is growing in our world? Things are certainly getting dark. Time for some science. There are two phrases that we often use, but actually they do not exist. We talk of cold and dark. There is no such thing as “cold.”

There is heat and there is the lack of heat. You cannot grow or increase cold. You can only add or remove heat. The total lack of heat is called absolute zero. It does not exist anywhere in the universe, because there is a little heat everywhere. Just not very much. So you can eliminate the cold feeling by adding heat. Even in the summer, we do not add cold to our houses with air conditioning. We take heat out.

Darkness is the same thing. And in fact, light, the opposite of darkness, is even a form of energy, so it falls into the same category as the discussion of “cold.” We say things are getting dark. But in reality, we are measuring or observing the decrease of light. You cannot “turn on” the dark. You just turn off the light. What is left, we call darkness. But is really nothing. (Or a lot less than before.)

How does that apply to anything? We often hear arguments about, “How could a ‘good God’ create evil?” And the answer is that He did not. He is good. And when He is excluded from lives and society we have a deficit of good. That is called evil. God did not create cold, or dark, or evil. He created (or was) heat, and light, and good. When we choose to limit or even eliminate God or heat or light we end up with a dearth.

Would a “good God” force everyone to accept Him? This is a moral question, and the answer has to be, “No.” Does your computer love or respect you when you type instructions on the keyboard and it executes them? In the same way, had God given us no choice, we would have been protoplasmic circuits responding to the input of a Sovereign creator.

Example: Some societies have a system where the male searches for a “suitable” mate, negotiates with her “owners,” and takes her home. Is that love? It can turn into love, if it has the option of not doing so. But if the life is completely regimented, no love will sprout.

God wanted to give us the glorious opportunity of loving Him. In order for that to happen, He had to allow us the option of refusing. This is what we commonly call “free will.” The entire gamut of life can be encapsulated in this concept. We can choose to love and revere or reject and despise.

But if we reject God and good, the consequence is no God and no good. Since God is good, as the old saying goes, “You can’t have one without the other.”

So is darkness increasing in our world? Sadly, the answer is, “No.” But it is getting darker. That is because the light is diminishing. Those who know and love God are not “letting their light shine.” That is you and me, brother. Jesus said,
Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven. Matthew 5:16

If the world is getting darker, we must not be producing a glow of good works that points people to the source of good and light. We cannot blame darkness. We have to confess the lack of light on our part.

Let it glow.