I don't remember the source where I first saw the Piano Keyboard illustration, but it was probably back in the early 1980's that I read of it. The Piano Keyboard Theory demonstrates that there is a continuity between what we call physical and what we call spiritual. It is all one great, connected, orderly Creation by our Almighty God!
Secular scientists will tell you that the universe is material in nature. Christians will tell you there is another realm that is spiritual. Perhaps they will tell you the spiritual realm is very different, thinking of angels appearing and disappearing. Maybe God is envisioned as a ghostlike being that is present everywhere at all times. Possibly their perception of the spiritual realm is not of a tangible, material existence at all. The secular world and many Christians are both sometimes poorly informed on the true nature of Creation. (E1)
Is there another plane of existence beyond our physical, material existance? Is there extraterrestrial life in deep space? Are there other dimensions in a Multiverse? Have you ever experienced something you do not fully understand, like a dream of something that later came true? Or have you ever experienced "astral projection," an "out-of-body experience," during a moment of extreme crises? Thoughts and beliefs along any of these lines can lead a person astray from the truth if one is not firmly grounded in the Word of God.
Scientists study their so-called material universe. But religious feelings are hard to deny, especially when new evidences of a higher power seem to appear daily. So, secular fields of study like parapsychology are trying to go beyond the material existence, but while still denying Jesus Christ as God. These fields of study are created by secular investigators to study "the other side" while often not admitting a transcendent God must exist. Many people believe that there is more than our physical eyes alone can perceive, and are led astray by these errant secular philosophies. Countless people claim they have seen unidentified flying objects and erroneously believe they are connected to an advanced alien race from "outer space." Various occult experiences are becoming commonplace. Denial of God coupled with deep religious "feeling" often leads the individual to embrace "New Age" deceptions, such as the worship of Lucifer as the "true" son of God.
For the secular world, understanding the true nature of the universe is difficult, when searching for truth apart from God. In fact, for the secular world, it's impossible.
Let's first examine the material organization of the human body. (E2) We are told that when its components are completely broken down, the atom seems to be its smallest material unit. And we are told the parts of the atom make up a small universe of energy particles orbiting a nucleus of more energy particles. The relatively vast unfilled void between the energy particles is apparently nothing.
Thus our material bodies, in a sense, are only organized points of energy. Since there are vast distances between the energy particles, most of our bodies are a void of "nothing" as far as we can determine. The situation is like a ball on a string being swung around and around by a child at play. If the ball could be swung fast enough, it could prevent you from putting your hand through its path. Its orbit would present a solid front, like a wall, that would seem to materially exist when you came into contact with it. Our bodies, and all the "solid" "matter" in the physical universe acts the same way. It is solid to the touch, but is basically only a form of energy in motion. Matter is a form of energy, as ice is a form of water. That's what we are told by the scientists!
The obvious question occurs to us: Can anything else exist in the vast void between the energy particles?
Most Christians believe man is made of body, spirit, and soul. People who claim to have experienced near death, commonly describe an "out-of-body" experience. Often they say they were present to observe an operation on their physical body from the vantage point of up high above the room. Sometimes they point out that their senses were resident in their "astral" body, which they describe as a ghostlike carbon copy of their physical body. In many cases of astral projection, people claim to travel great distances, sometime involuntarily and sometimes by choice using occult methods, which I believe is a deceptive satanic counterfeit of reality. Can it be possible that an "astral" or "spirit" body may occupy the void between the energy particles of the physical body? If so, of what strange substance is it made from? Could the so-called astral body, the "aura" of New Agers, be equivalent to the spirit?
What about the soul? Most Christians believe the soul is the seat of our intelligence and feelings, and the residence of the knowledge that there is a difference between right and wrong. It is said to be the part of us that instinctively knows there is a God. Does it exist? Could it be a component of the void within us?
Well, beware the claims of the secular and occultic world!
Actually and biblically, a person is composed of a fleshly body, and of the spiritual spirit. The Spirit is the "breath of life". Joined together they make a living human being. There are only the two parts.
What is man when alive? “And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul” (Genesis 2:7, KJV). Mathematically that means: Body + Spirit = A Living Soul, and algebraically it could be stated as a + b = c. We are not a triune being to start with; rather we are a living soul consisting of a from-the-dust physical body and a breath-of-life spirit.
Wikipedia: According to Genesis 2:7 God did not make a body and put a soul into it like a letter into an envelope of dust; rather he formed man's body from the dust, then, by breathing divine breath into it, he made the body of dust alive. The body joined to a spirit becomes alive, a living soul—a whole creature.
What is man when dead? The Bible tells us in Ecclesiastes 9:5,6,10 that “the living know that they shall die: but the dead know not any thing. . . . their love, and their hatred, and their envy, is now perished. . . . Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do [while still living], do it with thy might; for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave, whither thou goest.” In other words when you are dead, you are dead, zip, nothing, having no thoughts, and having no activities any longer upon this fallen earth. The Bible plainly says so.
Also in Psalms 146:4 we see that in death, “His breath goeth forth, he returneth to his earth; in that very day his thoughts perish.” Death is like a very deep sleep. There are no thoughts or emotions, and without thoughts or emotions there can be no consciousness. In death you are physically asleep in the grave, without knowledge, without emotions, and without consciousness.
What happens when we die? Where does the "breath goeth forth" to? The body, of course, goes back to dust, decomposing in the grave or in the kiln. Ecclesiastes 12:7 says "Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it." So, the breath-of-life spirit of man goes back to God, and is not available, not "down here" or "down in the ground," and is thus not available to be conjured up by any witch for so-called communication with the dead.
One's spirit returning to God does not invalidate the judgment. Between death and our resurrection, we are dead. Dead means dead. We are dead to this realm of creation until God brings us back to life. Period. Dead is dead. When we who are saved are bodily resurrected, we are raised incorruptible, instantly clothed in our new flesh and bone eternal body, meeting our Lord in the air as He returns to earth to rule through the Millennium. There simply is no intermediate state of mankind wherein we are floating around like Casper the Friendly Ghost in a disembodied state of existence upon the earth. Our spirit returns to God instantly at our death, but we are dead to this earthly realm. God is currently in Heaven, and that is where our spirit goes at our death.
"Therefore we are always confident, knowing that, whilst we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord... We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord." - 2 Corinthians 5:6,8 (KJV)
The realm with which we are familiar is termed a three-dimensional physical-material realm. The realm which few people understand, (E3) is closely related to our physical-material realm. It is the spiritual-material realm.
Did you catch the full significance of that statement? Plainly understand this: the key to comprehending the true nature of the universe is to realize that there is another completely real realm, another so-called "dimension," long known as the spiritual realm. It is a created realm also. It contains spirit matter just as our "three-dimensional" realm contains physical matter. The KEY to a real all encompassing understanding of all of creation is to understand that the two realms are actually one continuous realm, one continuous creation!
Another way to envision this is to say that all creation is made up of "stuff." Where there was nothing, God created lots of "stuff." Some of this created stuff is a part of the spirit realm, and some of this stuff is a part of our phisical realm. But it is all created "stuff." In our fallen state we cannot normally see the stuff in the spirit realm. We can only see the stuff in our physical realm. Thus we see that our normal definition of "matter" is actually very limiting when trying to understand the big picture of God's creation. To use the word matter rather than the word stuff, requires us to broaden the definition of matter to include the stuff from both the spirit and physical realms. Comprehending all of creation is certainly a huge view to behold. And interestingly, there may be much more of creation that we don't have a clue about!
To demonstrate this concept, envision a piano keyboard in the Piano Keyboard Illustration. The keys each stand for different sets of scientific laws and truths. Each key fits perfectly in the lineup, and all together they represent all of the "stuff," and all of the laws, of all of creation. Each key in the Piano Keyboard Illustration has its own vibration rate.
Continuing, taking half of the whole keyboard, we might designate that combination of keys to represent the laws applicable to the "stuff" of our physical-material realm. Taking the other half of the keyboard, we might designate that combination of keys to represent the laws applicable to the "stuff" of the spiritual-material realm.
For my purposes here, you can use the word "stuff" or the word "matter" as you prefer. The definition for use here is the same. All of creation is the "stuff."
The physical body is native to the physical-material realm, and operates in harmony with the natural laws of that realm. The spirit is native to the spiritual-material realm, and operates in harmony with the laws of the spiritual-material realm.
How can matter exist in the two realms, and be compatible, and co-exist intermingled in the same place? Why can we touch and see much of the matter in our physical-material realm, and yet be normally unaware of matter in the
spiritual-material realm? Some indications and possible answers lie in how mass relates to matter, and in light, motion, and time.
Mass is a property of matter. Gravitational mass is the weight of a material object. Inertial mass is the resistance to change in motion of a material object. Mass, and therefore the possible lack of mass, could apply to matter wherever it exists.
The phenomena of unidentified flying objects indicates that material objects from the spiritual-material realm may not have mass. Only by not being subject to centrifugal force could such objects make right angle turns at the tremendous speeds they do. Centrifugal force is what throws us through windshields in automobile accidents. (Been there, done that!) Objects without weight, and not subject to stress by change in motion, could withstand right angle turns at the speed of light. Beings without mass would not be thrown backwards or forward by instant acceleration or deceleration. With no resistance, propulsive energy could move an object at tremendous speed. An energy beam could instantly propel a spacecraft away from itself at the speed of light, if the energy used were light, if such a thing as "outer space" exists (which is does not. More on that later.)
Perhaps the lack of mass is one of probably many major difference between the matter, between the "stuff," of the two different realms. (B39) Yet by now you should percieve that the so-called "two different realms" are actually just sections of the whole complete one realm of God's magnificent creation.
Certain factors complicate our perception of the true nature of the universe. The creation is under condemnation resulting from sin. A decay process exists, and with the introduction of sin, things are now running down. Even our physical bodies, designed to continually repair themselves and to live forever, are subject to the decay and death process. From birth they age until physical death results. Since sin also occurred in the spiritual-material realm, and since the spiritual-material realm is part of creation, unnatural results must exist throughout all of God's creations. That is why someday God will create a new heaven and earth, to restore everything to its unblemished state. (Note that the focus is only on a new heaven and a new earth, not on a fictional "outer space" of billions of planets.)
No matter the semantics or terminology involved, the informed Christian understands that the above Piano Keyboard Illustration demonstrates a truer comprehension of the Creation! And for as long as the earth's secular scientists keep piecing together this so-called fact and that so-called fact while they arbitrarily discard the true facts that testify to the existence of God and the divinity of Jesus Christ, they will never truly grasp the disciplines they think they are expertly informed in!
Science proves that God exists. God is not dead. God is the Creator of all life and all things. It's the people who believe in the Pseudo-Sciences such as Uniformitarianism and its sub-theories such as Evolution who are dead, spiritually!
Endnotes:
(E1) Poorly informed Christians, like poorly informed non-Christians, are easily led astray by charismatic leaders. Marx, Lenin, Jim Jones and David Koresh, for example. Or by Timothy Leary, or perhaps the Aryan Nation or Black Muslims, or even by the local gang on the block. There are thousands of cults by which the uninformed person can be led astray. Being isolated and/or not having a proper foundation in scriptural knowledge leaves many people open to deception. This also applies to the fields of science and education. "Scientism" is the field of secular, and often incorrect, so-called scientific facts. Much of that field is nothing more than pure deception. The people pushing the globe earth cosmology are, of course, among the Satanically deceived people of earth.
(E2) Biological systems are much more complex than inorganic systems. A complete set of chromosomes necessary for reproduction, for the human, contains about six billion nucleotides, the sequence of which is critical for the survival of the human "kind." Evolutionary development of human life as projected by Uniforitarian Theory is impossible--that make-believe universe is a minimum of ten billion orders of magnitude (10-10,000,000,000 times) too small or too young for life to have occurred by natural processes even in 30 billion years. Special creation by a transcendent Creator is the only plausible explanation for life. (B3)
(E3) The realm of our Creation is only one realm of operation for God. God existed before Creation, before any earthly or heavenly "stuff," and before time was started. God's totality is truly beyond our complete understanding. God is not limited in what He might create.
"Life After Life," by Dr. Raymond A. Moody, Jr., has fooled thousands into believing life after death is blissful for everyone, by recounting near death experiences wherein people encounter a "being of light." In fact, many people die screaming in agony that they are entering the fire of hell. Moody's research was stacked, discounting the ideas of judgement and hell. The being of light is not always Christ the "Light of the World." Often the being of light is Satan the "light-bearer" in disguise.
Florence Bulle says "...examining personal experience can be useful in understanding biblical truths, but we must be wary. Truth is not built on the foundation of subjective experience--our own or others'. Rather, truth is the foundation on which we stand to examine all subjective experience. All subjective experience--visions, dreams, personal perceptions, intuitional concepts--whatever occurs at variance with the Scriptures, must be flatly rejected as fantasy. We must stay alert to the possibility of Satan's intrusion, if not in some visual form of light, then, more often, as some "enlightening" thought or message. His manifestation may be fascinating, easily catching our imagination or interest. But one thing is certain. As we come to know God more and more, as His radiance increasingly fills our lives, we will be far less inclined to go chasing after Satan's counterfeits--whatever form they may take. Death will hold no terror, nor will life's challenges cause us to panic, for God will direct our coming in and our going out." (B4)
Bibliography:
(B1) R. L. Dione, God Drives A Flying Saucer, Bantam Books, Inc., 666 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10019. (The discussion on mass was one of the few correct items in the book.)
(B2) Hugh Ross, The Fingerprint of God, p. 50, (1991) Reasons To Believe, Promise Publishing Co., Orange, CA 92667.
