What do Flat Earthers, scientists, and the Bible have in common?

 

In a recent online conversation about biblical views on creation, I was struck by an interesting and almost paradoxical truth. And the truth  is this: There is a strange point of agreement between current thinking in science, the Flat Earthers, and the text of the Old Testament - And the connected truth is that none of these viewpoints see the Sun as the centre of the universe.

OK, perhaps it seems like a false point of agreement. After all, the Bible and Flat Earthers talk about a Sun and Moon that go around the earth, whereas science talks about a solar system where the Earth goes around the Sun. However, I think there is a deeper sense of agreement to be found, particularly between the Genesis account of creation and our modern scientific understanding. Genesis does not discuss a centre of the universe as such, rather it simply describes the Moon, stars and Sun as lights in the sky. It has no point to make about absolute position, only the position relative to the ground we walk on, relative to the viewpoint of the human observer.

In addition, it makes no comment about the Earth being specifically flat. this is partly because Hebrew has no language to speak of a ‘planet’ Earth: It simply speaks of the ground beneath us and the sky above. But it is also because the specific notion of 'flatness' is absent from the description.

As we read the text of Genesis 1, we might interpret the ground as being flat or level, because that is a traditional interpretation. The language of flatness was available to the writer, but that language is not used in Genesis 1. In fact, we are far more likely today to use idioms like ‘get my feet back on level ground’ or ‘lying flat on the ground’ than the scribes of the Bible ever did.

Genesis speaks of waters above and below, and it speaks of expanses, vaults or as some translations suggest, perhaps a dome, but nothing flat. It is only when we are battling between a universe with the Earth as its centre, and a universe with the Sun at its centre, that the text of Genesis feels out of place.

There is a tendency these days to seek conflict, even when that conflict does not exist. It is easy to forget, when people argue about the disagreements between science and religion, that we no longer live in a world where scientists see the Sun as the centre of our universe. That was only a brief and passing step along the way to where we are today. 

Now we know that our Sun is just another star, like all the other stars in the sky; like all the other lights that fill our night sky. Yes, we have moved from the Sun moving around the earth to the earth moving around the Sun, but in the vastness of the universe, that is a minor detail. Once we take on a universe where the earth beneath our feet is like the earth of any other terrestrial planet, spinning around any other star, in any other galaxy, that conflict should begin to dissipate.

We stand on ground like that of any other rock at any distance from the centre of the universe and at any moment since the big bang. In this light that view of a universe in Genesis 1, seen by humans standing on the ground with their eyes fixed upon the mysterious lights in the sky, seems as true now as it did, thousands of years ago when Genesis 1 was first written down.

14 Ways to Embrace a Fractal Theology

Some suggestions for applying a Fractal Theology to our congregations and our lives.

A fractal tree based on the sending out of the 12 & the 72

1. Always ask why.

Never plan anything just on the basis of ‘what are we going to do?’ Always include the question ‘why are we doing this?’ Ask if the two parts fit together. This is how we keep root and branches connected and how we know if the pattern of our actions reflects something of God. (John 15:1-11)

2. Recognise that we teach by our actions

We teach by our actions, so the way we share our message speaks as loudly as the message itself. The Church we grow will learn all the good and bad habits of its leadership, and probably more deeply than the words that are spoken. So always compare the message being shared with the method of sharing – if the two are telling a different story then the message will be affected. (John 15:12-17)

3. Check if your message is true.

If the message of faith being shared is at odds with the world around, then ask why? It may be because the world around needs to change to respond to the message or it may be that your message needs to be corrected. If the created world reflects God, then it is not all sin out there, and all good in here. The message we share may well challenge the behaviour of people around us and how people see the world. Yet it should not be at odds with reality, and should equally offer challenge to ourselves. There is only one creation and all its internal patterns will be self-similar, not made from separate designs. (Romans 1:20)

4. Make actions as specific to the context as possible, but make the reasoning universal.

Presume that if something is true in one place, then its reason for being true is true everywhere. If it is true at one level of organisation, it is true at all levels – even when it does not appear so. God’s plans are universal, but they may appear very differently in different situations. Where there are things that seem true in one place and not in another, it is because we are looking at the outward expression of that truth, not the inner reason. If the inner reasoning does not match, then a mistake has been made. Contrary to the beliefs of most congregations, every village, town or city is both equally unique in outward expression and equally similar to the others in terms of the underlying reasons. (Acts 17:22-34)

5. Recognise that nothing is complete.

Fractal patterns can never be perfect in this world and even within the biggest computer, its shape cannot be calculated to an infinite level. So everything we do is moving towards that perfection, but never gets there. This is not a mistake; it is part of God’s design. Therefore, we should neither despair at our lack of perfection, nor should we pretend that anything is as good as it could be. Being incomplete reflects creation and shows that we are alive. (Heb. 7:19)

6. Recognise that the Bible contains fractal patterns.

The scriptures offer stories, parable, sayings and instructions that speak about God’s inner reasoning. These outweigh the importance of Biblical rules based on the outward behaviour of people, or the outward expressions of those inner ideas. The outward behaviour rules are more tied to the situation, they are less perfect and less universal. This idea is clearly expressed in Matthew 22:37-40. In these verses, Jesus talks about our love for God, and our love for others as if it should be the central fractal pattern for all our theology. This is also what God seems to be telling us through the prophets when we hear about a law that is written on our hearts. It is also at the root of many disputes between Jesus and the Pharisees. The Pharisees are able to twist the rules of outward behaviour to their own advantage, whereas Jesus wants them to look at the inner reasoning that is true and just for all people. (Jer. 31:33, Rom. 2:15, Heb. 8:10, Heb. 10:16)

7. Recognise that numbers tell a vital part of our story, but we need to learn to read that story properly.

 Congregations should never simply be measured on the basis of how many turn up on a Sunday morning. Small numbers do not necessarily mean a congregation is failing, but stagnation at any scale is self-similar to death. Sharp decline may tell us that there is a problem, but not what the problem is. It is an outer expression of an inner issue. Not all growth is good; a congregation that grows rapidly from, a flawed message, a message shared in an unethical way, or an organisation that is not prepared, can become like a cancerous growth. Good growth is about the transformation of individuals and communities towards being more Christlike. Measuring this is not simple and cannot be done by just adding up numbers of people. Rather it is done by recognition of patterns and counting the ways in which those better patterns are being expressed. (Ex. 33:13, Job 21:14, Psa. 67:2, Psa. 139:3)

8. Events work well with big numbers, but discipleship only works with small numbers.

(feeding the 5,000 Luke 9:12-17, calling the 12, Luke 9:1) Luke’s Gospel shows Jesus to be using a pattern of leadership with a ratio of 1 or 2 to 12 (sending out of the 12 and 72, Luke 9:1-6 & 10:1-20). 2 to 12 as a ratio for discipleship keeps relationships close, stress low and keeps leaders safe in pairs. That ratio can be repeated at many levels of scale in our organisations.

9. Put things in perspective.

Fractals have levels of scale or iteration and in Fractal Theology it is sometimes useful to think about how we might break information up into useful levels of iteration, such as local, national, global. As a Methodist, I often think about the levels of Connexion, district, circuit, congregation, member. It is useful to ask whether the fullest iterations of church coincide with those levels or somewhere in between them. Also, this method might help us to put bits of theology into hierarchies of iteration. Not necessarily to say one is more important than the other, but to ask which ones are dependent on others and how they relate to each other. It is for example useless having a theology of how we treat church building assets if we don’t have a theology of the environment. A well-maintained chapel on a dead planet is of little use to anyone.

10. Put things in Balance.

Congregations can easily get out of balance. It’s easy to spot when a congregation is mostly elderly, mostly young, mostly women etc. It may not be so obvious just by looking that a congregation may have become mostly introverts, mostly practical workers, mostly evangelists. There are several ways of making those kinds of division, but it is useful to pick some categories and find a method of assessing a congregation’s balance. Knowing that there is an imbalance doesn’t solve the problem, but it will help explain some problems and will help a congregation to look for ways to reset those imbalances.

11. Learn to be embrace the abstract.

Christians are often committed to a life of practical service, and rightly so. But in any healthy Christian community there needs to be people who can think about the ideas behind the practice; to think about the underlying reasoning and ask the questions that busy practical people don’t have time to ask. More importantly, we need to give them time to be heard. Those who struggle with the abstract often mistake simple for simplistic. Simplistic is easy but often wrong, simple is usually the result of much deep thought and observation. Avoiding elitism and being accessible to all is deeply Christlike, but mistaking that for wilful ignorance and reverse snobbery is dangerous and disturbingly common. Not everyone can process all the information and ideas needed to be able to map out fractal patterns. However, we can all train our instinctive sense of what is beautiful, to recognise the shape of patterns that echo God’s call to love and justice for all humanity.  (John 1)

12. Be prepared to adjust your thinking.

Sometimes we encounter people from other cultures, religions and even from our own, who see the world differently. It is the same created world and its truths are universal. Others may have seen something from another perspective that may help enrich our view. The question should not be ‘who is right and who is wrong?’, but rather ‘what underlying truth connects these two differing perceptions?’. (Luke 10:29-37) (Matt. 2)

13. Be prepared to adjust your plans.

Sometimes the results of what we do, are not what was planned. This may be because our pattern is wrong, but it may also be because there are many variables that we don’t understand. People tend to assume that the connection between a plan and its results is a straight line. Fractals remind us that most things exist in a far more complex state of chaos, but if we are paying attention, we can see patterns within the chaos. It would be impossible to understand how every variable affects the outcomes of our plans, but what we can do is observe the effect of adjusting little things. Perhaps more importantly we should become more aware of the difference between surface adjustments that suit particular people’s preferences, and changes to the underlying reasons. (Josh 6.)

14. Be prepared to expand your Universe.

Not only are there people out there with different religions and ideas, but there is also an entire universe out there with a vast amount of stuff that we don’t yet understand. There are many scientists working to better understand our universe and it is vital that our theology does not deny science or try to create divisions between these aspects of the truth. If Christ was there from the beginning of creation, then our view of salvation and our understanding of the universe should also be understood as part of one single pattern of action by God. A good Fractal Theology should be one that prepares us to live way beyond the narrow traditions of our past, but knows how to learn the universal wisdom gained from those traditions. (John 1)

Fractal Theology - A Simple Definition

People often ask me if I can give a simple description of what Fractal Theology is. This is the most simple version I have managed so far:

What is Fractal Theology?

• Fractal Theology recognises that, if the universe is God’s creation, and creation is better described using fractals (patterns that repeat at many scales), then God’s actions and intentions in general will be better described in a fractal way.
• Fractal Theology explores how the created world, how our actions as believers, and how our religious organisations follow patterns that are similar to descriptions of God and descriptions of God’s instructions to us.
• Fractal Theology asks if these patterns are repeated in various ways, in our lives, in our Churches, and in the way we treat each other.
• Fractal Theology challenges us to question why these patterns don’t always match up; does our image of God need correcting, does our response to that image need correcting, or is it a little of both?
• Fractal Theology sees the Kingdom of God, as spoken of in the Gospels, less like an earthly kingdom, and more as people and creation, ruled by good patterns of living that are rooted in patterns of their creator. 

What is a Fractal?

A fractal is a shape, a pattern, an idea, or a thing that has self-similarity. Self-similarity means it has parts that are similar to the whole of it. Fractals can be self-similar to many levels of scale. Fractals are a useful way of describing things in the world that don’t look like squares, triangles, circles, etc. They are a relatively simple way of describing very complicated things more accurately. A tree might be described as a green sphere on top of a brown cylinder, but that would be a very poor description. We could describe a tree far more accurately in terms of how its twigs and branches divide and sub divide at each level in a way that is similar to the whole tree. All we need to know is where the shoots come off of the branch, the angle of the divide and the relative change of size at each division. From these bits of information, we can build an image of the whole tree. In theory, a fractal can be infinitely self-similar and perfect, but in the real-world, fractals are limited to the number of levels that are possible in the situation and are affected by variables and imperfections. However, those imperfections can also be fractal in nature and so very realistic theoretical models of real world situations can be made by applying several fractal formulas to each other.

What is Theology?

Theology is the study of God. It is the exploring of ideas and the conversations that people have about God. It is often, but not always, a word used to describe conversations about God as seen by Christians, Jews, and Muslims. However, theology is not just a subject studied in schools and universities. Theology is what happens every time somebody makes a decision based on what they believe, which in some ways, is every decision that is ever made.

14 Ways to embrace a Fractal Theology...