Is the extinction of humanity part of God's plan for the evolution of the Cosmos? You and I might be nothing more than a gracious blimp in history...

My friend Gus posed a very interesting question in his blog. He asked : What if this is the only shot at life - ever? This is his post -

Reading some time ago about the amazing co-operation of factors that went together to give us the opportunity at life on earth, I wondered: What if this was the only shot at life ever (for all things living)? What if in the whole universe there was no other planet that produced sentient beings at all? (Which as far as we know is the case...)

Imagine how we would have wasted this opportunity if all we did for all our years was fight with and harm one another?

Here's my response to him:

Hi Gus,

This is a very astute observation! In fact, I think that you're right, this IS the ONLY shot that we have at this KIND of life ever! Now, I'm not talking about a pious afterlife... What I'm talking about is something MUCH MORE RADICAL!

Have you ever considered that perhaps human beings are not the end (the telos) of God's creative activity? Certainly, the God I know does not place humans at the centre of the cosmos - no, he places the Cosmic Christ at the centre of the cosmos. That God even notices us, and even gives us a single shot at life is a gracious miracle.

No, I think that perhaps we are part of what stops the world from reaching the true potential for which God has created it! So, perhaps we need to be made extinct for it to reach that purpose... Maybe not.....

But, the one thing that we need to learn is the WE are not the Alpha and the Omega... We're just a blip somewhere in the middle.

Jumbled thoughts, I know... I did record them much more articulately (and with a little bit of scientific and theological research) in a paper I had published a few years ago.

You can read, and download, the paper here.

It is called a posthuman evolutionary cosmology... I got quite a lot of criticism for it... However, I think the central argument is still quite sound... Christ is the centre, the goal, and the true aim, of the Universe... We are just an expression of God's gracious love along the way.

So, what do you think? This is not exactly the kind of thing you want to preach on a Sunday.... Heck, how 'seeker sensitive' do you think this will be!!? But, it may be something for us to consider in terms of theology, i.e., placing Christ at the centre and moving humans to margins?

Technorati tags: Teilhard, Cosmos, evolution, extinct

Comments

[Gus]

One of the things that has always been a 'stumbling block' for me in Christianity is eschatology - the general resurrection of the dead sounds like a ridiculous idea to me... Millennialism in all its forms seems a little fruity too.

I'm thinking of putting together a Bible Study on 'Orthodox Eschatology' to counter the crazies at church! %) But even Orthodox Eschatology is a bit loopy.

For many of us the hope of heaven is a great excuse to ignore the present condition in which we find ourselves... what if eternal life was about living long in the land (In the person of the next generations)?

Abbreviated thoughts, it's bed time.

I enjoyed your Teilhard essay! But like I said all eschatology sounds a bit loopy to me... one thing is for sure, my PC does know its Bible.

[Gus]

PS the last sentence of the third paragraph was actually the part that has something to do with your essay.

I really should go to bed now.

[abraxas]

Nope disagree.
Humans are (according to the bible) the end goal of creation, even higher than the angels, which is where the trouble started.

The only thing that still confuses me, is the bit that says God wanted company. So he created the universe, and us.

Jesus is part of God, which puts Him outside the rational universe.

The problem comes in where angels can access this universe, without being tied to it. Angels too existed before this universe, so cannot be part of any "goals" this universe may contain.