Have you ever thought about how big the universe is? I mean it is HUGE. Imagine you are travelling at the speed of light, at 300,000km/sec. That means you'd circle the earth 7.5 times in one second! Now imagine going at this speed for about 15 billion years. Okay, well now you have only crossed half the distance of the universe!
There are more galaxies in the universe then there are the number of neurons in our brains. And there are millions and billions of stars per galaxy depending on its size. To put it another way, if you gathered up all the human beings who have ever lived since the time of Adam, and you gave each person their very own galaxy...you'd still have billions of galaxies left over. Now that's a pretty large piece of real estate for each person! I am not suggesting each Believer will have his very own galaxy - especially since the Qur'an clearly states heaven will turn into another heaven on the Day of Judgement. I am however trying to illustrate, by way of comparison, God does mean exactly what He says when He promises each Believer a garden as large as the heavens. But what's more...the universe we see is only the first or lowest level of heaven. There are six more heavens above this one. The virtual infinity of God is staggering.
And I think that's one of the reasons God has made the universe so large. It is to show He is speaking the truth in the Qur'an when He says He is infinite in bounty. He wants us to get a glimpse of the understanding of what He means when He says He's infinite. I am certain the first level of heaven, or the universe we see, is still miniscule in comparison to the sum total of all of God's creation.
There is another reason still why God made the universe as large as it is, and the earth the size it is. God made the universe so immense...simply to do justice to the intellect He gave man. Think about it. If the universe was small, say just the size of our earth and the stars were just jewels encrusted in our sky which was only a canopy....if that was all there was, well...eventually humans wouldn't buy it. Just like the movie, 'The Truman Show.' It simply wouldn't do justice to our intellect. God gave man the intellect to peer into the very beginnings of the universe, and the cognitive capability to comprehend the structure, formation and evolution of the universe. So far, our intellectual limit seems to be the comprehension that something came from nothing in the event known as the Big Bang.
He also made the earth the size it is so we can easily navigate it, at a speed and distance, according to whatever level of our technology. So, for most of the history of man...although we didn't understand the structure of the universe, at the same time, we didn't yet develop transportation and communication technologies that would make the earth a 'global village'. Back then, the earth was a big place, and much of it remained unexplored. So even if we thought the sky was only a canopy with encrusted jewels, the earth was big enough to effectively seem relatively infinite. In other words, God's home for us remained 'infinite' according to our relative development levels of science and technology...so our minds never felt anything was 'fake'.
There is another reason still why God made the earth so big and beautiful. It is to demonstrate His capability and creativity...so there is no doubt in our mind He truly is capable of providing whatever we want for those striving to be close to Him in our next life in heaven, that He is fully capable of delivering His promise. Just look at God's beauty in our earth. The breath taking views of mountains and valleys, all the wonderful plants, flowers and trees, the magnificent animals on both land and sea...both in the present and the past. Can anyone deny God's artistry?
At the same time...He has made volcanoes, earthquakes, hurricanes, tornadoes, hail storms, tsunamis, floods, meteor impacts, and the heat of the sun itself, to demonstrate He is fully capable of severely punishing...that it is easy for Him to bring the punishing fire of Hell into being.
That is God, there is no God but Him.
There are more galaxies in the universe then there are the number of neurons in our brains. And there are millions and billions of stars per galaxy depending on its size. To put it another way, if you gathered up all the human beings who have ever lived since the time of Adam, and you gave each person their very own galaxy...you'd still have billions of galaxies left over. Now that's a pretty large piece of real estate for each person! I am not suggesting each Believer will have his very own galaxy - especially since the Qur'an clearly states heaven will turn into another heaven on the Day of Judgement. I am however trying to illustrate, by way of comparison, God does mean exactly what He says when He promises each Believer a garden as large as the heavens. But what's more...the universe we see is only the first or lowest level of heaven. There are six more heavens above this one. The virtual infinity of God is staggering.
And I think that's one of the reasons God has made the universe so large. It is to show He is speaking the truth in the Qur'an when He says He is infinite in bounty. He wants us to get a glimpse of the understanding of what He means when He says He's infinite. I am certain the first level of heaven, or the universe we see, is still miniscule in comparison to the sum total of all of God's creation.
There is another reason still why God made the universe as large as it is, and the earth the size it is. God made the universe so immense...simply to do justice to the intellect He gave man. Think about it. If the universe was small, say just the size of our earth and the stars were just jewels encrusted in our sky which was only a canopy....if that was all there was, well...eventually humans wouldn't buy it. Just like the movie, 'The Truman Show.' It simply wouldn't do justice to our intellect. God gave man the intellect to peer into the very beginnings of the universe, and the cognitive capability to comprehend the structure, formation and evolution of the universe. So far, our intellectual limit seems to be the comprehension that something came from nothing in the event known as the Big Bang.
He also made the earth the size it is so we can easily navigate it, at a speed and distance, according to whatever level of our technology. So, for most of the history of man...although we didn't understand the structure of the universe, at the same time, we didn't yet develop transportation and communication technologies that would make the earth a 'global village'. Back then, the earth was a big place, and much of it remained unexplored. So even if we thought the sky was only a canopy with encrusted jewels, the earth was big enough to effectively seem relatively infinite. In other words, God's home for us remained 'infinite' according to our relative development levels of science and technology...so our minds never felt anything was 'fake'.
There is another reason still why God made the earth so big and beautiful. It is to demonstrate His capability and creativity...so there is no doubt in our mind He truly is capable of providing whatever we want for those striving to be close to Him in our next life in heaven, that He is fully capable of delivering His promise. Just look at God's beauty in our earth. The breath taking views of mountains and valleys, all the wonderful plants, flowers and trees, the magnificent animals on both land and sea...both in the present and the past. Can anyone deny God's artistry?
At the same time...He has made volcanoes, earthquakes, hurricanes, tornadoes, hail storms, tsunamis, floods, meteor impacts, and the heat of the sun itself, to demonstrate He is fully capable of severely punishing...that it is easy for Him to bring the punishing fire of Hell into being.
That is God, there is no God but Him.
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