When we look around us at the visible universe -- the basic question we must deal with is: is this all there is?
If it is, we believe in a closed universe.
This is the dominating view of our culture today.
What we see is all there is.
On the other hand, when we look at the universe of things and ideas, and acknowledge that there is something more -- a driving creative force beyond what we can see and know -- then we have an open world view of the universe.
That is the Bible's view.
Apart from the Christian community, our culture is increasingly moving toward a closed-universe view.
In practical daily living, that means everything is material and explainable.
For Trekkies, for example, that is the meaning of Star Trek: the Motion Picture.
A power is coming toward the earth and beings from earth are going out to intercept it.
The "thing" expresses its mission as a quest "for its creator."
We expect its creator to be God.
But when the adventurers get down to finding out what it really is, they find that it is a machine that has been made by human beings.
So, in this case, the people themselves become creators. They become gods.
Christianity says something radically different.
If we do not understand that, we do not understand Christianity at all.
Since we live in a world that is increasingly materialistic (closed universe) we often miss the main point.
Christianity says that there is something beyond the material.
That something is God, and God is the Creator of the material.
Furthermore, He is the One who has revealed Himself to us in Jesus of Nazareth.
And that is the point of the Christmas story.
God invaded history.
This invasion is unlike anything that had ever happened before or since.
If the story is true, it means there is a God, that He is beyond our human system, and furthermore, He is concerned about us and has demonstrated that concern through the Incarnation.
That's our open world view - there is a God and He has spoken to us and continues to speak to us.
There is more to life than what we can see or hear or understand or explain.
It's what we yearn for - just as in the movie, we journey far to discover who we are and who made us and for what reason.
But the Christian's answer is full of hope and purpose. We were made, not by a machine devoid of all hope and planning, made by other uncertain and empty human beings, but by a loving God who wants to bring us back into His family.
For God so loved the world He sent His only Son,
that whosoever believes in Him
should not perish, but have everlasting life.
For God sent not His Son into the world to
condemn the world,
but to save the world (John 3:16-17).
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