[1]
Acts 2:44-45 Good News Translation
44 All the believers continued together in close fellowship and
shared their belongings with one another. 45 They
would sell their property and possessions, and distribute the money among all,
according to what each one needed.
In the late 1960s, a number of young people revolted against
their materialistic, capitalistic, Christian upbringing. A large number of them
joined communes across the country. They pooled their resources so that everyone
was equal financially—which resulted in no one becoming rich. Many rejected
violence in all its forms, so they turned vegetarian rather than slaughtering
animals for food. They rejected the concept of individuals owning anything.
This often included even the concept of being married to one spouse. They often
wore jeans and flannel shirts.
By the early 1970s some of these communes had matured to the
point that some members had become professionals in universities. At the
university I had a professor of topology who was a member of a nearby commune.
He had an unkempt beard, long hair, and always wore a wrinkled flannel shirt
and jeans.
I took a class from him in multidimensional geometry and
topology. He carried a handful of multicolored chalk to his lectures. Questions
came up about how ordinary things we use in our everyday lives, such as knots
and clothes, would be in the four-dimensional space. He drew a series of colored
pictures that showed in sequence how any knot would become untied in this
space. To my very restricted view of the three-dimensional universe that we
live in, it came as a shock. But his excellent multicolored pictures made what
he taught appear totally obvious. I audited several of his other classes, with
his permission, mainly to see his pictures of higher dimensional realities.
The “picture” of a Klein Bottle I have included is a simple
object that requires a fourth dimensions to construct. It appears that part of
the bottle physically pierces the right side of the figure. However, in a
four-dimensional space it doesn’t actually pierce it. I’ll let you puzzle over
that concept.
Try thinking of it this way: in our experience we have three
dimensions that we move in: 1. Forward and backward; 2. Left and right, 3. Up
and down—it helps to own a jet-pack here. If there is a fourth spatial dimension,
we have no access to it. But if we could access this elusive dimension, we
could construct the Klein Bottle by moving the tube on the right out into that
dimension just enough to miss piercing any part of the bottle.
As you begin to grasp something of four dimensions, you
realize that a four- or higher- dimensional being can see not only your skin
but also all of your insides—not a pretty sight! If, for example, a 4-D being
wanted to remove an infected appendix, 4-D could grasp it without cutting open
the skin and remove it.
Does what I tried, unsuccessfully I’m sure, to explain to
you have anything to do with my—or your salvation? Absolutely not! Well… Just
maybe… I plan to explore some of my thoughts on this in future blogs and hope we
gain a greater appreciation of the magnificence of our God! But, let me repeat
and emphasize, understanding this in no wise changes the fact of our salvation
by God’s amazing grace through our faith in Him.
Thank You, Lord,
for saving us by the marvelous sacrifice of Your Son Jesus Christ!
[1]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Klein_bottle#/media/File:Klein_bottle.svg
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