Beyond The Cosmos (Book Review)

"How can my choices be totally ‘free’ if God is in control of all things at all times and knows the end from the beginning?"

"How can God really be both Three and One at the same time?"

"How could Jesus’ suffering, over a finite period of time, pay for the lives of millions of sinners who would otherwise be worthy of eternal punishment?"

Anyone who has ever thought deeply about these issues, or who likes to think imaginatively, yet logically "outside the box", will enjoy reading "Beyond The Cosmos".

Astronomer Hugh Ross uses recent discoveries in astrophysics to reveal logical responses to these questions, and for the most part, he greatly succeeds. Although the first two chapters may be intimidating and even difficult reading for those who aren’t good with math (yeah, that’s me I’m talking about), the book quickly settles into an easier read by chapter 3 or 4.

Recent discoveries in mathematics and astrophysics reveal the existence of multiple space-time dimensions beyond the four dimensions that we experience. Ross takes advantage of these discoveries to logically reason through some of the doctrinal issues that have left theologians scratching their heads for centuries.

A few chapter titles include: "Extra Dimensions in the Bible", "Extra-Dimensionality And God’s Trinity", "Extra-Dimensionality, The Incarnation and Atonement", "Extra-Dimensionality and Evil and Suffering". Of these chapter, the latter is somewhat disappointing, given that Ross doesn’t apply many of his previous arguments to this complex issue. Despite this, I found that some of his previous arguments could be applied to this issue, and I found some answers in my personal contemplation of the issue as a result of thinking through other parts of this book.

It’s not a book for everyone, but if you have an imagination that enjoys exploring new concepts in science fiction, you’ll probably enjoy the possibilities this book presents using real science. Your concept of God will likely be expanded beyond what you thought possible and contrary to what some may say, you'd better NOT check your brain at the door!

Highly recommended!


Quality: 9.0/10

Relevance: 10/10