More Dimensions?
Following on from the Fourth Dimension, we might well wonder whether there are any more dimensions in the geometric and everyday sense in which we are using the word. I think that there is at least one, maybe two, and possibly more of which I am unaware. In this sort of territory, it is rather important to leave possibilities open when dealing with a subject such as this one.
To illustrate the next dimension, or maybe two dimensions, I am going to need my hypothetical fish again to use as an analogy. At this rate, you might soon be able to use the Internet to catch enough of my hypothetical fish to launch a virtual fishmonger’s stall. This time, my fish is not in a pond, nor in a lake, but in a river.
If we fell in the river and were submerged for too long, we would drown, which is a particular type of suffocation. To live, we need air to breathe. This is because our bodies need oxygen, and our lungs are designed to enable our blood to become oxygenated and to rid itself of carbon dioxide on its way round our cardiovascular system. Our lungs cannot function properly when they are filled with water, so we expire fairly quickly under these circumstances.
A fish is different. It doesn’t suffocate under water, because it is adapted to live in such conditions. But we mustn’t imagine that the fish doesn’t breathe, because it needs oxygen and to rid itself of carbon dioxide just as much as we do. A fish has gills which perform the same function using water as our lungs do using air. Fish breathe by passing a constant stream of water over their gills, which extract oxygen and expel the carbon dioxide.
Can a fish drown or be suffocated in water? The answer is yes.
All too often there are reports in the media about slurry pollution of rivers. Slurry, which is usually a mixture of manure and water, is frequently stored in pits, and is used by some farmers as a fertilizer for their fields. Sometimes, particularly following heavy rain, a farmer’s slurry pit might overflow and the effluent find its way into a river. One of the sad consequences usually noted is the death of the fish in the river. The fish have been killed by eutrophication, i.e. the nutrients in the slurry gave rise to a huge increase in bacteria and algae which used up the oxygen in the water, causing it to drop to such a low level that the fish, being unable to breathe, perished. Here endeth the biology lesson!
What has all this got to do with dimensions? Well, oxygen is a gas which is absorbed by water from the air. You can’t normally see bubbles of oxygen in the water, but it is there nevertheless, and essential to the life of the fish. I suggest to you that there is a fifth dimension for us in addition to the four that we have already considered. I am referring to the spiritual dimension. The world of the spirit is just as real as space and time, and we are all involved within it. Whether or not we are conscious of the fact is immaterial to its reality. Like the oxygen in the water, you may not be able to see it, but not only is it there – it is vital to the life of each and every one of us.
I suspect that the spiritual world is just one dimension, but if it is two, the good and the evil, then so be it.
The Bible teaches us that God is a spirit, and that He made us in His own image. Therefore, we too have a spirit and have our part to play in the spiritual world. The further analogy that I wish to draw is that God provides a river of fully oxygenated water for us, into which Satan pours his slurry. If we are to live, we need to get upstream of the pollution so that we can breathe freely.
Being involved in the spiritual world, it is imperative that we grasp an understanding of what is happening within it. It is such a pity that people should suffer the second death and eternal torment simply because they ignored, or turned their back on, the opportunity to do something about it in this life. The Bible is the final authority on such matters, but there is also an immense amount of help available to provide the necessary information from folk who have experienced God’s love and mercy, from sound Christian literature, and even from other pages to be found on this website. Do keep seeking if you are uncertain about the truth of these things. It really is a matter of life and death.
