"We are confident, I say, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord"
- 2 Corinthians 5:8
What does infinite mean? By definition, finite means that something has a definite end, is measurable, bounded, and restricted by a known or unknown endpoint. Examples of those things that are finite include oil, coal, natural gas, mathematics (a set of numbers), hours in a given day, or pages in a book. So, if infinite is the opposite of finite, what does it mean? Something that has an unknown or unperceived end, not measurable or bounded.
Is water finite, or infinite? What about oxygen, hydrogen, carbon dioxide, nitrogen, and other gases? What about the sand on all the beaches, ocean floors, mountains, and deserts, or blades of grass, or leaves on trees? What about time? What about life?
Water, gases, grains of sand, and vegetation are all resources that are renewable by nature. They are likely immeasurable, but they are finite to our earth and universe. We know that through the water cycle, rain falls to the land and seas, and is then evaporated back to the skies through humidity and recycled again. Condensation and morning dew form as a result of thermodynamics, drawing water droplets from the humidity around us, but this water is then evaporated as well. In essence, water is a renewable resource, but there is no scientific evidence that it is limitless or infinite. Similarly with gases. They are consumed and exhausted through a natural, unplanned, unprogrammed process. In the oxygen-carbon dioxide cycle, we see a simple example. Animals breathe in oxygen and exhale carbon dioxide; vegetation draws in carbon dioxide and emits oxygen back into the atmosphere. Science continues to investigate the finite parameters of our natural resources to determine if we indeed will exhaust them at some future point in time. They look beyond the earth, to the universe, to determine if there are resources we can tap into, to extend the hypothesized endpoint. Let's be clear, there is no fact-based argument that says water or other natural resources will be fully consumed, but there are many hypotheses and projections that many believe will come to fruition.
Mathematics and science have many laws and philosophies about the topic of infinity. In math, integers have no defined end, because you can always use the principle of addition and extend whatever that number is by 1. Also, there is the infinitely small measurement in fractions. 1/2, 1/4, 1/8, 1/16, . . . . . . can go on infinitely. In science, there are infinite space philosophies that suggest the universe is infinite, because we have not achieved knowledge of its entirety yet. There is also the theory that there are infinite universes; we just haven't discovered them yet. Some scientists can say that time is finite, because they hypothesize of a known beginning (Big Bang) and therefore it must have a known end. This truly remains hypothetical, though, because there is no definition of what was before the Big Bang, and if there was something, how did it exist with no time element? It is a statement of theory, but often pointed to as fact by many in the world of education.
Life, as we know it, on this planet is finite. Every person, with one exception, in the world that has ever been or ever will be, has a conception date, a birth date, and will have a death date. The number of days any individual person lives between the birth date and death date varies, but assuredly, we all have a finite number of days walking this earth. But what is life?
Is life the physical existence of a human's body, or is it the spirit and soul within the body? No scientist can define the soul or the spirit of a human. These are terms held in the highest order by those with a vision and hope for something beyond this life. The scriptures tell us that we are spiritual beings contained within a physical flesh form. If this is not true, then this life (100 years (+/-)) is all there is. We are finite, we have an end date, and the only forever remembrance will be what is written upon our tombstone. As a Christian, though, I believe we are infinite spirits. We are here, earth, for a short period of time on our way to an infinite eternity with God the Father after we have breathed our last. This God-shaped spirit is what differentiates every human from every other living creature in this universe.
According to Genesis 1:27 - "So, God created man in His own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them". God is a spirit; if He created us in His image, He created us as a spirit being, with a physical form. As a believer in Jesus Christ, Paul tells us in 2 Corinthians 5:8 that upon our death, absent from this body, we are in the presence of the Lord. This defines the life after this life on earth, and to this afterlife there is no end. Eternity is infinite, to the best of our knowledge, according to the definition of infinite, without end, immeasurable, and unbound. You see, with the understanding that there was a Creator, and an established beginning of time, space, and matter, we can now establish that there are infinite realities. Without a Creator, infinity will always be just a theory of practice to help define the unknown.
