Things that boggle my mind

I was a precocious, introverted child and started contemplating big questions early. A number of them I have never answered for myself and am still working on an answer.

Our Place in the Universe
Everything is somewhere. I am in Dallas, in Texas, in the United States, in North America, on earth, in the solar system, in the Milky Way galaxy, in the universe. So, where is the universe? After all, everything is somewhere: where is the universe?
Astrophysicists talk about the limits of the universe, and its dimensions, and its possible shape, and perhaps even other universes. But, they never say where the universe is. If the universe has a limit, what is beyond it? If the universe a sphere, curving in on itself, what is outside that sphere? If the universe is one of several universes, where are they all?
Space is an empty void except for the occassional atom of H or subatomic particle to star. In our experience, a void or vacuum can only be created in a closed container. So, is the vacuum of space somewhere or is it infinite?

Eternity and Infinity
Eternity is the unending time following a starting point. Astrophysicists say that the universe began with the Big Bang about 15 billion years ago. But, was there not time before the big bang? This leads to infinity. Infinity is the unending time going on for eternity in both directions from an arbitrary starting point. Some astrophysicists acknowledge infinity saying vaguely that before the big bang the universe had not existed before was preceeded by an equal eternity of time. We can comprehend a second, a minute, an hour, a day, a week, a year, a century, a millenium because we have historically and personally experienced them. But, who besides God has experienced eternity or infinity?
Astrophysicists are divided on the fate of the universe: it will continue to expand and slow indefinately; it will continue to expand until gravity overcomes velocity and collapse. If the universe continues to expand eventually the closest stars will be too far away to be seen. The volume of the universe is not know infinite, but could it become infinite? If the universe collapses in on itself, astrophysicists are divided if it will become a finite point as it was before the big bang or if it will repeat the big bang for another universe.
Now we come to the imagination of man proceeding science by millenia. The Hindus long ago wrote that the universe will be destroyed and a new universe will be created in the future, and this cycle has been repeating infinitely in the past. While Vishnu sleeps, the universe exists in his mind. When Vishnu wakes, the universe will cease to exist. How would the Hindus of ancient times anticipate 20th century concepts while Christianity was bogged down in ignorance?

When Science and Religion collide
Many scientists keep their work secular, extending to being agnostic or atheistic in their personal philosophy. They believe that man created God to explain what they did not understand. So, there is no need for God as science looks to explain the unknown.
Some scientinst try to keep their work secular, while personally having a faith that they leave out of the scientific process. It still begs the question: did God create ignorant man or did ignorant man create God.
Some scientists of repute have faith and do not separate the pursuit of science. Most of us are used to fundamentalist Christians who deny scientific fact when it does not fit with their faith. Dinosaurs died out when they failed to get on Noah's ark and the world is 5771 years old.
Some scientists of repute have faith and do not separate the pursuit of science, but their faith is open to illumination from what science teaches them: their faith grows with increased knowledge. Albert Einstein is widely accepted to have been the greatest mind of the 20th century. And, he was a Jew. In his pursuit of a unifying theory of all physical laws of the universe, and his peers wondered why he did not accept that there was not a unifying physical law, he answered: "Because God does not play dice with the universe." In the beginning and the end, Einstein was a faithful Jew. In his work, as he discovered more and more about the science of the universe, was he also finding more evidence of a creator God?

Why Bad Things Happen to Good People
People of faith have been dealing with this long before the book of Job was written and tackled by theologans to this day. Job was a simplistic avoidance of the ultimate answer: God is testing our faith. Rabbi Harold Kushner in his book "When Bad Things Happen to Good People" puts forth a hypothesis: man has given God a set of powers and must give up one of them to answer the question. If God was omnipotent, he would be able to stop bad things from happening. If God was caring, he would not want bad things to happen to the faithful. You can add more powers and rolls to the list, but those two are pivotal. Kushner can not accept that an omnipotent God would let bad things happen if he cared. So, he says rather that we must give up on either God's omnipotence or caring. Kushner could not bring himself to believe in an uncaring God. So, he decides that God is not omnipotent. God cares but there is nothing he can do to prevent bad things from happening. Is Kushner reinventing the God of Judaism in order to solve the question or is he coming up with a new answer than what we are given in Job?
If God is not omnipotent, how do we account for creation and miracles? If God does not care, then why do the faithful pray to, or worship, the creator?
Some skeptics have said that a miracle is a desired outcome occurring when we want it. Some skeptics have said that man created God rather than God created man.
Whatever your faith, if you have one, you must answer this question at this some point. Agnostics postpone answering the problem: with lack of evidence, they are not willing to commit. Atheists lacking evidence have resorted to "Achim's Razor": all things being equal, the simplist answer is the correct answer. But, if you believe in a deity, you must tackle this problem when defining your faith.

Islamic Jihad: Threat to World Peace

Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it. The world sat back and watched the rise of Hitler and the Nazi regime, but did nothing. They did not take a megalomaniac with a clear agenda to destroy the Jewish people seriously. When the Nazi regime took power, they still did nothing. It was not until Germany invaded surrounding countries that they took Hitler and the Nazis seriously. And yet, as they entered WW II, they did not take his agenda to eliminate the Jewish people seriously. The occupied countries and the Nazi allies cooperated in the deportation of Jews. The French and others willingly deported Jews at the request of the SS.
It was not until the defeat of the Germans and Italians when the concentration camps were liberated did the allies believe what the Germans had done: the scale of the genocide of the Jewish people. In post WW II Europe, the allies put the Jews in "displaced persons camps" even sometimes using the existent German concentration camps. The liberated Europeans did not want the Jews returned: hatred of Jews was rampant. If it were not for the underground resistance of Jews in Europe and Israel, the "displaced persons" may never have been released. The allies did not take a proactive role in the solution to the problem. In fact, the USA and the UK hindered the emigration of Jews to Israel and the USA. If it were not for the action of the UN in taking over the British mandate in the middle east, the formation of a Jewish state in Israel would probably not have taken place. The Jews accepted the UN solution; the Arabs did NOT accept the UN solution. From the beginning, the Arabs living in ha'Eretz Yisrael did NOT accept a separate Arab state nor recognize the Jewish state. The surrounding Arab nations again and again were the aggressors in attacking Israel. And time and time again, Israel was victorious, gaining territory until Israel had defensible borders guaranteed by the UN charter. The Arabs living in ha'Eretz Yisrael from the beginning REJECTED THE FORMATION OF A SEPARATE ARAB STATE and when they lived in territories occupied by Arab nations, they did not complain of occupation or the lack of a state. Only when the Israelis took occupied territories in self defense did the Arabs begin to cry for a state: the same state they rejected in 1948. Let us be clear: there never was a Palestinian Arab state. But, in their propoganda, the Arabs now claim that they are occupied by the Israelis. Prior to the Jihad, the Arabs living in Israel had Israeli citizenship and freedom of religion. But, they rejected that status. By terrorism, they pressured to occupy the West Bank and the Gaza strip and demand a return of their state which never existed. If the Arabs living in Israeli territorities are not happy, they have many Arab nations to which they can immigrate. When the Israeli government made the mistake of caving in to Arab terrorists and trade land for peace, the Arabs elected the terrorists to be their government and the terrorism continues.
Just as Hitler did not stop with the annexation of Austria, the Arab terrorists will not stop with the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. It is time to wake up and defend Israel. If the Arabs are not happy living in Israel, they are free to leave. But, the Israeli government should never succumb to pressure from international position and try to make this disasterous decision and try to maintain peace. It is clear that the West Bank must be reacquired in order to have defensible borders and control terrorism. The Islamic Jihad calling for the destruction of the state of Israel is no different then the rhetoric of the Nazis. It must be taken seriously and recognized as the worst threat for world peace. If their is to be a WW III, it will be started by the Islamic Jihad's attacks against Israel and its allies.