Hello, my name is Joseph Petrich, and I am pleased to be doing this morning’s meditation.

My closest friends know me to be someone guided by logic and a passion for mathematics, and
this logic is what has influenced my perceptions of God.
One of the most divisive things in religion is the notion of predestination. Scripture tells us that
we have free will, but that God is eternal and knows all things. If he knows what we are going to
do, then how is that truly granting us free will? Our free will should give us the ability to
contradict his omniscience, changing the future he knows to one we choose. However, these
arguments are based entirely in our notion of time as linear. We live in 4 dimensions, but have
freedom of motion in only three. The fourth, of course, is time, and in that direction we move at
a constant rate. That is, we cannot go back in time nor visit the future; we are confined to the
present. And if God were limited to this motion, of course his omniscience and our free will
would pose a fatal contradiction. The atheist’s postulate would be proven; QED.
But what if God resides in higher dimensions, like the eleven dimensions proposed by string
theory? We would have no comprehension of His perception, just as a Flatlander could not
comprehend our point of view. Much as we could fold a two-dimensional sheet of paper through
the third dimension, perhaps God can fold our four dimensions through still higher ones. In this
respect, God would know everything, being able to move freely through time, seeing all possible
futures, while we would have the free will to affect which of these futures becomes reality for us.
This idea was formally set forth in an article “The Church of the Fourth Dimension” by the
mathematician Martin Gardner in Scientific American, and provoked the largest reader response
of any of his articles, though this church was admittedly fictional.
This way of thinking of God does not require a separate Church though. Many Christians find
comfort and understanding in metaphors for God, and this idea of the God of Higher Dimensions
is like all our other metaphors, it is simply a way to help us comprehend the uncomprehensible.
It is, after all, impossible to prove or disprove, and there has been no theological decree on the
validity of higher dimensions. Of course, the proof of higher dimensions would necessitate
Catholic theology to dictate that God can reside in higher dimensions, for nothing is impossible
for God.
As our attempts to understand God are ultimately for His Glory let us conclude with this prayer:
Glory Be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning is now
and ever shall be world without end, Amen.