The Theory of Reality

The Theory of Reality

Look around you. Have you ever thought that everything you see is just a dream? Have you ever thought that there are no true differences between things and that every observable difference you notice is just a conceptual construct? (Aside: this belief is called monism. The antithesis, or opposite, of monism is dualism.) These questions deal directly with metaphysics, which is one of the four branches of philosophy. Metaphysics’ domain (or realm) is reality itself. More specifically, the question of existence, or reality, is an ontological one (ontology is the field of metaphysics that deals with the state of being or existence). In this article, I’ll be propounding what can be referred to as “The Reality Theory”. Although this is only a “theory”, I strongly believe it to be true. This Theory of Reality cursorily states that reality is concrete, first because this is the Biblical viewpoint, and also because it is illogical to believe that everything is a dream; in reality: one is able to learn new information; continuity exists; strong desires do not have preeminence (i.e. superiority).

The belief that everything is simply a dream suggests several things. First, it erroneously posits (or assumes/infers) that you are the god of your own dream. Think about it. If everything were intangible and dream-like, the only one that would be outside of this, “reality” would be you yourself. Because you would transcend this “reality”, you would be the god of your own “universe”. This is clearly not Scriptural. Here are several verses to prove this:

“For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.”  - 1 Timothy 2:5

“I am the LORD, and there is none else, there is no God beside me: I girded thee, though thou hast not known me: That they may know from the rising of the sun, and from the west, that there is none beside me. I am the LORD, and there is none else.” – Isaiah 45:5-6

“All things were made by Him; and without Him was not any thing made that was made.” – John 1:3

These are just three of many verses that prove the preeminence (or supremacy) of the one true God of the Bible. Additionally, the belief that reality is a dream is also un-Biblical in that it infers that the individual doing the dreaming has more than one life. Think about it. If everything in your world is a dream, then dying simply means “waking up”. And if you “wake up?”  Then you could simply go back to sleep and have yet another “life” (this is representative of the demonic belief of reincarnation, of course. Are you starting to see how this belief is tied in with the New Age, Hinduism, Taoism, etc?). This kind of, “enlightenment” has not happened to a single person. Therefore, the proponents of this faulty belief have no evidence to support this dogma. If they want to put forth this fallacious (i.e. wrong) doctrine as plausible, then it is their duty to provide circumstantial evidence (i.e. convicting evidence) in support of their belief. The burden of proof is on them. Now, if one was dogmatically convinced that he or she experienced this “regeneration”, then what may have actually happened would be that he or she was either under demonic influence or had experienced a psychological dysfunction (i.e. a psychological problem), such as a confabulation (wherein the individual’s memory recall erred). These are the options I can think of for why some people might believe they experienced some sort of “enlightenment”. The truth is that every single person has one life to live, and therefore they have one life to decide whether they want to go to heaven or hell for eternity.

“And as it appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment” – Hebrews 9:27

“In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.” – Genesis 3:19

“For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.” – 1 Corinthians 15:22

“14For He knoweth our frame; He remembereth that we are dust. 15As for man, his days are as grass: as a flower of the field, so he flourisheth. 16For the wind passeth over it, and it is gone; and the place thereof shall know it no more.” – Psalm 103:14-16

“47Remember how short my time is: wherefore hast thou made all men in vain? 48What man is he that liveth, and shall not see death? shall he deliver his soul from the hand of the grave? Selah.” – Psalm 89:47-48

            Again, these are only several of many Bible verses pertaining to the mortality of man. Ecclesiastes also talks about the futility and brevity of life. To extend this, the belief that one has more than one life can infer that they are not subject to original sin (the corruption that comes from Adam’s sin of eating the forbidden fruit). Romans 5 talks about how death came through Adam, but life through Christ. If one believes that he is not subject to death, then he is essentially stating, erroneously, that he is “aloof” from the rest of humanity and that he is equal with Jesus Christ. This is complete heresy. This brings us to the next point: that it is extremely prideful to believe that everything is a dream.

If everything is a dream to you, then this implies that the only real human being is you: therefore you would supposedly be better than everyone else; you might even be the only individual with the truly inherent right to live. After all, you would be the center of your “universe” if this ontological belief were true. Thus, pride is one foundational principle of this belief.

“Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall.” – Proverbs 16:18

“When pride cometh, then cometh shame: but with the lowly is wisdom.” – Proverbs 11:2

“Before destruction the heart of man is haughty, and before honour is humility.” – Proverbs 18:12

“5Likewise, ye younger, submit yourselves unto the elder. Yea, all of you be subject one to another, and be clothed with humility: for God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble. 6Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time: 7Casting all your care upon Him; for He careth for you.” – 1 Peter 5:5-7

Because every word of God is pure (Proverbs 30:5) and because God’s Word is comprehensive (meaning that the Bible is enough), anything that is contrary to His Word is simply wrong. Thus far, I have propounded a short discourse on why it is immoral to believe that reality is but a dream. Now, I will propound further evidences for why this belief is factually and logically inaccurate.

            From a somewhat naturalistic perspective, dreams should be founded in your pre-existing

knowledge. In other words, you can’t learn knew academic material in a dream. Think about it. The act of learning something new is founded on something outside of yourself. If all of the “new” information were to be founded within yourself, then you would not be learning any truly new information! And yet both the individual and society as a whole are able to learn new information. If this were not the case, then, for the individual, the education system would be a complete flop. Additionally, society as a whole learned that the earth is not flat, but round, which was relatively accepted by the 1400s. Clearly, we can see that the act of learning disproves the belief that reality is a dream.

            The existence of transitionary phases supports the fundamental truth that reality is what it is: reality. In dreams, events are typically, “choppy”. In other words, one might be dreaming that he or she was at school. Then, without consciously recognizing it, the event of his or her dream might shift to him or her being in his or her house. Chances are that his or her dream might completely skip the car ride he or she takes to get between school and home. This car ride could be representative of a transitional phase. However, in reality, whether or not we are paying attention, we are still faced with transitional phases. A friend of mine summed up this argument by saying that reality was continuous (without break, uninterrupted, attached together), while dreams are not. Thus, the existence of transitionary phases corroborates the simple fact that reality is reality.

            Strong desires do not have preeminence in reality. In other words, the real world does not bow to an individual’s desires, no matter how convincing or powerful these desires are. If one is dreaming and is desirous enough for something to happen, he or she can make this happen in his or her dream. Say, for example, that you are having a terrifying nightmare of being chased by a monster. You run and run as fast as you can, yet you continue to move in slow-motion. Interestingly, the monster, while hot on your trail, still does not catch you, but remains just behind you. Why is this? I believe this might be because your innate desire for safety prevents it from reaching you. Thus, your strong desires for safety are manifest in this dream. On a side note, I believe that this common dream of being chased has a very real spiritual aspect to it. Therefore, it is an extremely good idea to pray over and meditate on a psalm(s) before going to bed. Okay. Now, in reality, if one yearns for and even believes that he or she can fly, physics prevents him or her from doing so. However, in a dream, if you are desirous enough to fly, then you might actually be able to do so (aside: even though you might be experiencing this physical impossibility in a dream, you may not be able perceive it as so while in your dream). Therefore, strong desires manifest themselves as the “reality” in dreams, whereas in the real world, they do not.

            The aforementioned evidences in defense of reality are valid for the typical dream. However, there are some exceptions to these general rules. For example, a particular dream can be notably vivid, constituting a degree of continuity. Superficially, this category of dreams can suggest that the above arguments are invalid. More profoundly, this category only corroborates the truth of the Bible and of the spiritual realm. I believe that dreams that are extremely vivid are from God or from the demonic. Dreams that are very vivid tend to be easily remembered. Because of their continuity and vividness, these dreams often press themselves to the front of our mind, bearing psychological eminence; this is especially true in the first several waking hours after a very vivid dream. The authoritative Bible confirms this. In Genesis 41, Pharaoh had two clearly defined dreams, both with the same implication. Genesis 41:1-4 describes Pharaoh’s dream in which seven malnourished kine (cattle) ate seven well-nourished kine. Genesis 41:5-7 describes Pharaoh’s dream where seven thin ears of corn devoured seven healthy ears. In both dreams, there is a clear progression. First, the seven good kine/ears arose. Then, the seven bad kine/ears appeared and devoured the good kine/ears. When Pharaoh awoke, he was clearly bothered by this dream: why else would he send for and tell his dreams to magicians and “wise” men the next morning? (see Genesis 41:8). Long story short, when they couldn’t interpret the dreams to Pharaoh, Pharaoh sent for Joseph in hopes of finding the true interpretation of his dream. Genesis 41:17-24 confirms the vividness and continuity of Pharaoh’s dream. In Genesis 41:25, Joseph informed Pharaoh that “The dream of Pharaoh is one: God hath shewed Pharaoh what He is about to do.” As Joseph told Pharaoh the true interpretation of his dream, he witnessed to him. (Aside: this is a lesson we Christians ought to learn. Use whatever gifts we have received from God to bless those around us while witnessing to anyone and everyone.) As we can see, Pharaoh’s dreams in Genesis 41 support the argument that continuous and vivid dreams often (if not always) have spiritual implications, whether they be from the devil or from God. After all, God can and does speak to individuals through dreams. He even does this now. The Jesus dreams in Gaza bare witness of this. Joel 2:28-32 reads:

“And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out My spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions: And also upon the servants and upon the handmaids in those days will I pour out My Spirit.”

            At this point, you might be wondering why my

tone in this article is so grave. One of the reasons for this is because this monistic belief is a doctrine of the devil. Satan wants to seduce people into completely forgetting that there is impending punishment for those who are not saved by Jesus Christ’s blood. If one is this apathetic towards life, then he or she would not have any sense of Godly sorrow in him or her. Proponents of this dumb belief would not see the gravity of whether or not they are headed to heaven or hell because, according to their belief, death simply means “waking up”. No, friend. Once they die, they’ll be judged as to whether or not their name is in the Lamb’s Book of Life, and if it isn’t, then they’ll be damned in hell forever. All of their chances for heaven while on the earth were turned down, partly by the apathy invoked by this doctrine of the devil. If you are reading this, then you still have a chance for salvation by crying out to Jesus for His blood to atone for your sins, which is preceded and followed by repentance! Remember that Christianity is not a religion, nor is it a culture. No. It is the objective truth! Hopefully now you understand why my tone is so grave.

Now, let me loosely extend this further. Have you ever dreamed of becoming as famous and as rich as a pop star? Would you do anything to be in such a position? If you would, then you ought to be greatly terrified. You see, very often, many of these famous pop stars and celebrities (such as BTS, Taylor Swift, etc.) acquired their positions by willfully giving themselves over to the demonic. In return for temporal fame and fortune for a season, they run the grave risk of being damned in hell forever, where there is no hope at all. If they are “fortunate”, then the most they could expect to get out of this “deal” with the devil would be around 100 years of temporal sensuality (and I’m being generous). If they do not repent and trust in Christ then, after this carnal spell, they’ll be rotting worse than a dead fruit in hell-fire and brimstone forever. Now, these celebrities are certainly able to come to God when He calls them. However, they often reject His sweet call. This may be partly because these demon-filled pop stars oftentimes believe that they actually sold their soul to the devil, and therefore ultimately have no free will. The reality is that they didn’t for the specific reason that you can’t sell what you don’t own. Doing so would be like me trying to sell one of Donald Trump’s businesses. I can’t do this because I am not Donald Trump. So is it with these pop stars. They don’t own their soul – God does. However, if they die in their sins, then they will be handed over by God, bounded about in chains, to hell and to the demonic because this is what justice demands. Now, I believe that some of the reasons why many of these celebrities don’t come to God are because they are: too prideful to admit that they had went in with the devil; too afraid, thinking that the demonic would torture them if they even tried to come to God; believe that they are beyond hope, which is not true, because the blood of Jesus Christ is able to cleanse anyone from all sin if we would only repent and trust in Him (see 1 John 1:7). If you are not saved and have not died yet, then, regardless of who you are, you still have the opportunity of being saved. You better choose to do so now while you still have time because death is a ticking timer – one from which you know not the time left.

“6Seek ye the LORD while He may be found, call ye upon Him while He is near: 7Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the LORD, and He will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon.” – Isaiah 55:6-7

“For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, lose his own soul?” – Mark 8:36

Everyone’s going to die, regardless of fame, wealth, strength, intelligence, technical expertise (in any subject), or whatever. Because of this, everyone will R.I.P. The bodies of those who die in their sins will not just “rot into pieces”; they will “roast in phosphorous” (well, brimstone actually, to be exact). Phosphorous burns at around 1,4720 F. To put this into perspective, according to Aire Serv, the average person sets his or her thermostat somewhere between or around 680 F and 780 F. 1,4720 F is around 20.164 times hotter than the average of the two above temperatures (730 F). To put it another way, that would be around 10.985 times hotter than the “hottest temperature ever recorded”, according to PBS (according to PBS, the hottest temperature ever recorded was 1340 F in Furnace Creek, California). Only those whose sin debt has been satisfied by the blood of Jesus Christ will truly “rest in peace” forever. Heaven or hell. Where are you going?

And now, I would like to further my inadequate attempt at describing hell. Hell, in the Bible, is described as a lake of fire and brimstone. Now, think about tasting nothing but Chili Pepper X’s (which are around 1,000 times hotter than jalapenos), smelling nothing but rotting flesh and brimstone, seeing nothing but a penetrating darkness, hearing nothing but wailing and gnashing of teeth, and feeling nothing but burning brimstone, or sulfur (which has a boiling point of 832.30 F in which it burns up), all while suffocating from a lack of oxygen as well as suffering from eternal sleep deprivation. Think about forever being refused food and water in any form. Imagine being forced to endure complete emotional rejection – no one knows your name and, what’s more, nobody cares: you are never able to talk or interact with another person again. Never. In short, hell is a place of excruciatingly indescribable pain – physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual agony. The suffering as described above, I believe, does not even come close to what hell is truly like. And yet, this is where we all deserve to go to when we die. “9Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, 10Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God.” (1 Corinthians 6:9-10). We are all deserving of hell-fire and brimstone. The good news is that God, while completely just, sent His Son to take the punishment that we deserve. It is as if a judge looks at a criminal that has a plethora of speeding fines written to his name. Instead of forcing this lawbreaker to somehow pay these fines (which could mean foreclosure of his or her house), the judge says, “You were charged all of these speeding fines, but you’re free to go because somebody else has paid your fine.” In this way, the judge can legally let the individual go while still maintaining his sense of justice. So it is with the Gospel. We all deserve death, but Jesus died and rose again bearing all of our sins on the cross so as to pay our sin debt in full. Now, this gift of salvation that Jesus paid for you is not yours yet. You see, in the giving of a gift, there are two parties. One party does essentially all of the work. This party both pays for the gift and delivers it to the intended recipient. The other party’s “job” is to simply accept the gift, which means accepting the terms of receipt as well. So it is with salvation. You and I deserve to go to hell, where the worm never dies and the fire never goes out. This is our natural future. “18He that believeth on Him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath no believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. 19And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. 20For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved” (John 3:18). Is this not what mainstream culture has become? “Don’t judge!” is the dogma of contemporary society. “Judge not, that ye be not judged.” (Matthew 7:1). This verse, like many verses have been twisted by the world to mean something completely different from what God intended to be meant. “[…] they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction.” (2 Peter 3:16). No. Proverbs says that we are to, “judge righteously, and plead the cause of the poor and needy.” (Proverbs 31:9). We are not to judge with the hatred of man, but rather with the love of God and the hatred of evil. Now, right now you might smugly be thinking of me as a close-minded, dumb zealot. You might be thinking, “I don’t think I’m going to hell. I’m a good person. I mean, I’ve never killed anyone. I try to do good more than evil.” No. You are a terribly sinful wretch, just like the rest of us. Do you not believe me? God’s authoritative definition of “good” is moral perfection. In other words, to be inherently good in God’s eyes, you must have kept and must keep all of the 10 Commandments throughout your entire life. “For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all.” (James 2:10). Now then, have you ever lied? If you have ever done so, then what does that make you? A liar. God commanded mankind to not lie in the ninth commandment. How about lust (this is not just looking at pornography). Have you ever looked at someone with lust? In Matthew 5:27-28, the Bible says, “27You have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not commit adultery: 28But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.” Therefore, if you have ever looked at another person with lust, then you are effectively a whoremonger. In the seventh commandment, God commands us to abstain from promiscuity. And what about thievery. Have you ever stolen something, even if it was small (e.g. a pencil)? If you have, then you are a thief, and you have broken the eighth commandment. Then, there’s the issue of hatred. In Matthew 5:21-26, Jesus says that unjustified hatred is the same thing as murder. If you have ever hated anyone (including a sibling), then you are guilty of murder in God’s righteous eyes. There. We’ve only gone through four of the Ten Commandments, and you have already broken them all, and to break even one commandment is enough to condemn you to hell. It is clear. At heart, you are a double-faced, thieving, murderous whoremonger, and you are going to face a holy God on judgment day. By your own works, you will obviously be guilty of eternal death. You are condemned by a holy God. Romans 6:23 says, “For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” Because of your sin, your punishment is eternal death. Your “wages” are literally hell. Just as a businessman gets monetary wages for working a corporate job, so are the wages of your sin eternal condemnation. Let that sink in.

Now, for the good news. This same almighty Judge who has condemned you has also graciously paid your fine. Jesus Christ, the holy Judge, has paid your sin debt with his blood. He took on your wages by living the life you could never live and by dying the death you could never die. God demonstrated that His blood was worthy of propitiation (or atonement) by raising Him up on the third day following His crucifixion. Therefore, if you simply accept His free gift of salvation (through His blood), you will be saved. The terms of accepting this gift are simple: confess and repent of (or turn away from) your sins, believe that Jesus Christ is fully God and man (meaning that He is the Lord over your life), and believe that Jesus died on the cross for your sins and rose again three days later, making the payment of your sin debt complete. Now I know that that is a mouthful, so if you simply say this prayer and mean it, you shall be saved. “O God! I am a sinner! I have no means of salvation other than through your finished work on the blessed cross. Please save me! I believe that you came to earth as fully man and fully God in order to live the life I could never live and to die the death I am so deserving of. I believe that you were tortured and crucified on the cross, dying for all of my sins. I, by my free will, choose to believe that three days after your death, you rose up from the dead and defeated death, thus paying my death wages in full. Please apply your blood to my sin-debt account. I am choosing right now to believe on you, Jesus, rather than on my own works. Please take me to heaven. Thank you Jesus for saving me! Now, I want to please you the rest of my life. Amen.” If you just prayed that prayer and meant it, then you are by a certainty saved. Congratulations! Additionally, if you are saved, you are now sealed with the Holy Spirit “unto the day of redemption.” (Ephesians 4:30). Mark this day as your spiritual birthday and begin to grow to be a good Christian. Attend a Bible-believing Church, get baptized, read your Bible daily, pray, etc. However, remember that while all of these things are important and good, these aren’t what save you. Jesus’ blood was what saved you. Romans 5:1-2 reads, “1Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ: 2By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.”

            In conclusion, the idea that everything is but a dream (which is rooted in the New Age movement, which is itself rooted in the demonic) is factually incorrect and immoral.  First and foremost, reality is reality because this is what the Bible teaches. Secondly, from a purely logical perspective, it is simply impossible that reality is a dream. However, God can and does speak to people both in dreams and in reality. How blessed are we that He cares intimately about every one of us, loving us exceedingly, regardless of our performance! And how terrifying it would be to die in our sins, without being saved, to spend an eternity completely separated from God – totally removed from every good thing (James 1:17), such as the laughter of a baby, a beautiful, serene sunset, scrumptiously tasty food, and gut-wrenchingly harmonious music among many other beauties! It is so indispensably necessary for you to be saved by the blood of Christ and sealed with the Holy Spirit! “[…] behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.” (2 Corinthians 6:2). Remember that you can die at anytime. Death is imminent. “Seek ye the LORD while He may be found, call ye upon Him while He is near” (Isaiah 55:6). If there is one thing I want you to get from this article, it is that you simply must be saved. Your eternity depends on it. Thank you.

“To Him be glory and dominion for ever and ever.  Amen.” – 1 Peter 5:11

*Note: Any (theo)logical error in this article is the fault of the writer. Any truth is from God.