Article 2: Who is the First Rule?

Authors note: Due to the sheer volume of articles this series has resulted in I want to take a moment to tell you they are intended to be read sequentially, the ideas building on each other as they progress. While they can also be read individually, a fuller understanding can only be reached by starting at the beginning, found here: https://www.pjbenjamin.net/a-long-overdue-elucidation/

Article 2: Who is the First Rule

At the time of writing, there are eleven rules that I have written for the Firmament, some broad and some narrow in scope. But there can be only one place to begin. A beginning that is so purely beginning, as to have no beginning at all. What is the role of God in our universe, and by extension, the Firmament’s? Whether considering Eru Iluvatar in J.R.R. Tolkien’s Arda, or Maleldil over the planets in C. S. Lewis’s Space Trilogy, the place of God can be paramount. As I sat down to write my first novel, I already knew my answer.

Fiction, at its most base level, is intended to convey ideas through story. Whether God or gods have relevance to those ideas is a decision each storyteller must make for themselves. Some take the existence of the divine for granted, some the absence of any. Indeed, it is a bias most heavily observed in the difference between the bulk of fantasy and science fiction, with the latter so generally atheistic that any departure often represents quite a twist. This is not a judgment on the genre, in fact, I think that it is a natural extension of its concept. The Sciences, and thus science fiction, studies the measurable manipulations of a physically interactive reality. If the reality contains more then is physically interactive, say a spiritual dimension, then all at once it becomes more then science fiction. It blurs the lines separating it from fantasy, even a fantasy that might better fit our experiences. For its purposes, the Firmament will seek to erase that line entirely. They are, after all, both under the heading of creation.

When it came time to ratify the Rules of the Firmament, I took special care in its start. My intention is not to exclude any who disagree but to offer clarity. Whether you believe it or not of our own universe, it is the immutable truth of the Firmament’s. I would only ask you to allow me the benefit of explanation before relying on base impressions. To this end, let me clarify my own biblical stance. Though it is not specifically a Rule of the Firmament, it is nonetheless critical if you are to seek out your own knowledge on the subject. It is my belief the bible (that is the canon of 39 old testament books and the 26 new testament) represents an inerrant, holistic, divinely inspired communication from the real God. And though it can be complicated, even offensive, it is regardless of my duty to submit to its revelation of transcendent truths that affect us all inalienably.

Rule One of the Firmament:

The God of the Bible, of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, is the one true uncreated progenitor of reality. He is consistent in character, doctrine, and triune nature to scripture. He and his are so much more than we yet know.

If I were writing a book on theology, I would spend dozens of pages unpacking these three sentences. As it is I will try to keep my breakdown brief, however, I cannot overstate its importance. Yet, in an effort for the ideas to better build on one another, I will do so in a different order than how the rule is written.

Firstly, that he is the uncreated progenitor of reality. Although each point deserves its own article, here are some foundation thoughts. There must be a Cause to the string of Effects we call our universe. Time itself is immeasurable without a first moment. A void cannot create matter. For there to be creation, there must be a creator, and for there to be a creator, he must not himself be created. In order for there to be anything at all, existence itself must pre-exist our reality. When the Lord said to Moses that his name was “I am”, and when Jesus gives the same title to himself, they hint at this very truth. He is. He is existence itself, the very state of being. And must logically pre-exist creation for there to be creation at all.

Having established that he must be, I more specifically announce who he is. You can read all about him in the Bible, and his relationship by way of choosing a people begins with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. The Bible itself is not a complete history and exploration of reality, nor does it intend to be. It is a collection of books written and sustained throughout history in its completion by God himself. And its purpose is to re-establish a relationship with humanity. Sometimes this is through examples of rightful worship, the establishment of promises proved through and by history, or an explanation of the mess we are born into. Only in the places where it is relevant to this task does it give mention of the wider expanse of creation. There is a massive amount left unanswered about all that might exist. The Bible itself offers merely glimpses of a broader, more layered universe. When writing the Firmament I have taken great care to attempt to understand the nature, character, and sovereignty of God, and my points of extrapolation begin each with truths he has revealed.

The next line I will admit should, and will, have its success debated. To make him perfectly consistent in character I would need to perform the impossible task of predicting all of his behaviors in every hypothetical situation. To make him fully consistent in doctrine I would have to understand deeply each doctrine in its entirety without flaw, something no Christian has yet done. To be consistent in his triune nature fully would mean I understand the least explained aspect of his being. In none of these areas can I claim full capability. What I can do is promise I deeply agonized over every attempt, with trembling heart and prayer appropriate to one approaching the tabernacle. My failures will be a result of my own limits, not by intention or design. I ask of his hand to either guide or restrain me as necessary, of you your grace in forgiveness, and from myself a heart humble enough to stand correction from either.

It is here we come to the final line, ‘He and his are so much more than we yet know’. By now the ‘He’ is clear. That he is more than we yet know ought to be obvious. We cannot hope to fully comprehend all that is of a being that is so far removed from our own experience. Indeed to think we have is a first sign of our failure to do so. What is most indicative of what the Firmament is, is the ‘and his is so much more than we yet know’. All things belong to their creator, and that what he has created is more than his individual creations can comprehend in full is not only possible, it is likely when dealing with a God who operates on an infinite scale.

But what might “his” contain? The realm of Eden, where a snake could speak without us raising an eyebrow. Mentions of a divine counsel, wherein God presides over other intelligent creations. Arch Angels, Seraphim, and Cherubs; are they all merely types of angels (the literal translations being “messengers”), or do they represent at least three different spirit-based races? I was asked not long ago if I believed in aliens, and I had to laugh. Assuming we define aliens as non-terrestrial intelligent life, then all of the above and two members of the trinity might meet that definition. My point is this, and it will permeate the very nature of my Firmament Rules; there is so much more then we know out there in his universe. It is in this gray area that I operate, attempting to guess what cannot yet be known. All in hopes that tooled with scriptural fact, I might use fiction to illuminate what could be with greater clarity. And lastly, pay careful attention to the words “Yet know”. I did not say “Can know”, for I think in terms of revelation, not capacity. There is much we will be shown in the fullness of time.