The Avalanche of Eternal Life
Jesus had four books from which he studied and repeated his lessons. The scriptures, experiences in life, His daily toil, and the book of nature. Today let’s see how the mysteries of nature speak to us the mystery of godliness.
The avalanche theory of transistors provides good exhibition of the unseen work of God and how we must work in cooperation with His work of salvaging us from sin.
Transistors are made of material called a dielectric. In other words, a material of mostly positive or negative charge. The dielectric is “grown” in a lab where an element gas “settles” into a very thin solid, and then can be chopped up to size. The positive dielectric attracts negative charges and repels positive charges. The negative dielectric does the opposite.
A dielectric tends to concentrate the electric field within itself as voltage is applied to it. As the dielectric interacts with the applied electric field, charges are redistributed within the atoms or molecules of the dielectric. This redistribution alters the shape of the applied electrical field both inside and in the region near the dielectric material. (Sorry for the technical words, some of this is cut/pasted from a webpage on this subject.
In the dielectric, when voltage is applied, all the protons (positive parts of the each atom of the dielectric) run away from a positive voltage source, and all the negative electrons move toward the positive source of voltage. Since some dielectric materials are positive and some negative, the material, as a whole, either repels voltage or attracts it, just like a magnet with magnetism. The reaction inside the dielectric is the reverse from the above description for negative voltage sources.
Now it gets interesting. If we place two opposing charged dielectric substances beside each other, a positive dielectric next to a negative dielectric, we have a composite material that will insulate part-way through, even though it could conduct in the second half. But if we make the first material much thinner than the second material, so that the repelling ability of the thinner material is much less than the attracting ability of the thicker dielectric, then as the voltage increases, the barrier that is repelling the voltage, and which holds back any conduction of current, will atomically become thinner as the electrons redistribute away or toward the applied voltage. And when voltage becomes high enough, the electrons pushing from the conductive half will finally arc through, and the insulating “thin” dielectric will fail under the onrush of backed up electrons that were trying harder and harder to get through the thin insulating dielectric, as the voltage increased. This is called an “Avalanche” because the threshold was reached at the point of insulation breakdown and a sudden large movement of voltage breaks through the barrier holding it back and rushes in to its attracting voltage.
According to one website, “Once the necessary field strength has been achieved, all that is necessary to start the avalanche effect is a free electron, and since even in the best insulators a tiny number of free electrons are always present, an avalanche will always occur. In devices that exploit the avalanche effect, the electric field is normally kept just below the threshold at which avalanche breakdown is possible, resulting in a current that is highly dependent on the generation of free electrons.
As avalanche breakdown begins, free electrons are accelerated by the electric field to very high speeds. As these high-speed electrons move through the material they inevitably strike atoms. If their velocity is not sufficient for avalanche breakdown (because the electric field is not strong enough) they are absorbed by the atoms and the process halts. However, if their velocity is high enough, when they strike an atom, they knock an electron free from it, ionizing it (and this is referred to as impact ionization for obvious reasons). Both the original electron and the one that has just been knocked free are then accelerated by the electric field and strike other atoms, in turn knocking additional electrons free. As this process continues, the number of free electrons moves through the material increases exponentially, often reaching a maximum in just picoseconds. The avalanche can result in the flow of very large currents, limited only by the external circuitry.” An avalanche in picoseconds— that is, millionths of a millionth of a second.
So, in a transistor which is composed of three opposing charged dielectrics, if a huge voltage is sitting at part of it, which is like the large material of dielectric in the above example, it will sit there waiting until the thin dielectric material next to it senses just a very small voltage, and the Avalanche of that large voltage will short circuit, through the third dielectric, to ground. Thus, a very small amount of voltage can control a very large voltage. In radio electronics, this allows a weak signal passing through the air and vibrating an antena, to be added to a large voltage from a power supply in the radio, and resulting in vibrating a large speaker and turning an inaudible radio signal into an audible large noise.
What are we getting at here? How does this apply to spirituality? Maybe some have noticed the lesson already.
Our strength toward goodness, like the small voltage on the thin dielectric, is very minimal, if alive at all. But we can ally ourselves with God’s power for that goodness and love, which is a huge resource, even infinitely and unimaginably so! Our goodness is only sparks that die out ever so quickly. (Is. 50:11). But He is a God who answers by fire. (1 Kings 18:24). As in the case of Elijah, the fire from God consumed the sacrifice, the stones of the altar, and even licked up the water that had been poured on top of the sacrificial lamb.
God is ever ready to give us all the power we need to move the mountains of unbelief and sin in us and for those we love. “All power is given unto Me in heaven and in earth.” (Matt. 28:18) “He that abideth in Me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without Me ye can do nothing.” (Jn. 15:5). “Let him take hold of My strength, that he may make peace with Me; and he shall make peace with Me.” (Is. 27:5). “But as many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name.” (Jn. 1:12). “I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.” (Phil. 4:13) .
But how do we normally respond to Christ’s invitation to take hold of His strength? Very feebly. Our natural self-sufficiency and pride feels no need for Someone else running our business, while we make a mess of our life. Yet, though we are weak in righteousness, He will more than make up for the difference. He is that large dielectric of potential energy in His infinite patience and self-sacrificing love, just waiting to imbue us with all that He has. He has a thousand ways to provide for our salvation, of which we know nothing.
Then how are we moved to take hold of His strength? Simple. He works subconsciously in us a desire for His help, and He does this for everyone on earth. We can’t even begin the process of receiving of His abundant grace without His involvement. But as we subconsciously respond to small dispensations of His goodness, faith begins to grow. Something out of nothing—the gift of faith out of obstinate rebellion. But is there anything consciously for us to do? Yes, there is. We must approach God. How do we do that? By moving in close to Him, like the opposing charged dielectrics butted tightly next to each other, by making ourselves available to Him through reading of His words and commandments to us, talking to Him of our most intimate desires and hopes, and obeying what we learn of Him to the maximum extent possible. Our obedience may be small and unworthy; like the opposing charged dielectric materials, our perverse will may be full of opposition and refusals to obey, which in no way counts for the salvation that He has promised to give. Our promises and resolutions may have been like ropes of sand, but we can choose to be Christians. The simple situating of ourselves next to Him in our hopes for a relationship to grow, counts as a green light to God; it is the big GO sign that we have chosen Him instead of service to the devil. He now has our permission to act for our rescue. As we use our will to obey Him, He imbues it with the power from His love and goodness. This is the secret to every successful Christian. Failure to expend effort to trust in God’s love will avail only failure in spiritual life and loss in the material life.
And, through His excellent working, as we grow in faith, through His applied loving-kindness (and despite our ups and downs in response to Him), our desire for Him begins to pierce through the insulating barriers that have kept us from constant communion with Him, and the influence of His Spirit begins to have effect on us. Small at first, and possibly after a considerably long process, which for Abraham took 25 years, for Moses 40 years, and for other people varying times, our gift of faith finally lays hold of God’s grace in a way never before experienced in our life. “Suddenly, as the Spirit comes with more direct appeal, the soul gladly surrenders itself to Jesus.” Desire of Ages, p. 173. His grace avalanches upon us, as He had been perched, anxiously wanting to do for so long, and He is finally satisfied to have another redeemed child reconciled to Him, receiving from Him constantly, while we find obedience to Him bringing us the highest joy, and reap the benefits of living in accord with the just and holy laws of His creation.
Paul described this avalanche of God’s grace so: “And I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who hath enabled me, …who was before a blasphemer, and a persecutor, and injurious: but I obtained mercy, because I did it ignorantly in unbelief. And the grace of our Lord was exceeding abundant with faith and love which is in Christ Jesus.” (1 Tim. 1:12-14). David compared it to oil. “It is like the precious ointment upon the head, that ran down upon the beard, even Aaron's beard: that went down to the skirts of his garments; As the dew of Hermon, and as the dew that descended upon the mountains of Zion.” (Ps. 133:2,3). “After that the kindness and love of God our Saviour toward man appeared, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost; which He shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour; that being justified by His grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.”(Titus 3:4-7)
As God works in us to respond to His gracious forgiveness and acceptance, we draw dangerously close to surrender. Hardly comprehending our proximity to it, all we know is a hunger for more of His self-sacrificing love. Then suddenly the soul gives up, casting itself down at His feet in thankful worship for a realization of His mercy and patience toward us. “(The weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;) Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ.” (2 Cor. 10:4,5).
Suddenly, the God who answers by fire, moves in and provides victory over our unbelief, as well as for character defects, one falling after another, until we are purified, “even as He is pure,” (1Jn. 3:3) awaiting His soon coming with all His angelic escort.
“And shall not God avenge His own elect, which cry day and night unto Him, though He bear long with them? I tell you that He will avenge them speedily.” (Lk. 8:7,8)
The avalanche theory of transistors provides good exhibition of the unseen work of God and how we must work in cooperation with His work of salvaging us from sin.
Transistors are made of material called a dielectric. In other words, a material of mostly positive or negative charge. The dielectric is “grown” in a lab where an element gas “settles” into a very thin solid, and then can be chopped up to size. The positive dielectric attracts negative charges and repels positive charges. The negative dielectric does the opposite.
A dielectric tends to concentrate the electric field within itself as voltage is applied to it. As the dielectric interacts with the applied electric field, charges are redistributed within the atoms or molecules of the dielectric. This redistribution alters the shape of the applied electrical field both inside and in the region near the dielectric material. (Sorry for the technical words, some of this is cut/pasted from a webpage on this subject.
In the dielectric, when voltage is applied, all the protons (positive parts of the each atom of the dielectric) run away from a positive voltage source, and all the negative electrons move toward the positive source of voltage. Since some dielectric materials are positive and some negative, the material, as a whole, either repels voltage or attracts it, just like a magnet with magnetism. The reaction inside the dielectric is the reverse from the above description for negative voltage sources.
Now it gets interesting. If we place two opposing charged dielectric substances beside each other, a positive dielectric next to a negative dielectric, we have a composite material that will insulate part-way through, even though it could conduct in the second half. But if we make the first material much thinner than the second material, so that the repelling ability of the thinner material is much less than the attracting ability of the thicker dielectric, then as the voltage increases, the barrier that is repelling the voltage, and which holds back any conduction of current, will atomically become thinner as the electrons redistribute away or toward the applied voltage. And when voltage becomes high enough, the electrons pushing from the conductive half will finally arc through, and the insulating “thin” dielectric will fail under the onrush of backed up electrons that were trying harder and harder to get through the thin insulating dielectric, as the voltage increased. This is called an “Avalanche” because the threshold was reached at the point of insulation breakdown and a sudden large movement of voltage breaks through the barrier holding it back and rushes in to its attracting voltage.
According to one website, “Once the necessary field strength has been achieved, all that is necessary to start the avalanche effect is a free electron, and since even in the best insulators a tiny number of free electrons are always present, an avalanche will always occur. In devices that exploit the avalanche effect, the electric field is normally kept just below the threshold at which avalanche breakdown is possible, resulting in a current that is highly dependent on the generation of free electrons.
As avalanche breakdown begins, free electrons are accelerated by the electric field to very high speeds. As these high-speed electrons move through the material they inevitably strike atoms. If their velocity is not sufficient for avalanche breakdown (because the electric field is not strong enough) they are absorbed by the atoms and the process halts. However, if their velocity is high enough, when they strike an atom, they knock an electron free from it, ionizing it (and this is referred to as impact ionization for obvious reasons). Both the original electron and the one that has just been knocked free are then accelerated by the electric field and strike other atoms, in turn knocking additional electrons free. As this process continues, the number of free electrons moves through the material increases exponentially, often reaching a maximum in just picoseconds. The avalanche can result in the flow of very large currents, limited only by the external circuitry.” An avalanche in picoseconds— that is, millionths of a millionth of a second.
So, in a transistor which is composed of three opposing charged dielectrics, if a huge voltage is sitting at part of it, which is like the large material of dielectric in the above example, it will sit there waiting until the thin dielectric material next to it senses just a very small voltage, and the Avalanche of that large voltage will short circuit, through the third dielectric, to ground. Thus, a very small amount of voltage can control a very large voltage. In radio electronics, this allows a weak signal passing through the air and vibrating an antena, to be added to a large voltage from a power supply in the radio, and resulting in vibrating a large speaker and turning an inaudible radio signal into an audible large noise.
What are we getting at here? How does this apply to spirituality? Maybe some have noticed the lesson already.
Our strength toward goodness, like the small voltage on the thin dielectric, is very minimal, if alive at all. But we can ally ourselves with God’s power for that goodness and love, which is a huge resource, even infinitely and unimaginably so! Our goodness is only sparks that die out ever so quickly. (Is. 50:11). But He is a God who answers by fire. (1 Kings 18:24). As in the case of Elijah, the fire from God consumed the sacrifice, the stones of the altar, and even licked up the water that had been poured on top of the sacrificial lamb.
God is ever ready to give us all the power we need to move the mountains of unbelief and sin in us and for those we love. “All power is given unto Me in heaven and in earth.” (Matt. 28:18) “He that abideth in Me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without Me ye can do nothing.” (Jn. 15:5). “Let him take hold of My strength, that he may make peace with Me; and he shall make peace with Me.” (Is. 27:5). “But as many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name.” (Jn. 1:12). “I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.” (Phil. 4:13) .
But how do we normally respond to Christ’s invitation to take hold of His strength? Very feebly. Our natural self-sufficiency and pride feels no need for Someone else running our business, while we make a mess of our life. Yet, though we are weak in righteousness, He will more than make up for the difference. He is that large dielectric of potential energy in His infinite patience and self-sacrificing love, just waiting to imbue us with all that He has. He has a thousand ways to provide for our salvation, of which we know nothing.
Then how are we moved to take hold of His strength? Simple. He works subconsciously in us a desire for His help, and He does this for everyone on earth. We can’t even begin the process of receiving of His abundant grace without His involvement. But as we subconsciously respond to small dispensations of His goodness, faith begins to grow. Something out of nothing—the gift of faith out of obstinate rebellion. But is there anything consciously for us to do? Yes, there is. We must approach God. How do we do that? By moving in close to Him, like the opposing charged dielectrics butted tightly next to each other, by making ourselves available to Him through reading of His words and commandments to us, talking to Him of our most intimate desires and hopes, and obeying what we learn of Him to the maximum extent possible. Our obedience may be small and unworthy; like the opposing charged dielectric materials, our perverse will may be full of opposition and refusals to obey, which in no way counts for the salvation that He has promised to give. Our promises and resolutions may have been like ropes of sand, but we can choose to be Christians. The simple situating of ourselves next to Him in our hopes for a relationship to grow, counts as a green light to God; it is the big GO sign that we have chosen Him instead of service to the devil. He now has our permission to act for our rescue. As we use our will to obey Him, He imbues it with the power from His love and goodness. This is the secret to every successful Christian. Failure to expend effort to trust in God’s love will avail only failure in spiritual life and loss in the material life.
And, through His excellent working, as we grow in faith, through His applied loving-kindness (and despite our ups and downs in response to Him), our desire for Him begins to pierce through the insulating barriers that have kept us from constant communion with Him, and the influence of His Spirit begins to have effect on us. Small at first, and possibly after a considerably long process, which for Abraham took 25 years, for Moses 40 years, and for other people varying times, our gift of faith finally lays hold of God’s grace in a way never before experienced in our life. “Suddenly, as the Spirit comes with more direct appeal, the soul gladly surrenders itself to Jesus.” Desire of Ages, p. 173. His grace avalanches upon us, as He had been perched, anxiously wanting to do for so long, and He is finally satisfied to have another redeemed child reconciled to Him, receiving from Him constantly, while we find obedience to Him bringing us the highest joy, and reap the benefits of living in accord with the just and holy laws of His creation.
Paul described this avalanche of God’s grace so: “And I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who hath enabled me, …who was before a blasphemer, and a persecutor, and injurious: but I obtained mercy, because I did it ignorantly in unbelief. And the grace of our Lord was exceeding abundant with faith and love which is in Christ Jesus.” (1 Tim. 1:12-14). David compared it to oil. “It is like the precious ointment upon the head, that ran down upon the beard, even Aaron's beard: that went down to the skirts of his garments; As the dew of Hermon, and as the dew that descended upon the mountains of Zion.” (Ps. 133:2,3). “After that the kindness and love of God our Saviour toward man appeared, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost; which He shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour; that being justified by His grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.”(Titus 3:4-7)
As God works in us to respond to His gracious forgiveness and acceptance, we draw dangerously close to surrender. Hardly comprehending our proximity to it, all we know is a hunger for more of His self-sacrificing love. Then suddenly the soul gives up, casting itself down at His feet in thankful worship for a realization of His mercy and patience toward us. “(The weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;) Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ.” (2 Cor. 10:4,5).
Suddenly, the God who answers by fire, moves in and provides victory over our unbelief, as well as for character defects, one falling after another, until we are purified, “even as He is pure,” (1Jn. 3:3) awaiting His soon coming with all His angelic escort.
“And shall not God avenge His own elect, which cry day and night unto Him, though He bear long with them? I tell you that He will avenge them speedily.” (Lk. 8:7,8)
posted by David | 4:56 AM
2 Comments:
I liked this one to but the science part lost me a little. A good description of how faith work.
Thank you Anonymous,
We need to understand the science of salvation, don't we. Its exciting when it all begins to come together.
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