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Can The Revelation of God be Final?
Many who hold more traditional beliefs take this as axiomatic. For example it is often said, “Why would God confuse and contradict himself?” They also will point to scripture which seems to indicate an exclusive, final and singular revelation from God. For example in Islam the finality of Islam is often related to Quranic verse, “Muhammad is not the father of any of your men, but (he is) the Messenger of Allah, and the Seal of the Prophets”. In Christianity Christ said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.”
Assuming one has at least a marginal belief in science, is this idea consistent with what is know about our universe? Given the size and age of the known universe such assertions of singularity of revelation in time and place would seem to defy any sense. The claim, that over 14 billion years and the billions more to come, across uncountable star systems and planets the divine only revealed itself several times a thousand or two thousand years ago in a very small section of the planet and then never more until the universe ends, would appear impossible to maintain. From the point of view of simple, cultural and information preservation, such an idea is ludicrous. For example assuming a ‘final’ revelation has already come to pass, how could it be possible to preserve the information related to it over just 100 thousand years let alone a…