Why are you here? What is the reason that you exist?
That question undergirds everything that you think and do and say. And, from time immemorial, people have answered it with two grand, contradictory stories.
One story is static and plotless. It has no beginning and no ending. It has no author and no audience. It has no heroes and no villains. It sees Everything as a purposeless primordial soup—an eternal cauldron stirred by unintelligent forces.
Pitiless physical laws grind away to produce random chemical combinations that may or may not be fit enough to survive. According to this telling of your story, you are nothing more than an accidental bubble that appears for no particular reason and ends without leaving a trace.
The other story is dynamic and full of surprises.
It has a definite beginning and a happy ever-after. It is full of meaning and purpose, agency and intelligence. Every character, every feature, every decision has gravitas and consequence. We live on the knife’s edge between good and evil while Truth and Beauty join in the dance.
Did I say that these two stories were contradictory? They couldn’t be more so. They cannot both be true.
But, is there any way to know? Or are we doomed to an eternal argument without resolution?
A fascinating new feature film, “The Story of Everything,” explores this question on the silver screen. This documentary “is a cinematic exploration of the cosmos that reveals the hidden hand behind our universe.” And it does so through the lens of 20th century scientific discoveries.
The first chapter explores the exciting field of astronomy and its now irrefutable discovery that the universe is expanding. The dramatic narrative unfolds as contemporaries Edwin Hubble (1889-1953), Georges Lemaître (1894-1966), Albert Einstein (1879-1955) and, later, Fred Hoyle (1915-2001) wrestled to reconcile their assumptions with their observations.
At first, Einstein dismissed Hubble’s claim that the universe was expanding. Hoyle even mocked Lemaître by smearing it as “The Big Bang Theory.” Eventually, however, both repented and submitted to what is now well established.
Stephen Hawking (1942-2018) eventually proved, mathematically, that space, time and matter have a calculable beginning, called the Singularity.
The second chapter of “The Story of Everything” is the story of Goldilocks. Just as the fabled little girl found in every room something that was “just right,” so everywhere that we look in our world, things inhabit the precise sweet spot between existence and impossibility.
This chapter will fill you with wonder. It feeds both the science nerd and the philosopher with an incredible array of physical laws, universal constants, and happy coincidences that make the existence of matter, light, planets and life possible.
Chapter three turns from the impossible expanses to the incredibly small world of the cell. As 20th century biology evolved, it was no longer possible to cling to Darwin’s primitive notion that cells consist of “membrane, nucleus, and nucleolus” in some gelatinous goo. It turns out to be infinitely more complex. Countless molecular machines perform an incredible array of tasks.
Even if you are not interested in the larger philosophical questions that these discoveries pose, you cannot help but be delighted as the visually stunning graphics that bring the inner life of a cell to life.
Philosophically, however, it raises massive questions. How are these machines made? And how are their schematics transmitted?
Francis Crick (1916-2004) and James Watson (1928-2025) discovered the answer to the second question by their Nobel Prize-winning discovery of the DNA molecule. The answer to the first question points us back to a universe full of meaning and purpose, agency and intelligence.
“The Story of Everything” will be released in theaters on April 30. I was lucky enough to view a pre-release copy with my family. From that experience, I can tell you several things.
First, it made highly technical science understandable - even for a middle-schooler. It provided stunning visuals that both informed the mind and inspired the heart. It’s the kind of movie that you will want to pause and talk about.
Second, it was anything but preachy. Pat answers and dogmatic preconceptions find no place. Rather, evidence and the arguments are presented in the discoverer’s own words. Viewers can ponder implications unmolested.
No matter how advanced your scientific acumen, you will learn something new. And you will marvel!
This movie gave me hope that our own incessant arguing can find agreement. If Einstein and Hoyle could ultimately change their minds to agree with Hubble and Lemaître, we can learn something from them. Their zeal for the truth enabled them to admit errors and find common ground.
Their united witness not only brought scientific agreement, it stands as an example of how we can achieve community and selflessness through a common pursuit of the truth.
Jonathan Lange is a Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod pastor in Evanston and Kemmerer and serves the Wyoming Pastors Network. Follow his blog at https://jonathanlange.substack.com/. Email: JLange64@protonmail.com.
