Daddy, What’s Infinity?

Daddy, What’s Infinity?

Carson, my first-grade daughter, has been asking me about the number infinity lately. Her class has been studying numbers, and somewhere along the way, the concept of infinity came up. It is hard for me in my midforties to get my mind around, much less a six year old.

On January 24, 2016, Capital OTC reported that the world’s largest prime number had been discovered by mathematician Curtis Cooper and his fellow researchers while they worked on the GIMPS project (Great Internet Mersenne Prime Search). These researchers use supercomputers to generate new prime numbers, and Cooper’s team generated one with 22,338,618 digits.^a

I guess I will have to share all this with Carson the next time she asks me about infinity.

Unless you are a researcher in the sciences, you probably don’t live your life dealing with the infinitude of prime numbers. You are more concerned about day-to-day living. Well, what I love about the book of Proverbs is that it gives such practical instruction for our everyday lives. But even in this practical book of wisdom that informs my daily life, I also see eternity. Take a look at Proverbs 12:28 (NIV): “In the way of righteousness there is life; along that path is immortality.” Getting on his path by trusting in Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross for your righteousness will yield everlasting life.

It is hard to live in our day to day well if we haven’t handled what we know and believe about eternity. Do you have this everlasting life?

In the way of righteousness there is life; along that path is immortality.

Proverbs 12:28, NIV