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ASTROPHYSICS:
Is has been argued that the most important treatise ever written on physics can be found in Genesis 1:1. Do you realize that everything that exists in the known universe can be found in Genesis 1:1? The universe is comprised of time, space and matter. Each of these is represented in that most important first verse of Scripture:
"In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth." Genesis 1:1
Let us take a closer look, shall we. "In the beginning (time), God created the heavens (space) and the earth (matter)." A sarcastic physicist might argue, "You forgot energy." Okay, let us take another look. "In the beginning, God created (energy) the heavens and the earth."
It has also been said that the universe reflects the Triune nature of its Creator, God. Not only is it broken down into three parts (time, space, and matter), but each of these can be further broken down:
- Time: Past, Present, and Future
- Space: Length, Width, and Height
- Matter: Solid, Liquid, and Gas
Coming into the last century, the atheistic model of the universe depended upon three notions:
- Infinite time
- Limitless space
- Eternal matter
In other words, these things needed to be in order for the universe to exist without a Creator. The past 150 years or so have thoroughly dispelled this. Each leg of the atheistic tripod has been satisfactorily kicked out from under it.
Time and its Beginning
Scripture, a long time ago, declared time and its relative nature to that of its observer:
The point of all of this is that 20th Century science has now reached the same conclusion that the Bible testified to some 2000 years ago. For Scripture says that God created everything: including time, space, and matter. The passages below are straightforward statements that time itself had a beginning:
"But do not let this one fact escape your notice, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day." 2 Peter 3:8To but this in tangible terms, not the following:
"For a thousand years in Thy sight Are like yesterday when it passes by, Or as a watch in the night." Psalm 90:4
"There are atomic clocks installed at both the National Bureau of Standards at Boulder, Colorado, and at the Royal Observatory at Greenwich, England. Both are considered accurate to better than one-millionth of a second per year. However, the clock at Boulder ticks five microseconds faster per year than the one at Greenwich, England. Which one is correct? They both are! The one at Boulder is at an altitude of 5400 ft. above sea level. The one at Greenwich is only 80 ft. above sea level. The difference is caused by the fact that time is different due to the change in gravity. In 1971, J. C. Hafele and Richard Keating sent four cesium clocks around the world. The clocks on the eastward trip returned 59 nanoseconds behind the ones remaining at rest at the U.S. Naval Observatory. The clocks on the westward trip were 273 nanoseconds ahead. Accounting for the Earth's rotation and other gravitational effects, this was precisely what Einstein's formulas predicted."Understand that gravitational pull (based on altitude) can speed up or slow down time? Understand that direction and velocity can speed up or slow down time? The result of this is that time has clearly been demonstrated to be a physical quantity. If time is a physical quantity, it is finite and had a beginning!
(Chuck Missler, Stretching the Heavens)
The point of all of this is that 20th Century science has now reached the same conclusion that the Bible testified to some 2000 years ago. For Scripture says that God created everything: including time, space, and matter. The passages below are straightforward statements that time itself had a beginning:
"Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, or of me His prisoner; but join with me in suffering for the gospel according to the power of God, who has saved us, and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was granted us in Christ Jesus from all eternity," 2 Timothy 1:8-9
"Paul, a bond-servant of God, and an apostle of Jesus Christ, for the faith of those chosen of God and the knowledge of the truth which is according to godliness, in the hope of eternal life, which God, who cannot lie, promised long ages ago," Titus 1:1-2
Space and its Limits
There is an end to the universe. It is almost inconceivable, but it is now a certainty that there is a point where space itself just stops. You cannot go on forever and ever. Science has now demonstrated that this universe has an end. In other words, not even space is omnipresent. That domain is reserved for the Creator alone.
Make no mistake about it, space is expanding. However, for something to expand, it has to move to a place where it is not already. Confusing? Perhaps. what is not confusing, however, is how accurate the verse below is in light of this.
"Bless the LORD, O my soul! O LORD my God, Thou art very great; Thou art clothed with splendor and majesty, Covering Thyself with light as with a cloak, Stretching out heaven like a curtain." Psalm 104:1-2
The Bible spoke of a finite spatial universe that is expanding. When it comes to astrophysics, the Bible will use "the heavens" as a designation for "space". Remember, for something to be stretched, it has to move to a place where it is not already.
How do we know that space is finite? In 1990, NASA performed some experiments via their COBE (Cosmic Earth Background Explorer) satellite to measure the universe's background radiation. These experiments were to determine the average temperature of the universe. If the universe was an open system (that is, that it went on forever and ever), the average temperature of the universe should be 0°K (roughly -273°C or -460°F), which is known as Absolute Kelvin. It is the temperature at which all motion ceases and energy/heat is no longer given off or produced. If the universe went on forever (i.e., if space was infinite), then the average temperature of the universe should still be -273°C (or Absolute Kelvin). In other words, no amount of energy would be able to raise the average temperature of the background radiation. Instead, COBE found that the background temperature was only -270.27°C (or about 2.73°C higher than it would be with an infinite universe).
Matter and Entropy
For atheists and evolutionists alike, a horrible meeting of two fundamental truths is now clearly evident in the universe. On the one hand, it is clear that an incredible amount of time is needed for evolutionary processes to take place and for the celestial structures to form. On the other hand, stamped all over the universe it its finite duration. The universe bears evidence of the fact that it is winding down. The proof of this comes from the Laws of Thermodynamics:
- 1st Law of Thermodynamics (Law of Conservation): Matter and energy cannot be created or destroyed—it merely changes form.
- 2nd Law of Thermodynamics (Law of Entropy): As time advances, the universe is moving from a state of order to disorder and from complexity to chaos.
"Thus the heavens and the earth were completed, and all their hosts. And by the seventh day God completed His work which He had done; and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done. Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made." Genesis 2:1-3Further, Scripture testifies that the universe is winding down. The following passages are in keeping with the 2nd Law of Thermodynamics:
"Thou alone art the LORD. Thou hast made the heavens, The heaven of heavens with all their host, The earth and all that is on it, The seas and all that is in them. Thou dost give life to all of them And the heavenly host bows down before Thee." Nehemiah 9:6a
"For the anxious longing of the creation waits eagerly for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not of its own will, but because of Him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now." Romans 8:19-22Robert Jastrow is a well-known astrophysicist who was chosen by President Reagan to head up research on the Space-Based Defense Initiative (SDI). The well-known agnostic may have summed up the ramifications of this best:
"Of old Thou didst found the earth; And the heavens are the work of Thy hands. Even they will perish, but Thou dost endure; And all of them will wear out like a garment; Like clothing Thou wilt change them, and they will be changed." Psalm 102: 25-26
"The essence of the strange developments is that the universe had, in some sense, a beginning-that it began at a certain moment in time. Some scientists are unhappy with the idea that the world began in this way. Until recently, many of my colleagues preferred the 'Steady State' theory, which holds that the universe had no beginning and is eternal. Theologians generally are delighted with the proof that the universe had a beginning, but scientists are curiously upset. Their reactions provide an interesting demonstration of the response of the scientific mind-supposedly a very objective mind-when evidence uncovered by science itself leads to a conflict with the articles of faith in our profession.
"Now three lines of evidence-the motions of the galaxies, the laws of thermodynamics, and the life story of the stars-pointed to one conclusion; all indicated that the universe had a beginning. There is no ground for supposing that matter and energy existed before and was suddenly galvanized into action. It is simpler to postulate creation ex nihilo (out of nothing). Scientists cannot bear the thought of a natural phenomenon, which cannot be explained, even with unlimited time and money. There is a kind of religion in science. This religious faith of the scientist is violated by the discovery that the world had a beginning. Science has proven that the universe exploded into being at a certain moment. It asks, what cause produced this effect? Who or what put matter and energy into the universe? Was the Universe created out of nothing or was it gathered together out of pre-existing materials? And science cannot answer these questions. The scientist's pursuit of the past ends in the moment of creation. This is an exceedingly strange development, unexpected by all but the theologians. They have always accepted the word of the Bible: 'In the beginning God created heaven and earth.'"
(Robert Jastrow, God and the Astronomers)
Existence of Sub-atomic Particles
"By faith we understand that the worlds were prepared by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things which are visible." Hebrews 11:3In 1900, German Physicist Max Planck gave rise to a new field of scientific endeavour called Quantum Mechanics. In effect, this is the study of quantum particles and their interactions with one another. Such particles (which include electrons, neutrons, tachytrons, gravitons, quarks, and a whole host of other particles) are far smaller than protons of light.
Everything we see in the universe is made up of sub-atomic particles that are smaller than photons of light. As a result, the things which make up the universe around us are not visible. Just like the verse above says, the universe is comprised of particles that are smaller than that which is visible. Scripture is shown to be reliable yet again.
"For the scientist who has lived by his faith in the power of reason, the story ends like a bad dream. He has scaled the mountains of ignorance; he is about to conquer the highest peak; as he pulls himself over the final rock, he is greeted by a band of theologians who have been sitting there for centuries." —Robert JastrowAs you can see, the Bible is reliable from the standpoints of Medicine/Biology, Astronomy, Oceanography, Meteorology, Atmospherics/Aeronautics, the Nature of Light, Archeology, History, Astrophysics, and Paleontology. The Bible is the only book that hangs its credibility on its ability to write history in advance—without error. You can trust the Bible!