Astronomy and the BibleA Beginner's-and Expert's-Guide to the Big Bang: Sifting Facts from Fictions
7/1/2000 Big bang cosmology is an explosive topic. Heated reactions—and bitter resistance—have arisen from opposite directions in the last century but, ironically, for the same type of reasons: religious reasons. One group of big bang opponents includes those who understand the theory’s implications, and the other, those who misunderstand them. A Dark Galaxy: Finding the "Missing" Dark Stuff
10/27/2008 Many independent sets of observations confirm that only about six percent of all the ordinary matter (neutrons and protons) in the universe is made up of stars and stellar remnants.1 The other 94 percent is dark. While astronomers have verified that enormous quantities of ordinary dark matter exist as dispersed intergalactic gas, they have yet to positively identify a totally dark structure of galactic proportions. A Dime's Worth of Difference
10/1/2006 The universe is incredibly massive. Nevertheless, its mass must be spectacularly fine-tuned for life to be possible. Exactly how massive the universe is remained unknown until astronomers focused the Hubble Space Telescope on a patch of sky no bigger than a tenth the Moon's (angular) diameter, and held it there for some 278 hours. This Ultra Deep Field (see figure) successfully imaged all the galaxies (at least those bigger than dwarfs) that exist in that region. A Spectrum of Views on ETI
4/1/1998 The “Christian position” on extraterrestrial intelligence (ETI) has been a matter of debate since the time of Thomas Aquinas.1, 2 Scholars have taken sides for various biblical reasons. Those who believe ETI exists see it as a display of God’s omnipotence and creativity. Beginning and End of Cosmology
7/16/2007 The irony of modern-day astrophysics is that the more astronomers study the light of the universe the darker the universe appears. Study of the brightest galaxies in the universe persuaded astronomers that 99 percent of the matter in the universe was dark. And measurements of the brightest stars convinced astronomers that three times as much dark energy existed as did dark matter. Big Bang - The Bible Taught It First!
7/1/2000 Most science textbooks that address cosmology credit Arno Penzias and Robert Wilson with the discovery that the universe arose from a hot big bang creation event. While it is true that they were the first (1965) to detect the radiation left over from the creation event Big Bang Buttressed
1/1/2000 Belief that the universe was created a finite time ago by a transcendent Creator has been strengthened by evidence yet again. A new piece of astronomical research brings good news for Christians and bad news for anyone denying God’s existence or equating God with the universe itself. Big Bang Passes Big Test
4/1/2003 Atheist astrophysicist Geoffrey Burbidge once worried aloud that his peers might rush off to join "the First Church of Christ of the Big Bang."1 The rush of which he spoke was precipitated by a deluge of observational support for the big bang. Astronomers had just verified specific predictions coming from the big bang model. Today, that verification continues. The latest comes from the discovery of something called "polarized radiation" in the early universe. Big Bang Stands Firm
10/1/2002 During my school days in Vancouver, B.C., I met some really brilliant students, but none of them aced every test. I can say, though, that I have met a theory that does. The big bang has scored well on every test devised and applied by researchers over several decades, and it has just sailed through another one with flying colors. Buttressing the Distance Ladder Foundation for Cosmic Creation
7/1/2007 Not until Albert Einstein produced his theory of general relativity in 1916 did scientists even consider the possibility that the cosmos continually expands. And yet five ancient writers-Job, David, Isaiah, Jerehiah, and Zechariah-all described this expansion more than two thousand years ago. For centuries the Bible stood alone as the only text making such a claim about the universe. So today, as the body of evidence for continual expansion grows, the case for the reliability and predictive power of the Bible and of the Christian worldview also grows. A breakthrough from a team of American radio astronomers just added to it. Consistent Calculations Bolster Creation Case
4/13/2009 Opponents of big bang cosmology, both atheists and young-earth creationists, frequently attempt to push aside very compelling and overwhelming physical evidence for this biblically predicted model by picking apart the limitations on astronomers' ability to attain accurate and reliable measurements of distances to galaxies.1 Continuous Cosmic Expansion
10/1/2005 Big bang opponents are a diverse lot. Some promote an infinitely (or near infinitely) old universe to avoid a creation event in the relatively recent (roughly 14-billion-year) past. So, they argue that the universe is static or semi-static-no general cosmic expansion. Others promote a very young creation (6,000-10,000 years old) to fit a particular interpretation of Genesis 1. They need the expansion to occur much more rapidly than a few billion years. Nestled in between is the established scientific-and biblical-model saying that expansion has occurred continuously over the past 13.7 billion years. Cosmic Brane Scans
7/1/2002 As physicians use scanning devices to view the hidden structures and activities of the brain, astronomers can now use distant supernovae and high-resolution cosmic background radiation maps to scan the structures and properties of “branes.” Cosmic Cool Down - What Does It Mean?
4/1/2001 Not one but five writers of Scripture describe God’s “stretching out” of the heavens. From a scientist’s perspective, these ancient writers predict the twentieth-century discovery of continual cosmic expansion.1 The book of Romans tells readers that the entire creation is subject to the law of decay. Again, a scientist would see this statement as an obvious reference to the second law of thermodynamics.2 Creation vs. Evolution: Why a Model Is Essential
8/25/2008 The public debate about teaching intelligent design has exposed widespread confusion both inside and outside the church about how the scientific enterprise operates. One of the most frequent complaints scientists make about the Intelligent Design movement is that their brand of intelligent design is not testable, falsifiable, or predictive. Defusing the Antimatter Bomb
5/19/2009 Does the Probability for ETI = 1?
12/3/2007 Earlier this fall (September 25) I had a three-minute debate on Mancow’s Morning Madhouse, a nationally syndicated radio show, on the topic “Is there scientific evidence for intelligent life in the universe?” My debate opponent was Amir Aczel, a nationally known mathematician and best-selling author. Extending the Reach of Cosmic Creation Measures
6/25/2007 Continual cosmic expansion under fixed physical laws from an actual beginning of matter, energy, space, and time is the heart and soul of the biblical cosmic creation model. Moreover, the physical constants that govern cosmic expansion, namely dark energy and the cosmic mass density, provide the most spectacular confirmed scientific evidence for the supernatural design of the universe for the benefit of humanity. Extraordinary Evidence for Expansion
8/26/2009 Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence. This saying, popularized by the late Carl Sagan, represents a useful attitude to maintain when confronted with revolutionary claims. For example, if some group were to claim that a previously unknown property of space caused it to expand more quickly as space grew larger, that group should produce compelling evidence to support the claim. Facing Up to Big Bang Challenges
1/1/2001 What danger lurks in associating big bang cosmology with biblical cosmology? Most Christian physicists, astronomers, and other scientists would say, “None.” Many Christian philosophers, theologians, pastors, and other nonscientists would say, “A big one.” Gravitational Lens Measurements Yield New Cosmic Creation Test
6/18/2007 The heart and soul of the biblical cosmic creation model calls for continual cosmic expansion under fixed physical laws from an actual beginning of matter, energy, space, and time. For over two thousand years the Bible stood alone as the only text making such claims about the universe. Not until Albert Einstein produced his theory of general relativity in 1916 did scientists even consider the possibility of continual cosmic expansion. Gravitational Lens Test for Creation
10/1/2008 How Far Tells How Old
7/1/2000 The strength of cosmologists’ model for the origin and development of the universe rests in part on the certainty of astronomers’ distance measurements to stars and galaxies. The only direct measurements researchers have had for stellar distances are those based on trigonometry (specifically, a method called “trigonometric parallaxes”). Making Massive Stars
2/18/2009 Twinkle, twinkle little star, Milky Way Galaxy’s Tiny Black Hole
9/1/2008 Through a variety of means astronomers have determined that a black hole exists at the center of the Milky Way Galaxy. The latest and most definitive measurement puts the mass of that black hole at 3,6000,000 times the mass of the Sun. Most Detailed Map of Cosmic Background Radiation Confirms Biblical Creation Model
7/1/2006 A team of American and Canadian astronomers dramatically strengthened the case for a big bang creation (thoroughly biblical1) when they released the latest map of radiation left over from the cosmic origin event.2 The team made public their analysis based on three years' continuous observations of that cosmic background radiation via satellite-the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP). This analysis, by far the most thorough and detailed to date, yields five independent confirmations of the hot big bang creation model.3 Predictive Power: Confirming Cosmic Creation
4/1/2002 Scientists focus enormous effort on turning detections (observations and measurements) into predictions. Meteorologists use data to predict temperatures, wind, and precipitation. Astronomers use data to predict meteor showers and eclipses. Relativity Reaffirms Creation Doctrine
7/1/1999 Though Christians sometimes mistake relativity (a physics term) for relativism (a philosophical term), relativity powerfully testifies of divine creation.1 How? Einstein’s theory of general relativity tells us that space, time, matter and energy all have a finite beginning, a statement uniquely consistent with the biblical doctrine of creation.2 Speed of Gravity Measured, Scripture Validated
4/1/2003 General relativity and the biblical creation model received yet another boost on January 8, 2003, at the 201st meeting of the American Astronomical Society. The boost came from an announcement of the first-ever measurement of the speed of gravity.1 Einstein’s theory says that gravity travels at roughly the same velocity as light. Physicist Sergei Kopeikin and astronomer Ed Fomalont verified (within 20 percent precision) that gravity moves through space at close to light’s speed.2 In other words, it’s in the range current big bang models predict. Testing Cosmic Creation Models, Part 1
4/21/2008 At two different outreach events this past month I met both atheists and young-earth creationists who expressed skepticism concerning the evidence I presented for the biblically predicted big bang creation model.1 While admitting that the evidence I presented was compelling, they claimed the fact that astronomers cannot agree on exactly what kind of big bang describes the origin and history of the universe proves that the big bang creation model resides on a shaky foundation. Testing Cosmic Creation Models, Part 2
4/28/2008 In my previous contribution to Today’s New Reason To Believe I described how Bayesian statistical analysis by two Polish researchers on the latest measurements defining the history of the universe had yielded additional scientific evidence for the biblically predicted big bang creation model. Though the model is gainsaid by atheists and young-earth creationists, researchers Aleksandra Kurek and Marek Szydlowski demonstrated that the new measurements of cosmic history established a much more specific and detailed set of big bang creation models than what was possible a decade ago The Christmas Star
12/1/2002 For centuries scholars and laymen alike have speculated on the nature of the star that led the wise men from the east to seek out the Messiah that had come to the Jews. The only reliable account of this event is found in Matthew 2 of the Bible. The Dark and Bright Sides of Cosmology
10/1/2007 Astrophysics has its ironies. Here’s one: Studies of the brightest galaxies in the universe led to the discovery that 99 percent of all matter is "dark matter".1 But matter is only part of the universe (about a fourth). The rest is energy. Adding irony to irony, research focusing on the brightest stars in the universe shows that "dark energy" is far more abundant than dark matter, making up most of the rest of the universe. Despite its often negative connotation, this "darkness" is not a bad thing. The Physics of Sin
1/1/2002 "What difference does it make? As long as I'm not hurting anyone else, I should be able to live with my girlfriend." "I never loved my wife. Don't I deserve to be happy?" "I needed that money more than he did, so it's okay that I took it. Besides, he owes me for the time when…" Tolman's Elegant Test
1/1/2002 The cosmic characteristic most extensively described in the Bible is the ongoing expansion of the universe. No other holy book of the world's religions describes this feature, nor was it anticipated by secular scholars before the development of Einstein's theory of general relativity. Vexing Implications
10/1/2002 “Disturbing Implications of a Cosmological Constant,” announced the title of a recent paper on the Los Alamos National Laboratory Web site.1 So “disturbing” were the paper’s findings that within a few days the British journal Nature ran an online commentary on them as well. Was evidence mounting against a naturalistic model for the beginning of the universe? Without daring to hint at the possibility of supernatural design, commentators suggested, “Our universe is so unlikely that we must be missing something.”2 Watching the Universe Grow Up
4/1/2006 Among the vast expanses of the cosmos, humanity resides on an amazing planet with remarkable conditions for observing the birth and expansion of the universe. It seems as though a purposeful Designer has allowed human civilization and technology to develop so that the Designer's work can be studied in exquisite detail. Where Is the Cosmic Density Fine-Tuning?
7/23/2007 In addressing audiences about the fine-tuning of the cosmic expansion rate, I have used the illustration that adding or subtracting a single dime to the mass of the observable universe would be enough of a change to make physical life impossible. This word picture helps to demonstrate a number used to quantify that fine-tuning, namely 1 part in 1060. Compared to the total mass of the observable universe, 1 part in 1060 works out to about a tenth part of a dime. Why the Universe Is the Way It Is
1/1/2006 In the best-selling science book of all time, author Stephen Hawking explains that no human is content until he or she has complete answers to the following questions: "What is the nature of the universe? What is our place in it and where did it and we come from? Why is it the way it is?" WMAP Offers Spectacular Proof of Creation Events
4/1/2003 Preliminary results from the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) have stirred great excitement among physicists.1 Radiometers on board the satellite are sending NASA researchers by far the most detailed maps to date of the radiation left over from the cosmic creation event—specifically of the temperature fluctuations in that radiation. Astronomy and the BibleAstronomy and the Bible |
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